Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory

by Andrew Feenberg

In this new collection of essays, Andrew Feenberg argues that conflicts over the design and organization of the technical systems that structure our society shape deep choices for the future. A pioneer in the philosophy of technology, Feenberg demonstrates the continuing vitality of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. He calls into question the anti-technological stance commonly associated with its theoretical legacy and argues that technology contains potentialities that could be developed as the basis for an alternative form of modern society.

Feenberg's critical reflections on the ideas of Jürgen Habermas, Herbert Marcuse, Jean-François Lyotard, and Kitaro Nishida shed new light on the philosophical study of technology and modernity. He contests the prevalent conception of technology as an unstoppable force responsive only to its own internal dynamic and politicizes the discussion of its social and cultural construction.

This argument is substantiated in a series of compelling and well-grounded case studies. Through his exploration of science fiction and film, AIDS research, the French experience with the "information superhighway," and the Japanese reception of Western values, he demonstrates how technology, when subjected to public pressure and debate, can incorporate ethical and aesthetic values.

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 1995

About the author

Andrew Feenberg is Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, where he directs the Applied Communication and Technology Lab. He has also taught for many years in the Philosophy Department at San Diego State University, and at Duke University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the Universities of California, San Diego and Irvine, the Sorbonne, the University of Paris-Dauphine, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and the University of Tokyo and the University of Brasilia.

He is the author of Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory (Rowman and Littlefield, 1981; Oxford University Press, 1986), Critical Theory of Technology (Oxford University Press, 1991), Alternative Modernity (University of California Press, 1995), and Questioning Technology (Routledge, 1999). A second edition of Critical Theory of Technology appeared with Oxford in 2002 under the title Transforming Technology. Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of History appeared in 2005 with Routledge. Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity appeared with MIT Press in 2010. Translations of several of these books are available. Dr. Feenberg is also co-editor of Marcuse: Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia (Bergin and Garvey Press, 1987), Technology and the Politics of Knowledge (Indiana University Press, 1995), Modernity and Technology (MIT Press, 2003), and Community in the Digital Age (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004). His co-authored book on the French May Events of 1968 appeared in 2001 with SUNY Press under the title When Poetry Ruled the Streets. With William Leiss, Feenberg has edited a collection entitled The Essential Marcuse published by Beacon Press. A book on Feenberg's philosophy of technology entitled Democratizing Technology, appeared in 2006.

In addition to his work on Critical Theory and philosophy of technology, Dr. Feenberg has published on the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro. He is also recognized as an early innovator in the field of online education, a field he helped to create in 1982. He led the TextWeaver Project on improving software for online discussion forums under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education of the US Department of Education. For the latest web based version of this software, see http://webmarginalia.net/. Dr. Feenberg is currently studying online education on a grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of essays on technology. Or rather what intellectuals from different strands have thought about technology. Marcuse, Habermas, science fiction written by scientists, the Japanese intellectual Nishida and the game of Go and how it is was understood in Japanese culture is some of the subjects discussed.
Technology is the thread connecting the different chapters, but despite an ending chapter named Conclusion the other chapters can be read in any order as the chapters are stand-alone. What Feenberg tries to do is find a synthesis between the view of technology as value-neutral, technological determinism and how groups are reacting to and transforming technologies. But is not a theory Feenberg carefully lays out, rather it is a lens he uses when discussing social theories and technologies.

While most essays, as said, are discussing in a meta kind of way, two essays is a bit different though as they discuss actual technologies. One chapter is about experimental AIDS medicines in the late 80's and how AIDS patients acted to have their needs heard and one chapter is about the Minitel, a pre-internet online service in France. Those are my favorite chapters of the book, but that is probably just because they are what I hoped the whole book would be. The chapter on Minitel is quite aged as the service has been shut down, but it was interesting to read how users hacked Minitel to create services (for example for messaging) which wasn't originally included, which certainly reminds me of the early days of internet when everything seemed possible and not everything seemed to be controlled by five huge tech companies.

My rating of two is quite unfair two be honest. The meta-discussions on technology didn't interest me, so I'm not really rating their quality. For anyone interested they might be great and enlightening for all I know. But when giving a rating I have to do it based on what I got out of the book, and it wasn't that much to be honest.