Thinking through Science and Technology: Philosophy, Religion, and Politics in an Engineered World

by Glen Miller (Editor), Helena Mateus Jerónimo (Editor), Qin Zhu (Editor)

Overview

Groundbreaking in its range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds, Thinking through Science and Technology explores how individual and societal beliefs, values, and actions are transformed by science, technology, and engineering. Practical and theoretical insights from philosophers, policymakers, STS scholars, and engineers illuminate the promise, perils, and paradoxes that arise with technoscientific change. This collection of original research develops a philosophical understanding of technology and its inscription in a wider web of social and political meanings, values, and civilizational change. It explores foundational beliefs at the core of engineering education and practice, with an emphasis on the movement of ideas between Western and Chinese scholars, as well as the complex interwoven relationship between ideas from religion, science, and technology as they have evolved in the West. Contributors also critically examine the forces and frameworks that shape the development and evaluation of scientific practice and the innovation and adoption of technology, with an emphasis on national and global policy. The volume offers a critical and timely reflection on science and technology that counters trends toward technological optimism, on the one hand, and disciplinary and cultural regionalization, on the other. Chapters written by prominent and promising scholars from around the world make this a global resource; its breadth and clarity make it a superb introduction for those new to its fields. It serves as an essential reference for established scholars as well as anyone seeking a more comprehensive understanding of social and technoscientific entanglements that permeate contemporary life.
List of contributors: Gordon Akon-Yamga, Jennifer Karns Alexander, Andoni Alonso, Pamela Andanda, Larry Arnhart, Li Bocong, Albert Borgmann, Adam Briggle, Jose A. López Cerezo, Mark Coeckelbergh, Daniel Cérézuelle, Neelke Doorn, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Andrew Feenberg, Jose Luís Garcia, Tricia Glazebrook, Janna van Grunsven, J. Britt Holbrook, Helena Jerónimo, Tong LI, Yongmou LIU, Lavinia Marin, Glen Miller, Carl Mitcham, Suzanne Moon, Byron Newberry, Jean Robert, Sabine Roeser, Taylor Stone, Sajay Samuel, Daniel Sarewitz, Jen Schneider, José Antonio Ullate, Carlos Verdugo-Serna, Nan WANG.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538176511
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/05/2025
Pages:	582
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Glen Miller is instructional associate professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University. He has co-edited Reimagining Philosophy and Technology, Reinventing Ihde (with Ashley Shew).
Helena Mateus Jerónimo is assistant professor in the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. She has edited Portuguese Philosophy of Technology and is a member of the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology.
Qin Zhu is associate professor of engineering education at Virginia Tech. He is the lead author of the 5th edition of Ethics in Engineering.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Carl Mitcham
Preface
Glen Miller, Helena Mateus Jerónimo, and Qin Zhu
Chapter 1: Editors' Introduction
Glen Miller, Helena Mateus Jerónimo, and Qin Zhu
Part I: Philosophy and Technology
Ch 2: The Enigma of Technology
Andrew Feenberg
Chapter 3: Organization as Technique: A Blind Spot in the Philosophy of Technology
Daniel Cérézuelle, translation by Christian Roy
Chapter 4: Technology as Process
Mark Coeckelbergh
Chapter 5: Political Philosophy of Technology: After Leo Strauss
Carl Mitcham
Chapter 6: The Nuclear Menace and the Prophecy of Doom
Jean-Pierre Dupuy
Chapter 7: The End of Technology and the Renewal of Reality
Albert Borgmann
Part II: Philosophy and Engineering
Chapter 8: An Engineer Considers Technological (Non)Neutrality: “But Where Are the Values?
Byron Newberry
Chapter 9: How Engineers Can Care from a Distance: Promoting Moral Sensitivity in Engineering Ethics Education
Janna van Grunsven, Lavinia Marin, Taylor Stone, Sabine Roeser & Neelke Doorn
Chapter 10: Parall

Editorial Reviews

Thinking Through Science and Technology is a rich and urgently-needed contribution to our understanding of the built world and our vital human bonds with it. By moving across the boundaries of discipline, tradition and region, while joining newer voices with those of foundational leaders in science and technology studies, Miller, Jeroacute;nimo and Zhu open up fertile ground for exploration of the past, present and future of human-technology relations.

Shannon Vallor

Three decades ago, Carl Mitcham created the core of philosophy of technology, and now Miller, Jeroacute;nimo and Zhu’s volume Thinking through Science and Technology proves the impressive richness and ongoing societal importance of work that builds on that core. A must-read and excellent guide to state-of-the-art thinking about technology.

Pieter Vermaas

Thinking through Science and Technology is the ultimate handbook for understanding the human condition in terms of the past, present and future of technology. It is also a testimony to Carl Mitcham, whose work and example provide the intellectual platform for these essays, by authors from across the globe. Readers will learn something new from each of them, and some—such as Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s and Adam Briggle’s—are gems in their own right.

Steve Fuller

In a perfectly undogmatic manner Thinking through Science and Technology offers a broad survey of problems and approaches in contemporary philosophy of technology. Coming from many countries, representing very different intellectual traditions, what the contributors share is a sense of passion, if not urgency. The path is short from foundational reflections and laboratory work to everyday questions of how to live in times of crisis. Embarked on this path, what we need is the kind of curiosity and openness to dialogue which this diverse group of contributors brings to the volume.

Alfred Nordmann

Carl Mitcham is a founding figure of the philosophy of engineering and technology. His long career has produced landmark works such as his 1994 exploration of the "path between engineering and philosophy," Thinking through Technology (CH,Mar#39;95, 32-3863). The editors of this work acknowledge their debt to Mitcham as an inspiration for the interdisciplinary essays included in their collection. Scholars from China, Holland, and Mexico join with others from Europe and the US in this volume to examine a staggering variety of topics, ranging from subsistence farming by Ghanaian women to the roots of modern technological power as found in the Hebrew Old Testament. The editors have maintained high standards of quality and language throughout, so that nearly every essay could be the subject of a fruitful graduate philosophy seminar. The six essays in the "Religion, Science, and Technology" section explore issues seldom examined in mainstream engineering ethics works. While none of the essays is a particularly easy read, they all reward close study by the interested reader. Taken together, they provide an encyclopedic view of the relatively new field of engineering philosophy broadly defined and should prove invaluable to anyone who is seriously studying this field at the graduate level. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.

Choice Reviews

Carl Mitcham is a founding figure of the philosophy of engineering and technology. His long career has produced landmark works such as his 1994 exploration of the "path between engineering and philosophy," Thinking through Technology (CH,Mar'95, 32-3863). The editors of this work acknowledge their debt to Mitcham as an inspiration for the interdisciplinary essays included in their collection. Scholars from China, Holland, and Mexico join with others from Europe and the US in this volume to examine a staggering variety of topics, ranging from subsistence farming by Ghanaian women to the roots of modern technological power as found in the Hebrew Old Testament. The editors have maintained high standards of quality and language throughout, so that nearly every essay could be the subject of a fruitful graduate philosophy seminar. The six essays in the "Religion, Science, and Technology" section explore issues seldom examined in mainstream engineering ethics works. While none of the essays is a particularly easy read, they all reward close study by the interested reader. Taken together, they provide an encyclopedic view of the relatively new field of engineering philosophy broadly defined and should prove invaluable to anyone who is seriously studying this field at the graduate level. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.” —Choice Reviews

“Thinking Through Science and Technology is a rich and urgently-needed contribution to our understanding of the built world and our vital human bonds with it. By moving across the boundaries of discipline, tradition and region, while joining newer voices with those of foundational leaders in science and technology studies, Miller, Jerónimo and Zhu open up fertile ground for exploration of the past, present and future of human-technology relations.” —Shannon Vallor, The University of Edinburgh

“Thinking through Science and Technology is the ultimate handbook for understanding the human condition in terms of the past, present and future of technology. It is also a testimony to Carl Mitcham, whose work and example provide the intellectual platform for these essays, by authors from across the globe. Readers will learn something new from each of them, and some—such as Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s and Adam Briggle’s—are gems in their own right.” —Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, author of Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era

“Three decades ago, Carl Mitcham created the core of philosophy of technology, and now Miller, Jerónimo and Zhu’s volume Thinking through Science and Technology proves the impressive richness and ongoing societal importance of work that builds on that core. A must-read and excellent guide to state-of-the-art thinking about technology.” —Pieter Vermaas, Delft University of Technology

“In a perfectly undogmatic manner Thinking through Science and Technology offers a broad survey of problems and approaches in contemporary philosophy of technology. Coming from many countries, representing very different intellectual traditions, what the contributors share is a sense of passion, if not urgency. The path is short from foundational reflections and laboratory work to everyday questions of how to live in times of crisis. Embarked on this path, what we need is the kind of curiosity and openness to dialogue which this diverse group of contributors brings to the volume.” —Alfred Nordmann, Technische Universitat Darmstadt

From the Publisher