Technology as a philosophical problem: three perspectives

Abstract

The philosophical study of technology is rather recent and diversified, according to different theoretical orientations and their corresponding social stances. This heterogeneity notwithstanding, or perhaps due to it, philosophy of technology helps us to acknowledge technology as a dimension of human life, not merely as a historical event. This is what I want to show here by means of presenting three modes of philosophical investigation of technology: Mario Bunge's, Albert Borgmann's, and Andrew Feenberg's. They illustrate, respectively, an analytical point of view, a phenomenological approach, and an examination inspired by the School of Frankfurt. The main purpose of this article is to divulge those investigations, which are not very well known among us. Nevertheless, the article also contains a brief critical judgment of them.