Means without end : a critical survey of the ideological genealogy of technology without limits, from Apollonian techne to postmodern technoculture / Gregory H. Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Gregory H.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technology and civilization.

Technology--Social aspects.

Technology.

Physical Description:

xix, 211 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 2006.

Summary:

Means without End is based on a recognition that contemporary technology is without limits in both a practical and an ideological sense. In following the historical evolution of ideas about technology in Western culture and situating them in the philosophical, theological, and scientific ideological contexts in which they emerged, this work examines a development that has radically altered the conditions of contemporary existence.

The analysis, critical at all points, begins with the Apollonian Greek techne of limits and situates the ideological roots of technology without limits in Christian theology of the Patristic and Medieval periods. Other highlights include ideological underpinnings of the Scientific Revolution and its implications for philosophy and technology; the formulation by Enlightenment philosophes of a secular, technology-promoting theory of progress, their critique of received ideas, and Rousseau's radical stance vis-a-vis progress and technology; Marx's technology-based theory of dialectical materialism, the development of the philosophy of will and the idea of autonomous art, and Nietzsche's eventual proclamation of nihilism in the nineteenth century; and the emergence of technology without limits in the twentieth century, reflected in the German reactionary modernists' theory of autonomous technology, Ellul's and Marcuse's critique of the "technological society" after World War II, and Virilio's pessimistic assessment of postmodern technoculture.

Contents:

The Phenomenon of Technology without Limits: A Defining Characteristic of Contemporary Culture xi

A Focus on Ideological Developments in the History of Western Culture xv

Chapter 1 The Classical Greek Period 1

Apollonian Greek Culture vis-a-vis the Superior Power of Nature 1

The Apollonian Principle of Limits 4

The Apollonian Techne of Limits 6

Obstacles and Disincentives to the Development of Techne in the Thought of Plato and Aristotle 11

Chapter 2 The Patristic and Medieval Periods of Christian Culture 19

Christian Ideological Structures Related to Technology and the Technological Ethos of the West 19

Evolution of the Christian Theory of Techne 27

The Mutations of Science in the Patristic and Medieval Periods 32

Chapter 3 The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution 41

The Consequences of the Return of a Mechanistic Nature Paradigm 41

The Elements of a New Science of Nature, Suitable for Technological Applications 46

The Characteristics of Scientific Truth after Bacon 53

The Recurrence of the Technology-Related Christian Themes 59

Chapter 4 The Enlightenment 71

The Implications of New, Eighteenth-Century Ideas about Nature 71

Other Challenges to the Established Basis of Higher Values 77

Formulation of a Modern Theory of Progress and Technological Development 86

Rousseau's Radical Critique of Progress and Technology 92

Chapter 5 The Nineteenth Century 101

Competing Philosophical Paths to Truth and Fulfillment in the Nineteenth Century: Faith, History, Reason, Will, Science, and Art 101

Nietzsche's Rejection of All Existing Philosophical Alternatives and His Proclamation of Nihilism 114

The Theory and Practice of Technology in the Nineteenth Century 120

Anticipation by Realist Artists and Writers of a Twentieth-Century Theory of Morally Autonomous Technology 129

Chapter 6 The Twentieth Century 137

The New, German Theory of Autonomous Technology 137

Post-World War II Theory: The Technological Society and Its Critique 148

Postmodern Technoculture: Existence without Philosophical Direction and Technology without Limits 161.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [189]-196) and index.

ISBN:

0761834850

OCLC:

70699991

Publisher Number:

9780761834854