Instructor: Mark Morley

Office: STJ 1010B

Phone: 519-884-8111, ext. 28205

Email: mmorley@engmail.uwaterloo.ca

Office Hours: Monday 1:00pm to 1:20pm, Wednesday 2:00pm to 2:20pm. Or by appointment.

Lecture Hours: Monday 1:30pm to 3:20pm, Wednesday 2:30pm to 3:20pm

Course Description: What is technology? What is its relationship with modern science? Is technology a means or an end? Does the development of technology require a change in the way we conceive human nature and its place within the natural world? What new moral and metaphysical dilemmas does technology raise? Contributions from a wide range of thinkers - such as Aristotle, Descartes, Bacon, Ellul or Heidegger - will be studied.

Learning Objectives: To study the major themes (see schedule below) addressed by philosophers of technology and develop skills to think critically about technology and society.

Required Text: Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction (PT) by Val Dusek Blackwell Publishing, 2006. (Available at UW Bookstore)

Required Reading Material: Selections from Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition (TC) edited by Robert C. Scharff and Val Dusek. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. (On Reserve at St. Jerome’s Library)

The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society & Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski (On Reserve at St. Jerome’s Library)

Week1 January 7th & January 9th
Philosophy of Technology
Readings: Introduction (PT 1-5)
Chapter 1 Philosophy of Science and Technology (PT 6-25)
Chapter 2 What Is Technology? (PT 26-37)
Video: Frontiers of the Future (1937), Why Study Science (1955)
Audio: Seven Deadly Sins: Anger CBC Radio 2002. (Includes Nora Young's interview with Mark Morley)

Week 2 January 14th & January 16th
Technocracy
Readings: Chapter 3 Technocracy (PT 38-52)
Francis Bacon. On the Idols, the Scientific Study of Nature, and the Reformation of Education (TC 25-37)
Henry Petroski. Facsimile and Networks (Reserve)
Video: To New Horizons (1940)
Assignment: Technocracy and Standardization (due January 21st)

Week 3 January 21st & January 23rd
Rationality, Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
Readings: Chapter 4 Rationality, Technological Rationality, and Reason (PT 53-69)
Chapter 5 Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, and Technology (PT 70-83)
Video: The Easier Way (1946)

Week 4 January 28th & January 30th
Technological Determinism and Social Constructivism
Readings: Chapter 6 Technological Determinism (PT 84-104)
Chapter 12: Social Constructivism and Actor-network Theory (PT 198-210)
Video: From Dawn to Sunset (1937)

Week 5 February 4th & February 6th
Autonomous Technology
Readings: Chapter 7 Autonomous Technology (PT 105-111)
Jacques Ellul. The “Autonomy” of the Technological Phenomenon (TC 386-397)
Video: Have I Told You That I Love You Lately? (1958)

Week 6 February 11th & February 13th
Technological Ambivalence
Readings: Jacques Ellul. “Ambivalence”
from The Technological Bluff (Reserve)
Video: Your Chance To Live: Technological Failures (circa 1970)
Test: February 13th (50 minutes) Quotations

Week 7 February 25th & February 27th
Human Nature
Readings: Chapter 8 Human Nature: Tool-making or Language? (PT 112-135)
Martin Heidegger. “Memorial Address” from Discourse On Thinking (Reserve)
Video: Man and his Culture (1954)

Week 8 March 3rd & March 5th
Technological Enframing
Readings: Martin Heidegger. The Question Concerning Technology (TC 252-264)
Video: Pi by Darren Aronofsky (1997)
Test: March 5th (50 minutes) Quotations Robots and Emotions

Week 9 March 10th & March 12th
Feminism and Appropriate Technology
Readings: Chapter 9 Women, Feminism, and Technology (PT 136-155)
Chapter 10 Non-Western Technology and Local Knowledge (PT 156-175)
Video: Easy Does It (1940)

Week 10 March 17th & March 19th
Anti-Technology and the Unabomber
Readings: Chapter 11 Anti-Technology: Romanticism, Luddism, and the Ecology Movement (PT 176-197)
Theodore Kaczynski. The Unabomber Manifesto (Reserve or Online)
Bill Joy. Why the future doesn't need us (Online)
Video: The Net: The Unabomber, LSD and the Internet by Lutz Dammbeck (2006)
Term Paper: The Unabomber: With Him Or Against Him? (due April 7th)

Week 11 March 24th & March 26th
The Technological Environment
Readings: Mark Morley. The Technological Environment (Reserve)
Video: Understanding Your Ideals (1950)
Our Community (1952)
Speeding Speech (1953)
World At Your Call (1950)

Week 12 March 31st & April 2nd
Technological Dissonance
Readings: Mark Morley. Technological Dissonance (Reserve)
Video: Your Name Here (1960)
More by Mark Osborne’s (1998)

Week 13 April 7th
Review
Term Paper Due
Video: Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance by Godfrey Reggio (1983)

Exam (TBA)

Marking Scheme:
Participation:      10%
Assignment:         10%
Essays(Term Paper): 20%
Tests(2x15%):       30%
Final Exam (2 hrs): 30%
-------------------------
                   100%

Coming Soon!

Important Dates to Remember:
January 21st – Assignment Due
February 13th – Test (Ellul)
March 5th – Test (Heidegger)
March 17th – Term Paper Assigned
April 7th – Term Paper Due

Students using email to contact me must include their first and last names, student number, and course in which they are enrolled in the email subject line.

The University of Waterloo Examination Regulations (www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/exams/ExamRegs.pdf) state that:

· A medical certificate presented in support of an official petition for relief from normal academic requirements must provide all of the information requested on the “University of Waterloo Verification of Illness” form or it will not be accepted. This form can be obtained from Health Services or at www.healthservices.uwaterloo.ca/Health_Services/verification.html.

Late Assignments and Essays – Penalty 10% per day including weekends (can be e-mailed)

Tests – Please contact me before test date to make arrangements for make-up

All students registered in courses at the University of Waterloo and its Federated University and Affiliated Colleges are expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their actions. Students who are unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who need help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating), or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, TA, academic advisor, the appropriate St. Jerome’s departmental Chair, or ultimately the Appeals Officer for St. Jerome’s University. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy #71, Student Academic Discipline, www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm. Students who believe that they have been wrongfully or unjustly penalized have the right to grieve in accord with Policy #70, Student Grievance, www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm.

If you need help in learning how to avoid offenses such as plagiarism, cheating and double submission, or if you need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for guidance. Other resources regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor, the appropriate St. Jerome’s departmental Chair, and ultimately the Appeals Officer for St. Jerome’s University. Further information on “How to Avoid Plagiarism and Other Written Offences: A Guide for Students and Instructors” can be found at www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html.

Students with documented or suspected disabilities (i.e., physical, learning, or sensory disabilities or chronic medical conditions) are encouraged to contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) to determine eligibility for their services. OPD is located in Needles Hall 1132, 519-888-4567 ext. 35082.