Philosophy of Technology: Practical, Historical and Other Dimensions / Edition 1

by P.T. Durbin

Overview

The corps of philosophers who make up the Society for Philosophy & Technology has now been collaborating, in one fashion or another, for almost fifteen years. In addition, the number of philosophers, world-wide, who have begun to focus their analytical skills on technology and related social problems grows increasingly every year. {It would certainly swell the ranks if all of them joined the Society!) It seems more than appropriate, in this context, to publish a miscellaneous volume that em­ phasizes the extraordinary range and diversity of contemporary contributions to the philosophical understanding of the exceedingly complex phenomenon that is modern technology. My thanks, once again, to the anonymous referees who do so much to maintain standards for the series. And thanks also to the secretaries - Mary Imperatore and Dorothy Milsom - in the Philosophy Department at the University of Delaware; their typing and retyping of the MSS, and especially notes and references, also contributes to keeping our standards high. PAUL T. DURBIN vii Paul T. Durbin (ed.), Philosophy ofT echnology, p. vii.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792301394
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	06/30/1989
Series:	Philosophy and Technology , #6
Edition description:	1989
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 11.69(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

I Practical Problems.- Cybernetics, Culpability, and Risk: Automatic Launch and Accidental War.- Catastrophic Possibilities of Space-Based Defense.- Judgment and Policy: The Two-Step in Mandated Science and Technology.- II Historical Dimensions.- Skull’s Darkroom: The Camera Obscura and Subjectivity.- Workplace Democracy for Teachers: John Dewey’s Contribution.- Doing and Making in a Democracy: Dewey’s Experience of Technology.- Pragmatism, Praxis, and the Technological.- III International and Intergenerational Perspectives.- Philosophy of Technology in China.- Design Methodology: A Personal Statement.- Responsibility and Future Generations: A Constructivist Model.- Name Index.

Editorial Reviews

The still soft boundaries and diffusion of subject matter, and the already contentious infighting of an emerging discipline, the philosophy of technology, is demonstrated in ten essays by established authorities and newcomers to the field. The sections cover immediate practical concerns, such as the risk of nuclear war; historical issues, such as the field's relationship to pragmatism; and international and intergenerational topics, such as the state of philosophy of technology in China, and the threat to future generations posed by biotechnology. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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