Introduction to the P2P Foundation Wiki Material about Relational Topics

What kind of human relationships arise in a peer to peer context? What are their dynamics? When we say that P2P takes a relational approach to the world, what do we mean? We mean that relations are paramount. In contrast to individuals or entities, for example. Relations among terms are given privilege over the terms themselves. Now this doesn't of course mean that the terms have no value for us. It means that we believe the terms will be given their value through the relations they take up. The relational view, while dating far back in western thinking to debates on causality, identity, truth, predication, and so on, gripped philosophical traditions mid 20th century with what's known as the "linguistic turn." A product of European semiotics and structuralism, philosophies took up the pursuit of truth and value in the organization of relations rather than in terms themelves. Context of meaning took precedence. This view drew from linguistics, which ascribes meaning not to a single word but to its use.

There are many ways of organizing relations. P2P has its roots in cybernetics and network relation theory, both of which have been used to model communication and production. Networks comprise of nodes (people, organizations, etc) and relations between them. They are visualized as dots connected by lines, and nothing more. For this and other reasons, p2p stands apart from social theories that examine the historical and traditional hierarchies and power relations that structure and organize society. It stands apart also from theories oriented to exchanges of meaning, interpersonal dynamics and communication, psychologically-oriented theories that take an interest in the individual. But p2p does have a view of the actor, and it is sensitive to the actor's position in a network of relations.

Where p2p has compelled thinkers to consider its application to fields beyond cybernetics is in its flatness and equality as a form of organization. P2P is used, for example, as a model for new kinds of production. Or for the organization of grassroots movements. In many of these, p2p, or peer production, creates the communication that sustains the organization. Messages, not power, organize relations. We can see then how networking technologies make an easy fit, to wit, democratizing social arrangements, flattening or challenging traditional power, and embedding authority within communication rather than inherited social arrangements.

This section examines topics related to p2p-oriented views of relations, which are, and true to the p2p tradition, inventive and exploratory. A great deal of interest is focused on markets, social relations, and production efforts (knowledge, research, products, even politics). --Adrian Chan This page and on-going investigation is maintained by Adrian Chan and Remi Sussan.

Here's already an Introduction on Individuality, Relationality, and Collectivity, by Michel Bauwens.

Only the P2P Encyclopedia concepts from A to D have been ported at this stage.