Maintenance and Philosophy of Technology : Keeping Things Going

What can we learn about the nature of technology by studying practices of maintenance and repair? This volume addresses this question by bringing together scholarship from philosophers of technology working at the forefront of this emerging and exciting topic.

The chapters in this volume explore how attending to maintenance and repair can challenge and complement existing ways of thinking about technology focused on use and design and introduce new philosophical perspectives on the relationship between technology, time and human practice. They examine the significance of maintenance and repair practices at different scales in relation to a diverse range of philosophical traditions and a wide variety of technologies, from urban infrastructure such as bridges and buildings to data technologies such as servers and software systems. Together, the contributions highlight common themes in the philosophical study of maintenance, including the role of skill, the significance of social values and the potential of these practices to transform the technologies to which they are applied. By reflecting on the different ways in which we keep technologies going, from the devices we use in our homes to the large technical systems which surround us, this volume reveals the philosophical significance of practices of maintenance, not only as a source of new insights but also as a resource for enriching our understanding of a variety of existing topics in philosophy.

Maintenance and Philosophy of Technology will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of technology, philosophy of engineering and science & technology studies.

Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Mark Thomas Young is a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Philosophy Department at the University of Vienna. His research covers two fields: the Philosophy of Technology, where he focuses on practices of maintenance and the use of automating technologies, and the History and Philosophy of Science, where he explores instruments, craft practices and tacit knowledge in the early modern period.

Mark Coeckelbergh is a full Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna and ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. He was President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology and is the author of numerous publications including Environmental Skill, AI Ethics, Self-Improvement and The Political Philosophy of AI.