The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology

Description

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology gives readers a view into this increasingly vital and urgently needed domain of philosophical understanding, offering an in-depth collection of leading and emerging voices in the philosophy of technology. The thirty-two contributions in this volume cut across and connect diverse philosophical traditions and methodologies. They reveal the often-neglected importance of technology for virtually every subfield of philosophy, including ethics, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, aesthetics, philosophy of language, and political theory. The Handbook also gives readers a new sense of what philosophy looks like when fully engaged with the disciplines and domains of knowledge that continue to transform the material and practical features and affordances of our world, including engineering, arts and design, computing, and the physical and social sciences. The chapters reveal enduring conceptual themes concerning technology's role in the shaping of human knowledge, identity, power, values, and freedom, while bringing a philosophical lens to the profound transformations of our existence brought by innovations ranging from biotechnology and nuclear engineering to artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and robotics. This new collection challenges the reader with provocative and original insights on the history, concepts, problems, and questions to be brought to bear upon humanity's complex and evolving relationship to technology. Cover Contents Author Biographies 1. Introducing the Philosophy of Technology PART I: HISTORIES AND METHOD OLO GIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLO GY 2. What Is Living and What Is Dead in Classic European Philosophy of Technology? 3. The Empirical Turn 4. Philosophy of Technology and the Continental and Analytic Traditions 5. Whence and W(h)ither Technology Ethics PART II: TECHNOLO GY AND EPISTEMOLO GY 6. Styles of Objectivity in Scientific Instrumentation 7. Engineering Knowledge 8. The Epistemic Role of Technical Functions 9. Revisiting Smartness in the Smart City PART III: TECHNOLO GY, POWER , AND POLITICS 10. Philosophy of Technology as Politics 11. Postcolonialism and Technologies of Identification 12. Rawls, Information Technology, and the Sociotechnical Bases of Self- Respect 13. Freedom in an Age of Algocracy 14. (Bio)technology, Identity, and the Other PART IV: TECHNOLO GY, METAPHYSICS AND L ANGUAGE 15. The Technological Uncanny as a Permanent Dimension of Selfhood 16. Technology and the Ontology of the Virtual 17. Using Philosophy of Language in Philosophy of Technology 18. What Is It Like to Be a Bot? 19. Technological Multistability and the Trouble with the Things Themselves PART V: TECHNOLO GY, AESTHETICS, AND DESIGN 20. Understanding Engineering Design and Its Social, Political, and Moral Dimensions 21. Virtual Reality Media and Aesthetics 22. Evaluation, Validation, and Management in Design 23. Urban Aesthetics and Technology PART VI: TECHNOLO GY, HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT 24. Science Fiction Futures and (Re)visions of the Anthropocene 25. A Framework for Thawing Value Conflicts in the GMO Debate 26. The Minded Body in Technology and Disability 27. Outer Space as a New Frontier for Technology Ethics PART VII: TECHNOLO GY AND THE GO OD LIFE 28. Technology, Cognitive Enhancement, and Virtue Ethics 29. Toward an Existential and Emancipatory Ethic of Technology 30. Why Confucianism Matters for the Ethics of Technology 31. Care Ethics, Philosophy of Technology, and Robots in Humanitarian Action 32. Emerging Technology as Promise and Peril Index