The Idea On Technology Philosophy Of Langdon Winner

Technology has always been one of the hot topics discussed by western philosophers,and with the progress of The Times,technology is also constantly changing its form and enhancing its functions.Before the Industrial Revolution,philosophy of technology was not an independent discipline.It was precisely because of the increasing importance of technology that the thinking and research on technology became necessary that philosophy of technology came into being.With the development of technology,the research focus of philosophers of technology is also changing.At the end of the 19 th century,the great increase in productivity brought by the second industrial revolution has brought human history into a new stage.At the same time,the powerful factory production has not only brought abundant material products,but also brought many problems: environmental pollution,child labor,widening gap between the rich and the poor...These things have not been eliminated but intensified as technology has improved.This reality has led philosophers of technology to question the nature of technology: is it a neutral tool at all? Are there other factors that affect the technology?Among these philosophers,Ellul put forward a radical proposition--technology is autonomous.This theory is contrary to the common sense of human beings,so it is difficult to accept,but this claim of technology reflects philosophers' awareness of the new nature of technology,hoping to find out the new nature of technology under the new social background.Another philosopher Lewis Mumford is moderate,he stood in the Angle of human history criticize the one-sided emphasis on the importance of technical point of view,think that technology and other factors in the society are the long history of human's comprehensive product,in a number of factors,Mumford culture as its main point,discusses the influence of culture on technology form,will affect the whole process of human history.In the 20 th century,the two world wars provided a broad stage for technology,on which numerous technologies showed their strengths and laid the foundation for the subsequent civilian application.Inheriting the theories of his two predecessors,Winner proposed a new theory of the nature of technology--technological drift.He believes that technology is autonomous to some extent,but this is not to say that technology has become self-aware,but technology out of our control,in the path of human can not lead the operation.The phenomenon that technology is out of human control is called the phenomenon of technological drift by Winner,which is in line with the theory of technological autonomy advocated by Ellul.At the same time,Winner always insisted that the study of technology should be placed in the social environment,so he inherited Mumford's theory on the nature of technology.Winner's theory of technological autonomy is more perfect than his predecessors,but it is still not perfect,especially the theory of technological autonomy.After further studying the thoughts of previous philosophers of technology,Winner found the problems of his own past theory and found a reasonable source for the mysterious phenomenon of autonomy through his new research--sociality.This theory is not new,but the increasingly rapid development of technology does make us understand the interaction between technology and society,and also solves the dilemma that the previous autonomy theory brought about that the technical problems cannot be solved.More importantly,after clarifying the causes of the problems,we can not only solve the existing problems in a targeted way,but also adjust the direction of future technology development,so that people and technology can exist in a harmonious relationship.