Technology and Values

This anthology features essays and book excerpts on technology and values written by preeminent figures in the field from the early 20th century to the present. It offers an in-depth range of readings on important applied issues in technology as well.

• Useful in addressing questions on philosophy, sociology, and theory of technology
• Includes wide-ranging coverage on metaphysics, ethics, and politics, as well as issues relating to gender, biotechnology, everyday artifacts, and architecture
• A good supplemental text for courses on moral or political problems in which contemporary technology is a unit of focus
• An accessible and thought-provoking book for beginning and advanced undergraduates; yet also a helpful resource for graduate students and academics

List of Figures xi

Acknowledgments xii

Source Acknowledgments xiii

General Introduction 1

Craig Hanks

Section One Theoretical Reflections on Technology 7

Part I Introductory Considerations of Technology 9

1 Toward a Philosophy of Technology 11
Hans Jonas

2 Four Philosophies of Technology 26
Alan R. Drengson

3 The Relation of Science and Technology to Human Values 38
William W. Lowrance

4 A Collective of Humans and Nonhumans 49
Bruno Latour

5 Technology and Ethics 60
Kristin Shrader-Frechette

Part II Considering the Autonomy of Technology 65

6 The Autonomy of Technology 67
Jacques Ellul

7 Artifice and Order 76
Langdon Winner

8 The Autonomy of Technology 87
Joseph Pitt

Part III Existential and Phenomenological Considerations 97

9 The Question Concerning Technology 99
Martin Heidegger

10 Man the Technician 114
José Ortega y Gasset

11 Focal Things and Practices 122
Albert Borgmann

12 A Phenomenology of Technics 134
Don Ihde

Part IV Critical Theory 157

13 The New Forms of Control 159
Herbert Marcuse

14 Technical Progress and the Social Life-World 169
Jürgen Habermas

15 The Critical Theory of Technology 176
Andrew Feenberg

Part V Pragmatic Considerations 197

16 Science and Society 199
John Dewey

17 Technology and Community Life 206
Larry Hickman

Part VI Feminist Considerations 223

18 A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century 225
Donna Haraway

19 Technological Ethics in a Different Voice 247
Diane P. Michelfelder

Section Two Applied Reflections on Technology and Value 259

Part VII Technology and Value in Everyday Life 261

Introduction 263

20 The Aesthetic Drama of the Ordinary 265
John McDermott

21 Domestic Technology: Labour-saving or Enslaving? 272
Judy Wajcman

22 Some Meanings of Automobiles 289
Douglas Browning

Part VIII Values and BioTechnologies 295

Introduction 297

23 How Splendid Technologies Can Go Wrong 299
Daniel Callahan

24 Genetics and Reproductive Risk: Can Having Children be Immoral? 304
Laura M. Purdy

25 Preventing a Brave New World 311
Leon Kass

26 Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research: Embryos and Beyond 323
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín and Marin Gillis

27 Food for Thought 335
Nina V. Federoff and Nancy Marie Brown

28 Value Judgments and Risk Comparisons. The Case of Genetically Engineered Crops 347
Paul B. Thompson

Part IX Urban Values 357

Introduction 359

29 The Highway and the City 361
Lewis Mumford

30 Designing Cities and Buildings as if They Were Ethical Choices 369
Jessica Woolliams

31 The Local History of Space 373
Steven Moore

32 Community 385
Joseph Grange

33 Urban Ecological Citizenship 397
Andrew Light

Part X Environmental Values 413

Introduction 415

34 Why Mow? 417
Michael Pollan

35 Technology 423
Lori Gruen

36 Environment, Technology, and Ethics 431
Rajni Kothari

37 The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic 438
J. Baird Callicott

38 Deep Ecology 454
Bill Devall and George Sessions

39 Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique 460
Ramachandra Guha

40 Just Garbage 468
Peter S. Wenz

Part XI Immediate Challenges: Information Technologies, Technological Systems and the Future of Human Values 477

Introduction 479

41 Philosophy of Information Technology 481
Carl Mitcham

42 Into the Electronic Millennium 491
Sven Birkerts

43 Why I Am not Going to Buy a Computer 500
Wendell Berry

44 In the Age of the Smart Machine 504
Shoshana Zuboff

45 The Social Life of Information 510
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid

46 The Quest for Universal Usability 522
Ben Shneiderman

Bibliography 531

“Overall, Technology and Values represents an excellent collection of readings, ranging from classical yet ever timely readings on the nature of technology itself, to cutting edge articles on recent technological developments in the applied sphere. Due to its unique broad and comprehensive coverage of the subject matter, coupled with its comprehensive bibliography, this book is an excellent tool for both graduate and undergraduate courses.” (Agric Hum Values, 2011)

"For its size and scope this collection docs a remarkable job of addressing a critical need for greater scholarly and public attention to questions of technology and values in contemporary culture. It is a rich and versatile resource for anyone interested in such questions, and this reviewer hopes that future editions will only improve on its virtues." (Technology and Culture, April 2010)

Craig Hanks is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas State University-San Marcos, where he is past-chair of the Institutional Review Board. He was previously at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and was Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He specializes in philosophy of technology and applied philosophy, and has taught courses on engineering ethics, environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, and philosophy of technology. He is author of Refiguring Critical Theory (2002) and editor of Inner Space/Outer Space: The Humanities, Technology and the Postmodern World (1993); his monograph, Technological Musings: Reflections on Technology and Values, is forthcoming. Technology and Values is a comprehensive anthology featuring essays and book excerpts written by pre-eminent figures in the field. With writings spanning the early twentieth century up to present day, this is a collection of in-depth readings on key technological issues – everything from biomedical and environmental concerns to the everyday use of computers and other forms of technology.

A one-of-a-kind resource tool, it is specifically designed to help readers make the important connections between abstract themes and concrete applications for both the individual and society. Accessible to the undergraduate, yet thorough enough for graduates and academics, this is an ideal text for courses in technology and society, philosophy of technology, and numerous other technology-related classes.

"This carefully selected and well organized collection of readings demonstrate the philosophical importance of technology and should be required reading to anyone wanting to find out how ubiquitous is technology in our lives. I cannot think of a better collection of texts if your task as a teacher is to engage students in questions about technology and values in their everyday lives."
–Gregory Fernando Pappas, Texas A&M University