The Technological System

by Jacques Ellul, Daniel Cïrïzuelle (Foreword by), Lisa Richmond (Translator)

Overview

Some 20 years after writing The Technological Society, Jacques Ellul realized how the totalistic dimensions of our modern technological milieu required an additional treatment of the topic. Writing amidst the rise of books in the 1970s on pollution, over-population, and environmental degradation, Ellul found it necessary, once again, to write about the global presence of technology and its far-reaching effects. The Technological System represents a new stage in Ellul's research. Previously he studied technological society as such; in this book he approaches the topic from a systems perspective wherein he identifies the characteristics of technological phenomena and technological progress in light of system theory. This leads to an entirely new approach to what constitutes the most important event of our society which has decisive bearing on the future of our world. Ellul's analysis touches on all aspects of modern life, not just those of a scientific or technological order. In the end, readers are compelled to formulate their own opinions and make their own decisions regarding the way a technique-based value system affects every level of human life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532615252
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/11/2018
Pages:	378
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jacques Ellul (1912–94) was a French law professor, social theorist, and lay theologian, teaching at the University of Bordeaux, France. Among his 58 published books, his best-known works include The Technological Society, Propaganda, The Humiliation of the Word, and Hope in Time of Abandonment.

Table of Contents

Foreword Daniel Cérézuelle vii

Translation Addendum xv

Introduction 1

Part 1 What Is Technology 21

1 Technology As a Concept 23

2 Technology As an Environment 34

3 Technology As a Determining Factor 51

4 Technology As a System 76

General Idea 76

Defining the System 82

Features of the System 108

The Absence of Feedback 117

Part 2 The Characteristics of the Technological Phenomenon 123

5 Autonomy 125

6 Unity 156

7 Universality 169

8 Totalization 199

Part 3 The Characteristics of Technological Progress 205

9 Self-Augmentation 209

10 Automatism 232

11 Causal Progression and Absence of Finality 256

12 The Problem of Acceleration 283

Conclusion: Man in the Technological System 310

Postscript 326

Notes 327

Bibliography 361

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The Technology System was an important attempt by Ellul to revisit his analysis in The Technological Society. It remains important to any full understanding of Ellul's social criticism, which itself remains a challenge for any substantial understanding of the modern condition."



Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines



"The Technological System updated and renewed Ellul’s reflection on the autonomy of technique by drawing upon the ideas of technological environment, information, and system, which thinkers such as Simondon and Leroi-Gourhan had been developing in the intervening years."



Daniel Cérézuelle, from the new foreword to this book

Editorial Reviews

"The Technology System was an important attempt by Ellul to revisit his analysis in The Technological Society. It remains important to any full understanding of Ellul's social criticism, which itself remains a challenge for any substantial understanding of the modern condition."



Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines



"The Technological System updated and renewed Ellul’s reflection on the autonomy of technique by drawing upon the ideas of technological environment, information, and system, which thinkers such as Simondon and Leroi-Gourhan had been developing in the intervening years."



Daniel Cérézuelle, from the new foreword to this book

From the Publisher