Category: Philosophy

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book This chapter is the first of four on the relationship of technology to social and political issues. Borgmann is trying to argue that we should conceive of and judge society and politics in the light of technology, and that […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book One of the foundational aims of Borgmann’s whole book is the attempt to actually give an explanation for technology. Hence we discussed what counts as an explanation in the scientific realm in earlier chapters. In this middle section of […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book The point of this chapter, according to Borgmann, is to provide more rigor around what has thus far been an intuitive account of the device paradigm. He begins with the question of whether there are any competing analyses of […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book In this chapter, Borgmann explores what he calls the Foreground of technology. This is essentially the world of the use (i.e., consumption) of technological devices, rather than the world of their construction or operation. As we are all aware, […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book In this chapter we examine how far the validity of scientific explanation (the style of explanation called deductive-nomological) extends. Can there be any objections to the claim that scientific explanation is the proper mode of explanation for every question? […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book Chapter 5 of TCCL is concerned with the validity of scientific explanation. Borgmann contrasts this with the scope of scientific explanation, which will be discussed in the next chapter. The example which runs throughout the chapter is the process […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book In this chapter we begin to look at the relationship of science and technology, by initiating an inquiry into the nature of science. Borgmann spends much of this brief chapter painting a rough picture of what people say and […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book In this chapter, Borgmann is concerned to shore up the validity of the distinction between the substantive, instrumental, and pluralist views of technology. These distinctions carve up the possible theoretical space in a certain way, and Borgmann concedes that […]

Note: This entry is part of a series where I am blogging chapter-by-chapter through the book Chapter 2 of TCCL consists of an overview of several existing theories of technology that Borgmann wants to use as partners in dialogue, in the process of constructing his own theory. The pre-theoretic, simplistic view of technology is pragmatic: […]