Technology and Reality

ISBN-13: 9789024725199 / Angielski / Twarda / 1982 / 210 str.

James Kern Feibleman; J. K. Feibleman

Opis

In the following pages I have endeavored to show the impact on philosophy of tech nology and science; more specifically, I have tried to make up for the neglect by the classical philosophers of the historic role of technology and also to suggest what positive effects on philosophy the ahnost daily advances in the physical sciences might have. Above all, I wanted to remind the ontologist of his debt to the artificer: tech nology with its recent gigantic achievements has introduced a new ingredient into the world, and so is sure to influence our knowledge of what there is. This book, then, could as well have been called 'Ethnotechnology: An Explanation of Human Behavior by Means of Material Culture', but the picture is a complex one, and there are many more special problems that need to be prominently featured in the discussion. Human culture never goes forward on all fronts at the same time. In our era it is unquestionably not only technology but also the sciences which are making the most rapid progress. Philosophy has not been very successful at keeping up with them. As a consequence there is an 'enormous gulf between scientists and philosophers today, a gulf which is as large as it has ever been. ' (1) I can see that with science moving so rapidly, its current lessons for philosophy might well be outmoded tomorrow.

Spis treści

One. Nature.- I Introduction: The Background.- 1. Technology Neglected in Theory.- 2. Technology and Its Method.- 3. The Rise of Science From Technology.- 4. Philosophy in Decline.- 5. Prospects for A Philosophical Revival.- II Matter.- 1. Conceptions of Matter, Old and New.- 2. The Properties of Matter.- 3. The Kinds of Energy.- 4. Material Particulars and Their Inseparable Properties.- 5. Material Particulars: The Separable Properties.- 6. Further Complications of Matter.- 7. The Soft Variables.- III Universals: The Forms.- 1. Material and Logical Objects.- 2. Propositions.- 3. The Scientific Method.- 4. The Pure Universals.- 5. Universals in Science and Mathematics.- 6. The Platonic Conception.- 7. The Final Picture.- IV Universals: The Qualities.- 1. The Failure to Recognize Force as A Quality.- 2. The Properties of Qualities.- 3. The Quality of Force.- 4. The Background of Violence.- 5. The Quality as Universal.- V The Universe.- 1. The Atypical Earth Conditions.- 2. Epistemological Implications.- 3. Ontological Considerations.- 4. The Two-Tiered System of the Universe.- Two. Human Nature.- VI Man: Needs and Drives.- 1. Man As A Product of Artifacts.- 2. The Theory of Organ-Specific Needs.- 3. Society and the Organ-Artifact Relationship.- 4. The Making of Cultural Differences.- VII Man: Perversity.- 1. Perversity.- 2. The Effects of Technology.- 3. Disorder and Irrationality.- VIII Mind: Perception.- 1. Consciousness.- 2. Perception as Encounter.- 3. Perceiving as Knowing.- 4. The Contribution of Technology.- IX Mind: Conception.- 1. The Experiences of Entire Man.- 2. Conception.- 3. Three Theses.- 4. Assisted Conception.- 5. The Mind and Its Objects.- 6. Coping with Knowledge.- X Morality: The Good.- 1. The Fact of Moral Practice.- 2. The Moral Integrative Levels.- 3. The Individual’s Encounter With Himself.- 4. The Individual’s Encounter With Culture.- 5. Societies as Repositories of Artifacts.- 6. The Individual’s Encounter With Humanity.- 7. The Individual’s Encounter With the Cosmos.- XI Morality: The Bad.- 1. Immorality.- 2. Individual Bad Behavior.- 3. Bad Social Behavior.- 4. Moral Strategy.- XII Rhetoric.- 1. Languages As Artifacts.- 2. The Origins of Formal Communication.- 3. The Explosion in Communication Technology.- 4. Information Theory.- 5. The Colloquial Languages.- 6. Technology and The Use of Language.- XIII Politics.- 1. The Factor of Technology.- 2. Technology and Bureaucracy.- 3. The Politics of Technology.- 4. Technology: The Negative Effects.- 5. Belief and Technology.- XIV Art.- 1. Science and The Fine Arts.- 2. Art As A Return to Primitive Nature.- 3. Art As A Reflection of Scientific Abstraction.- 4. The Altered Theory of Aesthetics.- XV Religion.- 1. Religion Aided by Technology.- 2. Religion Confronted by Science.- 3. Mystical Materialism.- XVI Conclusion: The Foreground.- 1. Technology and Society.- 2. Science and Society.- 3. Philosophy and Society.- 4. Society and The Environment.- Writings on Technology.