NanoEthics 5 (1):29-41 (2011)
Abstract |
The program of intervening, manipulating, constructing and creating is central to natural and engineering sciences. A renewed wave of interest in this program has emerged within the recent practices and discourse of nano-technoscience. However, it is striking that, framed from the perspective of well-established epistemologies, the constructed technoscientific objects and engineered things remain invisible. Their ontological and epistemological status is unclear. The purpose of the present paper is to support present-day approaches to techno-objects ( ontology ) insofar as they make these hidden objects epistemologically perceivable. To accomplish this goal, it is inspiring to look back to the origin of the project of modernity and to its founding father: Francis Bacon. The thesis is that everything we need today for an adequate (dialectic-materialist), ontologically well-informed epistemology of technoscience can be found in the works of Bacon—this position will be called epistemological real-constructivism. Rather than describing it as realist or constructivist, empiricist or rationalist, Bacon’s position can best be understood as real-constructivist since it challenges modern dichotomies, including the dichotomy between epistemology and ontology. Such real-constructive turn might serve to promote the acknowledgement that natural and engineering sciences, in particular recent technosciences, are creating and producing the world we live in. Reflection upon the contemporary relevance of Bacon is intended as a contribution to the expanding and critical discussion on nano-technoscience
|
Keywords | Technology Philosophy and history of technoscience Nanotechnology Epistemology Real-constructivism Francis Bacon |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | |
DOI | 10.1007/s11569-011-0109-z |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society.Bruno Latour - 1987 - Harvard University Press.
Representing and Intervening: Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science.Ian Hacking - 1983 - Cambridge University Press.
The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age.Hans Jonas - 1984 - University of Chicago Press.
View all 45 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
National Ethics Advisory Bodies in the Emerging Landscape of Responsible Research and Innovation.Franc Mali, Toni Pustovrh, Blanka Groboljsek & Christopher Coenen - 2012 - NanoEthics 6 (3):167-184.
Technoscientia Est Potentia?Karen Kastenhofer & Jan C. Schmidt - 2011 - Poiesis and Praxis 8 (2-3):125-149.
Toward an Epistemology of Nano-Technosciences.Jan Schmidt - 2011 - Poiesis and Praxis 8 (2-3):103-124.
Similar books and articles
Toward an Epistemology of Nano-Technosciences.Jan Schmidt - 2011 - Poiesis and Praxis 8 (2-3):103-124.
Francis Bacon's Idea of Science and the Maker's Knowledge Tradition.Antonio PÉREZ-RAMOS - 1988 - Oxford University Press.
The Oxford Francis Bacon Iv: The Advancement of Learning.Francis Bacon (ed.) - 2000 - Clarendon Press.
Francis Bacon and the Modern Dilemma.Loren C. Eiseley - 1962 - Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press.
The Oxford Francis Bacon Vi: Philosophical Studies C.1611-C.1619.Francis Bacon (ed.) - 1996 - Clarendon Press.
Weighing Experience: Experimental Histories and Francis Bacon's Quantitative Program.Cesare Pastorino - 2011 - Early Science and Medicine 16 (6):542-570.
Francis Bacon's Forms and the Logic of Ramist Conversion.Angus Fletcher - 2005 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 43 (2):157-169.
Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science: Machina Intellectus and Forma Indita.Madeline M. Muntersbjorn - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1137-1148.
The Mine and the Furnace: Francis Bacon, Thomas Russell, and Early Stuart Mining Culture.Cesare Pastorino - 2009 - Early Science and Medicine 14 (6):630-660.
The Oxford Francis Bacon Xiii: The Instauratio Magna: Last Writings.Francis Bacon (ed.) - 2000 - Clarendon Press.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2011-02-09
Total views
52 ( #191,849 of 2,409,938 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #541,494 of 2,409,938 )
2011-02-09
Total views
52 ( #191,849 of 2,409,938 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #541,494 of 2,409,938 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads