Peter-Paul Verbeek

In this book, I aim to answer this call of Birago Diop literally, by making a philosophical analysis of the relations between human beings and material objects. To understand these activities of things, these "acts of artifacts," is the main ambition of this book.

Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design

What Things Do

Technology permeates nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Cars enable us to travel long distances, mobile phones help us to communicate, and medical devices make it possible to detect and cure diseases. But these aids to existence are not simply neutral instruments: they give shape to what we do and how we experience the world. And because technology plays such an active role in shaping our daily actions and decisions, it is crucial, Peter-Paul Verbeek argues, that we consider the moral dimension of technology. Moralizing Technology offers exactly that: an in-depth study of the ethical dilemmas and moral issues surrounding the interaction of humans and technology. Drawing from Heidegger and Foucault, as well as from philosophers of technology such as Don Ihde and Bruno Latour, Peter-Paul Verbeek locates morality not just in the human users of technology but in the interaction between us and our machines. Verbeek cites concrete examples, including some from his own life, and compellingly argues for the morality of things. Rich and multifaceted, and sure to be controversial, Moralizing Technology will force us all to consider the virtue of new inventions and to rethink the rightness of the products we use every day.

Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things

Moralizing Technology

Rosenberger

This book provides an introduction to postphenomenology, an emerging school of thought in the philosophy of technology and science and technology studies, which addresses the relationships users develop with the devices they use.

Essays on Human–Technology Relations

Postphenomenological Investigations

Adriaan Slob

Environmental policy has long been determined by a dichotomy between technology and behavior. This book explores the relationships between technology and behavior from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is the first volume that aims to create a conceptual basis for analyzing interactions between technology and behavior, and to provide insights that are relevant to technology design and environmental policy.

Shaping Sustainable Relations Between Consumers and Technologies

User Behavior and Technology Development

Our modern society is flooded with all sorts of devices: TV sets, automobiles, microwaves, mobile phones. How are all these things affecting us? How can their role in our lives be understood? What Things Do answers these questions by focusing on how technologies mediate our actions and our perceptions of the world. Peter-Paul Verbeek develops this innovative approach by first distinguishing it from the classical philosophy of technology formulated by Jaspers and Heidegger, who were concerned that technology would alienate us from ourselves and the world around us. Against this gloomy and overly abstract view, Verbeek draws on and extends the work of more recent philosophers of technology like Don Ihde, Bruno Latour, and Albert Borgmann to present a much more empirically rich and nuanced picture of how material artifacts shape our existence and experiences. In the final part of the book Verbeek shows how his “postphenomenological” approach applies to the technological practice of industrial designers. Its systematic and historical review of the philosophy of technology makes What Things Do suitable for use as an introductory text, while its innovative approach will make it appealing to readers in many fields, including philosophy, sociology, engineering, and industrial design.

Victor Margolin

Guy Julier

Alastair Fuad-Luke

Alfredo Brillembourg Tamayo

This book is the culmination of ten years of critical reflection on engaged design and the relation between design and society. The publication marks the conclusion of five editions of Utrecht Manifest, the biennial event dedicated to the social aspects of design, which was launched in 2005. Against the background of the five biennials, an agenda for the future is laid out in essays and interviews by leading thinkers and practitioners in the field. In this book, Victor Margolin, pioneering scholar in the discourse of social design, calls on designers, architects and educators to emulate the work of utopian visionaries such as William Morris, Walter Gropius and Richard Buchminster-Fuller and dare to envision what it takes to design for the Good Society.

Peter-Paul Verbeek

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