Philosophy of Science, Technique and Technology

Abstract

The philosophy of technology constitutes a relatively recent area of reflection, compared to other topics of philosophical interest such as science or morals. This fact is not independent of the change in public sensitivities regarding technological change and anti-essentialist tendencies of contemporary philosophy. On the one hand, the traditional essentialist approach in philosophy of science and knowledge, typical of currents such as logical empiricism, conceived of technology as applied science and, more globally, practical activity as an application of general rules or principles. Recent historicist and naturalistic approaches in philosophy of science, and the development of ICT studies, have favoured a more realistic and contextualized view of science and its relations with technology, facilitating awareness of the great diversity of problems. specific philosophical posed by technology. Technology, on the other hand, has been categorized as a social problem in recent decades, becoming prominent in the media, public forums and political agendas. With the current intense technological development, the close dependence of the economy, institutions and ways of life on technological devices and processes, as well as the serious environmental repercussions or ethical and legal dilemmas caused by nuclear energy, has become especially evident. As a result of both factors, the interest in technology acquires in recent decades a remarkable impulse and ends up making it an object of study in more and more monographs, specialized magazines and international conferences. The academic conceptualization of technology, understood as applied science, only reflected a culturally generalized point of view during much of this century.