Care in Technology

Today, it is widely recognized that in order to meet environmental
challenges, it will not simply be enough to make our lifestyles
greener ; also critical is putting an end to the modern
conception of the human as master and possessor of nature.
However, to bear fruit, this change in anthropology must also be
accompanied by a revision in our conception of technology.

Since the Enlightenment and the development of
industrialization, technology no longer seems to be subject to the
guiding principles set by the Greeks: prudence and the search for
the right measure in all, which leads to the care of beings and the
world. Care in Technology analyzes the historical changes that
have led technology to become an unthinkable part of care, and
care an unthinkable part of technology. It also establishes the
conditions for care to once again become a regulatory principle of
the activity of engineers who design technology.

Auteur

Xavier Guchet is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Technology of Compiegne, France. His research focuses on the epistemological and ethical challenges of new technologies. He is also an expert on the thinking of Gilbert Simondon and the author of several books.

Texte du rabat
Today, it is widely recognized that in order to meet environmentalchallenges, it will not simply be enough to make our lifestyles greener ; also critical is putting an end to the modernconception of the human as master and possessor of nature.However, to bear fruit, this change in anthropology must also beaccompanied by a revision in our conception of technology.

Since the Enlightenment and the development ofindustrialization, technology no longer seems to be subject to theguiding principles set by the Greeks: prudence and the search forthe right measure in all, which leads to the care of beings and theworld. Care in Technology analyzes the historical changes thathave led technology to become an unthinkable part of care, andcare an unthinkable part of technology. It also establishes theconditions for care to once again become a regulatory principle ofthe activity of engineers who design technology.

Résumé
Today, it is widely recognized that in order to meet environmental challenges, it will not simply be enough to make our lifestyles “greener”; also critical is putting an end to the modern conception of the human as “master and possessor” of nature. However, to bear fruit, this change in anthropology must also be accompanied by a revision in our conception of technology. Since the Enlightenment and the development of industrialization, technology no longer seems to be subject to the guiding principles set by the Greeks: prudence and the search for the right measure in all, which leads to the care of beings and the world. Care in Technology analyzes the historical changes that have led technology to become an unthinkable part of care, and care an unthinkable part of technology. It also establishes the conditions for care to once again become a regulatory principle of the activity of engineers who design technology.

Contenu
Acknowledgments ix

Foreword xi
Bernard REBER

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1. Care and Technology: An Anthropological Question 1

1.1. From mastery to care 1

1.1.1. Making good use of technology, anticipating its potential risks: two possible examples of care in technology? 1

1.1.2. Do we need to learn to master our technological mastery? 11

1.1.3. The limits of the externalist approach to technological regulation 22

1.2. In what sense can technologies be inherently caregiving? 27

1.2.1. Can there be an intrinsic morality of technology? 27

1.2.2. Technology and care: a difficult articulation 35

1.3. Taking care of living beings 49

1.3.1. Care and technology: from ethics to anthropology 49

1.3.2. Caring about valuating living beings 56

1.3.3. The difficulty of thinking technology from life 72

1.4. Transition 87

Chapter 2. Technology and Life: Analysis of a Divorce 89

2.1. Body, gestures, technology, production 89

2.1.1. Work without skill 89

2.1.2. Control and discipline of technology 99

2.1.3. A rupture in the conception of technology: the divorce of technology and life 106

2.2. The intellectualist conception of technology: the Kantian turning point 123

2.2.1. Difficulty in thinking of the artisan's activity 123

2.2.2. Technology excluded from the field of aesthetics 130

2.2.3. Technology, a synthetic activity without representation and without rule 134

2.3. Transition 150

Chapter 3. The Conditions of Care in Technology 151

3.1. Vitalist approaches to technology 151

3.1.1. The concept of technological evolution: contributions and limits with regard to care 151

3.1.2. Technology as an organ projection: contributions and limits with regard to care 156

3.1.3. The utopia of Erewhon: analysis of an aporia. First condition of care in technology 159

3.2. Philosophical anthropology, a promising way to articulate care and technology? 175

3.2.1. Plessner's biological anthropology: redefining the concepts of organ and organism 175

3.2.2. Industrialization, work, and life. Critique of modernity in Gehlen 183

3.3. The organ-instrument. Second condition of care in technology 188

3.3.1. From the organ as part of the organism to the organ as an instrument with use-value 188

3.3.2. Putting the individual point of view first in the ethical evaluation of technology 193

3.4. From anthropology to aesthetics 213

3.4.1. Is it enough to recognize that humans belong to nature to orient technology towards care for nature? 213

3.4.2. Creating a new perception. Fourth condition of care in technology 220

3.5. Transition 224

Chapter 4. Design, Technology and Life 227

4.1. At the sources of design for life 227

4.1.1. The premises of design 227

4.1.2. Overcoming the conflict of arts and industry: the rational aesthetics of Paul Souriau 235

4.1.3. Industry and the fragmentation of experience: anthropology and instrumentality in Dewey's work 241

4.1.4. Life as judge of technology. Lewis Mumford 246

4.1.5. Towards a design for life: László Moholy-Nagy 257

4.1.6. Opening 262

4.2. Towards responsible and caring innovation 264

4.2.1. Technical activities and care: practical lessons from ancient China and Greece 264

4.2.2. The square of care in technological design 272

Conclusion 287

References 293

Index 311