Invasive Technification: Critical Essays in the Philosophy of Technology

Description

Technology has extended its reach to the human body, not just in a literal sense, through implants, transplants and technological substitutes for biological organs, but in a more figurative sense too. Technological infrastructure and the institutions of a technified society today determine what perception is, how we communicate and what forms of human relationship with the natural world are possible. A fundamental new conception of technology is urgently needed. Technology can no longer be seen as a means for efficiently attaining pre-established ends. Rather, it must be seen as a total structure which makes new forms of human action and human relationship possible, while limiting the possibilities of others. In Invasive Technification, acclaimed German philosopher Gernot Boehme offers a reading of technology that explores the many dimensions in which technology presents challenges for modern human beings. It is a book about the preservation of humanity and humane values under the demanding conditions of a technically advanced civilisation and makes a major contribution to the contemporary philosophy of technology.

Gernot Boehme was Professor of Philosophy at Darmstadt's Technische Univeritat, Germany, between 1977 and 2002. He is well-known in Germany for his work in aesthetics, the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of embodiment, the philosophy of science/technology and his view of philosophy as a practical form of life. His publications in English include Coping with Science (Westview, 1992) and Ethics in Context (Polity, 2001). Cameron Shingleton is a translator and lecturer at the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia.

'Boehme is a worthy successor to Ellul and Mumford, one who brings the critique of technology up to date by accounting for the recent explosion of new technologies undreamt of by his illustrious predecessors. He also goes beyond them in basing his analysis on a much more developed philosophical orientation focused on the effect of technology on Nature; and thus he is able to assess its invasive impact on human nature, on what we are as bodies and minds and what we might become under its influence. His book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in this issue, arguably the most important one that humanity has to face.' -- Harry Redner, author of 'Beyond Civilization: Society, Culture, and the Individual in the Age of Globalization'. Summing Up: Recommended. Science/technology and philosophy collections, upper-division undergraduates and above. -- T. Eastman, formerly, University of Maryland * CHOICE *