Cover of Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology
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Displaying: 1-9 of 9 documents


1. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Katinka Waelbers, Adam Briggle Three Schools of Thought on Freedom in Liberal, Technological Societies
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Are citizens of contemporary technological society authors of their own lives? With Alasdair MacIntyre (contemporary Aristotelianism), Bruno Latour (Science and Technology Studies) and Albert Borgmann (Philosophy of Technology), we discuss the shortcomings of traditional liberalism in terms of its ability to answer this question. MacIntyre argues that biological vulnerabilities and social interdependencies establish meaningful parameters within which reason and willing emerge. But MacIntyre ignores technologies as a third parameter. Latour defines humans as nodes in a socio-technical network, in which technologies are actors on par with humans. However, Latour adopts a purely external perspective, ignoring human intentions, desires, and reasons. Borgmann argues that although freedom of choice is severely restricted, sometimes one can still resist the rule of technology. But Borgmann denies the pluralism of modern societies. Although all three schools have their shortcomings, combined, they provide us with a valuable palette of insights on human agency in a technological culture.
2. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Wolter Pieters Reve{a,i}ling the Risks: A Phenomenology of Information Security
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In information security research, perceived security usually has a negative meaning, when it is used in contrast to actual security. From a phenomenological perspective, however, perceived security is all we have. This paper develops a phenomenological account of information security, in which a distinction is made between revealed and reveiled security instead. Linking these notions with the concepts of confidence and trust, the paper provides a phenomenological explanation of the electronic voting controversy in the Netherlands.
3. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Bibi Van Den Berg I-Object: Intimate Technologies as 'Reference Groups' in the Construction of Identities
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In this article, I will investigate the ways in which Ambient Intelligence, the technological paradigm of the near future proposed by the European Union and the electronics multinational Philips, will affect the ways in which individuals construct and express their identities. The Ambient Intelligence vision predicts a world in which technologies will deliver personalized services in a proactive (rather than a responsive or interactive) fashion. I argue that this brings about a change in the way we interact with these technologies, which in turn has an effect on the way we construct and express identities in relation to such technologies. In a world of Ambient Intelligence, I will argue in this article, technological artifacts may come to function as ‘reference collectivities’, comparable to human reference groups. Due to their proactivity, their level of autonomy and self-reliance and our personalized interactions with them, these technologies will come to function as ‘others’, rather than as ‘quasi-others’.
4. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Jos De Mul Moral Machines: ICTs as Mediators of Human Agencies
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In spite of the popularity of computer ethics, ICTs appear to undermine our moral autonomy in several ways. This article focuses on the ‘delegation’ of our moral agency to machines. Three stages of delegation are distinguished: implementation of moral values and norms in the design of artefacts, delegation of moral means to machines, and delegation of both moral means and goals to machines. Second, it is argued that the ‘outsourcing’ of moral agency does not necessarily lead to the undermining of our moral autonomy, but might enhance it as well.
5. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Andrew Ward Virtual Communities: Ontology and Politics
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The Internet, as it exists today, is an outgrowth of the late 1960’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. During the 1980’s, the National Science Foundation established a high-speed, high-capacity network called NSFnet connecting many universities and government agencies. Finally, with the creation of the World Wide Web and the development and diffusion of inexpensive, reliable and easy to use public Internet access, electronic information technologies connect an increasingly large portion of the population. As a result, the communities with which we are all familiar, communities based on geographic proximity, have changed. These sorts of changes raise many interesting but difficult questions. This paper focuses on two of those questions. First, what does the increasing use of and reliance on electronically mediated communications portend for our understanding of human communities, and second, what sorts of socio-political concepts and relationships best characterize the new “virtual community”?
6. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Michelle Sandell Astronomy and Experimentation
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In this paper I contest Ian Hacking’s claim that astronomers do not experiment. Riding on this thesis is a re-evaluation of his view that astronomers are less justified than other natural scientists in believing in the existence of the objects they study, and that astronomers are not proper natural scientists at all. The defense of my position depends upon carefully examining what, exactly, is being manipulated in an experiment, and the role of experimental effects for Hacking’s experimental realism. I argue that Hacking’s experimental realism is not adequately defended, and even if we accept it in good grace, the case can be still made that astronomers experiment by Hacking’s account.
book reviews
7. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Wybo Houkes Review of A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology
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8. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Janna Rosales Remembering How to Forget
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9. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 3
Michael V. Butera Blip, Ping, & Buzz
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