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

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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. Lpez Cerezo, Mark Coeckelbergh, Daniel Crzuelle, Neelke Doorn, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Andrew Feenberg, Jose Lus Garcia, Tricia Glazebrook, Janna van Grunsven, J. Britt Holbrook, Helena Jernimo, 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, Jos Antonio Ullate, Carlos Verdugo-Serna, Nan WANG.

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, Jernimo 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 somesuch as Jean-Pierre Dupuys and Adam Brigglesare 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, Jernimo and Zhus 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

Author Bio

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 Jernimo 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.