What Things Do : : Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design / / Peter-Paul Verbeek.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn State University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
• VerfasserIn: Verbeek, Peter-Paul,
• Place / Publishing House: University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2021]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 3 illustrations

Our modern society is flooded with all sorts of devices: TV sets, automobiles, microwaves, mobile phones. How are all these things affecting us? How can their role in our lives be understood? What Things Do answers these questions by focusing on how technologies mediate our actions and our perceptions of the world. Peter-Paul Verbeek develops this innovative approach by first distinguishing it from the classical philosophy of technology formulated by Jaspers and Heidegger, who were concerned that technology would alienate us from ourselves and the world around us. Against this gloomy and overly abstract view, Verbeek draws on and extends the work of more recent philosophers of technology like Don Ihde, Bruno Latour, and Albert Borgmann to present a much more empirically rich and nuanced picture of how material artifacts shape our existence and experiences. In the final part of the book Verbeek shows how his "postphenomenological" approach applies to the technological practice of industrial designers. Its systematic and historical review of the philosophy of technology makes What Things Do suitable for use as an introductory text, while its innovative approach will make it appealing to readers in many fields, including philosophy, sociology, engineering, and industrial design.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction:To the Things Themselves -- Part I: Philosophy Beyond Things -- 1 Technology and the Self -- 2 The Thing About Technology -- Part II: Philosophy From Things -- 3 Postphenomenology -- 4 A Material Hermeneutic -- 5 The Acts of Artifacts -- 6 Devices and the Good Life -- Part III: Philosophy For Things -- 7 Artifacts in Design 203 -- Bibliography -- Index