Software Theory: A Cultural and Philosophical Study

by Federica Frabetti

The cultural and philosophical study of software is crucial, both within and outside of the university, at an international level and across disciplines. Software is increasingly considered the focus of digital media studies because of the perceived need to address the invisibility, ubiquity, and power of digital media. Yet software remains quite obscure to students and scholars in media studies, the social sciences, and the humanities.

This unique book engages directly in close readings of technical texts and computer code in order to show how software works and in what sense it can be considered constitutive of culture and even of human thought. Federica Frabetti combines this with an engagement with thinkers such as Bernard Steigler and Jacques Derrida to problematize the very nature of the conceptual system on which software is based and which has shaped its historical evolution. The book argues for a radical demystification of software and digital technologies by addressing the mystery that surrounds its function and that affects our comprehension of its relationship between technology, philosophy, culture, and society.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Technology

220 pages, Hardcover

First published November 17, 2014

Reviews

[Stefanos Baziotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I can't be impartial to this book because I know Federica and we did this podcast together discussing this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eHrO...

That said, the reason I invited her for a discussion is that I think this book is particularly interesting. Using deconstruction as a method, she deconstructs software engineering to find points of opacity; we can think of these as aspects of software engineering practices that make sense in the abstract, but are erased in practice. There's also a fair amount of interesting history on software engineering, which examines how different groups, through their frustrations, tried to find a "method" for software engineering, a way to streamline it.

I agree with other folks that this book is not an easy read, especially the introduction and the first 2 chapters. However, I think that: (a) it's worth the effort, and (b) it does get a lot easier in chapters 3 and 4 (which for me are the most important chapters). In fact, you could possibly begin with chapter 3.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book and I thought I would really enjoy it since I am a software developer who really enjoys reading various philosophy and history books. But this felt over my head and tough to get through. The first chapter felt tedious, and got only slightly easier in later chapters. It seemed like interesting topics, but just a little too hard for me to totally follow it. Maybe for someone a little smarter than I.

[Aaron Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads like a dissertation paper. The writing goes very deep into understanding the deconstructive and self-conflicting nature of software, and argues that such characteristics (and others more) are preciously what makes software software. The introduction can be difficult to grasp if you lack philosophical studies (in the context of human and technology), but the concepts becomes easier to understand as Frabetti does a great job of repeating, comparing and contrasting her arguments using the very same philosophical concepts that she lays as ground work in the introduction. I love this book as it looks at software from a different perspective and takes a more humanist point of view. This book does not teach you how to make software, it shows you the relationship you have with software.