Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology

Unrivalled in scope and valuable editorial content, Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition remains the most comprehensive anthology of philosophy of technology available. The second edition includes new and updated material on recent developments in the field, along with updates to the editors’ insightful critical introductions to each topic. It combines seminal essays with an updated selection of contemporary material to reflect changes in the field and in the world since the appearance of the first edition. In addition to its analysis of the familiar political, social, cultural, and engineering contexts affecting the nature of technology, the volume includes a thorough examination of the influence exerted on technology by historical, metaphysical, and epistemological concerns. It moves from readings on traditional concepts of techne , natural knowledge, and human nature, to the latest assessments of inherited paradigms, rooted in Enlightenment thinking, concerning science, technology, and the philosophy of technology. A substantial portion of the anthology focuses on Heidegger’s writings on technology and their influence, and on a variety of questions animated by his work that interrogate technology’s connection to the current human condition, especially in the developed world. Further essays consider the proper place of technological practice in human life, the apparent autonomy of technological forces, the idea of technology as a social practice and as a medium of political power, and technology’s role as a model for contemporary conceptions of intelligence and information.

Robert C. Scharff is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of Comte After Positivism (1995; 2002) and the former editor of Continental Philosophy Review (1995–2005). He publishes on 19th– and 20th–century Continental philosophy (especially Dilthey, Heidegger, and the hermeneutics of science), the history of positivism (especially Comte and Mill, and the connection between classical positivism and recent analytic philosophy), and the philosophy of technology. He is currently finishing a book manuscript, “How History Matters to Philosophy” and a collection of essays on Heidegger and technology, and editing a Blackwell Guidebook Series volume on Heidegger’s Being and Time . Val Dusek is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire. His research focuses on the history and philosophy of science and technology, with a particular interest in the social factors influencing scientific and technological development. He has written on non–mainstream philosophical influences (Asiatic, hermetic, romantic) on the history of electro–magnetic theory. His numerous publications include Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction (Wiley–Blackwell, 2006) and co–editorship of the first edition of this volume.