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Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life Technology and the Character of Contemporary life A Philosophical Inquiry ALBERT BORGMANN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago and london THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 1984 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 1984 Paperback edition 1987 Printed in the United States of America 06 05 04 03 02 0 I 00 99 98 97 5 6 7 8 9 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Borgmann, Albert Technology and the character of contemporary life. Includes bibliographical references and index. I Technology-Philosophy. I. Title Tl4.B63 1984 303.4'83 84-8639 ISBN 0-226-06629-0 (paper) @ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Contents Acknowledgments vii Part One THE PROBLEM OF TECHNOLOGY I 1 Technology and Theory 3 2 Theories of Technology 7 3 The Choice of a Theory 12 4 Scientific Theory 15 5 Scientific Explanation 17 6 The Scope of Scientific Explanation 22 7 Science and Technology 26 Part Two THE CHARACTER OF TECHNOLOGY 33 8 The Promise of Technology 35 9 The Device Paradigm 40 10 The Foreground of Technology 48 11 Devices, Means, and Machines 57 12 Paradigmatic Explanation 68 13 Technology and the Social Order 78 14 Technology and Democracy 85 15 The Rule of Technology 101 16 Political Engagement and Social Justice 107 17 Work and Labor 114 18 Leisure, Excellence, and Happiness 124 19 The Stability of Technology 143 Part Three THE REFORM OF TECHNOLOGY ISS 20 The Possibilities of Reform 157 21 Deictic Discourse 169 22 The Challenge. of Nature 182 23 Focal Things and Practices 196 24 Wealth and the Good Life 210 25 Political Affirmation 226 26 The Recovery of the Promise of Tech- 246 nology Notes 251 Index 293 Acknowledgments This book is the summary of work that has occupied me for over a decade. I I have received help from many people. From John Winnie I have learned to appreciate the power of the natural sciences. Henry Bugbee taught me to affirm in my thinking what matters to me in life. Carl Mitcham's friendship has been crucial to my working out a philosophy of technology. The staff, the faculty, and the administration of the University of Montana have sup ported my work generously. Finally, I am indebted to discussions with my students. PART 1 The Problem of Technology Part I of this study is introductory. The main topics are presented in Part 2 and in Part 3. The first of these major topics, is the character of contemporary life. The modern world and contemporary life particularly, so I will argue, have been shaped by technology, which has stamped them with a peculiar pattern and so given them their character. But although our world bears the imprint of technology, the pattern of technology is neither obvious nor ex clusively dominant. It competes with and threatens to obliterate certain focal things and practices that center and order our lives in a profoundly different way. These focal concerns represent the other major theme of this inquiry. Part 2, then, is intended to clarify and explicate the pattern of technology and the prevailing character of our time. Given a clear and intelligent view of technology, Part 3 is to show how in the midst of technology we can become more conscious and confident of our focal concerns and how, against the background of technology, we can give them a central and consequential place in our lives. These remarks must appear dubious and perhaps cryptic. They are so in part because they are brief, but partly also because they summarize views at variance with the common understanding of technology. A careful introduction is thus needed to connect the major concerns of this book with current thought on technology and to clear the ground for another way of approaching the problem of technology. This is the task of Part I. It begins in Chapter I with a more detailed sketch of the contrast between the established views of tech nology and the position developed in this book. In particular, it provides introductory illustrations of what is meant by the pattern of technology, the pivot of Part 2, and by a matter of profound concern, the focus of Part 3. It presents brief surveys of those two parts and, at the same time, clarifies the significance of scholarship and method for the task before us. In Chapter 2, the concept of technology that will guide this essay is ten tatively sketched against the background of the presently dominant views of technology. The perspective on theories of technology is further elaborated in Chapter 3 through a comparison of the present classification with one