Andrew Feenberg


Andrew Feenberg is an American philosopher. He holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, continental philosophy, critique of technology and science and technology studies.

Education

Feenberg studied philosophy under Herbert Marcuse at the University of California, San Diego and was awarded his PhD in 1972. During this time Feenberg was active in the New Left, founding a journal entitled Alternatives and participating in the May '68 events in Paris.

Philosophy

Technology

Compared to his predecessors in philosophy of technology, such as Martin Heidegger and Jacques Ellul who have a dystopian view of technology, Feenberg's view is positive even though critical. For Heidegger and Ellul technology affects people's life but is for the most part beyond their control. For Feenberg technology and society influence each other. He separates himself from the instrumentalists who view technology merely as instruments which are within humans' full control.
Feenberg's primary contribution to the philosophy of technology is his argument for the democratic transformation of technology. From his book Transforming Technology,
Feenberg provides the theoretical foundation for this idea through the Critical Theory of Technology which he develops over three books: The Critical Theory of Technology , Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory, and Questioning Technology. The basis of Feenberg's critical theory of technology is a concept of dialectical technological rationality he terms instrumentalization theory. Instrumentalization theory combines the social critique of technology familiar from the philosophy of technology with insights taken from the empirical case studies of science and technology studies. Applications of his theory include studies of online education, the Minitel, the Internet, and digital games.

Democratic rationalization

Democratic rationalization is term used by Feenberg in his article "Subversive Rationalization: Technology, Power and Democracy with technology." Feenberg argues against the idea of technological determinism citing flaws in its two fundamental theses. The first is the thesis of unilinear progress. This is the belief that technological progress follows a direct and predictable path from lower to higher levels of complexity and that each stage along this path is necessary for progress to occur.
The second is the thesis of determination by the base. This is the concept that in a society where a technology had been introduced, that society must organize itself or adapt to the technology. In his argument against the former thesis Feenberg says that constructivist studies of technology will lead us to realize that there is not a set path by which development of technologies occur but rather an emerging of similar technologies at the same time leading to a multiplicity of choices. These choices are made based upon certain social factors and upon examining them we will see that they are not deterministic in nature.
Arguing against the latter thesis, Feenberg calls to our attention social reforms that have been mandated by governments mainly in regards to the protection of its citizens and laborers. Most of the time these mandates are widely accepted after being passed through the governing body. At which point technology and industry will reform and re-evolve to meet the new standards in a way that has greater efficiency than it did so previously.

Other writings

Feenberg has also published books and articles on the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse, Martin Heidegger, Jürgen Habermas, Karl Marx, Georg Lukacs, and Kitarō Nishida.

Selected works

Books

Author
  • Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory
  • Critical Theory of Technology, later republished as Transforming Technology, see below.
  • Alternative Modernity
  • Questioning Technology.
  • Transforming Technology: A Critical Theory Revisited.
  • Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of History.
  • Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity.
  • The Philosophy of Praxis: Marx, Lukács and the Frankfurt School.
  • Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason.
  • The Ruthless Critique of Everything Existing: Nature and Revolution in Marcuse's Philosophy of Praxis.
Editor
  • w/ R. Pippen & C.Webel, Marcuse: Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia
  • w/ A. Hannay, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge
  • w/ T. Misa & P. Brey, Modernity and Technology
  • w/ D. Barney, Community in the Digital Age.
  • w/ W. Leiss, The Essential Marcuse: Selected Writings of Philosopher and Social Critic Herbert Marcuse.