Technology and Human Existence

The materials I use for a six-week First Year option on the philosophy of technology

Introduction

In this option, which first ran in first semester, 1993, I asked just what technology is, in what ways it affects us and just how much of a good thing it is. I looked at the views of a few authors who have already addressed this question. I also examined two spectacular failures of technological systems, namely, the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 by the U.S.S. Vincennes and the Challenger disaster, in order to pose questions concerning the nature and limits of technological control. The question was raised as to whether the increasing complexity which sophisticated technology makes possible is a threat to traditional political ideals such as democratic participation in the political process, the desirability and possibility of a steerable human society governed by substantial normative and ethical visions. Finally, I looked at notions of appropriate/alternative technology in order to see whether there are alternative “philosophies”of technological design and implementation.

Two videos were used in connection with the option, viz., On the Eighth Day and Whatever happened to Star Wars. The first looks at how technologies for overcoming infertility use women as guinea pigs for trialling and improving the technologies themselves. The second details the rise and fall of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, revealing in the process something of the politics of large-scale technological projects.

These notes were written in 1993 and updated across 1994 and 1995. Since then I have only made some slight changes to them. Some of my views have of course changed since I first wrote and updated them.

  • This is the first of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the second of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the third of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the fourth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the fifth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the sixth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the seventh of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

    The structure and much of the substance of these notes have been adapted from lectures notes prepared by C.A. Hooker and J.N. Wright for the course “Technology and Human Values,” offered in 1991 by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Newcastle. Indeed, although he would disagree with my assessment of, e.g., Ellul, the general idea of a course on the philosophy of technology is one of several I owe to Hooker.

  • This is the eighth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the ninth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

  • This is the tenth of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

    This set of notes is incomplete and, unlike the other sets, has not been updated since 1993.

  • This is the eleventh of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.

    This set of notes relies on lecture notes from the course Technology and Human Values run by C.A. Hooker and J.N. Wright at the University of Newcastle. (In the text these lecture notes are referred to as Hooker and Wright.)

  • This is the last of a set of twelve course notes written in 1993 and revised across 1994 and 1995 for Technology and Human Existence, a half-semester first year option on the philosophy of technology.