Andrew Feenberg: Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory (1995)
Filed under book | Tags: · critique, modernity, philosophy, social theory, technics, technology
In this new collection of essays, Andrew Feenberg argues that conflicts over the design and organization of the technical systems that structure our society shape deep choices for the future. A pioneer in the philosophy of technology, Feenberg demonstrates the continuing vitality of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. He calls into question the anti-technological stance commonly associated with its theoretical legacy and argues that technology contains potentialities that could be developed as the basis for an alternative form of modern society.
Feenberg’s critical reflections on the ideas of Jürgen Habermas, Herbert Marcuse, Jean-François Lyotard, and Kitaro Nishida shed new light on the philosophical study of technology and modernity. He contests the prevalent conception of technology as an unstoppable force responsive only to its own internal dynamic and politicizes the discussion of its social and cultural construction.
This argument is substantiated in a series of compelling and well-grounded case studies. Through his exploration of science fiction and film, AIDS research, the French experience with the “information superhighway,” and the Japanese reception of Western values, he demonstrates how technology, when subjected to public pressure and debate, can incorporate ethical and aesthetic values.
Publisher University of California Press, 1995
ISBN 0520089863, 9780520089860
251 pages
PDF (EPUB; updated on 2012-7-31)
Comment (0)Peter-Paul Verbeek: What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design (2000/2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · actor-network theory, design, hermeneutics, industrial design, phenomenology, philosophy, philosophy of technology, technology, things
“Our modern society is flooded with all sorts of devices: TV sets, automobiles, microwaves, mobile phones. How are all these things affecting us? How can their role in our lives be understood? What Things Do answers these questions by focusing on how technologies mediate our actions and our perceptions of the world.
Peter-Paul Verbeek develops this innovative approach by first distinguishing it from the classical philosophy of technology formulated by Jaspers and Heidegger, who were concerned that technology would alienate us from ourselves and the world around us. Against this gloomy and overly abstract view, Verbeek draws on and extends the work of more recent philosophers of technology like Don Ihde, Bruno Latour, and Albert Borgmann to present a much more empirically rich and nuanced picture of how material artifacts shape our existence and experiences. In the final part of the book Verbeek shows how his “postphenomenological” approach applies to the technological practice of industrial designers.
Its systematic and historical review of the philosophy of technology makes What Things Do suitable for use as an introductory text, while its innovative approach will make it appealing to readers in many fields, including philosophy, sociology, engineering, and industrial design.”
Originally published in Dutch as De daadkracht der dingen: Over techniek, filosofie en vormgeving by Boom Publishers, Amsterdam, 2000
Translated by Robert P. Crease
Publisher Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005
ISBN 0271025395, 9780271025391
264 pages
PDF (updated on 2021-8-16)
Comments (3)Bruno Latour, Peter Weibel (eds.): Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy (2005)
Filed under book, catalogue | Tags: · aesthetics, art, assemblage, democracy, philosophy, political economy, politics, science, societya, technology, things
“In this editorial and curatorial project, more than 100 writers, artists, and philosophers rethink what politics is about. In a time of political turmoil and anticlimax, this book redefines politics as operating in the realm of things. Politics is not just an arena, a profession, or a system, but a concern for things brought to the attention of the fluid and expansive constituency of the public. But how are things made public? What, we might ask, is a republic, a res publica, a public thing, if we do not know how to make things public? There are many other kinds of assemblies, which are not political in the usual sense, that gather a public around things—scientific laboratories, supermarkets, churches, and disputes involving natural resources like rivers, landscapes, and air. The authors of Making Things Public—and the ZKM show that the book accompanies—ask what would happen if politics revolved around disputed things. Instead of looking for democracy only in the official sphere of professional politics, they examine the new atmospheric conditions—technologies, interfaces, platforms, networks, and mediations that allow things to be made public. They show us that the old definition of politics is too narrow; there are many techniques of representation—in politics, science, and art—of which Parliaments and Congresses are only a part.”
The authors include Richard Rorty, Simon Schaffer, Peter Galison, Richard Powers, Lorraine Daston, Richard Aczel, and Donna Haraway; their writings are accompanied by excerpts from John Dewey, Shakespeare, Swift, La Fontaine, and Melville. More than 500 color images document the new idea of what Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel call an “object-oriented democracy.”
Publisher MIT Press, 2005
ISBN 0262122790, 9780262122795
1072 pages
Review: Anthony Iles (Mute).
PDF (82 MB, updated on 2020-7-13)
Comment (1)