Rationality in the Technological Eden

According to Ernst Cassirer, the transition from the concept of substance to that of mathematical function as a guide of knowledge coincided with the end of ancient and the beginning of modern theoretical thought. In the first part of this article we argue that a similar transition has taken place in the practical sphere, where mathematical function occurs in one of its specific forms, which is that of the algorithm concept. In the second part we argue that with the rise of modernity the idea of substance and the related concepts of category and classification, which are deeply embedded in Western culture, have not been totally supplanted by that of function. The intertwining of the concepts of substance and function has generated contradictory hybrids. These hybrids are used as a key for the understanding of the different repercussions of algorithmic logic on society in terms of communicative and social integration.

Social Epistemology, 2008

This paper explores the sense in which modern societies can be said to be rational. Social rationality cannot be understood on the model of an idealized image of scientific rationality. Neither science nor society conform to this image. Nevertheless, critique is routinely silenced by neo-liberal and technocratic arguments that appeal to social simulacra of science. This paper develops a critical strategy for addressing the resistance of rationality to rational critique. Romantic rejection of reason has proven less effective than strategies that contextualize rationality socially. This approach first appears in Marx's analysis of capitalist economics. Although the concept of underdetermination is unavailable to him, Marx gets around the silencing effect of social rationality with something very much like it in his discussion of the length of the working day. Frankfurt School Critical Theory later blended romantic elements with Marxian ones in a suggestive but confusing mixture. The concept of underdetermination reappears in contemporary science and technology studies, now clearly articulated and philosophically and sociologically elaborated. But somewhere along the way the critical thrust was diluted. Critical theory of technology attempts to recover that thrust. Here its approach is generalized to cover the three main forms of social rationality.

2011

Philosophical Papers, 2005

The paper is a critical study of Christopher Peacocke's book _The Realm of Reason_. The content of the paper is both exegetical and critical. In its latter capacity the paper is centrally concerned to correct Peacocke's understanding of Tyler Burge's version of rationalism; and to criticize Peacocke's position from this competing perspective.

This article interrogates the relationship between temporality, memory, and reason in cybernetic models of mind to excavate a historical shift in knowledge and governmentality. Cyberneticians reformulated ideas of reason to reimagine both minds and machines as logical circuits; in doing so, early pioneers in neural nets and computing such as Warren McCulloch, Walter Pitts, and John von Neumann also created the epistemological conditions that underpin contemporary concerns with data visualization, big data, and ubiquitous computing.

(Peer-reviewed Journal) COAS - 1st International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences , 2018

This article focuses on the accelerating technical progress, rationality, and its socio-political issues. It is considered that the control over communication, media, and arts does not necessarily mean that such power is exercised politically, but more that it is contained in politics. While technological development is an outstanding representative of forms, it has been observed that building a narrative through images is dependent on the artificer or artist’s ability to develop and perform concerning the idea of transforming or improving. Apart from the attraction of images, which has always been emphasized in the communication process and language development, the experience of aesthetics is changing because of technological advances. Moreover, several notions have been added to the discussion, such as those about progress, the social impact of automation, and the role of intellectuals and scientists as builders of the “invention,” generating “the artificer.” Cites as: Wagner, Christiane. 2018. “Rationality: Beyond Aesthetics and Communication.” Proceedings book of 1st International e-Conferenceon Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. Center for Open Access in Science – COAS, (June): 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.e-conf.01.01001w

This paper argues, against technological and economic determinism, that the dominant model of induslriaJ society is polilically contingent. The idea that technical decisions are significantly constrained by 'rationality' -either technical or economic -is shown to be groundless. Constructivist and hermeneutic approaches to technology show that modem societies are inherently available for a different type of development in a different cultural framework. It is possible that, in the future, those who today are subordinated to technology's rhythms and demands will be able to control il and to determine its evolution. I call the process of creating such a society 'subversive rationalization' because it requires technologica l advances that can only be made in opposition to the dominant hegemony.

This 330-page challenging book is an analytic dissection of reason and its essential limitations. It follows the link between the brain and its functions (the Mind). It investigates the application of reason to language, social and personal behavior, ethics, commerce, religion, art and science. This well-received book places human reason against the background of our neurology and evolutionary biology. Calne demonstrates that rationality by itself provides little guidance for life or morality. Anyone who believes that science is of a necessity reductionist and morally insensitive will benefit greatly from reading this book as he shows how our humanity has emerged from rational thought, while our precariousness as a species will depend on a yet unperceived consilience to contain and bias reason for choosing good. Calne has challenged the view that view that rationality is the crowning human faculty by offering both a general general explanation of how the mind works and a compelling humanistic defense of the values of science and rationality. Calne shows that reason has no direct links to the brain's pathways of pleasure and satisfaction that motivate much of our behavior. Reason is simply a powerful tool put into the service of goals it cannot determine or change. However, he delineates how reason (through its deployment in all its domains of human endeavor: from science to religion, from ethics, commerce and politics to art and music) has enabled mankind to achieve dominance over all other forms of life, without providing any specifiable content, beyond survival to the meaning of existence, while offering a new and readable picture of the role of rationality in both evolution and daily consciousness.

The Crisis of the Human Sciences. False Objectivity and the Decline of Creativity , 2011

Rationality seems to be a self-evident issue of the modern world. Driven by such means, we take it for granted that everything is correct. Our technical acts against nature bring dangerous problems. An inappropriate organisation of social life destroys our societies. Our way to shape the world makes sustainability suffer. Poverty, oppression, exploitation of humans and nature, dangerous developments in climate change... The range of the Negative in our 'rational' world is not limited. Our management of technologies is confronted with severe problems. Critique mainly focuses on these negative aspects. Rationality enables us, on the other hand, to use matter in forms, that make life easier and that help us to survive. 'Rational' Technology gives us more comfort and, we accept all those 'little helpers', although they have often severe deficiencies. They give a lot, but what do they take instead? The modern world is digital. Mathematics guides us to knowledge and leads to an adequate use of natural ressources. We are able to redesign nature and to create a new world. Information is the key to this world. The huge and permanently increasing flood of data overwhelms us nowadays. Confronted with the disqualification of our own knowledge, storing of these vast amounts of information is our obligation. Due to our natural limitations we succumb to these accelerations. Driven by economic forces, in nature this movement is endless. The force majeure behind all those processes is growth. The existing means to measure and to judge all these developments do not stand up to this permanent pressure. The flood of information to be taken care of, is quite too much, so technology substitutes more and more of this collections and of our natural world. By this, and day by day, we seem to lose control over our own natural life and experience. Our natural abilities, the biological

The Rationalisation of the World has a long, eventful history, but does it have a future? How is the process of rationalisation exemplified in modern life and how, if, has it changed human experience?