Abstract

The article presents an historico-philosophical narrative of developments in the philosophy of technology across four generations: (1) the late 1800s work of such figures as Ernst Kapp and Karl Marx, (2) the mid-20th century analysis of technology as a challenge to the lifeworld by such thinkers as José Ortega y Gasset, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Ellul, (3) a pragmatist, empirical turn by late twentieth century US American and Dutch philosophers, (4) a current movement toward globalization. An elaboration on the third generation calls attention to work from the United States by Hans Jonas, Don Ihde, Albert Borgmann, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, and Paul Durbin as well as Dutch philosophers such as, among others, Peter Kroes, Anthonie Meijers, Hans Achterhuis, Philip Brey, and Peter-Paul Verbeek. A concluding section projects a future of continuing globalization.