Hello

TECHNOLOGY
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people tocreate new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist humans to travel to places we could not otherwise go, and probe the nature of theuniverse in more detail than our natural senses allow.
Technological artifacts are products of an economy, a force for economic growth, and a large part of everyday life. Technological innovations affect,and are affected by, a society's cultural traditions. They also are a means to develop and project military power.
Technologies have brought enormous benefits and opportunities, but they have alsoraised new and pressing challenges, whose complexity and global dimensions are rapidly expanding and evolving.
Philosophy & Technology addresses such challenges, in order to improve our criticalunderstanding of the conceptual nature and practical consequences of technologies, and hence provide the conceptual foundations for their fruitful and sustainable developments.
If philosophy is theattempt “to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term”, as Sellars (1962) put it, philosophy should not ignore technology.It is largely by technology that contemporary society hangs together. It is hugely important not only as an economic force but also as a cultural force. During the last two centuries, much philosophyof technology has been concerned with the impact of technology on society. Mitcham (1994) calls this type of philosophy of technology ‘humanities philosophy of technology’ because it is continuous withsocial science and the humanities. In addition to this, there is also a branch of the philosophy of technology that is concerned with technology in itself. This entry focuses on the latter branch...