Digital Humanism, Epistemic Values, and Explanation

Toward a Critical Digital Humanism

Abstract

This article analyzes the concept of digital humanism and asks whether, and in what sense, it can help ensure that digital systems —including algorithms, automated computation, computer-based models, and large-scale data processing—produce not only efficient outcomes but also knowledge that is understandable and explainable. It examines the relation between digital humanism and epistemic values, focusing on explanation as a central requirement of knowledge in digital contexts. Against a narrow conception of explainable AI, the article distinguishes explanation as a technical output from explanation as an epistemic value. On this basis, it develops a conceptual map of explanatory demands in digital contexts and defends a critical form of digital humanism that assesses digital systems not only in terms of predictive success, but also in terms of their capacity to support intelligibility, scrutiny, and revision.