Encyclopedia Of Technological Progress: A Systematic Overview Of Theories And Opinions - Hardcover

Steward or Sorcerer's Apprentice? The Evaluation of Technical Progress: A Systematic Overview of the Theoris and Opinions. Volume I. Volume II. Translated by Chr. Turner.

Eburon, Delft, 1994. 710,711-1436p. Hard bound. Spine a bit discoloured. ?This book is a reference work for the study of technical change, but it is about theories of technical change and its effects, not the change itself. It is about ideas on the desirability of change, on the effects of technology, and on controlling technology. (?) The tile (?) is a precise description of the book. The steward and the sorcerer?s apprentice represent two poles in depictions of technology; on most of the issues van der Pot examines he can identify at least some representatives of these polar positions, although he also included representatives of the intermediate, more ambivalent positions. (?) The strength of the book is its coverage of European and American thinkers of roughly the 150 year (?). For the period before the mid-nineteenth century, van der Pot appears to rely on standard sources (?). When he gets to the twentieth century, however, van der Pot provides a much more comprehensive overview; he is especially strong on German sources. There are four main sections to the book, each of which is divided into numerous subsections and chapters corresponding to different positions on different issues. The four larger sections concern general attitudes, both European and (?) non-European, toward technical progress before the Industrial Revolution; nineteenth- and twentieth-century positions on the effects of technical change; conceptions of the meaning of technical progress; and theories of the control of technical change. (?) Considering that it contains little more than brief descriptions of positions, punctuated by quotations, the book is surprisingly well written. (?) Each chapter is composed in the manner of an encyclopedia entry, and most can be read on their own. (?) [The book] was originally published in German in 1985, so it does not deal with any material since the early 1980s. (?) Nonetheless, it might still be a helpful tool for commentators on technology, who could consult is as a source of ideas and as a pointer to more solid intellectual foundations than discussions of this topic typically rest on. (?) In addition, the book could be useful to anyone writing about evaluations of technology, for it provides references to the antecedents of almost any, and every, position or argument.? (SERGIO SISMONDO in Isis, 1999, pp.585-587). Artikel-Nr. 64117

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