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Invasive Technification: Critical Essays In The Philosophy Of Technology
Author(s): Gernot Böhme (Author), Cameron Shingleton (Translator)
- Publisher: Continuum
- Publication Date: 23 Aug. 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 270 pages
- ISBN-10: 1441149015
- ISBN-13: 9781441149015
Book Description
Technology has extended its reach to the human
body, not just in a literal sense, through implants, transplants and
technological substitutes for biological organs, but in a more figurative sense
too. Technological infrastructure and the institutions of a technified society today
determine what perception is, how we communicate and what forms of human
relationship with the natural world are possible. A fundamental new conception
of technology is urgently needed. Technology can no longer be seen as a means
for efficiently attaining pre-established ends. Rather, it must be seen as a total structure which makes new forms of
human action and human relationship possible, while limiting the possibilities
of others.
In Invasive
Technification, acclaimed German philosopher Gernot Böhme offers a reading
of technology that explores the many dimensions in which technology presents
challenges for modern human beings. It is a book about the preservation of
humanity and humane values under the demanding conditions of a technically
advanced civilisation and makes a major contribution to the contemporary
philosophy of technology.
body, not just in a literal sense, through implants, transplants and
technological substitutes for biological organs, but in a more figurative sense
too. Technological infrastructure and the institutions of a technified society today
determine what perception is, how we communicate and what forms of human
relationship with the natural world are possible. A fundamental new conception
of technology is urgently needed. Technology can no longer be seen as a means
for efficiently attaining pre-established ends. Rather, it must be seen as a total structure which makes new forms of
human action and human relationship possible, while limiting the possibilities
of others.
In Invasive
Technification, acclaimed German philosopher Gernot Böhme offers a reading
of technology that explores the many dimensions in which technology presents
challenges for modern human beings. It is a book about the preservation of
humanity and humane values under the demanding conditions of a technically
advanced civilisation and makes a major contribution to the contemporary
philosophy of technology.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘Böhme is a worthy successor to Ellul and Mumford, one who brings the critique of technology up to date by accounting for the recent explosion of new technologies undreamt of by his illustrious predecessors. He also goes beyond them in basing his analysis on a much more developed philosophical orientation focused on the effect of technology on Nature; and thus he is able to assess its invasive impact on human nature, on what we are as bodies and minds and what we might become under its influence. His book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in this issue, arguably the most important one that humanity has to face.’
CHOICE
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Summing Up: Recommended. Science/technology and philosophy collections, upper-division
undergraduates and above.
About the Author
Cameron Shingleton is a lecturer at the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Gernot Bohme was Professor of Philosophy at Darmstadt’s Technische Univeritat, Germany, between 1977 and 2002. He rose to prominence in Germany with work in aesthetics, the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of embodiment, the philosophy of science/technology and his conception of practical philosophy as a capacity for dealing with the exigencies of life. His publications in English include
Ethics in Context (Polity, 2001).
