Philosophy and Technology

Only recently has the phenomenon of technology become an object of in terest for philosophers. The first attempts at a philosophy of technology date back scarcely a hundred years - a span of time extremely short when com pared with the antiquity of philosophical reflections on nature, science, and society. Over that hundred-year span, speculative, critical, and empiricist approaches of various sorts have been put forward. Nevertheless, even now there remains a broad gap between the importance of technology in the real world and the sparse number of philosophical works dedicated to the under standing of modern technology. As a result of the complex structure of modern technology, it can be dealt with in very different ways. These range from metaphysical exposition to efforts aimed at political consensus. Quite naturally, within such a broad range, certain national accents can be discovered-; they are shaped by a com mon language, accepted philosophical traditions, and concrete problems requiring consideration. Even so, the worldwide impact of technology, its penetration into all spheres of individual, social, and cultural life, together with the urgency of the problems raised in this context - all these demand a joint philosophical discussion that transcends the barriers of language and cultural differences. The papers printed here are intended to exemplify such an effort at culture-transcending philosophical discussion.

Analytical Table of Contents. - Introduction: Some Questions for Philosophy of Technology. - Introduction: Some Questions for Philosophy of Technology. - I / Can Technological Development Be Regulated? . - Can Government Regulate Technology? . - Social Implications of Recent Technological Innovations. - Technology and Human Rights. - Technology Assessment, Facts and Values. - A Critique of Technological Determinism. - Techne and Politeia: The Technical Constitution of Society. - II / Technology Assessment. - Technoaxiology: Appropriate Norms for Technology Assessment. - Comment: What Is Alternative Technology? A Reply to Professor Stanley Carpenter. - The Prospects for Technology Assessment. - Technology Assessment and the Problem of Quantification. - Forecast, Value, and the Recent Phenomenon of Non-Acceptance: The Limits of a Philosophy of Technology Assessment. - III / Responsibilities Toward Nature. - The Viability of Environmental Ethics. - Notes on Extended Responsibility and Increased Technological Power. - What Sort of Technology Permits the Language of Nature? Conditions for Controlling Nature-Domination Constitutionally. - IV / Metaphysical and Historical Issues. - The Historical-Ontological Priority of Technology over Science. - The Origins of Modern Technology in Millenarianism. - The Religious and Political Origins of Modern Technology. - From the Phenomenon to the Event of Technology (A Dialectical Approach to Heidegger s Phenomenology). - Pragmatism, Transcendental Arguments, and the Technological. - V / Directions for Philosophy of Technology. - The Cultural Character of Technology. - The Import of Social, Political, and Anthropological Considerations in an Adequate Philosophy of Technology. - Philosophy of Technology: Problems of a Philosophical Discipline. - Name Index.