Technical Artefacts: Creations of Mind and Matter

Technical Artefacts: Creations of Mind and Matter
Author: Peter Kroes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-05-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9400739400

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This book presents an attempt to understand the nature of technical artefacts and the way they come into being. Its primary focus is the kind of technical artefacts designed and produced by modern engineering. In spite of their pervasive influence on human thinking and doing, and therefore on the modern human condition, a philosophical analysis of technical artefacts and engineering design is lacking. Among the questions addressed are: How do technical artefacts fit into the furniture of the universe? In what sense are they different from objects from the natural world, or from the social world? What kind of activity is engineering design and what does it mean to say that technical artefacts are the embodiment of a design? Does it make sense to consider technical artefacts to be morally good or bad by themselves because of the way they influence human life? The book advances the thesis that technical artefacts, conceived of as physical constructions with a technical function, have a dual nature; they are hybrid objects combining physical and intentional features. It proposes a theory of technical functions and technical artefact kinds that does justice to this dual nature, analyses engineering design from the dual nature point of view, and argues that technical artefacts, because of their dual nature, have inherent moral significance.

Aristotle's Ontology of Artefacts

Aristotle's Ontology of Artefacts
Author: Marilù Papandreou
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2023-12-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1009340506

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A thorough reconstruction of Aristotle's account of artefacts that is sensitive to modern debates.

The Moral Status of Technical Artefacts

The Moral Status of Technical Artefacts
Author: Peter Kroes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2014-01-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9400779143

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This book considers the question: to what extent does it make sense to qualify technical artefacts as moral entities? The authors’ contributions trace recent proposals and topics including instrumental and non-instrumental values of artefacts, agency and artefactual agency, values in and around technologies, and the moral significance of technology. The editors’ introduction explains that as ‘agents’ rather than simply passive instruments, technical artefacts may actively influence their users, changing the way they perceive the world, the way they act in the world and the way they interact with each other. This volume features the work of various experts from around the world, representing a variety of positions on the topic. Contributions explore the contested discourse on agency in humans and artefacts, defend the Value Neutrality Thesis by arguing that technological artefacts do not contain, have or exhibit values, or argue that moral agency involves both human and non-human elements. The book also investigates technological fields that are subject to negative moral valuations due to the harmful effects of some of their products. It includes an analysis of some difficulties arising in Artificial Intelligence and an exploration of values in Chemistry and in Engineering. The Moral Status of Technical Artefacts is an advanced exploration of the various dimensions of the relations between technology and morality

Discipline Filosofiche (2018-1)

Discipline Filosofiche (2018-1)
Author: Riccardo Chiaradonna
Publisher: Quodlibet
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 8822902211

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Riccardo Chiaradonna, Filippo Forcignanò e Franco Trabattoni, Presentazione • Francesco Fronterotta, “Do the Gods Play Dice?”. Sensible Sequentialism and Fuzzy Logic in Plato’s Timaeus • Riccardo Chiaradonna, Massimo Marraffa, Ontology and the Self: Ancient and Contemporary Perspectives • Gabriele Galluzzo, Are Matter and Form Parts? Aristotle’s and Neo-Aristotelian Hylomorphism • Riin Sirkel, Essence and Cause: Making Something Be What It Is • Marilù Papandreou, Aristotle’s Hylomorphism and The Contemporary Metaphysics of Artefacts • Gabriele De Anna, Substance, Form, and Modality • Maddalena Bonelli, Dipendenza e indipendenza ontologica: la modernità della posizione peripatetica • Enrico Postiglione, Aristotle on the Distribution of Consciousness • Diego Zucca, Neo-Aristotelian Biofunctionalism • Matteo Pietropaoli, L’οὐσία come presenza costante e l’esser vero come autentico essere. Heidegger interprete di Aristotele, Metafisica Θ 10

Philosophy of Engineering, East and West

Philosophy of Engineering, East and West
Author: Carl Mitcham
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2018-02-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319624504

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This co-edited volume compares Chinese and Western experiences of engineering, technology, and development. In doing so, it builds a bridge between the East and West and advances a dialogue in the philosophy of engineering. Divided into three parts, the book starts with studies on epistemological and ontological issues, with a special focus on engineering design, creativity, management, feasibility, and sustainability. Part II considers relationships between the history and philosophy of engineering, and includes a general argument for the necessity of dialogue between history and philosophy. It continues with a general introduction to traditional Chinese attitudes toward engineering and technology, and philosophical case studies of the Chinese steel industry, railroads, and cybernetics in the Soviet Union. Part III focuses on engineering, ethics, and society, with chapters on engineering education and practice in China and the West. The book’s analyses of the interactions of science, engineering, ethics, politics, and policy in different societal contexts are of special interest. The volume as a whole marks a new stage in the emergence of the philosophy of engineering as a new regionalization of philosophy. This carefully edited interdisciplinary volume grew out of an international conference on the philosophy of engineering hosted by the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. It includes 30 contributions by leading philosophers, social scientists, and engineers from Australia, China, Europe, and the United States.

Philosophy of Technology after the Empirical Turn

Philosophy of Technology after the Empirical Turn
Author: Maarten Franssen
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2016-06-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319337173

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This volume features 16 essays on the philosophy of technology that discuss its identity, its position in philosophy in general, and the role of empirical studies in philosophical analyses of engineering ethics and engineering practices. This volume is published about fifteen years after Peter Kroes and Anthonie Meijers published a collection of papers under the title The empirical turn in the philosophy of technology, in which they called for a reorientation toward the practice of engineering, and sketched the likely benefits for philosophy of technology of pursuing its major questions in an empirically informed way. The essays in this volume fall apart in two different kinds. One kind follows up on The empirical turn discussion about what the philosophy of technology is all about. It continues the search for the identity of the philosophy of technology by asking what comes after the empirical turn. The other kind of essays follows the call for an empirical turn in the philosophy of technology by showing how it may be realized with regard to particular topics. Together these essays offer the reader an overview of the state of the art of an empirically informed philosophy of technology and of various views on the empirical turn as a stepping stone into the future of the philosophy of technology.

The Role of Technology in Science: Philosophical Perspectives

The Role of Technology in Science: Philosophical Perspectives
Author: Sven Ove Hansson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2015-05-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9401797625

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This edited volume explores the interplay between philosophies in a wide-ranging analysis of how technological applications in science inform our systems of thought. Beginning with a historical background, the volume moves on to explore a host of topics, such as the uses of technology in scientific observations and experiments, the salient relationship between technology and mechanistic notions in science and the ways in which today’s vast and increasing computing power helps scientists achieve results that were previously unattainable. Technology allows today’s researchers to gather, in a matter of hours, data that would previously have taken weeks or months to assemble. It also acts as a kind of metaphor bank, providing biologists in particular with analogies (the heart as a ‘pump’, the nervous system as a ‘computer network’) that have become common linguistic currency. This book also examines the fundamental epistemological distinctions between technology and science and assesses their continued relevance. Given the increasing amalgamation of the philosophies of science and technology, this fresh addition to the literature features pioneering work in a promising new field that will appeal both to philosophers and scientific historiographers.

Reflections on Technology for Educational Practitioners

Reflections on Technology for Educational Practitioners
Author: John R. Dakers
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2020-03-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004405518

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Reflections on Technology for Educational Practitioners describes the main ideas of fourteen philosophers of technology and how these ideas are used or can be used in technology education.

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering
Author: Diane P. Michelfelder
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 793
Release: 2020-12-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1351996568

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Engineering has always been a part of human life but has only recently become the subject matter of systematic philosophical inquiry. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering presents the state-of-the-art of this field and lays a foundation for shaping future conversations within it. With a broad scholarly scope and 55 chapters contributed by both established experts and fresh voices in the field, the Handbook provides valuable insights into this dynamic and fast-growing field. The volume focuses on central issues and debates, established themes, and new developments in: Foundational perspectives Engineering reasoning Ontology Engineering design processes Engineering activities and methods Values in engineering Responsibilities in engineering practice Reimagining engineering The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering will be of value for both students and active researchers in philosophy of engineering and in cognate fields (philosophy of technology, philosophy of design). It is also intended for engineers working both inside and outside of academia who would like to gain a more fundamental understanding of their particular professional field. The increasing development of new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, and new interdisciplinary fields, such as human-computer interaction, calls not only for philosophical inquiry but also for engineers and philosophers to work in collaboration with one another. At the same time, the demands on engineers to respond to the challenges of world health, climate change, poverty, and other so-called "wicked problems" have also been on the rise. These factors, together with the fact that a host of questions concerning the processes by which technologies are developed have arisen, make the current Handbook a timely and valuable publication.