A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

3. Empirical Studies

First initiatives to study the nature of technological knowledge were not taken by philosophers, not even in the philosophy of technology, but by historians of technology. A harvest of historical studies up to 1980 was made by Staudenmaier. Based on a survey of articles in the journal Technology and Culture, he claimed that technological knowledge does indeed comprise concepts that have been derived from science, but also that it contains a lot more. This includes empirical data specific for technology (data which are not just instrumental for the development of scientific theories), technological theories and technological know-how (or skills). So one of the first things these historians derived from their historical accounts is that technology cannot be accounted for adequately by the “applied science” hypothesis. One of the first philosophers to recognize the distinct nature of technological knowledge was Alexandre Koyré. He called technology not just a set of techniques, but a “system of thought, based on common sense”, which does not depend on science but is influenced by it indirectly. He also emphasized that, in order to be useful for engineers, scientific knowledge needs to go through a certain transformation. He was quoted in an article by Layton (1974), who identified design as a “common denominator” for technological knowledge.

Later historical studies into the nature of technological nature have followed that vein, and as a result insights were ...