Technoscience
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In common usage, technoscience refers to the entire long-standing and global
The relationship with the history of science is important in this subject and also underestimated, for example, by more modern sociologists of science. Instead, it is worth emphasising the links that exist between books on the history of science and technology and the study of the relationship between science and technology within a framework of social developments. We [who?] must always consider the generational leap between historical periods and scientific discoveries, the construction of machines, the creation of tools in relation to the technological changes that occurs in very specific situations.[2]
An alternate, more narrow usage occurs in some
The latter, philosophic use of the term technoscience was popularized by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in 1953.[3][4][5] It was popularized in the French-speaking world by Belgian philosopher Gilbert Hottois in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and entered English academic usage in 1987 with Bruno Latour's book Science in Action.[6]
In translating the concept to English, Latour also combined several arguments about technoscience that had circulated separately within science and technology studies (STS) before into a comprehensive framework:
- the intertwinement of scientific and technological development as e.g. shown by the lab studies;
- the power of laboratories (and engineering workshops) to change the world as we know and experience it;
- the seamless webs that connect scientists, engineers and societal actors in actual practice (cf. John Law's concept of heterogeneous engineering);
- the propensity of technoscientific world to create new nature–culture hybrids, and hence to complicate the borders between nature and culture.[6]
Conceptual levels of philosophical technoscience
We [who?] look at the concept of technoscience by considering three levels: a descriptive-analytic level, a deconstructivist level, and a visionary level.
Descriptive-analytic
On a descriptive-analytic level, technoscientific studies examine the decisive role of science and technology in how knowledge is being developed. What is the role played by large research labs in which experiments on organisms are undertaken, when it comes to a certain way of looking at the things surrounding us? To what extent do such investigations, experiments and insights shape views of 'nature' and of human bodies? How do these insights link to the concept of living organisms as biofacts? To what extent do such insights inform technological innovation? Can the laboratory be understood as a metaphor for social structures in their entirety?
Deconstructive
On a deconstructive level, theoretical work is being undertaken on technoscience to address scientific practices critically, e.g. by
Visionary
On a visionary level, the concept of technoscience comprises a number of social, literary, artistic and material technologies from western cultures in the third millennium. This is undertaken in order to focus on the interplay of hitherto separated areas and to question traditional boundary-drawing: this concerns the boundaries drawn between scientific disciplines as well as those commonly upheld for instance between research, technology, the arts and politics. One aim is to broaden the term '
Facets
Social
As with any subject, technoscience exists within a broader social context that must be considered. Science & Technology Studies researcher Sergio Sismondo argues, "Neither the technical vision nor the social vision will come into being without the other, though with enough Concerted Effort both may be brought into being together".[7] Despite the frequent separation between innovators and the consumers, Sismondo argues that development of technologies, though stimulated by a technoscientific themes, is an inherently social process.
Technoscience is so deeply embedded in people's everyday lives that its developments exist outside a space for
Political
Science and technology are tools that continually change social structures and behaviors. Technoscience can be viewed as a form of government or having the power of government because of its impact on society. The impact extends to public health, safety, the environment, and beyond.
Environmental
Chlorine chemists and their scientific knowledge helped set the agenda for many environmental problems: PCBs in the Hudson River are polychlorinated biphenols;[10] DDT, dieldrin, and aldrin are chlorinated pesticides; CFCs that deplete the ozone layer are chlorofluorocarbons. Industry actually manufactured the chemicals and consumers purchased them. Therefore, one can determine that chemists are not the sole cause for these issues, but they are not blameless.[11]
See also
- Bernard Stiegler
- Feminist technoscience
- Technocriticism
- Technoethics
Notes
- ^ Encyclopedia.com (2019), Technoscience, accessed 3 January 2024
- ISBN 978-88-3365-349-5; ISSN 2284-0567)
- ^ Gaston Bachelard, La materialisme rationel, Paris: PUF, 1953.
- ^ Don Ihde, Expanding Hermeneutics: Visualism in Science, Northwestern University Press, 1999, p. 8.
- ^ James M. M. Good, Irving Velody, The Politics of Postmodernity, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 178.
- ^ ISBN 0-674-79291-2
- ISBN 978-0-631-23444-9.
- ^ Klienmen, Daniel Lee. Science and Technology in Society: From Biotechnology to the Internet. Blackwell Pub, 2005
- ^ Langdon Winner, The Whale and the Reactor: The Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986)
- ^ "Hudson River PCBs — Background and Site Information". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2007-12-31. http://www.epa.gov/hudson/background.htm
- ^ Woodhouse, Edward. The Future of Technological Civilization. Print.
References
- Steven Lukes, Power (1974), A Radical View, London: Macmillan
- Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar (1979). ISBN 0-691-09418-7
- Gilbert Hottois (1984). Le signe et la technique. La philosophie à l'épreuve de la technique, Paris, Aubier Montaigne, Coll. "Res, L'invention philosophique", p. 59–60.
- Langdon Winner (1986), The Whale and the Reactor: The Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- Stanley Aronowitz, Barbara Martinsons and Michael Menser (1995), Technoscience and Cyberculture, Routledge
- Adam Schaff (1990). A sociedade informática: as conseqüências sociais da segunda revolução industrial. Editora Brasiliense. ISBN 85-11-14081-6
- ISBN 0-253-21606-0
- Sergio Sismondo (2004). An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-23444-9
- Daniel Lee Kleinman (2005), Science and Technology in Society: From Biotechnology to the Internet. Blackwell Pub
- Mike Michael (2006), Technoscience And Everyday Life: The Complex Simplicities of the Mundane, Open University Press
- Kristin Asdal, Brita Brenna, Ingunn Moser (2007), Technoscience: The Politics of Interventions, Akademika Publishing ISBN 978-8-274-773004
- "Hudson River PCBs — Background and Site Information". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
- Hans Lenk (2007), Global TechnoScience and Responsibility, LIT Verlag
- Don Ihde (2009), Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures, State University of New York
- Adele E. Clarke and al. (2010), Biomedicalization: Technoscience, Health, and Illness in the U.S., Duke University Press
- Bruce Braun and Sarah J. Whatmore (2010), Political Matter: Technoscience, Democracy, and Public Life, University Of Minnesota Press ISBN 978-0-816-670895
- Marja Ylonen and Luigi Pellizzoni (2012), Neoliberalism and Technoscience: Critical Assessments, Ashgate Publishing Limited
- Edward Woodhouse (2013), The Future of Technological Civilization. Print; University Readers
- Guglielmo Rinzivillo (2020), Raccontare la tecnoscienza. Storia di macchine, strumenti, idee per fare funzionare il mondo, Roma, Edizioni Nuova Cultura (ISBN 978-88-3365-349-5; ISSN 2284-0567).
External links
- International Journal of Feminist Technoscience (open access journal with open peer review)