Philosophy of Technology by Frederick Ferré

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 457 If these volumes are avowedly an apologia for EDF, the author’s honesty and the diversity of information he provides (volume 2 is all documents) make them indispensable to all historians of nuclear power—until the archives are opened. Cecil O. Smith, Jr. Dr. Smith, whose “The Longest Run: Public Engineers and Planning in France” appeared in American Historical Review 95 (June 1990): 657-92, has been teaching the history of technology at Drexel University since 1964. Philosophy of Technology. By Frederick Ferré. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, 1988. Pp. x+147; notes, glossary, bibliography, in­ dex. Paper. This is the latest addition to the distinguished Prentice-Hall Foun­ dations of Philosophy series. Although the books in this series are intended as introductory texts, some of them have been sufficiently original and substantive to achieve an influence and longevity that go well beyond those of normal textbooks—for example, Carl Hempel’s Philosophy ofNatural Science and John Hick’s Philosophy ofReligion. I do not think that Frederick Ferré’s contribution will fall into the latter group, but it is nonetheless a thorough and solid contribution to the philosophy of technology. In typical textbook fashion, Ferré begins with a question: What is the philosophy of technology? It is, he proposes, “the sustained effort at wondering critically about” the relationship between technology and the four fundamental areas of philosophy: logic, epistemology, axiology (the study of values), and metaphysics (p. 2). These four areas provide the organizing framework of the book. The way Ferré relates logic to technology is that one small part of logic is concerned with defining, and defining technology has been an ongoing debate. After a thorough discussion of the logic of defining, the definition he arrives at is this: “Technologies are practical imple­ mentations of intelligence” (p. 26). There is nothing original about this definition, but the analysis that leads up to it is methodical. Here are some of the main points he wishes to encapsulate in this brief definition: (1) technology is more than things—it includes intelli­ gence; (2) technology is not necessarily science based, but most modern technologies are based on scientific knowledge; (3) technol­ ogy is practical in the sense of being for the ends of survival, comfort, and material well-being; and (4) technology is never mere ideas (contra Ellul)—the ideas must be embodied either as artifacts or as social organizations (i.e., the printing press, the calculator, Taylor’s scientific management). The chapters on epistemology focus on the distinction between practical and theoretical intelligence. Practical intelligence, the “Rea­ 458 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE son of Ulysses” (the phrase is from Whitehead), is driven by the urge “to live, to live well, and to live better” (p. 39). By contrast, theoretical intelligence, the “Reason of Plato” (Whitehead again), is driven by the urge to know and to understand. In a fine bit of phenomenological analysis, Ferré proceeds to sort out many other differentiating char­ acteristics between these two modes of intelligence. This analysis is much indebted to Whitehead, which Ferré acknowledges. In what will strike most readers as a dramatic oversimplification, Ferré credits the linkage and interaction between theoretical and practical intelligence (which he traces back to Galileo and calls “techno-scientific thinking”) with the entire structure of modern industrial civilization. The third area of philosophy that Ferré applies to technology is ethics. This section contains a good survey of cost-benefit and risk-benefit analysis with a critique of their weaknesses (e.g., the difficulty of quantifying some valued goods, the tendency to discount future goods and future generations). Next he discusses specific ethical questions raised by five current technologies: automation, computers and artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, development, and genetic engineering. This is one of the least satisfactory sections of the book. Ferré does little more than raise a series of ethical questions for each of these technologies. There is more cataloging here than analysis. On the grounds that religions are, among other things, expres­ sions of the most profound values of a people, Ferré includes a discussion of technology and religion under ethics. He explores at some length the debate concerning whether the Judeo

Epistemology · Glossary · Honesty · Metaphysics · Philosophy of biology · Philosophy of science · Philosophy of technology · Power (physics) · Sociology · Theology · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy