Research Perspectives: Using a Process Philosophy Perspective in Information Systems Research: Principles of Creative Evolution
Authors: Kreps, David; Rowe, Frantz
Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems (2024)
DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00883
<jats:p>What if reality fundamentally consists in events and processes rather than things? All actions are situated within processes, influenced by a broader set of preceding and concomitant flows of digital information and other actions. This paper offers a process philosophy perspective that sees things as merely constellations of processes. Decisions within these processes, moreover, must usually be made within time constraints. Rather than a view of time, such as in process theories, as being tied to notions of entities, variance, or—at best—the flow of things, process philosophy sees time as duration: tied to consciousness, sensemaking, and free will. While principles for conducting positivist, interpretive, and critical research have been widely discussed in the IS literature, criteria and principles for a process philosophy perspective are lacking. In the context of Bergson and Whitehead’s creative evolution process philosophy, this paper proposes a set of five principles for the conduct of process philosophy research in information systems: (1) heterogeneous multiplicity, (2) immanence in a process, (3) experience over abstraction, (4) consciousness in duration, and (5) a…