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Technology
Critical History of a Concept
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2018
About this book
In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offering up competing definitions that include everything from steelmaking to singing. In Technology: Critical History of a Concept, Eric Schatzberg explains why technology is so difficult to define by examining its three thousand year history, one shaped by persistent tensions between scholars and technical practitioners. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scholars have tended to hold technicians in low esteem, defining technical practices as mere means toward ends defined by others. Technicians, in contrast, have repeatedly pushed back against this characterization, insisting on the dignity, creativity, and cultural worth of their work.
The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology arose: technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.
The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology arose: technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.
Author / Editor information
Eric Schatzberg is the chair of the School of History and Sociology in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Reviews
“In this book, Eric Schatzberg presents a long, complicated, and important story: the emergence of a key concept—arguably the defining concept—of our age. He collects, clarifies, synthesizes, and interprets a massive amount of research in both primary and secondary sources. For the foreseeable future, this is going to be the definitive study of the origins and meaning of technology.”
— Rosalind Williams, Massachusetts Institute of Technology“This book is thoroughly researched, thoughtfully conceived, carefully structured, and provides real insight into the conceptual origins and genealogy of the term ‘technology.’ Schatzberg stretches his coverage from the ancient world to the present day. This immensely satisfying piece of historical scholarship deserves wide readership.”
— Thomas J. Misa, University of Minnesota"A thought-provoking narrative that surfaces an important intellectual history, especially about the differences and confluences between technology and science. Most notably, the author concludes this text with a manifesto, asserting that his book is intended as 'an intervention in the present, a first step in rehabilitating technology as a concept for history and social theory, with an eventual goal of shaping technologies toward more humane ends.' This text will offer advanced students and scholars a new lens for studying modernity alongside politics, arts, or culture . . . . Undoubtedly, this is an important contribution to conversations about technology and should be read by graduate students, faculty, and practitioners in history and STEM fields. . . . Highly recommended."
— Choice"Schatzberg offers a refreshing and insightful overview of the conceptual changes of technology, as well as a thought-provoking defense of a humanistic understanding of technology."
— Contributions to the History of Concepts"This excellent book will long be the definitive study of the origin and evolving meaning of 'technology.' [ . . . ] This subtle and detailed work will be required reading for anyone working in the history of technology. It is not merely an exemplary etymological excavation but has implications for future research. Schatzberg concludes with 'A Manifesto' that calls on scholars to liberate the concept of technology from those 'who reduce it to instrumental reason' and from determinists 'who view technology as driven by its own ends.' Instead, scholars need to focus on links between technology, architecture, and the practical arts; recognize the vital role of craftsmanship; and resist the academic 'tendency to elevate theory over practice, discourse over materiality, principles over applications' (p. 235)."
— Technology and Culture"Schatzberg has given us a landmark work that manages to be vast in scope, critical and pugnacious throughout."
— British Journal for the History of ScienceTopics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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One. Introduction: An Odd Concept
1 -
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Two. “The Trouble with Techne”: Ancient Conceptions of Technical Knowledge
16 -
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Three. The Discourse of Ars in the Latin Middle Ages
29 -
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Four. Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts in the Early Modern Era
42 -
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Five. From Art to Applied Science: Creating a “Semantic Void”
55 -
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Six. Technology in the Nineteenth Century: A Marginal Concept
74 -
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Seven. Discourse of Technik: Engineers and Humanists
97 -
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Eight. Thorstein Veblen’s Appropriation of Technik
118 -
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Nine. Veblen’s Legacy: Culture versus Determinism
136 -
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Ten. Technology in the Social Sciences before World War II
152 -
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Eleven. Science and Technology between the World Wars
174 -
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Twelve. Suppression and Revival: Technology in World War II and the Cold War
194 -
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Thirteen. Conclusion: Technology as Keyword in the 1960s and Beyond
214 -
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Rehabilitating Technology: A Manifesto
235 -
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Acknowledgments
237 -
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Notes
241 -
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Bibliography
289 -
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Index
333
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 21, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780226584027
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780226584027
Keywords for this book
technological; critical; critique; analysis; analytical; concept; conceptual; modern; contemporary; discourse; rhetoric; academic; scholarly; research; definition; interdisciplinary; explanation; argument; practitioner; ancient world; greek; greece; antiquity; history; historical; creativity; culture; cultural; aristotle; francis bacon; 19th century; industrial; applied; science; humanistic; engineer; humanist
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
