Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Philosophy of technology'

Philosophy of technology (PoT) analyzes the nature of technology, its significance and consequences, and its mediation of human experiences of the world. Classical philosophers of technology describe mechanization as alienating: Technology causes humans to lose their connection with the natural world. Tehno-rationality replaces critical engagement and creativity. Failing to comprehend the essence/nature of Technology, and its consequences, portends disastrous social, political, and economic consequences. Such perspectives, however, neglect individual experiences of technologies. Filling that lacuna, contemporary philosophers of technology challenge the sweeping determinism of their intellectual forerunners and investigate how specific technologies mediate particular human experiences. Their descriptive prowess, however, lacks the normative engagement of classical PoT, and they emphasize micro effects of technologies to the detriment of macro implications. This dissertation describes an 'un-disciplined' philosophy of technology (UPoT) that unites the macro and micro perspectives by providing narratives of human-technology symbiosis and co-development. Un-disciplined philosophers of technology present posthuman and transhuman perspectives that emphasize the symbiotic relationships between humans and technology. Thus, they deny disciplined philosophy's first critical maneuver: define and demarcate. UPoT enables conversations and debate regarding the ontological and moral consequences of imagining humans and technologies as hybrid, co-dependent things. UPoT builds upon environmental and animal rights movements, and postphenomenology, to emphasize pluralist accounts that emphasize the dynamism of human-technology relations. UPoT argues we should imagine technologies as extensions/parts of living things: they do the shaping and are shaped in turn. I argue that such thinking reinforces the habit, already proposed by contemporary PoT, that emerging human-technology relations demand active interpretation and engagement because the relationships constantly change. Thus, we need to imagine a moral theory that best matches the hybrid/connected condition of the present century. Increasing automation in agriculture and surgery, for instance, exemplify technologies mediating human experiences of food and health, thus affecting how we understand and define these categories.
Ph. D.

But suppose now that technology were no means, how would it stand with the will to master it? Martin Heidegger
Mais supposez maintenant que Ia technologie ne soit pas en moyen,comment ~a se comparerait avec Ie desir de la connaitre au fond? Martin Heidegger

This dissertation examines the relationship that exists between two distinct and seemingly incompatible bodies of scholarship within the field of contemporary philosophy of technology. The first, as argued by postmodern pragmatist Barry Allen, posits that our tools and what we make with them are epistemically important; disputing the idea that knowledge is strictly sentential or propositional, he claims instead that knowledge is the product of a performance that is both superlative and artefactual, rendering technology importantly world-constituting. The second, as argued by Heidegger and his inheritors, is that technology is ontologically problematic; rather than technology being evidence of performative knowledge, it is instead existentially threatening by virtue of the fact that it changes the tenor of our relationship with the world-as-given. Despite the fact that these claims seem prima facie incompatible, I argue that they may be successfully reconciled by introducing a third body of scholarship: the philosophy of photography. For it is the case, I argue, that although we, qua human beings, occupy lifeworlds that are necessarily constituted by technology, technology also induces a kind of phenomenological scepticism: a concern that mediated action precludes us from the possibility of authentic experience. Arguing in favour of the sentiment that photographs serve as a kind of phenomenal anchor—a kind of machine for living—I claim that photographic images provide a panacea to this existential concern: despite being epistemically problematic, it is this selfsame epistemic “specialness” of photographs that forces us to phenomenologically recommit, if only temporarily, to the world in a serious way. Consequently, it is my belief that an analysis of our artefacts and the way they function is fundamentally incomplete without an analysis of the epistemic and ontological problems introduced of the photographic image; as I will demonstrate, the photographic image casts an extremely long shadow over the philosophy of technology.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Practical reason can help make sense of the decisions that face humankind in a complex planetary age, and notably so regarding the development and use of technology. Human agency and functioning as a self-understanding person, as well as certain ideas related to complexity and co-evolution are crucial aspects of this side of practical reason. Exploring these aspects from different perspectives can help uncover some constructive insights into the special nature of the moral goals, and the uniquely human significance of some of our intentions and actions that inform our decision-making on the development and use of technology. The insights gained here can furthermore serve to expand certain mainstream conceptions in Western intellectual culture on the character of reason as such, which proceed from a classical, or naturalistic stance. In the latter case reason typically calls for the use of explicit criteria, and is foundational and procedural in nature. This view is important and useful. However, the model of practical argument that accompanies it paints a characteristically sceptical picture of rational choice in the moral sphere. Yet such scepticism is not always warranted. Instead, an expanded model of practical reason is called for, notably if human agency and self-understanding, as well as ideas related to complexity and co-evolution are taken seriously. In this thesis it is demonstrated that such an approach can serve to express in richer, less sceptical terms the sense of significance we find in our societal choices, and particularly so in those decisions for technology that confront humanity in an inclusive, interdependent age. In light of the above, the thesis discussion attempts to review some central naturalistic beliefs in Western intellectual culture on the nature of reason and related patterns of practical argument. The thesis aim is to point out some of their ontological and epistemological assumptions, note their particular strengths and weaknesses and relate them to models of reason employed in the natural and human sciences – especially those that concern the nature of explanation and understanding. Furthermore, these beliefs are linked to a generally sceptical, but at times unwarranted attitude towards the sphere of practical moral argument. Such matters are treated in the first two chapters of the thesis discussion. Other ways of picturing this attitude of doubt towards the moral sphere can be found in alternative notions about human agency and self-understanding, as well as from complexity and co-evolution. The concepts behind these perspectives point to certain ontological and epistemological insights which arguably take thinking beyond the normal range of naturalistic abstractions. As a result, different characterizations, or patterns, of practical reason become possible, the nature of which can help to rework the usual warrants for scepticism when it comes to judging the significance of our intentions and actions. Thinking in terms of human agency, self-understanding, complexity and co-evolution holds another advantage. These conceptualisations can also serve to formulate a defining link between practical reason and consultation, be it among individuals, communities or the institutions of society. Such ideas speak in part to emerging notions of collective maturity in the organization of human affairs, and the well-being of all peoples. More particularly, consultation can offer additional resources for replacing entrenched patterns of conflict in society with patterns that are more unifying and just. It can as well provide for a certain quality of understanding of the principles and issues involved. The exploration of these and similar ideas begins with the discussion in Chapters Three and Four, and continues into subsequent chapters. In addition to their naturalistic counterpart, these patterns of practical reason also suggest some useful notions regarding the broader import of our societal and developmental choices on a planetary scale. The thesis discussion will attempt to explore some of these ideas. Among other things, it considers the implications they have for notions of development in general viz the unfolding of humankind’s social, cultural, ethical and spiritual potential, as well as for conceptions of technology that speak to that unfolding. It will include in its study the notion of future-regarding social choices and the transformative potential of time. From there the focus will shift to what it might mean to recast existing technology aspirations in light of the urgent requirements of a co-evolving world, and with it the need to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole. These and related topics are addressed in Chapters Five and Six. Finally, three broad questions have played an important background role in carrying out this study. First, what is the nature of the unity that exists between our capacity to know the world in an epistemological sense, and our ability to judge the moral significance of our actions? Second, on the basis of what can we make sense of our decisions about technology in so far as they might be said to contribute to an advance or a decline in human social well-being? Third, what insights can we gain into our patterns of practical reason and decisions for technology when viewed in the context of a planetary age, and considered in light of the principle of the oneness of mankind?
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die praktiese rede kan help sin maak van die besluite wat die mensdom in ʼn komplekse planetêre era in die gesig staar, veral met betrekking tot die ontwikkeling en gebruik van tegnologie. Menslike agentskap en funksionering as ’n persoon met selfbegrip, sowel as sekere idees oor kompleksiteit en ko-evolusie is almal deurslaggewende aspekte van hierdie sy van die praktiese rede. Deur hierdie aspekte vanuit verskillende perspektiewe te ondersoek, kan konstruktiewe insigte blootgelê word in die besondere aard van die morele doelwitte en die uniek-menslike betekenis van die bedoelings en handelinge wat ons besluitneming oor die ontwikkeling en gebruik van tegnologie onderlê. Die insigte wat hier verwerf word, kan daarby help om bepaalde hoofstroom-opvattings in die Westerse intellektuele kultuur oor die aard van die rede as sodanig te verruim – opvattings wat uit ’n klassieke of naturalistiese standpunt stam. Volgens laasgenoemde standpunt vereis die rede gewoonlik duidelike maatstawwe, en lê dit in wese grondslae en stel prosedures daar. Só ʼn siening is belangrik en bruikbaar, maar op grond van die model van praktiese redenering wat hiermee gepaardgaan, word ’n tipies skeptiese beeld geskets van redelike keuses binne die morele ruimte. Hierdie skeptisisme is egter nie altyd geregverdig nie. ’n Verruimde model van die praktiese rede word eerder benodig, veral as menslike agentskap en selfverstaan, asook die idees wat met kompleksiteit en ko-evolusie verband hou, ernstig opgeneem word. Só ʼn benadering kan help om die betekenis wat ons in ons maatskaplike keuses vind in ryker en minder skeptiese terme uit te druk. Dit geld veral vir daardie besluite vir tegnologie waarvoor die mensdom in ʼn inklusiewe, interafhanklike era te staan kom. In die lig hiervan is die proefskrif ‘n poging om ’n oorsig te gee van ’n paar sentrale naturalistiese opvattings binne die Westerse intellektuele kultuur oor die aard van die rede en patrone van praktiese argumentvoering wat daarmee verband hou. Die proefskrif poog om sommige van hierdie opvattings se ontologiese en epistemologiese voorveronderstellings uit te wys, hulle sterk- en swakpunte aan te toon en hulle in verband te bring met rasionele modelle wat in die natuur- en menswetenskappe gebruik word, veral dié oor die aard van verklaring en verstaan. Daarby word hierdie voorveronderstellings gekoppel aan ʼn algemeen skeptiese, maar by tye ongeregverdigde, ingesteldheid teenoor die sfeer van praktiese morele argumentvoering. Hierdie aspekte word in die eerste twee hoofstukke van die tesis behandel. Hierdie twyfel ten opsigte van die morele sfeer kan egter anders voorgestel word as alternatiewe idees oor menslike agentskap en selfverstaan in ag geneem word, asook kompleksiteit en ko-evolusie. Die begrippe wat hierdie perspektiewe ten grondslag lê, dui op bepaalde ontologiese en epistemologiese insigte wat stellig kan help dat ons denke die gebruiklike grense van naturalistiese abstraksies kan oorstyg. Die gevolg is dat die kenmerke of patrone van die praktiese rede anders verwoord kan word, wat kan bydra tot die hersiening van die gebruiklike regverdiging vir skeptisisme wanneer ons die betekenis van ons bedoelings en handelinge beoordeel. Om in terme van menslike agentskap, selfverstaan, kompleksiteit en ko-evolusie te dink, hou ook ’n verdere voordeel in. Sodanige konseptualiserings kan ook dien om ’n beslissende verband te lê tussen die praktiese rede en raadpleging [oftewel konsultasie] – of dit nou op die vlak van individue, gemeenskappe of samelewingsinstellings plaasvind. As sodanig vind hierdie gedagtes gedeeltelik aanklank by opkomende idees oor kollektiewe volwassenheid in die organisering van menslike aangeleenthede, en die strewe na die welsyn van alle samelewings wêreldwyd. In die besonder, raadpleging kan bykomende hulpmiddels bied om die ingewortelde konflikpatrone in die samelewing te help vervang met patrone wat meer verenigend en regverdig is. Dit kan ook voorsiening maak vir ʼn soort volwasse begrip van die beginsels en kwessies wat ter sprake is. Die verkenning van hierdie en verwante idees begin met die bespreking in Hoofstukke Drie en Vier en word in die daaropvolgende hoofstukke voortgesit. In onderskeiding van die naturalistiese interpretasie kan hierdie patrone van die praktiese rede vir ons ook help om die belang van ons keuses oor die samelewing en ontwikkeling op planetêre vlak in ‘n breër perspektief te plaas. Die bespreking in hierdie tesis beoog om ’n paar van hierdie idees van nader te ondersoek. Dit wil onder meer let op die implikasies van hierdie idees vir die konsep van ontwikkeling in die algemeen, met ander woorde vir die ontsluiting van die mensdom se maatskaplike, kulturele, etiese en spirituele potensiaal, asook vir die voorstellings van tegnologie wat direk op hierdie ontsluiting afgestem is. Die studie konsentreer ook op die idee van toekomsgerigte sosiale keuses en die omvormende potensiaal van tyd. Van daar verskuif die fokus na wat dit sou kon behels om bestaande tegnologiese aspirasies te herontwerp in die lig van die dringende behoefte aan ’n ko-evolusionêre wêreld, en daarmee saam die noodsaak om die belange van die mensdom in die geheel te beskerm. Hierdie en verwante onderwerpe word in Hoofstukke Vyf en Ses aangespreek. Laastens het drie oorkoepelende vrae ʼn beduidende rol gespeel as agtergrond tot die studie. Eerstens: Wat is die aard van die verband tussen ons vermoë om die wêreld in ’n epistemologiese sin te kan ken en ons vermoë om die morele betekenis van ons handelinge te kan beoordeel? Tweedens: Op grond waarvan kan ons bepaal of ons besluite oor tegnologie ‘n bydrae maak tot die bevordering van die mens se sosiale welsyn, of tot die ondermyning daarvan? Derdens: Watter insigte kan ons verkry oor ons patrone van praktiese redenering en ons besluite oor tegnologie wanneer ons dit binne die konteks van ’n planetêre era en in die lig van die beginsel van menslike eenheid beskou?

The overlap between the separate fields of philosophy of technology and environmental philosophy can be investigated using the two longest running flagship journals for each field, Environmental Ethics (EE) and Research in Philosophy and Technology, which is now published as Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology (RPT/Techné). By looking at the theoretical and conceptual ideas on nature and the environment expressed in RPT/Techné, at those on technology and artifacts expressed in EE, and at the individuals who contributed them using the principles of social epistemology as developed by Steve Fuller, a stereoscopic view incorporating the insights from both specializations can be constructed. The ideas developed in the articles can be charted like stars within constellations, loosely connected in groupings that are neither clear nor evident. Five constellations can be discerned from the relevant articles in each journal, and while there is some overlap, there is considerable difference. The stereoscopic view is developed in three ways: first, by reviewing the contributions of authors who have published in both journals; second, by utilizing resources in both specializations to add subtlety and depth to the ideas expressed, starting in this case from Jacques Ellul’s “Nature, Technique and Artificiality”; and third, by using W. D. Ross’s ethical theory, which fuses prima facie duties with virtues, to integrate traditional ethical concerns with those raised by philosophers focused on technology and those concerned with the environment.

The contributions of Gaston Bachelard to the history and philosophy of science are not very well known in the United States. This thesis traces the particular characteristics of Bachelard's epistemology within the context of early twentieth century French culture and science. Bachelard began his career in philosophy comparatively late in life and although his background in mathematics and physics was reflected in his philosophical approach to science, he belonged more to the French intellectual avant-garde than to the traditional philosophies of positivism and pragmatism defended by the Third Republic. Bachelard's writings represent an important contribution to a new vocabulary in epistemology, and they influenced scholars such as Georges Canguilhen, Alexandre Koyré, Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. His works definitely deserve wider exposure, as they easily connect with problems that American scholars pursue today in Science Studies.
Master of Science

Philosophy
Ph.D.
In the field of philosophy, the study of the Internet has mainly focused on the social responses to the technology or offered contending visions of the future forms of the Internet with little or no regard for the import of the technical features that contribute to these possibilities. Philosophy lacks a sustained investigation of the implications of the basic design of the Internet technology. This dissertation lays out a philosophical framework for investigating the social and historical relations that result in the embodiment of specific interests in the technology of the Internet. Its philosophical basis, influenced by the thought of Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse, and Andrew Feenberg, supports a social constructivist approach that includes theorization of the oppressive embodiment of hegemonic and exclusive interests in technology while rejecting the technological determinisms influenced by Martin Heidegger's philosophy of technology. After establishing that three pervasive social-political interests - accessibility, openness, and decentralization - directed the design choices that produced the fundamental structure of the Internet, I consider how these embodied interests have interacted with interests arising through the commercial commodification and the globalization of the Internet since the 1990s. Critically evaluating and expanding upon theoretical work in philosophy and other disciplines, I argue that the interests of accessibility, openness, and decentralization, while potentially oppressive when appropriated to satisfy the needs of commercial advertising and dominant social relations, avert the technological hegemony and exclusivity that has concerned philosophers. The result of these embodied interests is an emancipatory ability to incorporate alternative interests and uses through dispersed collaboration and participation, which enables Internet technology to remain minimally coercive.
Temple University--Theses

Few people would dispute that today’s world is highly technological. But what do we mean when we talk of ‘technology’, and is it possible to quantify its effect on human beings? This thesis considers the relationship between technology and humanity as being one of symbiosis - we shape our tools and in turn, our tools shape us. The nature of this relationship is described by ‘essentialist’ critics of technology as narrowing the focus of human endeavour towards a technological value-set dominated by efficiency, to the detriment of other values important to the human animal. Sport provides an excellent framework for examining the impact of technology defined in this way, as it is a ubiquitous and highly technological arena. If it can be plausibly argued that an increasingly technological and performance-centred approach to sport is detrimental to an holistic understanding of sport’s potential to benefit both the individual and society as a whole, it may be the case that sport provides accessible and irrefutable evidence for the truth of the essentialists’ claims regarding the impact on society of technology writ large. This thesis presents such an argument. Furthermore, if we grant the essentialist critics their contention and admit the impossibility of returning to an ‘untechnological’ world, we have to find some way of restoring and maintaining an holistic existence in the face of the restricted value-set imposed by our technology and our interactions with it. To this end, the latter part of this thesis promotes ‘metaphysical’ sporting values (freedom, self-affirmation and beautiful, harmonious action) as a way to counter-balance the impact of technology in sport and suggest ways to solve the ‘technological problem’ more generally.

Distributed programming is usually considered both difficult and inherently different from concurrent centralized programming. It is thought that the distributed programming systems that we ultimately deploy, in the future, when we've worked out all the details, will require a very different programming model and will even need to be evaluated by new criteria. The Mozart Programming System, described in this thesis, demonstrates that this need not be the case. It is shown that, with a good system design, distributed programming can be seen as an extended form of concurrent programming. This is from the programmer's point-of-view; under the hood the design and implementation will necessarily be more complex. We relate the Mozart system with the classical transparencies of distributed systems. We show that some of these are inherently on the application level, while as Mozart demonstrates, others can and should be dealt with on the language/system level. The extensions to the programming model, given the right concurrent programming base, are mainly concerned with non-functional properties of programs. The models and tuning facilities for failure and performance need to take latency, bandwidth, and partial failure into account. Other than that there need not be any difference between concurrent programming and distributed programming. The Mozart Programming System is based on the concurrent programming language Oz, which integrates, in a coherent way, all three known concurrency or thread-interaction models. These are message-passing (like Erlang), shared objects (like Java with threads) and shared data-flow variables. The Mozart design philosophy is thus applicable over the entire range of concurrent programming languages/systems. We have extracted from the experience with Mozart a number of principles and properties that are applicable to the design and implementation of all (general-purpose) distributed programming systems. The full range of the design and implementation issues behind Mozart are presented. This includes a description of the consistency protocols that make transparency possible for the full language, including distributed objects and distributed data-flow variables. Mozart is extensively compared with other approaches to distributed programming, in general, and to other language-based distributed programming systems, in particular
QC 20100928

This dissertation offers a phenomenological approach to the comprehension of Information Technology (IT) and Strategy, and of the relationships between these two phenomena. We argue that in order thoughtfully to understand the manifold connections between IT and Strategy, their contradictions, shortcomings, and possibilities, one has to rely on the essence of each of these phenomena. The rationale of this approach implied the need to make explicit the ontological assumptions on which the investigation relies. An essential uncovering of that which IT and Strategy are can only take place as long as we lay bare a primary position on the nature of that which is. Martin Heidegger's Being and Time and, to a lesser extent, the theory of autopoiesis are the foundations of this investigation. We claim that these theories are paradigmatically consistent and show relevant complementarities, namely in what concerns the issues of action information, and knowledge. The matching of these two theories provides the ontological and epistemological grounds of the investigation. Within this fundamental setting we argue that IT and Strategy will only essentially show up as long as they are accessed in-the-world in which they are. The research applies the phenomenological method of investigation in its original form as developed by Edmund Husserl. However we extend the Husserlian formulation in a last phase by using the arguments of Heidegger on the opening up of possible concealed meanings of phenomena. The method sets the boundaries of the research. IT and strategy are phenomenological analysed not as empirical objects, event, or states of affairs, but as intentional objects of consciousness. These are formally indicated from the outset of the investigation as the ITness of IT and the Strategyness of Strategy. The central conclusions of the investigation are that (1) IT is an ontological phenomenon substantively penetrating the being-in-the-world we, ourselves, are; and, (2) Strategy, essentially choosing to choose, has been unfolding throughout History guided by the concealed meaning of a striving for an authentic identity. These essential notions uncover a complex set of relationships between the phenomena. Those relationships are thus described and characterised. We also show that although phenomenology is not empirical its results have many important implications for the empirical world.

There is a double meaning in the name of this thesis. This duality emerges from how the term ‘hermeneutics’ can be applied. In one sense the hermeneutics of this thesis is a textual interpretation of the philosophical history of ontology. This is an interpretation of ontological theory from its genesis with the Pre-Socratic concern with the ‘question of being’ and onwards through its salient historical developments up until the early twentieth century. The thesis interprets these developments as nevertheless maintaining a foundational understanding of ‘being’ as ‘quiddity’ or ‘what-ness’. While the ontological tradition diverges over disagreements about ‘realism’, ‘idealism’, or ‘nominalism’, for example, these disagreements are interpreted as having an unchanging understanding of ‘being’ in terms of ‘what-ness’ that unites them. Furthermore, this traditional understanding of ‘being’ as ‘what-ness’ is documented as having an implicit connection to a conceptual model of human understanding that divides the knowing subject from the known object. In opposition to a prominent interpretation that identifies this model as a Cartesian development, it is rather presented that it has roots that can be found within the philosophy of Plato. Moreover, this model is interpreted as being contingent on the technological development and adoption of literacy that predicated an emergent and reflexive understanding of the ‘what-ness’ of the self-subject. However, this textual hermeneutics of the history of ontology also presents the challenge to understanding ‘being’ as ‘what-ness’ that occurred in the early twentieth century. This is found in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, and in particular in his treatise Being and Time. This alternative understanding of ‘being’ is interpreted as presenting an ontology of ‘how-ness’. This understanding of ‘being’ as ‘how-ness’, as opposed to ‘what-ness’, is presented through Heidegger’s introduction of the concept of the ‘ontological difference’. This concept, it is shown, enables Heidegger’s understanding of human existentiality as self-interpretation. In addition, the inheritance of this ontological thesis of self-interpretative existence is traced from its phenomenological, hermeneutic, and existentialist roots. This includes the analysis of the ideas of such scholars as Friedrich Schleiermacher, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Edmund Husserl. Through documenting this provenance, the duality of this thesis’ title is demonstrated. It is not only a textual hermeneutics that is presented in this treatise, but also an example of hermeneutic phenomenology. Hermeneutic phenomenology, as Heidegger argued, is presented as the methodology for an ontology that understands human existentiality as self-interpretative. This methodology is analysed, and differing interpretations of its processes are critiqued. Furthermore, by interpreting human existentiality as hermeneutic, Heidegger’s understanding of ‘being’ as temporal is elucidated. The thesis of the temporality of human existentiality is then explained in terms of its structure as ‘being-in-the-world’. The equiprimordial characteristics of ‘being-in-the-world’ are analysed, such as ‘who-ness’, ‘there-ness’, and ‘world-ness’, and these are shown to together constitute human existentiality. The thesis then concludes by demonstrating how this hermeneutic phenomenology of ontological ‘how-ness’ also enables the explication of the temporality of technological existentiality.

Utilizing a postphenomenological lens, in this study, I analyze Human Security Era (1990s–2010s), techno-futurist films as case studies to explore how humans and technology can and do co-shape a more harmonious world, resulting in TechnoHumanity. To build a techno-humane world, humans must find a way to spur technological innovation and advancement, embedding ethics in design to avoid a dystopian path to dehumanization. Films, and specifically the content or text of the films, provide case studies for a postphenomenological analysis to explore designed, in-design, and future technologies and their interrelationship with humanity.

The following study is an attempt to ascertain the most adequate way to understand the relationship in modernity between religion and technology. This relationship is first analyzed by looking at a common way in which technology has been categorized and discussed as representing the religion of modernity. The first chapter critically evaluates several popular and scholarly works which contain arguments for understanding that the modern world participates in some kind of 'religion of technology.' The inadequacies of these arguments are shown to arise from the problematic ways in which they invoke the meanings of both religion and technology. The suggestive possibility of viewing religion as a kind of technology leads to a consideration of how technology is being understood in the field of the philosophy of technology.
The second chapter discusses the influence and responses to the conflation of technology and religion as manifestations of the same phenomenon in Euro-American philosophy. Influenced by German philosopher Martin Heidegger, this stream of thought takes as axiomatic his contention that "technique is the metaphysics of our time." The currency of the 'religion/technology' philosophy in European thought leads to a critical body of work amongst some North American philosophers concerned with a practical approach to technology.
In chapters three and four the work of two of these North American philosophers, Don Ihde and Albert Borgmann, is analyzed to evaluate their responses and reactions to the metaphysical and onto-theological interpretation of technology. Their interpretations contain an inherently religious understanding of modern technology which leads to the conclusion that there is neither religion nor technology in modernity, but only religious technology and technological religion.
The possibilities raised by this state of affairs are explored in the conclusion. The work of these philosophers of technology reveals how the study of religion in modernity would benefit from understanding the quotidian and material way in which religion is manifested technologically and technology religiously. Avenues of future research can address issues regarding globalization, cross-cultural technology implementation and how to understand the place of religion in global techno-culture from the development of a new praxis -oriented philosophy of technology-religion.

This study examines the relationship between the frequency of technology use and the tendency of child welfare workers to exhibit engagement behaviors with their clients. This study was based on the premise that increased technology use is negatively associated with the quality of direct human interactions. The design of this study is descriptive and quantitative in nature. To identify and describe the potential relationships between demographic, technology use, and engagement variables, numerical data were collected through an anonymous 46-item survey. A multiple regression analysis approach was used to analyze the data gathered in this study. The researcher found that the frequency of technology use has no significant relationship with how participants perceive themselves as engaging their clients. An unexpected finding yielded by this study is that the child welfare workers under study utilize technology so frequently that it becomes apparent they have little time left to have direct client contact and consequently limited opportunities to engage clients. Taken together, these findings suggest that while technology use has no significant relationship with workers' tendency to exhibit engagement behaviors during client interactions, it may be negatively associated with the frequency of opportunities workers have to exhibit those behaviors.

An original project for a taxonomy of organisation-technology became over time an exploration of some of the meanings and contexts of technology. The exploration began with the critique of selected instances of landmark theorising and empirical research on the technology concept. The critique raised issues in epistemology and methodology which caused this writer to address the philosophy of the social sciences and the philosophy of technology at certain points: the question of technological determinism; language and metaphor; ideology; construct validity. Chapters One and Two of this thesis reflect the quest for connections in meta-theory, as the remaining chapters reflect the quest for meanings and contexts of technology in organisation and society. The case studies of landmark theory and research on technology led into more of a generic enquiry into the nature and claims of a contingency theory of organisation and management. An analysis of landmark cases and of contingency theory suggested that a formalist or empiricist approach to technology and organisation had produced no clear conceptualisation of technology, nor of any other contextual or performance factors. No panacea for organisation-design has emerged from this quarter. A rather broader arena of the division and re-combination of labour was then approached. Analysis suggested that technology and the division of labour are not mere surrogates of managerial control but arenas continually contested by organisation and society participants. They are not givens with resident characteristics to be read out but occasions of choice ongoingly negotiated. Whereas the thesis began with notions of a static and cognitivist taxonomy it developed into a study of certain images of technology, with the valencies of technology deriving from its various contexts of meanings and matrices of values. The thesis concludes with the view that formalism of much contemporary organisation-theory needs to be amplified by a broadly phenomenological understanding.

This dissertation examines the structure of epistemological claims made about science within the field of science and technology studies (STS). The social constructivist invocation to put science in "context" necessarily implies a logic of justification. Made explicit, this logic of justification provides a basis on which to adjudicate meta-scientific claims. The appeal to context blurs internal and external references, offers an ontological starting point for STS accounts of science, serves as the basis for methodological debate, and refers to values which anchor a notion of scientific objectivity. Hence: Contexts are assumed to exist. Contexts can be accessed and demarcated from other contexts in which they may be embedded; as a result, contexts are not paradigm-bound. Since contexts exist, the elements composing them are taken to exist in some logical and ontological relation to one another. Contexts are taken to affect scientific practice. Since contexts affect scientific practice some logical and ontological relation exists among the elements of the context, a given scientific practice, and the world that practice describes. Contexts are taken as temporally stable; infinite regress is not an immediate consequence of a local explanation of scientific practice. Since contexts exist in a stable, ontological relationship to the scientific practice they interpret or explain, criteria for justifying one context-based perspective over another are necessarily implied. Contexts necessarily imply justificatory criteria and imply a means for adjudicating among contexts and context-based statements. Since contexts imply a logic of justification independent of the scientific practice being examined meta-scientific evidence consists of observation statements. Context-based observation statements can, initially, be adjudicated a priori. A form of meta-scientific realism exists. If a form of meta-scientific realism exists, we can determine which contexts explain scientific practice and which do not. As a result we have epistemological claims about science which can be adjudicated on realist grounds which are not just the product of designated contexts. The future of STS turns on articulating a meta-scientific realism in relation to scientific practice and truths about the world. Finally, I advocate a contingent foundationalism on which STS can be made relevant to an understanding of science and technology.
Ph. D.

This thesis offers an account of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that draws on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. It argues that Heidegger’s ontological approach presents a welcome antidote to reductionist accounts of the “revolutionary” nature of these technologies that pervade much mainstream commentary. It considers Heidegger’s inquiry into technology within the context of his wider inquiry into the ‘meaning of Being’, resulting in a range of valuable insights into the realities of our technological environment, how we engage with it, and ultimately into what consequences this engagement might have for our Being-in-the-world. Drawing on the conceptual framework developed by Heidegger it offers a critical theoretical account outside the bounds of Critical Theory approaches to ICTs that seeks dialogue with these positions. It seeks to encourage the opening up of a field that has closed itself off, for reasons that are explored in this thesis, to engaging with the valuable insights Heidegger can offer for understanding phenomena such as the ubiquity of contemporary surveillance and the exploitation of labour in the global digital economy.

This dissertation is, first, an examination of the coherence and consistency of Michel Foucault’s work with respect to its development and an examination of his ethos, a product of conscious self-construction. Second, this work is an exploration of ethical techniques. The goal of the dissertation is to discover an ethos that takes into account the best contemporary critical attitudes and techniques of ethical selfconstruction. The first chapter begins with a discussion of the development of Foucault’s archaeological method. Discussion of some problems with structuralism, his genealogical method, and finally his movement towards an ethical program follows. The method for the dissertation will be exploratory and critical. The second chapter develops a line of thinking about the development of freedom in Kant and Foucault. Power relations are a persistent context in which selfconstruction takes place. Resistance to power relations marks the beginning of freedom, which requires testing and moving beyond the limits of socially constructed selves. The Quakers display a model of structured resistance to enclosing authorities. John Woolman provides an example of ethical self-construction. The third chapter explores Foucault’s ethical project by examining ancient Greco-Roman and Christian technologies of the self, and relates those projects to ethical self-construction through writing. This exploration shows continuity in the product of writing from Ancient through modern writers. The fourth chapter develops a postmodern ethos through an examination of weak ontology. James Rachels’ ethical programme is a model for a postmodern technology of the self. The resulting technique offered provides a vulnerability to facticity while retaining the best ethical principles and critical reasoning. This is illustrated in Miroslav Volf’s The End of Memory. Foucault’s ethos is a clear precursor to modern technologies of the self that take the exploration of knowledge with humility into account.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002.
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Includes bibliographical references.
This paper builds on a growing literature on trade-related international technology diffusion. It examines whether South Africa can enhance its productivity by importing machinery and equipment that embodies foreign knowledge from trading partners that do significant amounts of research and development. The focus is on South Africa's manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the paper also examines the role of human capital in the facilitation of the effective adoption of foreign technology. Using trade data from 1976 to 2001 - imports from the European Union, industrialized countries and 'advanced' developing countries - the relationship between capital imports and total factor productivity growth and human capital is analysed using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration. The results show that there is evidence of an equilibrium relationship between the variables; that foreign technology spillovers have taken place in the manufacturing sector, and that the effect on productivity is enhanced by the presence of quality human capital.

The extended mind debate juggles the possibilities of whether or not the mind extends out into the world. Today, with the rise in technology, we have an additional claim that our tools are responsible for extending our minds. The internet, smart phones, and other tools give us a foothold in the extended mind debate by providing real world examples of how our mind is perceived as extending out into the world. In discovering where the divide between mind and environment exists we can come up with a conclusion whether or not the mind truly extends out into the world.

Since the Neolithic period and the rise of agriculture along Mesopotamia’s “Fertile Crescent,” greater societies have formed thus requiring laws and governance to ensure their continued preservation. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi is one such example of how agricultural technologies directly created new social and institutional structures in codifying slavery into law, or how mercantile transactions are to be conducted. Similarly, GMOs are the result of modern agricultural technologies that are altering laws and society as a result of their implementation. This transformation informs the central inquiries of my research question: Why are GMOs necessary, and what influences do they have on the project of human rights? As our age is defined by the products of bioluminescent – or glow-in-the-dark – cats and goats that can excrete spider silk proteins from their mammary glands, these questions become essential. I conclude that the technology does not, at least conceptually, conflict with or undermine human rights. Instrumental reason has firm limitations in biological applications as well as conflict with its inherent anarchical nature. We are now compelled to question the utility of genetic engineering and if it merely places humanity into another precarious “arms race” with weeds and pests, in addition to the pressure of maintaining current dependencies of petrochemicals, fertilizers, and continued observations of ecological homeostasis.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
A morte e o morrer no mundo contemporâneo parecem se encontrar em um estado sem precedentes na história do ocidente. Esse estado é caracterizado pela chamada tecnologização da morte, conforme apontam alguns autores tratados na dissertação. Dado esse cenário, o objetivo do presente trabalho é investigar a morte no mundo contemporâneo, utilizando como chave de leitura elementos do pensamento do filósofo alemão Martin Heidegger. Ao tomar como base a chamada segunda fase da obra heideggeriana e outros pensadores, será possível: 1) oferecer uma caracterização histórica da morte no Ocidente, para que possa ser entendido como a atual situação se consolidou, e colocar os seus principais traços; 2) investigar a chamada hegemonia tecnocientífica, problematizando e salientando suas principais características e implicações no mundo contemporâneo; e 3) avaliar as possíveis alternativas que restariam ao homem nesse cenário de domínio tecnológico sobre a morte.
Death and dying in the contemporary world seem to be in an unprecedented condition in the history of the West. This condition is characterized by the so-called technologization of death, as some authors considered in this text have pointed out. Given this scenario, the purpose of the present study is to investigate death in the contemporary world, through the thinking of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger as a key reading. Considering the second phase of Heidegger s work and the thought of other thinkers, it will be possible to: 1) offer a historical characterization of death in the West, so that how the current situation has been consolidated it can be understood, and highlight its main features; 2) investigate the so-called technoscientific hegemony, problematizing and emphasizing its main characteristics and implications in the contemporary world; and 3) evaluate the possible alternatives that would remain to man in this setting of technological domain over death.

Technological knowledge is of many different kinds, from experience-based know-how in the crafts to science-based knowledge in modern engineering. It is inherently oriented towards being useful in technological activities, such as manufacturing and engineering design. The purpose of this thesis is to highlight special characteristics of technological knowledge and how these affect how technology should be taught in school. It consists of an introduction, a summary in Swedish, and five papers: Paper I is about rules of thumb, which are simple instructions, used to guide actions toward a specific result, without need of advanced knowledge. One off the major advantages of rules of thumb is the ease with which they can be learnt. One of their major disadvantages is that they cannot easily be adjusted to new situations or conditions. Paper II describes how Gilbert Ryle's distinction between knowing how and knowing that is applicable in the technological domain. Knowing how and knowing that are commonly used together, but there are important differences between them which motivate why they should be regarded as different types: they are learnt in different ways, justified in different ways, and knowing that is susceptible to Gettier type problems which technological knowing how is not. Paper III is based on a survey about how Swedish technology teachers understand the concept of technological knowledge. Their opinions show an extensive variation, and they have no common terminology for describing the knowledge. Paper IV deals with non-scientific models that are commonly used by engineers, based on for example folk theories or obsolete science. These should be included in technology education if it is to resemble real technology. Different, and partly contradictory, epistemological frameworks must be used in different school subjects. This leads to major pedagogical challenges, but also to opportunities to clarify the differences between technology and the natural sciences and between models and reality. Paper V is about explanation, prediction, and the use of models in technology education. Explanations and models in technology differ from those in the natural sciences in that they have to include users' actions and intentions.

QC 20140512

Denna uppsats presenterar forskning som belyser de förändringar inom utbildningsystemen somföljt i och med utvecklingen av internet, sociala medier, online kommunikation och utbyte avkunskap online. Under det senaste årtiondet har sättet människor lär sig på förändrats från dettraditionella klassrummet, som enbart använder sig av tryckt material, till det modernaklassrummet som nyttjar digitalt material [1]. Electronic learning (e-learning) innebär av attanvända sig av digitala material istället för det traditionella tryckt materialet [2]. Mobilelearning tar detta koncept ett steg längre genom att kombinera individuellt lärande medvarsomhelst och närsomhelst lärande [2]. Detta möjliggörs till stor del av den teknologiskautvecklingen inom mobila enheter [3]. Relational learning är ett sätt att lära där individen lärfrån andra genom ett gemensamt utbyte av idéer och kunskap [4].Parkour, eller konsten av rörelse, har av O’Grady blivit presenterat som en kollaborativläromodell [5].Utövare av parkour kallas traceurs och när traceurs utövar parkour blir parkourett verktyg för aktivt lärande. Med detta lärande blir förståelse och överkommandet av hinderen läromodell. Detta är en läromodell där vetandet och upprepandet är nyckeln till traceurssträvan efter lärandets berusning. Med lek förvandlar parkour sin omgivning till en miljö förlärande. Med hjälp av parkour tar traceurs över ägandet av sitt egna lärande och hittarmöjligheter att kunna uttrycka sig själva [6]. En naturlig del av parkour är vikten som läggs påatt vara medveten om sina egna förmågor och mål med sitt lärande. Genom att dela med sigav resultatet av detta lärande skapas basen av den kollaborativa läromiljön hos parkour.I denna uppsats presenteras en mobil Android applikation: Vault. Vault kombinerar mobilelearning med relational learning och använder sig av fördelarna av den kollaborativaläromodellen som existerar inom parkour. Tre populära mobila applikationer ämnade för lärandehar analyserats. Denna analys i samband resterande resultat har varit med och format designenoch utveckling av den presenterade applikationen Vault.Vault är även testad för att mäta dess potentiella fördelar av att användas som en allmänutbildningsapplikation, med ett fokus på relational learning. Detta test är beskrivet ochresultaten är presenterade. Avslutningsvis återfinns en diskussion angående resultaten från bådetestet av applikationen samt analysen och det teoretiska materialet som presenterats iuppsatsen. Denna diskussion följs av en sammanfattning som även innehåller förslag påframtida forskningsområden som kan utforskas vidare.
This thesis presents research that addresses the educational change that arises in the era ofinternet, social media, online communities, and knowledge sharing on the web. During the lastdecade, the way people learn has seen a big shift from the traditional classroom that purelyuses printed material to the contemporary classroom that utilizes digital technologies for theteaching material [1]. Electronic learning is teaching using electronic resources instead of thetraditional printed material [2]. Mobile learning takes this concept one step further bycombining individualized learning with anytime and anywhere learning [2], enabled by thetechnological advances of mobile devices [3]. Relational learning is a way of learning in whichthe individuals involved learn from each other through the bilateral exchange of experiences andideas [4].Parkour, or the art of movement, has been presented as a collaborative learning model byO’Grady [5]. As parkour practitioner, also known as traceurs, play parkour they also provide aplatform for active learning where knowing and overcoming obstacles composes an educationalmodel. In this model, knowing and repeating is the key to the pursuit of learning. With play,parkour appropriates the spaces in which it takes place into an environment of learning. Byplaying, traceurs take ownership of their own learning process, finding the flow path that letsthem express themselves [6]. Inherent to the practice of parkour is the importance of selfawareness of one’s skills and learning goals, as well as recording and sharing the learningoutcomes. This, in turn, becomes the basic construct of a collaborative learning environment.In this thesis, an Android mobile application, called Vault is presented. Vault combines mobilelearning and relational learning, while at the same time reaping the reward of the communitybased learning model existing in parkour. The thesis also provides an analysis of popular mobilelearning apps. This analysis aides in shaping the design and development of the presentedapplication, Vault.Vault is also tested in order to gauge the potential benefits of using an application designed tobe a general-purpose educational application with a focus on relational learning. This test isdetailed, and the results are presented. The findings from these results, and the results fromthe aforementioned analysis and the theory presented in this thesis, are discussed and futurelines of research are presented.

The purpose of this thesis is to establish a conversation between Bruno Latour and the work of contemporary philosophers and critical theorists in order to develop their respective approaches to articulate a critical theory about technology. To analyse these different perspectives, the thesis follows a conceptual framework based on what Latour calls the “principle of symmetry” between human and non-humans actants that take part in the constitution of what we call society. Through focusing on different “thing theories,” the thesis works to recuperate some of these concepts and practices to enrich my own conceptual toolbox. Each chapter focuses on a particular case study – the revolving door, the Automated Public Toilet, barbed wire and the smartphone – that gives me the ground where I put at test these different perspectives to see if they can be good theoretical allies to give more space in critical theory for what Latour calls its 'missing masses'.

The thesis investigates the role of technology in the formation of the artistic avant-garde, along with various forms of philosophical reflection on this development, with a particular emphasis on Heidegger. Setting out from an analysis of three paradigmatic cases in the interplay between art and technology—the invention of photography, the shift from Futurism to Constructivism, and the interpretation of technology in debates on architectural theory in the 1920s and ’30s—it proceeds to a discussion of three philosophical responses to this development, those found in Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger, and Ernst Jünger, all of which share a certain avant-garde sensibility and a notion of art as a response to nihilism. In Heidegger’s postwar writings we see a retreat from the positions of the mid 1930s, and in his reflections on technology a different answer emerges to the question of whether “great art” is still possible: great art is an art that exists precisely by making the founding of a world into something problematic. The fourth part confronts Heidegger’s analysis of technology with the work of an individual artist, the architect Mies van der Rohe, and asks how the “silence”—the withdrawal of language, sense, aesthetic perception, etc.—that is often understood as a precondition for the critical potential of his work should in fact be understood. By examining interpretations that draw on Heidegger via comparisons with other types of critical theory, a different understanding emerges of the relation among nihilism, art, and technology. They form a field of constant modulation, which implies that the concepts that have been the foundation of critical theory, nature, subjectivity, experience, even “being” in Heidegger’s sense, must be subjected to a historical analysis that acknowledges them as ongoing processes of construction, and that also accounts for the capacity of technologies and artistic practices to intervene in the formation of philosophical concepts.
The chapters 5, 6 and 7 in the monograph Essays, Lectures for a part of the Ph.D.thesis.

The Google Books project is germane for examining underappreciated dimensions of social justice and access to information from a Rawlsian perspective. To date, however, the standard account of Rawls as applied to information and technology has focused almost exclusively on rights to access and information as a primary good (Drahos 1996; van den Hoven and Rooksby 2008; Duff 2011). In this dissertation, the author develops an alternative to the standard account—the sociotechnical account—that draws on underappreciated resources available within discussions of Rawls' work. Specifically, the author focuses on the importance of Rawls' basic structure argument and the value of self-respect—two ideas that figure prominently in Rawls' theory and have been discussed extensively by its critics. After developing this alternative account, the author undertakes a disclosive ethical analysis of Google Books from a social justice perspective. As a method, disclosive ethics is concerned with identifying morally opaque features of artifacts and systems. Following Brey (2000; 2010), the analysis proceeds along three levels: theoretical, disclosure, and application. At the theoretical level, extant Rawlsian applications are scrutinized and rearticulated in light of advanced informational and technological practices. At the disclosure level, morally opaque dimensions of Google Books are disclosed as relevant to self-respect and social justice. In particular, the author focuses on three dimensions of the Books project that would go otherwise overlooked on the standard account of Rawls: quality of scans and metadata, visibility of indexes in Books' preview mode, and Google's conception of the value of information. At the application level, disclosed dimensions are examined according to both the standard and sociotechnical accounts. Ultimately, the author shows how, on a sociotechnical account, these three dimensions of Google Books raise otherwise overlooked questions regarding social justice, information, and technology today..

In the field of instructional technology critical thinking is valued both as a practice for those in the field and as a skill or habit to teach and measure. However, traditional conceptions of critical thinking are limited in their usefulness and restricted to particular kinds of thinking and reasoning. Conceptions of critical thinking in instructional technology are dominated by these traditional perspectives. Missing is a substantive dialogue on the nature of critical thinking. despite the fact that such dialogue is a part of critical thinking scholarship outside of instructional technology. One of the primary limitations of traditional critical thinking is the failure to emphasize the recognition and analysis of underlying assumptions. Assumptions underlie every theory and practice in any field of discipline. Critical thinking itself cannot be practiced without the influence of assumptions, both acknowledged and implicit. In order for a critical thinking approach to facilitate analysis of assumptions it must be sensitive to the characteristics of assumptions and the roles assumptions play in everyday life. For this thesis, I propose a model of critical thinking that involves principles and practices that aid the professional in recognizing and evaluating assumptions, revising assumptions when needed, and adapting practices to align with assumptions. Such critical thinking in instructional technology has the potential to improve the practice of current theories, advance theories in the future, and guide practitioners in decision-making.

Audio-Visionaries is a body of work that includes open-circuits and assemblages that create audio-visual outputs. Through electronic experimentation, exploration and improvisation the work practically investigates the notion of machinic affinities, whose theoretical implications this paper will investigate. The work, and this paper, engage in media archaeology as a methodology, an emerging field of media theory which re-examines forgotten or quashed ideas and practices dealing with media technologies. This methodology manifests itself in the work by employing everyday media machines, along with heirloom technologies, and by appropriating historical and contemporary interdisciplinary techniques, in order to reveal machinic liveness. The paper examines these techniques and their relationship to threads of both esoteric and popular philosophy, science and psychology that discuss the ontology of machines. Machinic affinity is a feeling of closeness or fondness for machines. For the purpose of this paper I will limit my discussion to machines of a specific nature, excluding computer technology in order to focus on a more general class of machines that generate audio or video media; media-machines. This affinity is precipitated by an animist belief; that all objects are living or have a spirit. This esoteric philosophy, often associated with primitive cultures, has been recently re-examined by contemporary theorists and artists. I will discuss how this discourse has influenced my art making.

This research seeks to explore whether and in what way cinematic pieces can philosophize and theorize on the restriction of individual freedom through/by technology, and thus contribute in their own right to cinematic philosophy. In order to test their ability to theorize on the relationship between individual freedom and technology, four types of restrictions of individual freedom are established inductively. Following the theoretical path spanning from Foucault's "disciplinary society" to Deleuze's "control society", in connection with Deleuze and Guattari's account of "desire", one of these types is shown to be an overlooked, novel form of restriction emerging with the advent of digital technologies. With the aim of revealing the potential of cinematic pieces to provide theoretical insight into these four types of restriction, and following philosophical methodology, close reading analysis is carried out on specific cinematic pieces, focusing on their macrostructural and microstructural cinematic elements. The results of this analysis show that cinematic philosophy is a distinct channel of philosophy, that it is capable of inductively explaining the four types of restriction of individual freedom through/by technology, as well as the "click consent" theory, and thus that it makes unique theoretical contributions to contemporary philosophy.
Esta investigación se propone comprobar si las obras cinematográficas pueden pensar, y de qué forma, la restricción de la libertad individual por parte de las nuevas tecnologías, entendiendo que las propias obras son productoras de teoría que contribuye a la filosofía cinematográfica. Para comprobar esta capacidad, se establecen inductivamente cuatro tipos de restricción de la libertad individual, y, siguiendo el camino teórico marcado por Foucault con la sociedad disciplinaria y por Deleuze con la sociedad de control, en diálogo con Deleuze y Guattari con el deseo, se concluye que uno de estos tipos de restricción ejercidos por la tecnología se ha pasado por alto en la filosofía contemporánea, puesto que aparece con la emergencia de las nuevas tecnologías digitales. Con el objetivo de revelar esta capacidad de las obras cinematográficas, se aplica un análisis de close reading a obras concretas para analizar sus elementos cinematográficos macro y microestructurales. En referencia a este análisis, se concluye que la filosofía cinematográfica es una rama propia y diferenciada de la filosofía contemporánea, capaz de explicar de forma inductiva los cuatro tipos de restricción de la libertad individual por parte de la tecnología, junto con la teoría del click consent, como contribución única a la filosofía contemporánea.
Aquesta recerca es proposa comprovar si les obres cinematogràfiques poden pensar, i de quina manera, la restricció de la llibertat individual per part de les noves tecnologies, entenent que les obres mateixes són productores de teoria que contribueix a la filosofia cinematogràfica. Per comprovar aquesta capacitat, s'estableixen inductivament quatre tipus de restricció de la llibertat individual, i, seguint el camí teòric marcat per Foucault amb la societat disciplinària i per Deleuze amb la societat de control, en diàleg amb Deleuze i Guattari amb el desig, es conclou que un d'aquests tipus de restricció exercits per la tecnologia s'ha passat per alt en la filosofia contemporània, ja que apareix amb l'emergència de les noves tecnologies digitals. Amb l'objectiu de revelar aquesta capacitat de les obres cinematogràfiques, s'aplica una anàlisi de close reading a obres concretes per analitzar els seus elements cinematogràfics macro i microestructurals. En referència a aquesta anàlisi, es conclou que la filosofia cinematogràfica és una branca pròpia i diferenciada de la filosofia contemporània, capaç d'explicar de manera inductiva els quatre tipus de restricció de la llibertat individual per part de la tecnologia, junt amb la teoria del click consent, com a contribució única a la filosofia contemporània.
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