Doing Philosophy of Technology - Essays in a Pragmatist Spirit

Introduction

Doing Philosophy of Technology

References

Contents

Part I Society, Ethics and Values

1 Human Beings as Technological Artifacts

1.1 John Dewey and the Aims of Education

1.2 The Design Process

1.3 Students as Self-Designers

1.4 Active Versus Passive, Redux

2 Technology and the Objectivity of Values

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Types of Judgments

2.3 Epistemic Values as Objective Values

2.4 Problems with Ethics

2.5 The Methodology of Technological Decision-Making

References

3 Anticipating the Unknown

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Pragmatism

3.3 Ethics

3.4 Philosophy and Pragmatism

3.5 The Law of Unintended Consequences (LUC)

3.6 Way of Going and the Good Life

3.7 Common Sense Pragmatism

3.8 Common Sense Pragmatism as an Ethical Theory

3.9 Common Sense Pragmatism, Ethics, and Nanotechnology

3.10 A Different Approach

References

4 Dont Talk to Me

Part II Methodological Issues

5 Against the Perennial

5.1 Continents

5.2 Tectonics

5.3 Meaning

References

6 Philosophical Methodology, Technologies, and the Transformation of Knowledge

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Whats Wrong with the Philosophy of Technology?

6.3 The Aim of Philosophy

6.4 Changing Knowledge

6.5 Galileo and Mathematics

6.6 Galileo and the Telescope

6.7 Space and Beyond

6.8 Standard Conditions

6.9 Conclusions

References

7 Working the Natural/Artificial Distinction

References

8 Discovery, Telescopes, and Progress

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Discovery

8.3 Definitions

8.4 Galileo and the Telescope

8.5 Sicilian Realism and Technological Infrastructures

References

9 Explaining Change in Science

References

10 The Dilemma of Case Studies

References

11 Technological Explanation

11.1 Relevance

11.2 Technological Versus Scientific Explanation

11.2.1 The DN Theory

11.2.2 Other Theories of Explanation

11.3 Questions and Internal and External Audiences

11.4 Terminology

11.5 Systems

11.5.1 System and Design

11.5.2 System and Function

11.5.3 System and Structure

11.6 The Social

11.7 Explaining Failures

11.7.1 The Challenger Example

11.7.2 The 2000 US Presidential Election Example

11.7.3 The Ladbroke Grove Railroad Crash Example

11.8 Conclusions and Objections

11.9 Failure, Success, and Symmetry

References

Part III Design and Engineering

12 Successful Design in Engineering and Architecture

12.1 Engineering Design

12.2 Architectural Design

12.3 The Role of Creativity

12.4 Creativity and Freedom

12.5 Engineering and Creativity

12.6 Conclusion: Architectural Failures and Successes

References

13 Design Criteria in Architecture

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Architectural Design and Philosophy of Technology

13.3 James and Common Sense

13.4 A Common Sense Proposal

13.5 Common Sense Design

13.6 Conclusion -- Graves Reconsidered and the Mystery of the Guggenheim Finally Solved

References

14 Philosophy, Engineering, and the Sciences

References

15 What Engineers Know

15.1 A Pragmatic Theory of Knowledge

15.2 Scientific Knowledge

15.3 Engineering Knowledge

15.4 Philosophical Problems

References

16 Design Mistakes

References

Part IV Nano

17 The Epistemology of the Very Small

17.1 Introduction

17.2 Seeing the Unobservable

17.3 The Role of Metaphor

17.4 Learning to See Through Microscopes

17.5 Learning to See with Electron Microscopes

17.6 The Nano Scale and Nano Technology

References

18 When Is an Image Not an Image?

References

19 Small Talk: Nanotechnology and Metaphor

19.1 Introduction

19.2 An Example of an Early Use of Metaphor to Facilitate Theory Change

19.3 NANO -- Do Mixed Metaphors and a Lot of Mathematics Constitute a Proof?

References

Index