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254 pages

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Description

Largely because of the Internet and the new economy, technology has become the buzzword of our culture. But what is it, and how does it affect our lives? More importantly, can we control and shape it, or does it control us? In short, can we make technology more democratic? Using the work of Andrew Feenberg, one of the most important and original figures in the field of philosophy of technology, as a foundation, the contributors to this volume explore these important questions and Feenberg responds.

In the 1990s, Feenberg authored three books that established him as one of the leading scholars in a rapidly developing field, and he is one of the few to delineate a theory for democratizing technological design. He has demonstrated the shortcomings of traditional theories of technology and argued for what he calls "democratic rationalization" where actors intervene in the technological design process to shape it toward their own ends. In this book, the contributors analyze foundational issues in Feenberg's work, including questions of human nature, biotechnology, gender, and his readings of Heidegger, and they also examine practical issues, including democratizing technology, moral evaluation, and environmentalism.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

PART 1: THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF A CRITICAL THEORY OF TECHNOLOGY

1. Rethinking Modernity as the Construction of Technological Systems
David J. Stump

2. The Posthuman Challenge to Andrew Feenberg
Simon Cooper

3. An Ecofeminist Response
Trish Glazebrook

4. What’s Wrong with Being a Technological Essentialist? A Response to Feenberg
Iain Thomson

5. From Critical Theory to Pragmatism: Feenberg’s Progress
Larry A. Hickman

PART 2: THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION

6. Democracy and Technology
Gerald Doppelt

7. Feenberg and the Reform of Technology
Albert Borgmann

8. Commodification and Secondary Rationalization
Paul B. Thompson

9. Democratic Technology, Population, and Environmental Change
Andrew Light

10. Technological Malleability and the Social Reconstruction of Technologies
Edward J. Woodhouse

Replies to Critics
Andrew Feenberg

Contributors
Index

Sujets

Philosophy

Informations

Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9780791480960
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1698€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Edited by Tyler J. Veak

Democratizing Technology

Andrew Feenberg’s

Critical Theory

of Technology

Albert Borgmann

Simon Cooper

Gerald Doppelt

Andrew Feenberg

Trish Glazebrook

Larry A. Hickman

Andrew Light

David J. Stump

Paul B. Thompson

Iain Thomson

Edward J. Woodhouse

D E M O C R AT I Z I N G T E C H N O L O G Y

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Democratizing Technology

Andrew Feenberg’s Critical Theory of Technology

Edited and with an introduction by Tyler Veak

s t at e u n i v e r s i t y o f n e w y o r k p r e s s

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210–2384

Production by Kelli Williams

Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Democratizing technology : Andrew Feenberg’s critical theory of technology / editor, Tyler J. Veak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978–0-7914–6917–0 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0–7914–6917–4 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn-13: 978–0-7914–6918–7 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0–7914–6918–2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Technology—Social aspects. I. Veak, Tyler J., 1963-T14.5.D448 2006 303.48'3—dc22 2005037169

1 0

Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PART 1: THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF A CRITICAL THEORY OF TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 1. Rethinking Modernity as the Construction of Technological Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David J. Stump

Chapter 2. The Posthuman Challenge to Andrew Feenberg . . . . . . . . Simon Cooper

Chapter 3.

An Ecofeminist Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trish Glazebrook

Chapter 4. What’s Wrong with Being a Technological Essentialist? A Response to Feenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iain Thomson

Chapter 5. From Critical Theory to Pragmatism: Feenberg’s Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry A. Hickman

vii

| vi Contents PART 2: THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION

Chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

Chapter 8.

Chapter 9.

Democracy and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Doppelt

Feenberg and the Reform of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Albert Borgmann

Commodiﬁcation and Secondary Rationalization . . . . . . . 112 Paul B. Thompson

Democratic Technology, Population, and Environmental Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Andrew Light

Chapter 10. Technological Malleability and the Social Reconstruction of Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Edward J. Woodhouse

Replies to Critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Feenberg

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

175

211

217

Acknowledgments

The idea for this volume was ﬁrst conceived at a Society for Philosophy and Technology conference in 1999, where I presented a paper critiquing Feen-berg’s latest work,Questioning Technology. Feenberg responded; and from this engagement we began an ongoing dialogue that ultimately resulted in this vol-ume. When I initiated this project I had no idea that it would take seven years to complete. Putting together an edited volume requires the cooperation of multiple parties without whom this volume would not have been possible. I wish to thank all of the contributors for their insightful chapters and for their patience in waiting for this publication, and especially to Andrew for tak-ing the time to work with me on this project. I am also grateful to Jane Bunker at SUNY Press who was willing to take on such a project from an unknown scholar, and to Kelli Williams for her patience in leading me through the maze of bringing a manuscript to publication. I would also like to thank my good friend and fellow colleague, Piyush Mathur, for his superbly prepared index. Lastly, I want to thank my family for their unwavering support in all my en-deavors. . . Tyler Veak Lynchburg, Virginia

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Introduction

Giiven the interconnections between particular technologies and local/global problems such as war, poverty, environmental destruction, disease, and increas-ing economic disparity, the importance of formulating a theory of technologi-cal transformation seems paramount. To this end, Andrew Feenberg offers one of the most fully developed theories on the politics of technological transfor-1 mation to date. His critical theory of technology is, therefore, a signiﬁcant point of dialogue for further research, hence the reason for this volume. Feenberg argues that “there are ways of rationalizing society that democra-2 tize rather than centralize control.” He reasons that if modernity as we know it is established through a process of rationalization, then alternative rational-izations are necessary in order to create alternative modernities. According to Feenberg, the current modernity is characterized by a particular rationality—a technical code—and that this rationality has been embodied in the techno-logical designs of modern society. Democratizing technology means expanding technological design to include alternative interests and values.

Background and Context of Feenberg’s Work

Some understanding of the context of Feenberg’s work is necessary to fully ap-preciate the contributions in this volume. Feenberg, a student of Herbert Mar-3 cuse, draws most heavily from the Frankfurt School tradition to formulate his critical theory of technology. Like his Frankfurt School predecessors, Feen-berg’s work is largely a response to, or continuation, of Max Weber’s theory of modernity. Weber claimed that the process of modernization fueled by capi-talism’s emphasis on “formal rationality” necessarily led to a differentiation