Philosophy of technology
Encyclopedia
The philosophy of technology is a philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 field dedicated to studying the nature of technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and its social effects.

History

Considered under the rubric of the Greek term techne (art, or craft knowledge), the philosophy of technology goes to the very roots of Western philosophy
Western philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....

.
  • In his Republic
    Republic (Plato)
    The Republic is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC concerning the definition of justice and the order and character of the just city-state and the just man...

    , Plato
    Plato
    Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

     sees techne
    Techne
    Techne, or techné, as distinguished from episteme, is etymologically derived from the Greek word τέχνη which is often translated as craftsmanship, craft, or art. It is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective...

    as the basis for the philosophers' proper rule in the city.
  • In the Nicomachean Ethics
    Nicomachean Ethics
    The Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle's best known work on ethics. The English version of the title derives from Greek Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, transliterated Ethika Nikomacheia, which is sometimes also given in the genitive form as Ἠθικῶν Νικομαχείων, Ethikōn Nikomacheiōn...

     (Book 6), Aristotle
    Aristotle
    Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

     describes techne as one of the four ways that we can know about the world.
  • The Stoics argued that virtue is a kind of techne based upon a proper understanding of the universe
    Universe
    The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...

    .

19th century development

In 1877, the native German philosopher and geographer Ernst Kapp
Ernst Kapp
Ernst Kapp was a German philosopher of technology and geographer, he was also a follower of Carl Ritter.He was prosecuted for sedition in the late 1840's for publishing a small article entitled 'Der konstituiert Despotismus und die konstitutionelle Freiheit' and was subsequently forced to leave...

 who was based in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, published the fundamental book "Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik" in 1877 . Kapp was deeply inspired by the philosophy of Hegel and regarded technique as a projection of human organs. In the European context, Kapp is referred to as the founder of philosophy of technology.
Another, more materialistic position on technology which became very influential in the 20th century philosophy of technology, were constituted around the ideas of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

 and Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

.

20th century development

Five prominent 20th century philosophers to directly address the effects of modern technology on humanity were John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...

, Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...

, Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse was a German Jewish philosopher, sociologist and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory...

, Günther Anders
Günther Anders
Günther Anders was a Jewish philosopher and journalist who developed a philosophical anthropology for the age of technology, focusing on such themes as the effects of mass media on our emotional and ethical existence, the nuclear threat, the Shoah and the question of being a philosopher.- Biography...

 and Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...

. They all saw technology as central to modern life, although Heidegger, Anders, Arendt and Marcuse were more ambivalent and critical than Dewey. The problem for Heidegger was the hidden nature of technology's essence, Gestell
Gestell
Gestell is a German word used by twentieth century German philosopher Martin Heidegger to describe what lies behind or beneath modern technology.-Heidegger's notion of Gestell:...

or Enframing which poised for humans what he called its greatest danger thus its greatest possibility. Heidegger's major work on technology is found in The Question Concerning Technology
The Question Concerning Technology
For Martin Heidegger broadly, the question of being formed the essence of his philosophical inquiry. In The Question Concerning Technology , Heidegger sustains this inquiry, but turns to the particular phenomenon of technology, seeking to derive the essence of technology and humanity’s role of...

.

Contemporary philosophy

Contemporary philosophers with an interest in technology include Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and post-structuralism.-Life:...

, Albert Borgmann
Albert Borgmann
Albert Borgmann is an American philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of technology. He was born in Freiburg, Germany, and is a professor of philosophy at the University of Montana.-Philosophy:...

, Andrew Feenberg
Andrew Feenberg
Andrew Feenberg holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, continental philosophy, critique of technology and science and technology studies...

, Langdon Winner
Langdon Winner
Langdon Winner is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Science and Technology Studies atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York since 1990....

, Donna Haraway
Donna Haraway
Donna J. Haraway is currently a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, United States...

, Avital Ronell
Avital Ronell
Avital Ronell is a Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and a Professor of German, comparative literature, and English at New York University, where she co-directs the Research in Trauma and Violence project...

, Don Ihde
Don Ihde
Don Ihde is a philosopher of science and technology, and a post-phenomenologist. In 1979 he wrote what is often identified as the first North American work on philosophy of technology, Technics and Praxis. Ihde is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony...

, Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...

, Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....

, Carl Mitcham
Carl Mitcham
Carl Mitcham is a philosopher of technology. Born in 1941, Mitcham is currently Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines and a professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee....

, Leo Marx
Leo Marx
Leo Marx is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author known for his works in the field of American studies. Marx's work in American studies examines the relationship between technology and culture in 19th and 20th century America. He graduated from Harvard University...

, Gilbert Simondon
Gilbert Simondon
Gilbert Simondon was a French philosopher best known for his theory of individuation, a major source of inspiration for Gilles Deleuze and Bernard Stiegler.- Career :...

, Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...

, Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist. He wrote several books about the "technological society" and the interaction between Christianity and politics....

, Bernard Stiegler
Bernard Stiegler
Bernard Stiegler is a French philosopher at Goldsmiths, University of London and at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne. In addition, he is Director of the , founder in 2005 of the political and cultural group, , and founder in 2010 of the philosophy school,...

, Günter Ropohl
Günter Ropohl
Günter Ropohl is a German philosopher of technology.- Biography :Günter Ropohl studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Stuttgart University, where he was a scholar of the philosopher Max Bense...

, Nicole C. Karafyllis
Nicole C. Karafyllis
Nicole C. Karafyllis , is a German-Greek philosopher and biologist. Since 2010, she is Department Chair and Philosophy Professor at the TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig/Brunswick Institute of Technology ....

, Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University...

 and George Grant
George Grant
George Grant may refer to:*George A. Grant, National Park Service photographer 1929-1954*George Davidson Grant , Canadian politician*George F...

.

While a number of important individual works were published in the second half of the twentieth century, Paul Durbin has identified two books published at the turn of the century as marking the development of the philosophy of technology as an academic subdiscipline with canonical texts; these were Technology and the Good Life (2000), edited by Eric Higgs
Eric Higgs (philosopher)
Eric Stowe Higgs is professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Trained in ecology, philosophy, and environmental planning, his work concerns ecological restoration, historical ecology, intervention ecology, and the changing character of life in technological...

, Andrew Light, and David Strong
David Strong
David Strong is an American philosopher and educator. He is currently a Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Rocky Mountain College. Strong has been noted as a disciple of Albert Borgmann; Strong explores Borgmann's ideas on technology within the context of a philosophy of...

 and American Philosophy of Technology (2001) by Hans Achterhuis
Hans Achterhuis
Herman Johan "Hans" Achterhuis is Professor Emeritus in Systematic Philosophy at the University of Twente, The Netherlands and one of the country's foremost philosophers...

.

Technology and neutrality

With improvements in technology comes progress and a great concern over its shadowing effect on society. Lelia Green uses recent gun massacres such as 'the Port Arthur Massacre' and the 'Dunblane Massacre
Dunblane massacre
The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide.-Timeline of events:...

' to bring out the concepts of technological determinism
Technological determinism
Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen , an American sociologist...

 and social determinism
Social determinism
Social determinism is the hypothesis that social interactions and constructs alone determine individual behavior ....

. Technological determinism argues that 'it was features of technology that determined its use and the role of a progressive society was to adapt to [and benefit from]technological change.'[Green, Lelia (2001) Technoculture, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, p 2.]. The alternative perspective would be social determinism which looks upon society being at fault for the 'development and deployment'[Green, Lelia (2001) Technoculture, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, p 3] of technologies. The reactions to the gun massacres were different in various regions, Tasmanian authorities made gun laws even stricter than before, while there was a demand in the US for the advocacy of fire arms. And here lies the split, both in opinion and in social dimension. According to Green, a technology can be thought of as a neutral entity only when the sociocultural context and issues circulating the specific technology are removed, it will be then visible to us that there lies a relationship of social groups and power provided through the possession of technologies.

See also

  • Critique of technology
    Critique of technology
    Critique of technology is an analysis of the negative impacts of technologies. It is argued that, in all advanced industrial societies , technology becomes a means of domination, control and exploitation, or more generally something which threatens the survival of humanity.Prominent authors...

  • Ethics of technology
    Ethics of technology
    Ethics in technology is a subfield of ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age. Some prominent works of philosopher Hans Jonas are devoted to ethics of technology. It is often held that technology itself is incapable of possessing moral or ethical qualities, since...

  • History of technology
    History of technology
    The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist...

  • Industrial sociology
    Industrial sociology
    Industrial sociology, until recently a crucial research area within the field of sociology of work, examines "the direction and implications of trends in technological change, globalization, labour markets, work organization, managerial practices and employment relations to the extent to which...

  • Philosophy of engineering
    Philosophy of engineering
    The philosophy of engineering is an emerging discipline that considers what engineering is, what engineers do and how their work impacts on society. As such, the philosophy of engineering includes aspects of ethics and aesthetics, as well as the ontology, epistemology, etc...

  • Technological evolution
    Technological evolution
    Technological evolution is the name of a science and technology studies theory describing technology development, developed by Czech philosopher Radovan Richta.-Theory of technological evolution:...

  • Theories of technology
    Theories of technology
    There are a number of theories attempting to address technology, which tend to be associated with the disciplines of science and technology studies and communication studies...


Further reading

  • Joseph Agassi
    Joseph Agassi
    Joseph Agassi is an Israeli academic with contributions in logic, scientific method, and philosophy. He studied under Karl Popper and taught at the London School of Economics. He later taught at the University of Hong Kong, the University of Illinois, Boston University, and York University in...

     (1985) Technology: Philosophical and Social Aspects, Episteme, Dordrecht: Kluwer. ISBN 90-277-2044-4.
  • Hans Achterhuis
    Hans Achterhuis
    Herman Johan "Hans" Achterhuis is Professor Emeritus in Systematic Philosophy at the University of Twente, The Netherlands and one of the country's foremost philosophers...

     (2001) American Philosophy of Technology Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33903-4
  • Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen and Evan Selinger (2006) Philosophy of Technology: 5 Questions. New York: Automatic Press / VIP
    Automatic Press / VIP
    Automatic Press / VIP is an independent publishing house founded in 2005. It published interview books featuring prominent scholars and philosophers...

    . website
  • Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen, Stig Andur Pedersen and Vincent F. Hendricks (2009) A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology. Wiley-Blackwell. http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-140514601X.html ISBN 978-1-4051-4601-2
  • Borgmann, Albert
    Albert Borgmann
    Albert Borgmann is an American philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of technology. He was born in Freiburg, Germany, and is a professor of philosophy at the University of Montana.-Philosophy:...

     (1984) Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226066288
  • Ellul, Jacques
    Jacques Ellul
    Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist. He wrote several books about the "technological society" and the interaction between Christianity and politics....

     (1964), The Technological Society. Vintage Books.
  • Michael Eldred (2000) 'Capital and Technology: Marx and Heidegger', Left Curve No.24, May 2000 (Ver. 3.0 2010). Original German edition Kapital und Technik: Marx und Heidegger, Roell Verlag, Dettelbach, 2000 117 pp. ISBN 3-89754-171-8.
  • Michael Eldred (2009) 'Critiquing Feenberg on Heidegger's Aristotle and the Question Concerning Technology'.
  • Feenberg, Andrew
    Andrew Feenberg
    Andrew Feenberg holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, continental philosophy, critique of technology and science and technology studies...

     (1999) Questioning Technology. Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0415197540
  • Green,Lelia (2001) Technoculture: From Alphabet to Cybersex. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest pp 1–20.
  • Heidegger, Martin
    Martin Heidegger
    Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...

     (1977) The Question Concerning Technology
    The Question Concerning Technology
    For Martin Heidegger broadly, the question of being formed the essence of his philosophical inquiry. In The Question Concerning Technology , Heidegger sustains this inquiry, but turns to the particular phenomenon of technology, seeking to derive the essence of technology and humanity’s role of...

    . Harper and Row.
  • Hickman, Larry (1992) John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology. Indiana University Press.
  • Eric Higgs
    Eric Higgs (philosopher)
    Eric Stowe Higgs is professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Trained in ecology, philosophy, and environmental planning, his work concerns ecological restoration, historical ecology, intervention ecology, and the changing character of life in technological...

    , Andrew Light and David Strong. (2000). Technology and the Good Life. Chicago University Press.
  • Christoph Hubig, Alois Huning, Günter Ropohl
    Günter Ropohl
    Günter Ropohl is a German philosopher of technology.- Biography :Günter Ropohl studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Stuttgart University, where he was a scholar of the philosopher Max Bense...

     (2000) Nachdenken über Technik. Die Klassiker der Technikphilosophie. Berlin: edition sigma. 2nd ed. 2001.
  • David M. Kaplan, ed. (2004) Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Nicole C. Karafyllis
    Nicole C. Karafyllis
    Nicole C. Karafyllis , is a German-Greek philosopher and biologist. Since 2010, she is Department Chair and Philosophy Professor at the TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig/Brunswick Institute of Technology ....

    , Tilmann Haar (Ed.) (2004) Technikphilosophie im Aufbruch. Festschrift für Günter Ropohl. Berlin: edition sigma.
  • Manuel de Landa
    Manuel de Landa
    Manuel De Landa, , is a writer, artist and philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975. He is presently the Gilles Deleuze Chair of Contemporary Philosophy and Science at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland; a lecturer at the Canisius College in Buffalo, New York; a lecturer...

     War in the Age of Intelligent Machines
    War in the Age of Intelligent Machines
    War in the Age of Intelligent Machines is a book by Manuel de Landa that traces the history of warfare and of technology. It is influenced in part by Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish , and also reinterprets the concepts of war machines and the machinic phylum, introduced in Deleuze and...

    . (1991). Zone Books. ISBN 978-0942-29975-5.
  • Levinson, Paul
    Paul Levinson
    Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....

     (1988) Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age. JAI Press.
  • Lyotard, Jean-François
    Jean-François Lyotard
    Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition...

     (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
    The Postmodern Condition
    The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge is a short but influential philosophy book by Jean-François Lyotard in which he analyzes the epistemology of postmodern culture as the end of 'grand narratives' or metanarratives, which he considers a quintessential feature of modernity. The book was...

    . University of Minnesota Press.
  • McLuhan, Marshall.
    • The Gutenberg Galaxy
      The Gutenberg Galaxy
      The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man is a book by Marshall McLuhan, in which he analyzes the effects of mass media, especially the printing press, on European culture and human consciousness...

      . (1962). Mentor.
    • Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
      Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
      Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man is a pioneering study in media theory written by Marshall McLuhan. In it McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study...

      . (1964). McGraw Hill.
  • Mitcham, Carl
    Carl Mitcham
    Carl Mitcham is a philosopher of technology. Born in 1941, Mitcham is currently Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines and a professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee....

    . (1994). Thinking Through Technology. University of Chicago Press.
  • Nechvatal, Joseph
    Joseph Nechvatal
    Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...

     (2009) Towards an Immersive Intelligence: Essays on the Work of Art in the Age of Computer Technology and Virtual Reality (1993–2006). Edgewise Press.
  • Nechvatal, Joseph
    Joseph Nechvatal
    Joseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...

     (2009) Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.
  • Nye, David. (2006). Technology Matters. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-64067-1
  • Marshall Poe
    Marshall Poe
    Marshall Tillbrook Poe is an American writer and historian. He is a member of the Department of History at the University of Iowa, and a visiting professor at Eastern Michigan University for the 2007-8 academic year....

    . (2011) A History of Communications. Cambrige University Press. New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-107-00435-1
  • Scharff, Robert C. and Val Dusek eds. (2003). Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition. An Anthology. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-22219-4
  • Seemann, Kurt. (2003). Basic Principles in Holistic Technology Education. Journal of Technology Education, V14.No.2.
  • Simondon, Gilbert
    Gilbert Simondon
    Gilbert Simondon was a French philosopher best known for his theory of individuation, a major source of inspiration for Gilles Deleuze and Bernard Stiegler.- Career :...

    .
    • Du mode d'existence des objets techniques. (1958).
    • L'individu et sa genèse physico-biologique (l'individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d'information), (1964). Paris PUF 
  • Stiegler, Bernard
    Bernard Stiegler
    Bernard Stiegler is a French philosopher at Goldsmiths, University of London and at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne. In addition, he is Director of the , founder in 2005 of the political and cultural group, , and founder in 2010 of the philosophy school,...

    , (1998). Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus. Stanford University Press.
  • Winner, Langdon
    Langdon Winner
    Langdon Winner is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Science and Technology Studies atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York since 1990....

    . (1977). Autonomous Technology. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262-23078-0

Journals


Websites

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK