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(1984) Is science progressive?, Dordrecht, Springer.
Perhaps the most fundamental question of the new philosophy of technology is whether science and technology have to be conceptually distinguished from each other.1 If technology were just a branch of science, then the philosophy of technology would likewise be just a branch of the philosophy of science. Therefore, the common definition of technology as "applied science" has served as one of the reasons why the philosophy of technology has had difficulties in gaining the status of an independent branch of philosophy. On the other hand, some philosophers think that science is nothing but a tool of technology — and thus try to make the philosophy of science a subfield of the philosophy of technology. In this paper, I defend the view that science and technology are two historically and causally interconnected activities which have different aims and different patterns of progress. The connection between technological progress and social progress is also briefly discussed.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1978-0_12
Full citation:
Niiniluoto, I. (1984). Remarks on technological progress, in Is science progressive?, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 258-266.
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