Suchergebnisse

Considers what type of ethics may be efficient to cope with actual problems in advanced societies, ie, environmental problems, social conflicts, & usage of new technologies. It is not morality or ethical decisions that count, but "the customary." Yet the customary is a rather precarious resource, not only because it may turn out to be the particularistic orientation of social groups, eg, those of companies, political parties, or even peer groups, but also because it is eaten up by the progress of modernity. This is shown by comparing the customary with its historical forerunner, G. W. F. Hegel's ethical life. 5 References. Adapted from the source document.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The End of the Baconian Age -- Bacon's Conviction and Bacon's Program -- The 1970s and the Finalization of Science -- The Situation Today -- How Are Things to Proceed? -- Notes -- 2 What Makes Us Feel We Need a Theory of Science? -- A Note on Terminology -- Notes -- 3 The Formation of the Scientific Object -- Notes -- 4 Can Science Reach Truth? -- Notes -- 5 Science and Other Types of Knowledge -- Science and Democracy -- Professionalization and Scientification -- Differences Between Types of Knowledge -- Summary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 6 Science for War and Peace -- Useful Science -- Historical Change as a Result of the Atomic Bomb? -- Science in Resistance -- The Scientization of War and the Militarization of Science -- War Research as an Institution -- Is a Reversal of the Situation Possible? -- Peace Research -- The Asymmetry of War and Peace -- The Idea of a Peaceful Science -- Notes -- Bibliography -- 7 The Technological Civilization -- The Relation of Man to Himself -- Social Relations -- Technical Civilization and Culture -- Notes -- 8 The Knowledge-Structure of Society -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 9 An End to Progress? -- The End of the Future? -- The Concept of Progress -- Progress in Science -- An End to Progress by Science and Technology? -- Notes -- About the Book and Author -- Index.

The conception of the nature of modern technology and the understanding of its history is largely determined by Marx: technology is instrumental appropriation of nature and its development was driven by the bourgeoisie and capitalism. To this familiar conception the article opposes the concept of two technology types, which we find in the early modern engineer Salomon de Caus: useful and enjoyable technology. Enjoyable technology, which serves pleasure and not production, originates in the orientation to curiosities and representation at royal courts, limited neither by guild conservatism nor by considerations of profit. Precisely for this reason courtly technology was particularly creative. Against this historical background the article examines contemporary technological developments in the period of the transformation of capitalism into the aesthetic economy, in which technology development (apart from war) increasingly serves pleasure. Technology becomes plaything and life-style gadget. An explicit consumption of technology has emerged, in which Marx's ideal obsolescence plays a leading role. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications and Thesis Eleven Co-op Ltd, copyright 2006.]

This article investigates the possibility & potential of a critical theory of nature & technology. A blind acceptance of the uninhibited development of the forces of production led traditional critical theory to neglect these areas, which it assigned to the domain of the natural sciences. The recognition that nature is socially constituted compels a reformulation of the interest in reasonable conditions that guided the older critical theory. The article asks what criteria offer themselves for determining what would be reasonable in our relations both to the nature that we ourselves are, the body, as well as to the nature that we ourselves are not. Such questions might revitalize critical theory in the very moment it threatens to become historically obsolete. 14 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications and Thesis Eleven Co-op Ltd, copyright 2005.]

This article charts the emergence since the 1950s of a new value category, staging value, which arises when capitalism moves from addressing people's needs to exploiting their desires. Staging values serve the intensification & heightening of life rather than the satisfaction of primary needs. The article reevaluates successive theories on the relationship between aesthetics & the economy in the light of these changes, & suggests the continued relevance of critical theory in the era of the aesthetic economy. 12 References. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications Ltd.]

An investigation of the impact of science & technology on social structures. Technology is conceived as a new type of social integration determining the social existence of the individual & his or her social chances. In order to understand this new situation it is first of all necessary to develop a concept of technique according to which technique is not only a way of knowing (know-how) or a technical object: technical knowledge or the individual technical object make sense within modern technology only when integrated into the larger context of technical networks or systems. Such systems, eg, the systems of communication, traffic, & supply, are the infrastructure of modern society. Functioning as unifying principles, these systems, the techno-structures of society, partly substitute for the older principles of commerce, labor, & property. AA