Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Technology PDF Download

Author: Carl Mitcham
Publisher: JAI Press Incorporated
ISBN: 9780762306817
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Aims to advance philosophical reflections on technology through a focus on metaphysical and epistemological issues. This book contains chapters by contributors who employ the resources of both the phenomenological and analytical traditions of contemporary philosophy in their work.

Author: Frederick Ferré
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820317616
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
In this widely taught introductory survey, Frederick Ferré explains the fundamental concerns and methods of philosophy and then guides readers through a philosophical inquiry into some of the major issues surrounding technology's impact on our lives. The first half of the book concentrates on key definitions and epistemological issues, including an overview of philosophy as applied to technology, a definition of technology, and an examination of technology as it relates to practical and theoretical intelligence--especially how high technology relates to modern science and how science depends on technical craft. The second half addresses the problems of living with technology. Ferré contrasts Karl Marx's and Buckminster Fuller's "bright" visions of technology and modern existence with the "somber" visions of Martin Heidegger and Herbert Marcuse. Next, in offering direction for an ethical assessment of technology, Ferré poses questions about workplace automation, computers, nuclear energy, Third World development, and genetic engineering. Finally, the book considers debates about the mutual influences between technology and religion, and technology and metaphysics. A glossary and a list of suggested further readings are included. Providing a philosophical framework that will remain timely in the face of rapid technological change, Philosophy of Technology will help students in both the sciences and liberal arts to examine comprehensively their own and society's fundamental beliefs and attitudes about technology.

Author: Shannon Vallor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019085118X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 697

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Book 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.

Author: Tomas Pernecky
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 147398694X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This clearly written and provocative text outlines the wide range of epistemological and metaphysical pillars of research. In a clear, easy to follow style, the reader is guided through an array of concepts that are defined, explained and made simple. With the aid of helpful examples and case studies, the book challenges the prevailing modes of thinking about qualitative inquiry by showcasing an immense variety of philosophical frameworks. Armed with a strong understanding of this philosophical backbone, students will be able to choose and defend a ‘pick and mix’ of research methods that will uniquely complement their research. Empiricism Rationalism Realism Skepticism Idealism Positivism Post-positivism Idea-ism Hermeneutics Phenomenology Social Ontology Quantum Mechanics Essential reading for new and experienced researchers, this ‘must’ for any social science bookshelf will help unlock a new level of research creativity.

Author: Anjan Chakravartty
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190651458
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Though science and philosophy take different approaches to ontology, metaphysical inferences are relevant to interpreting scientific work, and empirical investigations are relevant to philosophy. This book argues that there is no uniquely rational way to determine which domains of ontology are appropriate for belief, making room for choice in a transformative account of scientific ontology.

Author: Mark Coeckelbergh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131552855X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book offers a systematic framework for thinking about the relationship between language and technology and an argument for interweaving thinking about technology with thinking about language. The main claim of philosophy of technology—that technologies are not mere tools and artefacts not mere things, but crucially and significantly shape what we perceive, do, and are—is re-thought in a way that accounts for the role of language in human technological experiences and practices. Engaging with work by Wittgenstein, Heidegger, McLuhan, Searle, Ihde, Latour, Ricoeur, and many others, the author critically responds to, and constructs a synthesis of, three "extreme", idealtype, untenable positions: (1) only humans speak and neither language nor technologies speak, (2) only language speaks and neither humans nor technologies speak, and (3) only technology speaks and neither humans nor language speak. The construction of this synthesis goes hand in hand with a narrative about subjects and objects that become entangled and constitute one another. Using Words and Things thus draws in central discussions from other subdisciplines in philosophy, such as philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics, to offer an original theory of the relationship between language and (philosophy of) technology centered on use, performance, and narrative, and taking a transcendental turn.

Author: Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118394232
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 709

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Book Description
Drawing on essays from leading international and multi-disciplinary scholars, A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology is the first comprehensive and authoritative reference source to cover the key issues of technology’s impact on society and our lives. Presents the first complete, authoritative reference work in the field Organized thematically for use both as a full introduction to the field or an encyclopedic reference Draws on original essays from leading interdisciplinary scholars Features the most up-to-date and cutting edge research in the interdisciplinary fields of philosophy, technology, and their broader intellectual environments

Author: Roger Trigg
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474964
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Does science have all the answers? Can it even deal with abstract reasoning beyond the world we experience? How can we ensure that the physical world is sufficiently ordered to be intelligible to humans? How can mathematics, a product of human minds, unlock the secrets of the physical universe? Should all such questions be considered inadmissible if science cannot settle them? Metaphysics has traditionally been understood as reasoning beyond the reach of science, sometimes even claiming realities beyond its grasp. Because of this, metaphysics is often contemptuously dismissed by scientists and philosophers who wish to remain within the bounds of what can be scientifically proven. Yet scientists at the frontiers of physics unwittingly engage in metaphysics, as they are now happy to contemplate whole universes that are, in principle, beyond human reach. Roger Trigg challenges those who deny that science needs philosophical assumptions. Trigg claims that the foundations of science themselves have to lie beyond science. It takes reasoning apart from experience to discover what is not yet known and this metaphysical reasoning to imagine realities beyond what can be accessed. “In Beyond Matter, Roger Trigg advances a powerful, persuasive, fair-minded argument that the sciences require a philosophical, metaphysical foundation. This is a brilliant book for newcomers to the philosophy of science and experts alike.” —Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy, St. Olaf College

Author: Robert C. Scharff
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9781118547250
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The new edition of this authoritative introduction to the philosophy of technology includes recent developments in the subject, while retaining the range and depth of its selection of seminal contributions and its much-admired editorial commentary. Remains the most comprehensive anthology on the philosophy of technology available Includes editors’ insightful section introductions and critical summaries for each selection Revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in the field Combines difficult to find seminal essays with a judicious selection of contemporary material Examines the relationship between technology and the understanding of the nature of science that underlies technology studies

Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080930743
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 1473

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Book Description
The Handbook Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences addresses numerous issues in the emerging field of the philosophy of those sciences that are involved in the technological process of designing, developing and making of new technical artifacts and systems. These issues include the nature of design, of technological knowledge, and of technical artifacts, as well as the toolbox of engineers. Most of these have thus far not been analyzed in general philosophy of science, which has traditionally but inadequately regarded technology as mere applied science and focused on physics, biology, mathematics and the social sciences. - First comprehensive philosophical handbook on technology and the engineering sciences - Unparalleled in scope including explorative articles - In depth discussion of technical artifacts and their ontology - Provides extensive analysis of the nature of engineering design - Focuses in detail on the role of models in technology