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Philosophy and Technology II

Information Technology and Computers in Theory and Practice

  • Book
  • © 1986

Overview

Editors:
  1. Carl Mitcham

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

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Alois Huning

    1. University of Düsseldorf, Germany

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 90)

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  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
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Carl Mitcham

  • University of Düsseldorf, Germany

    Alois Huning

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Philosophy and Technology II

  • Book Subtitle: Information Technology and Computers in Theory and Practice

  • Editors: Carl Mitcham, Alois Huning

  • Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4512-8

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland 1986

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-1975-1Due: 31 March 1986

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-8510-6Published: 13 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4512-8Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0068-0346

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 384

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology

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