Synopses & Reviews
"The questions he poses about the relationship between technical change and political power are pressing ones that can no longer be ignored, and identifying them is perhaps the most a nascent 'philosophy of technology' can expect to achieve at the present time."—David Dickson,
New York Times Book Review"The Whale and the Reactor is the philosopher's equivalent of superb public history. In its pages an analytically trained mind confronts some of the most pressing political issues of our day."—Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Isis
About the Author
Langdon Winner is professor of political science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the author of Autonomous Technology.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. A Philosophy of Technology
1. Technologies as Forms of Life
2. Do Artifacts Have Politics?
3. Techne and Politeia
II. Technology: Reform and Revolution
4. Building the Better Mousetrap
5. Decentralization Clarified
6. Mythinformation
III. Excess and Limit
7. The State of Nature Revisited
8. On Not Hitting the Tar-Baby
9. Brandy, Cigars and Human Values
10. The Whale and the Reactor
Notes
Index