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Technology: Critical History of a Concept
In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offering up competing definitions that include everything from steelmaking to singing. In Critical History of a Concept , Eric Schatzberg explains why technology is so difficult to define by examining its three thousand year history, one shaped by persistent tensions between scholars and technical practitioners. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scholars have tended to hold technicians in low esteem, defining technical practices as mere means toward ends defined by others. Technicians, in contrast, have repeatedly pushed back against this characterization, insisting on the dignity, creativity, and cultural worth of their work.
The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.
The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.
336 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2018
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February 23, 2020
As commonly told, science rose in the public’s consciousness during the Renaissance. However, the word “technology” in the English language was not used then. Instead, “technology” was used more and more frequently after the 1950s. What does this word exactly mean and what does it tell about our society that we use it so much today? Schatzberg, a professor in one of the premier schools of technology in the world, asks these questions with us and constructs a world history of how this word came into being and what exactly it refers to.
The Greek provides the etymology of this word – techne + logos (that is, the knowledge of techne). Techne was translated into Latin as ars (art). After the Renaissance period, the field was commonly referred to as the “mechanical arts.” After the Industrial Revolution, the term “industrial arts” seemed to be used synonymously. Thus, the English language seemed to acknowledge the existence of a separate class of artisans who applied knowledge to created objects.
Schatzberg credits the Germans for coining the word Technik and using it extensively as they built up their famed university system in the 19th century. In particular, those involved with Technik sought social esteem equal with those in other academic fields of arts and sciences. During this time and afterwords, the profession of engineers seemed to separate itself from both skilled artisans and scientists.
The scholar Thorstein Veblen first appropriated the word Technik into the English word as “technology.” The founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1861 also popularized the word (although the origin of the word “technology” here is difficult to trace). In the early twentieth century, the English language seemed to use the term “applied science” to distinguish from the “basic sciences.” Nonetheless, due to derivative nature of their work, applied scientists were linguistically placed on a lower social stratum than basic scientists.
World War II in particular ramped up the use of technology in America. Although most public documents credit “science” (e.g., Albert Einstein) for advances like the atomic bomb, the actual know-how and labor of making a bomb via nuclear fission came through American engineers on the Manhattan Project. From there, the use of the word “technology” in academic literature steadily grew over several decades from very infrequent to as frequent as “science.”
Historically, many people used the word “technology” to refer to an instrumental practice – in other words, a technology created to accomplish a task. That is, there were no values involved, and this usage denoted a more subordinate stature of technologists/engineers. However, Schatzberg notes that a few acknowledged a cultural nature to the practice. Technology, properly constructed, showed an individual’s and a society’s deeper humanistic hopes and dreams. Thus, technology can acknowledge social criticism over whether the accompanying social change from technology is helpful to all. The practice of developing technology, according to Schatzberg, can be viewed a cultural contribution on the level of the greatest works of science or the arts. In this way, he says that the word “technology” can encompass more than just applied science; it can encompass humanity’s greatest hopes and dreams expressed in creative arts.
This book, dense with cited source material, provides this critical history in an effective manner. Only one chapter truly lost me, perhaps due to my limited training in the social sciences – the chapter dealing most heavily with the social sciences. Like other great works trying to understand the proper definition of a particular word in culture, this book teaches us a lot about how technology has been understood throughout history. Due to its academic focus, this work will never become a bestseller, but citations to it will flow as it makes its impact on intellectual history.
The Greek provides the etymology of this word – techne + logos (that is, the knowledge of techne). Techne was translated into Latin as ars (art). After the Renaissance period, the field was commonly referred to as the “mechanical arts.” After the Industrial Revolution, the term “industrial arts” seemed to be used synonymously. Thus, the English language seemed to acknowledge the existence of a separate class of artisans who applied knowledge to created objects.
Schatzberg credits the Germans for coining the word Technik and using it extensively as they built up their famed university system in the 19th century. In particular, those involved with Technik sought social esteem equal with those in other academic fields of arts and sciences. During this time and afterwords, the profession of engineers seemed to separate itself from both skilled artisans and scientists.
The scholar Thorstein Veblen first appropriated the word Technik into the English word as “technology.” The founding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1861 also popularized the word (although the origin of the word “technology” here is difficult to trace). In the early twentieth century, the English language seemed to use the term “applied science” to distinguish from the “basic sciences.” Nonetheless, due to derivative nature of their work, applied scientists were linguistically placed on a lower social stratum than basic scientists.
World War II in particular ramped up the use of technology in America. Although most public documents credit “science” (e.g., Albert Einstein) for advances like the atomic bomb, the actual know-how and labor of making a bomb via nuclear fission came through American engineers on the Manhattan Project. From there, the use of the word “technology” in academic literature steadily grew over several decades from very infrequent to as frequent as “science.”
Historically, many people used the word “technology” to refer to an instrumental practice – in other words, a technology created to accomplish a task. That is, there were no values involved, and this usage denoted a more subordinate stature of technologists/engineers. However, Schatzberg notes that a few acknowledged a cultural nature to the practice. Technology, properly constructed, showed an individual’s and a society’s deeper humanistic hopes and dreams. Thus, technology can acknowledge social criticism over whether the accompanying social change from technology is helpful to all. The practice of developing technology, according to Schatzberg, can be viewed a cultural contribution on the level of the greatest works of science or the arts. In this way, he says that the word “technology” can encompass more than just applied science; it can encompass humanity’s greatest hopes and dreams expressed in creative arts.
This book, dense with cited source material, provides this critical history in an effective manner. Only one chapter truly lost me, perhaps due to my limited training in the social sciences – the chapter dealing most heavily with the social sciences. Like other great works trying to understand the proper definition of a particular word in culture, this book teaches us a lot about how technology has been understood throughout history. Due to its academic focus, this work will never become a bestseller, but citations to it will flow as it makes its impact on intellectual history.
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June 11, 2025"Techne" in Greece meant know-how to build things. To Aristotle, techne was less important than phronesis & epistime — practical wisdom and eternal knowledge. This hierarchy has persisted: contemplation & wisdom on 🔝, base manual arts below.
As elites in Medieval Europe relied more on craft workers for weapons & tools, they invented a new category: "mechanical arts" — more impressive than "techne", but still subservient. Elites feared that if craftspeople gained too much power, they could overturn the social order.
In the 17th century, science preserved this hierarchy. Theorists who used the telescope were heralded; the glassblowers who manufactured it were not. By the industrial revolution, engineers were "applied scientists"—once again affirming the supremacy of head over hand.
The word "technology" was first used by Germans to mean the systematic study of industry. It was brought to America in 1860 by William Barton Rogers, who was founding a new university and wanted it to have foreign gravitas. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was born.
The term widened in scope through Thorstein Veblen's "technological determinism"—machines as an autonomous force that can overthrow culture. Before long, technology came to be seen as a force of revolution and "progress", spanning from applied science to the mechanical arts.
By the second half of the 20th century, "technology" was everywhere, its scope widened beyond control. Where there were once fine-grained distinctions between "engineering", "tool-making", "machinery", "technical methods", & "sets of practices", there is now just "technology".
🤯
As elites in Medieval Europe relied more on craft workers for weapons & tools, they invented a new category: "mechanical arts" — more impressive than "techne", but still subservient. Elites feared that if craftspeople gained too much power, they could overturn the social order.
In the 17th century, science preserved this hierarchy. Theorists who used the telescope were heralded; the glassblowers who manufactured it were not. By the industrial revolution, engineers were "applied scientists"—once again affirming the supremacy of head over hand.
The word "technology" was first used by Germans to mean the systematic study of industry. It was brought to America in 1860 by William Barton Rogers, who was founding a new university and wanted it to have foreign gravitas. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was born.
The term widened in scope through Thorstein Veblen's "technological determinism"—machines as an autonomous force that can overthrow culture. Before long, technology came to be seen as a force of revolution and "progress", spanning from applied science to the mechanical arts.
By the second half of the 20th century, "technology" was everywhere, its scope widened beyond control. Where there were once fine-grained distinctions between "engineering", "tool-making", "machinery", "technical methods", & "sets of practices", there is now just "technology".
🤯
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