On Langdon Winner's Philosophy Of Technology

Langdon Winner is a great philosopher of science & technology in contemporary America.His work Autonomous Technology starts a new chapter in the field of technical politics,making him a leading figure in this field.The rapid growth of technology and the more and more complicated relation between technology and society form the social background of Langdon Winner's philosophy of technology,while theory of Marx's technology alienation,Ellul's social-technology and Lewis Mumford's technical philosophy provides rich theoretical basis.Winner's philosophy of technology including two main parts: the theory of technical society and the theory of technical politics.Winner believes that technology can rearrange the pattern of human society through its own development,allowing humans to adapt to and obey the development of technology.On how people adapt to operation of technology,Winner thinks it's basically realized through forcible manner,making people develop obedience and dependence on technology from inner to outer through two-way effects of psychological and social environment.The theory of technical politics consists of three aspects: the relation between technology and human,the technical politics and the technical democracy.Winner believes that technology and human is like owner and slave.Winner points out that humans are gradually being manipulated by technology.Winner demonstrates that the essence of technical politics is the overall impacts on human and society from technology.Winner argues that technology autonomous democracy means status of technology system controlling human society and humans being voluntarily obedient to its order.Winner's philosophy of technology generates great influence on modern society,making people treat the favorable and unfavorable aspects of technology in dialectical methods.Nevertheless,he only studies the autonomy of technology while technology has both autonomy and non-autonomy aspects.In addition,Winner didn't give detailed dissections about democratic control in autonomous technology and relations between technocratic and common people,displaying the deficiency of his philosophy of technology.