Living in a Technological Culture: Human Tools and Human Values [Hardcover]

Technology is no longer confined to the laboratory but has become an established part of our daily lives. Its sophistication offers us power beyond our human capacity which can either dazzle or threaten; it depends who is in control.
Living in a Technological Culture challenges traditionally held assumptions about the relationship between `man-and-machine'. It argues that contemporary science does not shape technology but is shaped by it. Neither discipline exists in a moral vacuum, both are determined by politics rather than scientific inquiry.
By questioning our existing uses of technology, this book opens up wider debate on the shape of things to come and whether we should be trying to change them now. As an introduction to the philosophy of technology this will be valuable to students, but will be equally engaging for the general reader.Challenging traditionally held assumptions about the relationship between man and machine this book opens up wider debate on the shape of things to come and whether we should be trying to change them now.Introduction; Chapter 1 Conflicting Visions of Technology; Chapter 2 Facts, Values and Efficiency; Chapter 3 Science, Scientific Method and the Authority of Experts; Chapter 4 From Applied Science to Technoscience; Chapter 5 Technology, Culture and Politics; Chapter 6 Plant Breeding and the Politics of Hunger; Chapter 7 Whos Responsible for this Mess?;Mary Tiles is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii; she is the author of various books including Bachelard: Science and Objectivity (1984); An Introduction to Historical Epistemology with Jim Tiles (1993) and Mathematics and the Image of Reason (1991), which is published by Routledge. Hans Oberdiek is Professor of Philosophy at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.US? 1995 Mary Tiles and Hans Oberdiek