Introducing the Philosophy of Technology

This introduction to the Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Technology begins with a provocation and rumination on the lateness of its arrival that is, the fact that only in the twenty-first century do we have a mature body of Anglophone philosophical scholarship on technology that seems worthy of such an in-depth survey. Technology has been radically transforming the conditions of human existence for millennia; how could the pursuit of wisdom neglect it? This chapter reflects upon the ancient sources and contemporary costs of philosophical prejudice against, and considerable past neglect of, technology as an independent subject of inquiry, before outlining and summarizing the contributions in this volume that represent the robust field of philosophical study that has emerged to meet this need. The chapter concludes with a call for philosophers to embrace the profound and growing responsibility of becoming wise about technology, and humanity's future with it.