Theory of Technology

Martin Ryder
University of Colorado at Denver
School of Education

Theory of Technology

Studies of human artifacts as cause and consequence of socio-cultural development.

Resources

Techné: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology
CTheory (International journal of theory, technology and culture)
Red Rock Eater News Service (social and political aspects of computing and networking) (Phil Agre)
Stanford Humanities Review
Essays on the Philosophy of Technology (Compiled by Frank Edler)
Technology and Society (National School Boards Foundation)
Science and Engineering Encyclopedia (Charlie Hawkins, Dirac Delta Consultants)
Victorian Technology (George Landow)
Open Courses from M.I.T.
Science Technology and Society
Technology (Wikipedia)

Philosophy of Technology in the news (Google News Search)
News (Mumford, Marcuse, Ellul, Winner) Blogs
News (Heidegger, Hickman, Durbin, Ortega y Gassett) Blogs
News (Arendt, Haraway, Adorno, Turkle) Blogs
News (Dreyfus, Mitcham, Feenberg, Borgmann) Blogs

Readings

Agre (1995) the soul gained and lost: artificial intelligence as a philosophical project
Charles Babbage (1832) Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (McMaster University)
Beckman (2000) Martin Heidegger and Environmental Ethics
Wiebe Bijker
- Democratization of Technology, Who are the Experts?
Blacker (1994) Philosophy of Technology and Education
Roger Blumberg (2003) Technology and Contemporary Life (course syllabus)
Albert Borgmann
- Borgmann profile (Wikipedia)
- Borgmann sketch (Richard Veryard)
- On Humans and Machines (Borgmann interview by Katherine Hayles)
- Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life (1984)
  - notes and reflections (Stephen Talbott)
- Crossing the Postmodern Divide (1992)
  - pulisher's announcement (Univ of Chicago Press)
  - review (by Douglas Kellner) pdf
  - review (by Christopher Lasch)
- Holding On To Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium (1999)
  - Introduction
  - review by Douglas Kellner pdf
  - review by Charles Ess pdf
  - review by Sundeep Sahay
  - review by Eliseo Fernandez
  - review by Gregory Raschke
  - review (Mark Edwards)
- Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology
- Tripathi (2003) Coping with Innovative Technology: Albert Borgmann on how does technology change learning and teaching in formal and informal education. pdf
Brey Philosophy of Technology Meets Social Constructivism
Brey Feenberg on Modernity and Technology
Chafy (1997) Exploring the Intellectual Foundation of Technology Education: From Condorcet to Dewey Daniel Chandler
- Technological or Media Determinism
- Engagement with media: Shaping and being shaped
Hubert Dreyfus
- Highway Bridges and Feasts: Heidegger and Borgmann on How to Affirm Technology (Dreyfus and Spinosa, 1997)
- Being and Power: Heidegger and Foucault
- Heidegger and Foucault on the Subject, Agency and Practices
Paul Durbin
- Durbin Home Page
- Durbin resume (Univ of Delaware)
- Activist Philosophy of Technology Essays 1989-99
- Durbin Advances in Philosophy of Technology? Comparative Perspectives
Ebersole (1995) Media Determinism in Cyberspace
Edler (2000) On Contemporary Philosophies of Technology
Eldred (1995) Capital and Technology: Marx and Heidegger
Jacques Ellul
- Ellul profile (Samuel Ebersole)
- Ellul profile (Bill Wylie-Kellermann) mirror
- Ellul profile (Victor Shepherd)
- The Technological Society (1954)
  - Exerpts (courtesy John Acker)
- Present and the Future
- Technology Quotes (courtesy, Howard Rheingold)
- Jacques Ellul interview by Patrick Chastenet
Andrew Feenberg
- Feenberg profile (U.C. Berkeley)
- Feenberg Home Page (San Diego State Univ)
- Feenberg Home Page (Simon Fraser Univ)
- Summary Remarks on My Approach to the Philosophical Study of Technology
- Notes on the Philosophy of Technology (2001)
- Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Reflections on the 20th Century (2000)
- Modernity Theory and Technology Studies: Reflections on Bridging the Gap (1999)
- Can Technology Incorporate Values? Marcuse's Answer to the Question of the Age (1998)
- Whither Educational Technology? (Peer Review, 1999)
- Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of Technology (2004)
  - preface
- Questioning Technology (Routledge 1999)
  - Preface and TOC
  - review (by Douglas Kellner) pdf
  - Symposium Society for Philosophy and Technology (2000)
- Escaping the Iron Cage Subversive Rationalization and Democratic Theory (1998)
- Marcuse or Habermas: Two Critiques of Technology (1996) pdf
- Heidegger, Habermas, and the Essence of Technology (1996)
- From Essentialism to Constructivism: Philosophy of Technology at the Crossroads (1996) mirror
- Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory (1995)
  - Contents and Introduction
  - Review (by Selfe and Powers)
- Feenberg and Barney, Community in the Digital Age (2004)
  - review (by Arun Kumar Tripathi)
- Technology and the Politics of Knowledge (1995)
- Subversive Rationalization: Technology, Power, and Democracy (1992)
- Critical Theory of Technology (1991)
- Pragmatism and the Critical Theory of Technology (2003)
Fischer (2007) Taylorism and Fordism
Gendreau (1995) The Cautionary Ontological Approach To Technology of Gabriel Marcel
Gregory (1998) Heidegger On Traditional Language And Technological Language
Güzeldere and Franchi (1995) mindless mechanisms,mindful constructions
Justin Hall (1998) Technology and Citizen Choice: Priorities and Responsibility for Tool Selection how do people evaluate and implement technologies? who is responsible?
Havas (1996) Contradictions in Principles of Ethics and Contemporary Technology
Ihde (1996) Philosophy of Technology, 1975-1995
Ihde (2003) pdf
Ihde (1996) Whole Earth Measurements
Imamichi, Miaoyang, and Fangtong (eds) The Humanization of Technology and Chinese Culture
Andrew Jamison (1999) The Dialectics of Sustainable Technology
Johnston, Lee and McGregor (1995) Engineering as Captive Discourse
Douglas Kellner
- Kellner Home Page
- Intellectuals and New Technologies
- NewTechnologies and Alienation: Some Critical Reflections (2003) pdf
Bruno LaTour
Alan Liu The Idea of Technology
Massumi (1995) Interface and Active Space: Human-Machine Design
Matthews The Metaphysics of Appearance: Heidegger's Critique of Technology
Carl Mitcham
- Mitcham profile (European Graduate School)
- Mitcham Home Page (Colorado School of Mines)
- Mitcham Home Page (European Graduate School)
- Thinking Through Technology (review by Richard Deitrich)
- Notes Toward a Philosophy of Meta-Technology (1995)
- Do Artifacts Have Dual Natures? Two Points of Commentary on the Delft Project (2002)
Lewis Mumford
Nieto, Neotropica, and Durbin (1995) Sustainable Development and Philosophies of Technology
,a href=http://www.infomotions.com/serials/jot/jot-v3n01-pannabecker-technological.txt>Pannabecker (1991) Technological Impacts and Determinism in Technology Education: Alternate Metaphors from Social Constructivism
Pannabecker (2005) For a History of Technology Education: Contexts, Systems, and Narratives
Poser (1998) On Structural Differences Between Science and Engineering
Rammert (1999) Relations that Constitute TechnoLogy and Media that Make a Difference: Toward a Social Pragmatic Theory of Technicization
Robinett Cyberethics: Back to the Future
Scharff and Dusek (2003) Philosophy of Technology
- look inside (Amazon.com)
Simpson (1995) Technology, Time and the Conversations of Modernity
- review by Andrew Feenberg
- review by Douglas Kellner
- Simpson home page
Thompson (2000) Thinking About Thinking About Technology
Timmermann The Social Construction of Science (and Technology) (course outline)
Thorstein Veblen
Paul Virilio
- Virilio profile (Wikipedia)
- Virilio profile (Mediamatic)
- Virilio profile (Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain)
- Virilio interview (by Luisa Futoransky, 1999)
- Virilio interview (John Armitage, 2000)
- Virilio interview (Jérôme Sans)
- The Information Bomb (1998) (Google Book Search) mirror
- Virilio (1995) Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!
- Open Sky book announcement (Metro Publishing)
Max Weber (1864-1920)
- Weber profile (Wikipedia)
- Weber profile (from Coser, 1977; courtesy Larry Ridener)
- Rationalization (Wikipedia)
- Gingrich (1999) Notes on Rationalization and Bureaucracy
- Allen (2004) Authority and Rationality - Max Weber pdf
- Boje Weber's Model of Transaction and Transformation Leadership Authority
- Iron Cage (Wikipedia)
- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905, Trans. Talcott Parsons, Anthony Giddens, 19930) (Courtesy, Univ of Virginia)
- Grosack (2006) Revisiting the Iron Cage: New Insights in Institutions, Theory from Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism pdf
- Feenberg (1998) Escaping the Iron Cage, or, Subversive Rationalization and Democratic Theory
Langdon Winner
- Winner Home Page
- Winner profile (Wikipedia)
- Winner profile (David Mathias)
- Winner profile (Ireland's Internet Future)
- Winner interview (Educom)
- Winner Weblog: Technopolis
- Are Humans Obsolete?
- mythinformation
- Science Policy and the Push for Nanotechnology (2003)
- Complexity, Trust and Terror (2002)
- Enthusiasm and Concern: Results of a New Technology Poll (2000)
- Silicon Valley mystery house (1999) (Summary by Andrew Wood)
- Who will be in Cyberspace> (1995)
- CyberLibertarian Myths and the Prospects for Community (1997)
- The Handwriting on the Wall: Resisting Technoglobalism's Assault on Education (1997)
- Computers and Hope in an Urban Ark (1997)
- How Technomania Is Overtaking the Millennium (1997)
- Societal Implications of Nanotechnology (1993 testimony to the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives)
- The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (1986)
  - review (by Scott London)
- Technology and Social Theory (course syllabus)

Concepts and Names Related to the Theory of Technology

Courses

Technology and Contemporary Life (Roger Blumberg)

corollary sites

All links verified September 01, 2008.

Main Index

September 01, 2008