Postphenomenological Investigations: Essays on Human-Technology Relations

by Rosenberger (Editor), Peter-Paul Verbeek (Editor), Don Ihde (Contribution by), Lenore Langsdorf (Contribution by), Kirk M. Besmer (Contribution by)

Overview

Postphenomenological Investigations: Essays on Human–Technology Relations provides an introduction to the school of thought called postphenomenology and showcases projects at the cutting edge of this perspective. Postphenomenology presents a unique blend of insights from the philosophical traditions of phenomenology and American pragmatism, and applies them to studies of user relations to technologies. These studies provide deep descriptions of the ways technologies transform our abilities, augment our experience, and shape the world around us. This book proceeds with a preface by Don Ihde, postphenomenology’s founder, and a detailed review of the main ideas of this perspective by the editors Robert Rosenberger and Peter-Paul Verbeek. The body of this volume is composed of twelve postphenomenological essays which reflect the expansive range, detail-orientation, and interdisciplinarity of this school of thought. These essays confront a broad assortment of topics, both abstract and concrete. Abstract topics addressed include metaphysics, ethics, methodology, and analysis of the notions of selfhood, skill training, speed, and political activism. Just a few of the concrete topics studied include human-like interactive robots, ethics education, image interpretation in radiology, science fiction tropes, transportation history, wearable computing, and organ donation protocols for brain-dead bodies. The volume concludes with constructive critiques of postphenomenology by Andrew Feenberg, Diane Michelfelder, and Albert Borgmann, all figures whose work is relevant to postphenomenological projects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739194379
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/20/2015
Series:	Postphenomenology and the Philosophy of Technology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Robert Rosenberger is assistant professor of philosophy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Peter-Paul Verbeek is professor of philosophy of technology and chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Twente.

Table of Contents

1. A Field Guide to Postphenomenology, Robert Rosenberger & Peter-Paul Verbeek
2. Why Postphenomenology Needs a Metaphysics, Lenore Langsdorf
3. What Robotic Re-embodiment Reveals about Virtual Re-embodiment: A Note on the Extension Thesis, Kirk M. Besmer
4. Thinking Technology With Merleau-Ponty, Aud Sissel Hoel & Annamaria Carusi
5. Movies and Bodies: Variations of the Embodied Self in Science-Fiction Techno Fantasies, Marie-Christine Nizzi
6. Bodies as Technology: How Can Postphenomenologists Deal with the Matter of Human Technique?, Fernando Secomandi
7. Four Dimensions of Technological Mediation, Asle H. Kiran
8. Tracing the Tracker: A Postphenomenological Inquiry into Self-Tracking Technologies, Yoni Van Den Eede
9. A Century on Speed: Reflections on Movement and Mobility in the 20th Century, Søren Riis
10. Searching for Alterity: What Can We Learn From Interviewing Humanoid Robots? Frances Bottenberg
11. Postphenomenology of the Robot Medical Student, Chris Kaposy
12. Mediating Multiplicity: Brain-Dead Bodies and Organ Transplant Protocols, Adam M. Rosenfeld
13. Towards a Hermeneutics of Unveiling, Jan Kyrre Berg Friis
14. Making the Gestalt Switch, Andrew Feenberg
15. Postphenomenology with an Eye to the Future, Diane Michelfelder
16. Stability, Instability, and Phenomenology, Albert Borgmann

Editorial Reviews

This collection provides an excellent overview of current work in one of the most important current approaches to the philosophy of technology.. . .The editors' summaries of the sixteen essays provide the reader with a helpful roadmap of the book's organization and content.. . .This is a well-conceived and articulated book and certainly one that both advances studies in the philosophy of technology and contributes to new ways of thinking about phenomenology.

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

This anthology is an absolute must for newcomers as well as those versed in the field and its discussions. The book shows how far the burgeoning field of postphenomenological analysis has come since the broader and largely technology-deterministic approaches made by the phenomenological predecessors, most prominently Martin Heidegger. Both novices and those already acquainted with this philosophical style of analysis get plenty of new food for thought in essays addressing technological agency, speed, ethics, humanoid robots, bodies, science fiction, politics, philosophy of design, and scientific practice, as well as a number of brilliantly executed and informative case studies.

Cathrine Hasse

[The book] is well referenced, and key texts are well signposting, meaning that a lateral rather than linear read may be more productive for newcomers to postphenomenology.

Centre for Medical Humanities

This book is a major contribution to the sparse body of knowledge in the Western philosophical tradition dealing with the foundations of a field of scholarly research. Here the case is so-called postphenomenology, which owes so much to Don Ihde, who provides a brilliant introduction. The two co-editors are equally important, and represent researchers in both the United States and Europe, whose contributions constitute much of the volume.

Paul Durbin

This anthology is an absolute must for newcomers as well as those versed in the field and its discussions. The book shows how far the burgeoning field of postphenomenological analysis has come since the broader and largely technology-deterministic approaches made by the phenomenological predecessors, most prominently Martin Heidegger. Both novices and those already acquainted with this philosophical style of analysis get plenty of new food for thought in essays addressing technological agency, speed, ethics, humanoid robots, bodies, science fiction, politics, philosophy of design, and scientific practice, as well as a number of brilliantly executed and informative case studies.--Cathrine Hasse, University of Aarhus

This book is a major contribution to the sparse body of knowledge in the Western philosophical tradition dealing with the foundations of a field of scholarly research. Here the case is so-called postphenomenology, which owes so much to Don Ihde, who provides a brilliant introduction. The two co-editors are equally important, and represent researchers in both the United States and Europe, whose contributions constitute much of the volume.
--Paul Durbin, University of Delaware

From the Publisher