Technological Progress as a Problem in the Study of Culture
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4375282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jurij M Lotman, Ilana Gomel |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 781 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Poetics Today (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0333-5372 • E-ISSN: 1527-5507 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1772717 |
| OpenAlex | W2327179009 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 1 |
Abrupt changes in the social system of scientific and technological ideas often occur in the history of human culture. There are moments, however, when these changes assume a character so far-reaching that they result in an overall transformation of a people's way of life and cultural concepts. Such periods are generally called scientific revolutions. At the beginning of the '60s, Thomas Kuhn wrote in the now famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: Examining the record of past research from the vantage of contemporary historiography, the historian of science may be tempted to exclaim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them. He concluded: Of course, nothing of quite that sort does occur.... Outside the laboratory everyday affairs usually continue as before (Kuhn 1970 [1962]: 111). Less than thirty years have passed, but nowadays hardly anybody would agree with this placid evaluation. There are, of course, constant changes in science and technology which produce a slow accumulation of the material for future explosions echoing far beyond the walls of laboratories and studies. Is it possible to say that after the invention of paper and gunpowder or the scientific application of electricity, things go on as usual? But even these changes, pregnant with consequences, are only intermediate stages if we consider such great epochs as the Neolithic revolution, the invention of writing, the invention of
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,47 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2026 (16) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |