Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture: Putting Pragmatism to Work

"Hickman['s]... style of pragmatism provides us with flexible,
philosophical 'tools' which can be used to analyze and penetrate various technology
and technological cultural problems of the present. He, himself, uses this toolkit
to make his analyses and succeeds very well indeed." -- Don Ihde

A
practical and comprehensive appraisal of the value of philosophy in today's
technological culture.

Philosophical Tools for Technological
Culture contends that technology -- a defining mark of contemporary culture --
should be a legitimate concern of philosophers. Larry A. Hickman contests the
perception that philosophy is little more than a narrow academic discipline and that
philosophical discourse is merely redescription of the ancient past. Drawing
inspiration from John Dewey, one of America's greatest public philosophers, Hickman
validates the role of philosophers as cultural critics and reformers in the broadest
sense. Hickman situates Dewey's critique of technological culture within the debates
of 20th-century Western philosophy by engaging the work of Richard Rorty, Albert
Borgmann, Jacques Ellul, Walter Benjamin, Jürgen Habermas, and Martin Heidegger,
among others. Pushing beyond their philosophical concerns, Hickman designs and
assembles a set of philosophical tools to cope with technological culture in a new
century. His pragmatic treatment of current themes -- such as technology and its
relationship to the arts, technosciences and technocrats, the role of the media in
education, and the meaning of democracy and community life in an age dominated by
technology -- reveals that philosophy possesses powerful tools for cultural renewal.
This original, timely, and accessible work will be of interest to readers seeking a
deeper understanding of the meanings and consequences of technology in today's
world.