The Intersection of Philosophy and Technology: Deconstructing the Presuppositions that shape Innovation
This paper identifies and discusses three philosophical presuppositions on technology, namely: epistemological, metaphysical and ethical. The epistemic pressuposition on techonology states that there is a world out there which is knowable and transformable through human subjectivity. The metaphysical presupposition goes further to describe the nature and character of this world out there. It states that this world out there is not of idea, forms or spirit; it is a world of things or matter. If it were a world of ideas, it contends, it would be practically difficult to manipulate things the manner technology does. The ethical presupposition interrogates the notion of value in technology, that is, whether or not technological inventories should be value laden or value neutral. The objective is to examine the roles they have played in shaping technological innovation and its perpetuation in human history. In the final analysis, the study concludes on non-neutrality principle and posits that since technology receives its being within a culture, and all cultures are value-based, it follows that technology is a cultural artefact and as such, defines the cultures within which it evolves. The paper adopts the method of phenomenological analysis.
Keywords: deconstructing, innovation, intersection, philosophy, presuppositions, shape, technology