Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 218
Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-5381-5787-9 • Hardback • January 2022 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
978-1-5381-5789-3 • Paperback • June 2024 • $40.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-5381-5788-6 • eBook • January 2022 • $105.50 • (£82.00)
Sadjad Soltanzadeh is a researcher at the Asser Institute, University of Amsterdam.
- Introduction
Part I: The General Categorisation
- Artificial Categorisations
- A User-Friendly Metaphysics
- Problem Solving Technologies
- The Conditions for the Possibility of Technologies
Part II: The Particular Categorisation
- A Taxonomy of Function Theories
- Conservative Functions vs. Authentic Functions
- A User-Friendly Theory of Function
Part III: Ontology
- Existence of Artefacts
- Reality of Technologies
Part IV: Activity Realism in Practice
- Scientific Reality
- The Human, the Technological and the Limitations of Autonomous Systems
References
Index
As technology continues to dominate our lives in ever more invasive ways, it is imperative that we improve our understanding of it. Soltanzadeh’s thought-provoking study is a further welcome and important step. His problem-solving account of technology is clearly and persuasively argued. It should prove valuable to researchers, students and anyone interested in the current direction of technological development.
— John Weckert, Professor of Computer Ethics, Charles Sturt University
What is technology? Sadjad Soltanzadeh develops an original answer to this perplexing question. His activity realist approach to the metaphysics of technology is clearly articulated and the case he makes for preferring it to available alternatives is rigorously developed. Required reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of technology.
— Steve Clarke, associate professor of philosophy, Charles Sturt University and Senior Research Associate of the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford
Soltanzadeh offers a contribution to the metaphysics of technology…. The result is a useful intervention in long-running conversations within the philosophy of technology. The exposition is clear, although it necessarily proceeds at a high level of abstraction at certain points and demands some familiarity with the philosophical traditions with which it engages. Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.
— Choice Reviews