SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Module 2
KEY CONCEPT OF
THEORIES IN
STS


Key Concepts in Science and Technology Studies is an
introduction to the interdisciplinary field of science
and technology studies through concepts that are also
used in other areas, from design to organization
studies. The book is relevant for students at bachelor
and master level as well as for doctoral students and
researchers who are approaching the field for the first
time and need some initial guidance. It is designed to
be an agile tool that provides accessible and
authoritative knowledge of essential topics in the field
of STS.
Contents
Introduction
Concepts (in alphabetical order)
Actor-network theory
Affordance
Agencement/assemblage
Agency
Anthropocene
Articulation work
Boundary object
Classification
Community of practice
Configuring
Controversy
Convergence
Cyborg
Ecological thinking
Epistemic cultures
Feminist technoscience studies
Infrastructure
Laboratory studies
Maintenance and repair studies
Matter of care
Matters of fact/matters of concern
Postcolonial technoscience
Situated knowledges
Social construction of technology
Social shaping of technology
Sociomateriality
Socio-technical system
Strong program
Technological determinism
Technoscience
Thing
Translation
 ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS
AND THEIR
APPLICATION IN TECHNOLOGY
by: Danna Ysabelle G. Regala
Technologies have always been bearers of profound changes in science, society,
and any other aspect of life. It is argued that the adoption of an informational
approach helps avoiding utopian or dystopian approaches to (digital) technology,
both expressions of technological determinism. Such an approach provides a
conceptual framework able to address the ethical challenges that digital
technologies pose, without getting stuck in the branched thinking of technological
determinism, and to bring together ethics, ontology, and epistemology into a
coherent account.
 1. Digital Revolution

TELEPHONE CHANGED COMMUNICATION.

Two objects often called by the same name—phone—well
represent the transition from the analogue to the digital.
 ARENDT

BEFORE AND AFTER

1958 Proposed to classify civilizations through the use of specific technological
objects.

WYATT
2007 Argued that the categorization is not only temporal but also cultural.

MUMFORD
1961 Suggested that this tendency to associate entire millennia with a specific artifact
comes from archeology and anthropology, as we try to understand human beings and
society through the artifacts used in specific epochs.
 FLORIDI
2016
BEFORE AND AFTER

Reconstructs these changes by identifying three macro-periods: (i) pre-

history, (ii) history, and (iii) hyper-history.

LÉVY
Speaks of a “speed of evolution of knowledge” and of a “collective 1997
intelligence”

DE KERCKHOVE
Connective Intelligence which is not based on what we have learned, but on 1998
how we can connect to each other.
Technological Determinism is a theory that
suggests technology plays a key role in
shaping society and culture. It posits that
technological developments drive social
change and have a profound impact on the
structure and values of a society.
 Technological determinism often guides
discussions on innovation, asserting that the
introduction of new technologies can drive societal
progress and shape the way people live and work.
It emphasizes the impact of technology on societal
structures and behaviors.
This theory is applied to understand
how technological advancements
can lead to cultural shifts. For
instance, the advent of the internet
has transformed communication
patterns, altering the way people
share information and interact
globally.
Discussions about the impact of
automation and artificial intelligence
on employment and economic
structures often involve technological
determinism. The idea is that
advancements in technology directly
influence the nature of work and
economic systems.
Traditional ethical approaches, often rooted in
philosophical theories, provide frameworks for
evaluating the ethical implications of actions,
including those related to technology.
Deontological ethics focuses on duty and
moral rules. In technology, this approach
may guide ethical considerations by
emphasizing adherence to established
ethical principles and rules, regardless of
the consequences.
Virtue ethics emphasizes the development of virtuous
character traits. In technology, this approach may
encourage the cultivation of virtues such as honesty,
integrity, and responsibility in the design and use of
technology.

this approach ensures that developments respect

fundamental rights such as privacy, freedom of
expression, and security.
this approach may involve evaluating whether
technological developments align with
fundamental principles or contribute to a
harmonious societal order.

Ethical principles derived from religious

beliefs can guide technology
development.
 THE THREE
MAIN
APPROACHES
THREE MAIN APPROACHES
01 02 03

SOCIO POLITICAL SOCIO ANALYTIC

CRITIQUE EXISTENTIAL ETHICS
CRITIQUE
THE SOCIO POLITICAL
CRITIQUE
The socio-political critique,
specifically, aims to reform the
economic and political structures
associated with technology, in
order to re-establish an essential
condition of human beings:
freedom.
 THE SOCIO EXISTENTIAL
CRITIQUE
The socio-existential critique takes up the
presuppositions of the socio-political critique but
emphasizes the relationship between technology
and the meaning of life
 ANALYTIC
ETHICS
Finally, analytic ethics focuses on
specific problems that originate
in the use of technology and
aims to develop targeted topics,
clarifying the concepts involved.
THE INFORMATIONAL
APPROACH
THE INFORMATIONAL APPROACH
4.1 The Re-Ontologization of the Real
As already mentioned in Section 1, Floridi (2013, 2016)
argues that, with the advent of digital technologies, we
entered hyper-history. Not only because we are now able
to exchange and process large amounts of information at
unprecedented speeds, but because we are witnessing a
transformation that is simultaneously epistemological
and ontological.
THANK
YOU
 New Ontological
Environments, Poiesis, and
Constructivism Ethics

Tabaloc, Katte karell C.

 NEW ONTOLOGICAL
ENVIRONMENTS
Ontology, the philosophical study of being
in general, or of what applies neutrally to
everything that is real. It was called
philosophy” by Aristotle in Book IV of his
“first Metaphysics.
 Poieses
The truth is understood through another
Ancient Greek concept of Aletheia, which is
translated as unclosedness,
unconcealedness, disclosure, or truth.
 Constructivism
Ethics
According ethical constructivism is a philosophical theory that
holds that truths about the relation between rationality, morality,
and agency are best understood as constructed by correct
reasoning, rather than discovered or invented Unlike other
metaphors used in meta ethics, construction brings to light the
generative and dynamic dimension of practical reason. On the
resultant picture, practical reasoning is not only productive but
also self-transforming, and socially empowering.
 5 The Need of a Different Conceptual Framework
 Digital technologies change reality in a fundamental way. After centuries of scientific studies and
of philosophical reflections, we could reasonably claim to master the offline world. But the online
world is not just a dimension “added” to the development of digital technologies to be studied in
the same way as the offline world. The online dimension has actually led to a confusion and fusion
of online and offline. We areonlife, to borrow the neologism of the philosophers of information.
Problems such as the privacy of personal data on the Internet, or the right to be forgotten, are
clearly generated by digital technologies. But their “onlife” character requires that—before any
ethical verdict can be advanced—the nature of the problem is understood. Understanding the
nature of the problem implies ontological and epistemological reflections that, together, can inform
ethics.
 An important lesson from the philosophy of information is that there is no essential difference
between humans and machines. This has repercussions on a number of debates. On the one hand,
we must rethink our categories to understand the nature of informational organisms. What makes
us humans distinct from animals or computers is not our ability to process information but
theresponsibilitywe hold towards other inforgsand the infosphereduring the whole information
cycle. On the other hand, and at a more general epistemological level, the effects of ICTs are
profound and pervasive. The creation of knowledge is not an exclusive prerogative of human
beings: knowledge becomes situated, embodied, distributed, and relational—and this across
humans, machines, institutions, or environments. Recognizing these characteristics of knowledge
help mending (philosophy of) technology and (philosophy of) science so that ethical questions can
be an integral part of them.

It is only once we recognize how much theonlifeworld differs from the old offline world that we
can sketch out a new discourse about ethics. In particular, an informational approach provides an
overarching methodological framework in which we can juggle with three fundamental elements of
philosophical thinking: what the world is (i.e., ontology), how we can get knowledge of the world
(i.e., epistemology), and the normative dimension at ethico-political level. These three are
essentially related and interconnected. However, due to the hyper-specialization of the sciences
and of philosophy, they grew into distinct sub-disciplines that, by and large, talk past each other
rather thantoeach other. Digital technologies, with their ethical challenges, provide us with the
opportunity to bring together ethics, ontology, and epistemology in a coherent approach. To date,
the philosophy of information is the approach that more than others has the potential to
understand this newonlifedimension and to guide us out of the impasse of technological
determinism.