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A Philosophy of TechnologyIntroduction

A Philosophy of Technology: Introduction [Technology is not just a collection of technological products, but it is also about how people, more in particular engineers, develop these products, about how people use them to meet their specific ends, and about how this all changes the world as we know it. Ultimately, technology is an expression of our endeavours to adapt the world in which we live to meet our needs and desires. Technological action may therefore be termed a form of goal-oriented human behaviour aimed at primarily resolving practical problems. Yet, the most tangible results of such efforts are the material products of technology, and we shall call them technical artefacts1. Technical artefacts are physical objects such as nails, aeroplanes and skyscrapers, but they are also the tools, machines and factories that are used to fabricate those objects. But practical problems are not just resolved by introducing a bunch of technical artefacts into the world. With these artefacts come instructions for their use. And with these technical artefacts come also social roles for people and social institutions for enabling the use of the artefacts. In this book, we shall present a philosophical analysis of this created technological world in its full splendour. We shall cover a wide spectrum of issues ranging from questions concerning the nature of technical artefacts to analyses of the methodology and knowledge underlying design, and ranging from characterisations of how technology extends into the social world, to the ethical evaluation of technological actions in personal and social fields.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Philosophy of TechnologyIntroduction

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2011
ISBN
978-3-031-79969-3
Pages
1 –3
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-79971-6_1
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Technology is not just a collection of technological products, but it is also about how people, more in particular engineers, develop these products, about how people use them to meet their specific ends, and about how this all changes the world as we know it. Ultimately, technology is an expression of our endeavours to adapt the world in which we live to meet our needs and desires. Technological action may therefore be termed a form of goal-oriented human behaviour aimed at primarily resolving practical problems. Yet, the most tangible results of such efforts are the material products of technology, and we shall call them technical artefacts1. Technical artefacts are physical objects such as nails, aeroplanes and skyscrapers, but they are also the tools, machines and factories that are used to fabricate those objects. But practical problems are not just resolved by introducing a bunch of technical artefacts into the world. With these artefacts come instructions for their use. And with these technical artefacts come also social roles for people and social institutions for enabling the use of the artefacts. In this book, we shall present a philosophical analysis of this created technological world in its full splendour. We shall cover a wide spectrum of issues ranging from questions concerning the nature of technical artefacts to analyses of the methodology and knowledge underlying design, and ranging from characterisations of how technology extends into the social world, to the ethical evaluation of technological actions in personal and social fields.]

Published: Jan 1, 2011

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