SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 488-4

Andrew Feenberg                                                                                                            Fall 2004

HC 3598; 604-291-5169                                                                                Harbour Centre Day

Email: feenberg@sfu.ca

(SPECIAL TOPICS)

THE PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY

Prerequisite: 75 credits including 2 upper level Communication courses or permission of the instructor or advisor.

 

This course focuses on several major themes in the philosophy of technology. We will study literary texts, graphical and historical examples, and philosophical essays. The object of the course is to enable a rich, multilayered understanding of technology as not merely the sum of rational and efficient means to ends, but as a symbolic system and an environment that shapes our way of life.

 

The course is divided into three approximately month long segments.

 

During the first part we will consider utopia and dystopia in the novels of Edward Bellamy and Aldous Huxley. Both authors present early visions of high tech society, but in one case the results are good in the other catastrophic. What changed between these two visions, one formulated in the 1880s, the other in the 1930s?

 

The second part of the course will consider three examples of technologies that have changed the world in very different ways. We will begin with nuclear weapons, tracing the early history and consequences of this invention. We will continue with photography. This second example will be discussed in relation to a photography exhibit of Professor FeenbergÕs own work at Harbour Centre scheduled for mid October. The third example is the computer which we will approach through two applications, the Minitel system in France, which was a precursor of the Internet, and the automation of machine tools.

 

The course will conclude with several philosophical essays reflecting on the nature of technology and modern society. The essays will relate back to the material studied in the first two parts and point forward to further study.

 

Grading:

 

 Grading will be based on a midterm and final test (75%) and classroom participation (25%).

 

The School expects that the grades in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distributions of grades.  The School follows Policy T10.02 with respect to ÒIntellectual HonestyÓ and ÒAcademic DisciplineÓ (see SFU Calendar, General Regulations).

 

Required Texts:

 

Bellamy, Looking Backward

Huxley, Brave New World

 Taschen. Photo Icons II

Feenberg and Hannay, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge, Indiana Univ. Press

 

                                                                                                                                    (over)

A reading packet containing all other readings (in the schedule below, number of pages of items included in this packet are listed in brackets after titles)

 

I. Utopia or Dystopia: What is dystopia? Is technology taking over? Are human beings technologically obsolete? Can individuality survive technological advance? What is a revolution in a technologically advanced society?

 

Week 1. Bellamy, Looking Backward

Week 2-3. Huxley, Brave New World

 

IIa. Photography and the Real: What are the implications for identity and society of the generalization of the photographic image? How do these  images alter perception?

 

Week 4. Photo Icons II

Week 5. Benjamin, ÒThe Work of Art in the Age of Its Mechanical ReproductionÓ

 

IIb. Nuclear Weapons and the Social Role of Science: What responsibilities must technical experts assume for their creations? How well did the first generation of nuclear experts handle their predicament? What is loyalty? Should the bomb have been dropped on Japan?  

 

Week 6. Bernstein, "Four Physicists and the Bomb" [32]; Einstein Letter [2]; Szilard Petition [2]; Science Panel Recommendations [1]; Franck Report [12]; Stimson, "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb" [10].

Week 7. Oppenheimer, "Atomic Explosives" [14]; Report of the General Advisory Committee [8].

 

IIc. Computers and Society:  How have computers changed our lives? How have they altered the ways in which we communicate and work? Is the technology itself responsible for these changes or does society govern the development of the technology?

 

Week 8: Hobsbawm, "The Machine Breakers" [10]; Ure, "The Philosophy of Manufactures" [9]; Taylor, "Scientific Management"[8] Noble: "Social Choice in Machine Design" [32]

Week 9:  Feenberg: From Information to Communication

 

III. Readings in Philosophy of Technology: Presenting a variety of different views.

 

Week 10: Ihde, ÒImage Technologies and Traditional CultureÓ and Ezrahi, ÒTechnology and the Civil Epistemology of Democracy,Ó in Feenberg and Hannay, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge

Week 11: Dreyfus, ÒHeidegger on Gaining a Free Relation to TechnologyÓ and Winograd, ÒHeidegger and the Design of Computer Systems,Ó in Feenberg and Hannay, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge

Week 12: Feenberg, ÒSubversive RationalizationÓ and Winner, ÒCitizen Virtues in a Technological Order,Ó in Feenberg and Hannay, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge