THE IDEA OF THE DIGITAL UNIVERSE: AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Natalia Igorevna Kozhokaru
State Academic University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: digital universe, simulation, epistemology, transcendental philosophy, Kant, Bostrom, information, postmetaphysics, interface, digital cognition
Abstract
The article explores the concept of the digital universe as an epistemological challenge to both classical and contemporary theories of knowledge. Drawing on transcendental and comparative-philosophical approaches, the author analyzes how the simulation hypothesis, digital ontology, and the information paradigm reshape our understanding of the subject, truth, and the conditions of knowledge. Particular attention is given to Platonic ontology, Gnostic cosmology, twentieth- and twenty-first-century philosophy of mind, and postmetaphysical theories in which information and interface replace traditional ontological categories. Through a critical comparison of the ideas of Immanuel Kant, Nick Bostrom, David Chalmers, Luciano Floridi, and Jean Baudrillard, the article argues that the digital universe does not merely simulate reality but constitutes a new form of ontological environment in which knowledge becomes a function of behavior, visualization, and algorithmic mediation. The study concludes with a call to reconsider the foundations of epistemology in the context of digital simulation and to develop hybrid cognitive structures capable of engaging with the complexity and multiplicity of informational being.
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