Philosophy and Technology II

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

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2. Introduction: Information Technology and Computers as Themes in the Philosophy of Technology

   1. Introduction: Information Technology and Computers as Themes in the Philosophy of Technology

      • Carl Mitcham

      Pages 1-14

3. The Metaphysical and Epistemological Character of Information

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Information Measurement and Information Technology: A Myth of the Twentieth Century

      • Sybille Kramer-Friedrich

      Pages 17-28

   3. Information Technologies as Vehicles of Evolution

      • Paul Levinson

      Pages 29-47

   4. The Theory-Ladenness of Information

      • Friedrich Rapp

      Pages 49-62

   5. Information Does Not Make Sense or: The Relevance Gap in Information Technology and its Social Dangers

      • Günter Ropohl

      Pages 63-74

   6. “Information” In Epistemological and Ontological Perspective

      • Werner Strombach

      Pages 75-81

4. Philosophical Analyses of the Interactions Between Human Beings and Computers

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

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   2. Bio-Social Cybernetic Determination — or Responsible Freedom?

      • Heinrich Beck

      Pages 85-95

   3. Minds, Machines and Meaning

      • Fred Dretske

      Pages 97-109

   4. From Socrates to Expert Systems: The Limits of Calculative Rationality

      • Hubert L. Dreyfus, Stuart E. Dreyfus

      Pages 111-130

   5. Machine Perception

      • Patrick A. Heelan

      Pages 131-156

   6. Men and Machines: The Computational Metaphor

      • Earl R. Maccormac

      Pages 157-170

   7. Information, Artificial Intelligence, and the Praxical

      • Joseph Margolis

      Pages 171-186

5. Ethical and Political Issues Associated with Information Technology and Computers

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 187-187

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   2. Philosophical Reflections on the Microelectronic Revolution

      • Albert Borgmann

      Pages 189-203

   3. Microelectronics and Workers’ Rights

      • Edmund F. Byrne

      Pages 205-216

   4. Information Technology and the Technological System

      • Daniel Cérézuelle

      Pages 217-225

   5. The Computer as a Diagnostic Tool in Medicine

      • Nathaniel Laor, Joseph Agassi

      Pages 227-238

Until recently, the philosophy and history of science proceeded in a separate way from the philosophy and history of technology, and indeed with respect to both science and technology, philosophical and historical inquiries were also following their separate ways. Now we see in the past quarter-century how the philosophy of science has been profoundly in­ fluenced by historical studies of the sciences, and no longer concerned so single-mindedly with the analysis of theory and explanation, with the re­ lation between hypotheses and experimental observation. Now also we see the traditional historical studies of technology supplemented by phi­ losophical questions, and no longer so plainly focussed upon contexts of application, on invention and practical engineering, and on the mutually stimulating relations between technology and society. Further, alas, the neat division of intellectual labor, those clearly drawn distinctions be­ tween science and technology, between the theoretical and the applied, between discovery and justification, between internalist and externalist approaches . . . all, all have become muddled! Partly, this is due to internal revolutions within the philosophy and his­ tory of science (the first result being recognition of their mutual rele­ vance). Partly, however, this state of 'muddle' is due to external factors: science, at the least in the last half-century, has become so intimately connected with technology, and technological developments have cre­ ated so many new fields of scientific (and philosophical) inquiry that any critical reflection on scientific and technological endeavors must hence­ forth take their interaction into account.

• Socrates
• artificial intelligence
• bibliography
• computer
• evolution
• freedom
• interaction
• issue
• liberty
• medicine
• metaphor
• perception
• philosophy
• philosophy of technology
• rationality

• Philosophy & Technology Studies Center, Polytechnic Institute of New York, USA

  Carl Mitcham

• University of Düsseldorf, Germany

  Alois Huning

Policies and ethics