Technology as a Practical Art

Abstract

The notion of practical arts goes back to antiquity. It covers what we today call technology but also many other types of activities, such as farming, manual crafts, cooking, housekeeping, sport activities, artistic work, and medicine. Interesting discussions on the practical arts can be found in medieval texts on knowledge classifi cation for instance by Hugh of Saint Victor and Robert Kilwardby, and also in Renaissance and Enlightenment literature. In this chapter it is argued that the philosophy of practical arts should be revitalized and that the philosophy of technology should have a major role when this is done. Many of the topics studied in the latter discipline have interesting extensions to practical arts in general. Some examples are the relationship between action knowledge and factual knowledge, the epistemological roles of actions, explanations in practical knowledge, and the role of functional terms and descriptions. The Empirical Turn in the Philosophy of Technology provides an excellent starting-point for widening the philosophy of technology to a general philosophy of the practical arts.

Philosophy of Technology: Themes and Topics

“…Normativity and value issues are also found in other domains in which humans intervene in reality (such as medicine). According to Hansson, the Middle Age concept of "mechanical arts" would be worth revisiting and used as a broader context for the philosophy of technology (Hansson 2016). The axiological turn can also be part of a "social turn" in the philosophy of technology, as suggested by Breij.…”