IB Philosophy 9.1 Philosophy and Technology Key Definitions

Actor-Network Theory, developed by Bruno Latour, argues that both humans and non-human artefacts function as "actants" that participate equally in networks of action, dissolving the traditional boundary between persons and tools. Agency is distributed across the entire network rather than residing solely in human intentions.

a condition in which a person is estranged from the products of their own activity and from their own human capacities. In Fanon's application, alienation names the psychic and social condition of the colonized person who is estranged from their own body, culture, and selfhood by the imposed meanings of the colonial racial order, a condition that can only be overcome through the transformation of the social structures that produced it.

Biotechnology involves the application of scientific techniques to modify living organisms, biological systems, or their products, including genetic engineering, cloning, and stem cell research.

John Searle's Chinese Room argument challenges the claim that computers can genuinely understand or think. A person in a room follows rules to manipulate Chinese symbols without understanding Chinese, showing that syntax (rule-following) is not sufficient for semantics (meaning).

(availability or openness) Gabriel Marcel's concept of being genuinely present and open to others as a condition of authentic human existence. Disponibilite requires attentive, responsive engagement with other persons in their irreducible particularity.

In bioethics, enhancement refers to the use of biotechnology to improve human capacities beyond the normal range, as distinct from therapy, which aims to restore normal functioning.

Gestell (enframing) is Heidegger's term for the essence of modern technology, the mode of revealing in which everything, including nature and humans, is disclosed as a standing reserve of resources available for exploitation.

Luciano Floridi's concept of the infosphere refers to the total informational environment in which humans now live, where the boundary between online and offline, human and artificial, has become so blurred that we are not merely users of information technologies but informational organisms embedded within them.

multiple meanings of technology, social groups, design trajectory shaped by use. A key concept within the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework developed by Bijker and Pinch, interpretive flexibility holds that the same technological artefact can be understood and used in fundamentally different ways by different social groups. These competing interpretations are not merely downstream responses to a fixed object but actively shape the design trajectory and ultimate form of the technology itself.

In Mill's philosophy, moral autonomy is the capacity of individuals to determine their own moral principles through independent reflection and rational deliberation, rather than accepting moral rules imposed by custom, tradition, or external authority.

Ernst Kapp's theory of organ projection holds that technological tools are extensions of human organs, externalising our physical and cognitive capacities in material form. On this view, technology is not alien to human nature but a mirror of humanity, revealing our structures through the artefacts we create.

Social constructivism of technology is the thesis that technological development is shaped by social, political, and cultural forces rather than following a purely internal logic. Technology and society co-construct each other rather than one determining the other.

the ancient Greek concept of productive knowledge, referring to the capacity to bring something into existence through skilled making. For Aristotle, techne is distinguished from episteme (theoretical knowledge) and phronesis (practical wisdom) because it concerns the creation of artefacts that do not arise naturally. It combines knowledge of universal principles with the ability to apply them to particular cases, making it a form of rational productive capacity.

systematic pursuit of maximum efficiency, total social phenomenon, autonomous logic. Jacques Ellul used this term not to mean technology in general but the all-pervasive orientation of modern society toward optimising every domain of life, from politics and education to personal relationships. Unlike individual tools, technique operates as an autonomous force that imposes its own logic on human activity rather than serving human purposes.

Technological determinism is the view that technology drives social change independently of human choice, reducing culture, politics, and values to effects of technological development. Ortega resists this position by insisting that technology's effects depend on the character of the people who use it.

Technology refers broadly to any systematic application of knowledge, tools, or techniques to extend human capabilities and transform the natural or social environment.

Transhumanism is the philosophical movement advocating the use of technology to fundamentally enhance human capacities beyond their current biological limits, raising questions about what it means to be human and whether such enhancement is desirable.