New Directions in the Philosophy of Technology

✍ Scribed by Joseph C. Pitt (auth.), Joseph C. Pitt (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 228
• Series: Philosophy and Technology 11
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In this collection we finally find the philosophy of technology, a young and rapidly developing area of scholarly interest, making contact with history of science and technology, and mainstream epistemological and metaphysical issues. The sophistication of these papers indicates the maturity of the field as it moves away from the advocacy of anti-technology ideological posturing toward a deeper understanding of the options and restraints technological developments provide.
The papers presented here take us over a threshold into the real world of complicated social and technological interactions where science and art are shown to be integral to our understanding of technological change, and technological innovations are seen as configuring our knowledge of the world and opening up new possibilities for human development. With its rich historical base, this volume will be of interest to all students concerned about the interactions among technology, society, and philosophy.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Discovery, Telescopes, and Progress....Pages 1-16
Technology and Science-Based Heuristics....Pages 17-39
To an Eye in a Fixed Position: Glass, Art and Vision....Pages 41-61
The Structure of Technological Revolutions and the Gutenberg Myth....Pages 63-83
Paradigms and Paraphernalia: on the Relation Between Theory and Technology in Science....Pages 85-93
Technology and Anaximander’s Cosmical Imagination....Pages 95-138
Technological Values in the Applied Science Laboratory....Pages 139-151
The Normative Implications of the Configuration of the Applied Sciences: A Comment on Thompson....Pages 153-157
Reply to Heyboer....Pages 159-162
Technological Neutrality and the Changing Normative Context of Applied Science Research....Pages 163-184
Idealizations, Externalities, and the Economic Analysis of Law....Pages 185-206
Techniques of Discovery: Broad and Narrow Characterizations of Technology....Pages 207-218
Back Matter....Pages 219-225

✦ Subjects

Philosophy of Technology; History; Interdisciplinary Studies; Methodology of the Social Sciences