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HomeUpcoming EventsSadjad Soltanzadeh (CAPPE / CSU): The Problem-based Reality of Technological Artefacts
Sadjad Soltanzadeh (CAPPE / CSU): The problem-based reality of technological artefacts

It is often argued that objects need to be designed, or in other words, undergo at least some modifications in order to qualify as artefacts. This position which presents being designed as a necessary condition for something to be an artefact can be referred to as the design-based metaphysics. Focusing only on technological artefacts and leaving aside artworks and other types of artefacts, I question the design-based metaphysics and instead argue for a problem-based alternative. In this alternative view, a necessary condition of being a technological artefact is having a problem-solving instrumentality. I then show that although in the problem-based view being a technological artefact becomes a subjective matter, this view can respond to the worries commonly associated with subjective accounts. Finally, I discuss the implication of the problem-based view on the proper way of addressing the metaphysical status of technologies. I argue that instead of trying to find the right existence conditions for technologies, we need to understand technologies in terms of their reality. Here something is taken to be real if it enters human activities.

Date & time

  • Tue 09 Sep 2014, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Location

Sir Roland Wilson Theatrette 2.02

Event Series

Philsoc seminars