Philosophy of Technology: Before and After Empirical Turn

Besides the neo-Hegelian authors like Karl Marx or Ernst Kapp, whose works are considered the important precursors to philosophy of technology proper, technology as a primary subject of philosophy has emerged from the thought and historical events of the 20th century. Therefore, the philosophical reflection on technology mirrors the role that technology played at particular period of the last century: from pessimistic and negative view influenced by the post-WW2 period in which technology was seen as the destructive and totalizing force, to a more neutral outlook of the post-1980s where the analysis of technology following the changes in philosophy of science takes up a socially-constructive outlook. Although some authors have been reluctant to admit the existence of a field of philosophy of technology, the two major shifts of the 20th century have generated multiple approaches of how to philosophise about technology. Broadly speaking, these approaches have been variously called: “classical” and “contemporary”, “old wave” and “new wave”, and more recently “classical” and “empirical”. What are their sources, influences, and differences? What conceptual tools do the approaches use to do empirically-oriented philosophy of technology? And is there really philosophy of technology, or “merely” philosophy with technology?