The Intermediate Technology Of E.F. Schumacher: A Comment And Appreciation

E.F. Schumacher was a famous German-British economist. Although his workswere very prominent in the economics circles, he could think from a philosophicalperspective without being limited by the economics framework. Embedded in manyof his economic works were the insightful philosophical ideas, among which the ideaof Intermediate Technology not only takes an important position in the Westerntechnological and sociological ideology, but enlightens greatly the countries of theThird World. In China, however, there hasn't been any systematic research on theIntermediate Technology, which offers an opportunity for writing this thesis.The formation of Intermediate Technology had an unseparated relationship withthe historic context in which Schumacher lived and with his rich social practices. Theauthor gathered lots of original English materials from many Internet websitesincluding www.schumachersociety.org. Such materials helped a lot in studyingSchumacher's Intermediate Technology. Schumacher conducted researches in broadareas, got involved in various professions, visited many countries, had a deepunderstanding of developing countries, and proposed the Intermediate Technology forthe poverty of developing countries. He also established ITDG, the Intermediate Technology Development Group to spread the ideas of Intermediate Technology.Schumacher wrote many works during his life, among which Small Is Beautifulis the most famous one. It covers all the academic theories of Schumacher. Itcriticizes modernism and technologicalism, suggests the theory of IntermediateTechnology which lies between the advanced technology and traditional technology,and is a kind of buffering technology. It implies the green or ecological technology.