Andrew Feenberg

Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology Andrew Feenberg

This book reexamines the relationships between technology, rationality, and democracy, arguing that the degradation of labor - as well as of many environmental, educational, and political systems - is rooted in the social values that preside over technological development. This new edition of a classic work reflects the growing emphasis of the past ten years on the fields of technological and cultural studies."--BOOK JACKET.

A Critical Theory Revisited

Transforming Technology

In this extraordinary introduction to the study of the philosophy of technology, Andrew Feenberg argues that techonological design is central to the social and political structure of modern societies. Environmentalism, information technology, and medical advances testify to technology's crucial importance. In his lucid and engaging style, Feenberg shows that technology is the medium of daily life. Every major technical changes reverberates at countless levels: economic, political, and cultural. If we continue to see the social and technical domains as being seperate, then we are essentially denying an integral part of our existence, and our place in a democratic society. Questioning Tecchnology convinces us that it is vital that we learn more about technology the better to live with it and to manage it.

Questioning Technology

A leading philosopher of technology calls for the democratic coordination of technical rationality with everyday experience. The technologies, markets, and administrations of today's knowledge society are in crisis. We face recurring disasters in every domain: climate change, energy shortages, economic meltdown. The system is broken, despite everything the technocrats claim to know about science, technology, and economics. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that today powerful technologies have unforeseen effects that disrupt everyday life; the new masters of technology are not restrained by the lessons of experience, and accelerate change to the point where society is in constant turmoil. In Between Reason and Experience, leading philosopher of technology Andrew Feenberg makes a case for the interdependence of reason—scientific knowledge, technical rationality—and experience. Feenberg examines different aspects of the tangled relationship between technology and society from the perspective of critical theory of technology, an approach he has pioneered over the past twenty years. Feenberg points to two examples of democratic interventions into technology: the Internet (in which user initiative has influenced design) and the environmental movement (in which science coordinates with protest and policy). He examines methodological applications of critical theory of technology to the case of the French Minitel computing network and to the relationship between national culture and technology in Japan. Finally, Feenberg considers the philosophies of technology of Heidegger, Habermas, Latour, and Marcuse. The gradual extension of democracy into the technical sphere, Feenberg argues, is one of the great political transformations of our time.

Essays in Technology and Modernity

Between Reason and Experience

How Marcuse helps us understand the ecological crisis of the 21st century For several years after 1968, Herbert Marcuse was one of the most famous philosophers in the world. He became the face of Frankfurt School Critical Theory for a generation in turmoil. His fame rested on two remarkable books, Eros and Civilization and One-Dimensional Man. These two books represent the utopian hopes and dystopian fears of the time. In the 1960s and 70s, young people seeking a theoretical basis for their revolution found it in his work. Marcuse not only supported their struggles against imperialism and race and gender discrimination, he foresaw the far-reaching implications of the destruction of the natural environment. Marcuse’s Marxism was influenced by Husserl and Heidegger, Hegel and Freud. These eclectic sources grounded an original critique of advanced capitalism focused on the social construction of subjectivity and technology. Marcuse contrasted the “one-dimensionality” of conformist experience with the “new sensibility” of the New Left. The movement challenged a society that “delivered the goods” but devastated the planet with its destructive science and technology. A socialist revolution would fail if it did not transform these instruments into means of liberation, both of nature and human beings. This aspiration is alive today in the radical struggle over climate change. Marcuse offers theoretical resources for understanding that struggle.

Nature and Revolution in Marcuse’s Philosophy of Praxis

The Ruthless Critique of Everything Existing

An updated edition of a classic theoretical work traces the evolution of the critical concept about the "realization of philosophy" through revolution as discussed in the writings of Marx, Lukàcs, Adorno and Marcuse to demonstrate its continuing contemporary relevance. Simultaneous. Hardcover available.

Marx, Lukács, and the Frankfurt School

The Philosophy of Praxis

Darin David Barney

Daniel Feenberg

Is the Internet the key to a reinvigorated public life? Or will it fragment society by enabling citizens to associate only with like-minded others? Online community has provided social researchers with insights into our evolving social life. As suburbanization and the breakdown of the extended family and neighborhood isolate individuals more and more, the Internet appears as a possible source for reconnection. Are virtual communities "real" enough to support the kind of personal commitment and growth we associate with community life, or are they fragile and ultimately unsatisfying substitutes for human interaction? Community in the Digital Age features the latest, most challenging work in an important and fast-changing field, providing a forum for some of the leading North American social scientists and philosophers concerned with the social and political implications of this new technology. Their provocative arguments touch on all sides of the debate surrounding the Internet, community, and democracy.

Philosophy and Practice

Community in the Digital Age

"Apresentarei o esboço de uma teoria não determinística da sociedade moderna, a que chamo “teoria crítica da tecnologia.” Esta abordagem alternativa enfatiza o impacto dos aspectos contextuais da tecnologia sobre o seu projeto. Argumentarei que a tecnologia não é só o controlo racional da natureza; tanto o seu desenvolvimento como o seu impacto são intrinsecamente sociais. Mostrarei que essa perspectiva enfraquece substancialmente a confiança habitual na eficiência como uma explicação do desenvolvimento tecnológico, tanto nas narrativas otimistas como nas narrativas distópicas da modernidade. Tal conclusão, por sua vez, abre largas possibilidades de mudanças que têm sido excluídas pelo entendimento habitual da tecnologia." Andrew Feenberg

Ensaios sobre tecnologia e modernidade

Entre a razão e a experiência

Coleção de oito ensaios recentes de Andrew Feenberg sobre a sua filosofia da tecnologia (teoria crítica da tecnologia), uma abordagem inovadora da filosofia e sociologia da tecnologia baseada numa síntese de ideias com raízes nos estudos da ciência e tecnologia e também da teoria crítica da Escola de Frankfurt. O volume inclui capítulos sobre cidadania e teoria critica da tecnologia; filosofia da tecnologia e modernidade e ainda Heidegger e Marcuse, dois dos filósofos da tecnologia mais proeminentes e influentes. Com uma introdução inédita de Feenberg, escrita para esta edição, sobre as relações entre a tecnologia e a modernidade e a democracia. Edição revista e melhorada.

Tecnologia, modernidade e democracia

Charles Webel

Robert B. Pippin

Critical Theory & the Promise of Utopia

Marcuse

Robert Pippin

Charles P. Webel

Distinguished scholars--Jurgen Habermas, Claus Offe, Douglas Kellner, and Martin Jay, among others--draw upon historical, theoretical, and biographical information to assess Marcuse's philosophy, from its grounding in classical German idealism, through the break with Heidegger, to his role in the American counterculture of the sixties and seventies. Indispensable for anyone interested in an in-depth understanding of one of the most burning issues of our time: the relation of critical theory to social action.

Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia

This acclaimed book is the first comparative evaluation of two primary sources of the Western Marxist tradition: Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and History and Class Consciousness by Georg Lukács. Andrew Feenberg offers a new interpretation of the theories of alienation and reification as the basis of a Marxist approach to the cultural contradictions of contemporary society.

Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory

Jim Freedman

Offers a complete survey of the French May Events of 1968 through narrative, analysis, and documents.

The French May Events of 1968

When Poetry Ruled the Streets

Armen Khatchatourov

Pierre-Antoine Chardel

Gabriel Peries

Digital Identities in Tension deals with the ambivalence of universal digitalization. While this transformation opens up new possibilities, it also redistributes the interplay of constraints and incentives, and tends insidiously to create a greater malleability of individuals. Today, companies and states are increasingly engaged in the surveillance and management of our digital identities. In response, we must study the effects that the new industrial, economic and political logics have on ethical issues and our ability to act. This book examines the effects of digitalization on new modes of existence and subjectivation in many spheres: digital identity management systems, Big Data and machine learning, the Internet of Things, smart cities, etc. The study of these transformations is one of the major conditions for more responsible modes of data governance to emerge.

Between Autonomy and Control

Digital Identities in Tension

Alastair Hannay

"This fine collection of essays from a diverse group of authors expounding on a wide variety of subjects presents a generous sampling of the new philosophy of technology." -- Choice "... informative, original, and provocative.... Many of the writers are major players in defining the contested political terrain of cultural, science, and technology studies as well as critical theory and Heidegger studies." -- Gerald Doppelt

Technology and the Politics of Knowledge

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Catastrophe and Redemption of History

Heidegger and Marcuse

For several years after 1968, Herbert Marcuse was one of the most famous philosophers in the world. He became the face of Frankfurt School Critical Theory for a generation in turmoil. His fame rested on two remarkable books, Eros and Civilization and One-Dimensional Man. These two books represent the utopian hopes and dystopian fears of the time. In the 1960s and 70s, young people seeking a theoretical basis for their revolution found it in his work. Marcuse not only supported their struggles against imperialism and race and gender discrimination, he foresaw the far-reaching implications of the destruction of the natural environment. Marcuse's Marxism was influenced by Husserl and Heidegger, Hegel and Freud. These eclectic sources grounded an original critique of advanced capitalism focused on the social construction of subjectivity and technology. Marcuse contrasted the "one-dimensionality" of conformist experience with the "new sensibility" of the New Left. The movement challenged a society that "delivered the goods" but devastated the planet with its destructive science and technology. A socialist revolution would fail if it did not transform these instruments into means of liberation, both of nature and human beings. This aspiration is alive today in the radical struggle over climate change. Marcuse offers theoretical resources for understanding that struggle.

Nature and Revolution in Marcuse's Philosophy of Praxis

This important collection of essays by Andrew Feenberg presents his critical theory of technology, an innovative approach to philosophy and sociology of technology based on a synthesis of ideas drawn from STS and Frankfurt School Critical Theory. According to critical theory of technology, technologies are neither neutral nor deterministic, but are encoded with specific socio-economic values and interests. Feenberg explores how they can be developed and adapted to more or less democratic values and institutions, and how their future is subject to social action, negotiation and reinterpretation. Technologies bring with them a particular "rationality," sets of rules and implied ways of behaving and thinking which, despite their profound influence on institutions, ideas and actions, can be transformed in a process of democratic rationalization. Feenberg argues that the emergence of human communication on the Internet and the environmental movement offer abundant examples of public interventions that have reshaped technologies originally designed for different purposes. This volume includes chapters on citizenship and critical theory of technology, philosophy of technology and modernity, and Heidegger and Marcuse, two of the most prominent philosophers of technology.

Essays by Andrew Feenberg

Technology, Modernity, and Democracy

We live in a world of technical systems designed in accordance with technical disciplines and operated by technically trained personnel—a unique social organization that largely determines our way of life. Andrew Feenberg’s theory of social rationality represents both the threats of technocratic modernity and the potential for democratic change.

Technosystem

In this new collection of essays, Andrew Feenberg argues that conflicts over the design and organization of the technical systems that structure our society shape deep choices for the future. A pioneer in the philosophy of technology, Feenberg demonstrates the continuing vitality of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. He calls into question the anti-technological stance commonly associated with its theoretical legacy and argues that technology contains potentialities that could be developed as the basis for an alternative form of modern society. Feenberg's critical reflections on the ideas of Jürgen Habermas, Herbert Marcuse, Jean-François Lyotard, and Kitaro Nishida shed new light on the philosophical study of technology and modernity. He contests the prevalent conception of technology as an unstoppable force responsive only to its own internal dynamic and politicizes the discussion of its social and cultural construction. This argument is substantiated in a series of compelling and well-grounded case studies. Through his exploration of science fiction and film, AIDS research, the French experience with the "information superhighway," and the Japanese reception of Western values, he demonstrates how technology, when subjected to public pressure and debate, can incorporate ethical and aesthetic values.

The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory

Alternative Modernity

Eduardo Beira

This important collection of essays by Andrew Feenberg presents his critical theory of technology, an innovative approach to philosophy and sociology of technology based on a synthesis of ideas drawn from STS and Frankfurt School Critical Theory. The volume includes chapters on citizenship, modernity, and Heidegger and Marcuse.

Andrew Feenberg

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