Module Descriptors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY LEVEL 5
PHIL50133
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 5
15 credits
Contact
Leader: David Webb
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 23
Independent Study Hours: 127
Total Learning Hours: 150
Assessment
  • COURSEWORK -ESSAY weighted at 30%
  • COURSEWORK - SECOND ESSAY weighted at 70%
Module Details
Module Texts
The principal text will be the anthology of key writings:

Philosophy of Technology, ed. Robert C Scharff & V Dusek (Blackwell, Oxford, 2003).

P T Durbin (ed), Technology and Responsibility (Riedel Publishing, Dordrecht, 1987)
D Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the Reinvention of Nature (Routledge, London, 1991).
M Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology (Harper & Row, New York, 1977)
H Jonas, The Imperative of Responsibility: in search of an ethic for the technological age (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1985)
J-F Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1984).
H Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (Beacon, Boston, 1964).
A Ness, 'The Shallow and the Deep, Long Range Ecology Movement. A Summary', Inquiry 16 (1973), 95-100.

Module Learning Strategies
Teaching and learning will be delivered in a weekly workshop, involving tutor-led introductions, small group work and discussion of pre-arranged topics.
Module Indicative Content
This module will focus on various aspects of the question of the relation between technology and the human. It aims to place the question of technology in a broader historical and philosophical framework, while addressing specific issues that distinguish the phenomenon of technology in modernity. To do this, it will examine questions such as the relation of modern technology to older forms of craft, conflicting interpretations of the impact of technology on modernity, the increasing extent to which technology pervades and modifies the human, the technological construction of reality and virtual reality, and the bearing of technology on knowledge and power. Examining these questions will involve working on a series of readings from the history of philosophy, with an emphasis on contemporary writing.

Module Additional Assessment Details
Essay 1: 1000 words [Learning outcomes 1, 3]
Essay 2: 1500 words [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3]

Module Resources
Library, IT facilities, and space for individual and group study.