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Early Modern Philosophy of Technology: Bacon and Descartes

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Early Modern Philosophy of Technology: Bacon and Descartes Early Modern Philosophy of Technology: Bacon and Descartes By Robert Arnăutu Submitted to Central European University Department of Philosophy In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy Supervisor: Professor Hanoch Ben-Yami CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2013 Copyright notice I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions of higher education. Also, I declare that this dissertation contains no material previously written and/or published by any other person, except where appropriate acknowledgement has been made in the form of bibliographic reference. Robert Arnăutu June 2013 CEU eTD Collection i Abstract The contemporary understanding of technology is indebted to Bacon and Descartes, who challenged the pre-modern conceptions regarding useful material production. Although the production of artefacts has been a constant activity of humans since the dawn of history, the Ancient world tended to disvalue it, considering it a lower endeavour that aims to satisfy ignoble material needs. Technology, according to Ancient Greek thinkers, cannot surpass nature but can only bring small improvements to it; moreover, there is a difference in kind between natural things and technological artefacts; the activity of inventing and producing useful objects is unsuited for the nobility and for free men; there is an irreducible gap between proper knowledge and the production of artefacts. This approach toward technology is completely reversed in Bacon’s and Descartes’ works: material utility comes to be considered a genuine value; nature can be completely transformed through technological inventions, and even the human body can be improved by prostheses; natural things and technological artefacts are identical in their constitution and function; the invention of new artefacts becomes a proper endeavour of the natural philosopher; thinking about artefacts, or machines, is raised to the status of proper knowledge, while mechanical arts and mechanics become the core of natural philosophy. These ideas regarding technology became the familiar background of the contemporary approach toward material production; accordingly, to understand the magnitude of Bacon’s and Descartes’ paradigm shift it was necessary to analyse it against the pre-modern view. Moreover, in order to emphasize their powerful influence I approach their CEU eTD Collection works from the technological perspective, since an epistemological analysis fails to rend justice to and to clarify some of the core ideas of their philosophy: utility, the centrality of mechanical arts and mechanics, the scope and scientific character of technology, the similarity between nature and technology. ii Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Hanoch Ben-Yami, for his intellectual and moral support, for his constructive criticism and helpful comments, and for his philosophical guidance and great patience. I am grateful to Katalin Farkas, David Weberman and Hanoch Ben-Yami, professors at the Department of Philosophy, for their wonderful classes. Last but not least I want to thank my wife, Csilla, and my sons, Matei and David, for supporting me and allowing me the time to write the dissertation. CEU eTD Collection iii ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Table of Contents COPYRIGHT NOTICE I ABSTRACT II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF ABREVIATIONS VI INTRODUCTION 1 1. The term ‘technology’ and its precursors....................................................................................................2 2. The Place of Technology in Early Modern Studies.....................................................................................6 4. Thesis outline...............................................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER I AUTONOMIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY......................................................................................................10 1. PLATO AND ARISTOTLE 11 1.1. Plato’s Approach to Technology.............................................................................................................11 1.2. Nature and τέχνη....................................................................................................................................16 1.3. Automata and Motion.............................................................................................................................18 1.4. Knowledge and τέχνη.............................................................................................................................22 1.5. Classification of τέχνη............................................................................................................................24 1.6. The Social Status of Technology.............................................................................................................27 2. THE RENAISSANCE 29 2.1. Mechanics...............................................................................................................................................33 2.2. Alchemy..................................................................................................................................................45 2.3. Mining and Metallurgy...........................................................................................................................48 3.4. Natural Magic........................................................................................................................................52 3.5. Artificial Revelation: Scientific Instruments..........................................................................................54 3. CONCLUSION 57 CHAPTER II BACON’S PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY...............................................................................................59 1. EXAMPLES AND METAPHORS 60 1.1. Printing Press, Gunpowder and Compass.............................................................................................60 1.2. Mechanical Arts as a Model for Philosophical Research......................................................................63 1.3. Bacon’s Criticism of Mechanics and Magic...........................................................................................66 2. NATURE’S CONTINGENCY AND TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES 70 2.1. The Synchronous Image of Nature’s Contingency..................................................................................70 CEU eTD Collection 2.2. The Diachronic Image of Nature’s Contingency....................................................................................74 2.3. The Continuity between Nature and Technology....................................................................................77 2.4. The Place of Technology in Bacon’s System...........................................................................................81 2.5. Technological Method............................................................................................................................87 3. TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY 92 3.1. Scientific Instruments.............................................................................................................................93 3.2. Enlightening Technology........................................................................................................................98 3.3. Fruitful Technology..............................................................................................................................103 4. CONCLUSION 106 iv ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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