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Agric Hum Values (2011) 28:285286 DOI 10.1007/s10460-011-9311-4
Craig Hanks (ed.): Technology and values: essential readings
Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, 2010, 542 pp, ISBN 978-1-4051-4901-3
Roger Chao
Accepted: 10 January 2011 / Published online: 27 February 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Technology is an inescapable and pervasive fact of life, whether we like it or not. Everything we do in our daily lives revolves around, and is inuenced by, technology itself; it has an enormous impact. Yet only by critically examining its effects and transformations, can we make the best decisions concerning it. The study of technology and values, whilst not a new eld, is still one of the less studied areas of philosophy. Hanks new anthology aims to right this imbalance, by making the study of technology and values more accessible to a wider interdisciplinary audience.
The book itself assumes no prior knowledge in the eld of technology and values and is thus suitable for an undergraduate course, whilst also having enough advanced material for use in graduate courses. The breadth of readings presented, along with opposing viewpoints on critical issues, means that this collection of readings could be used as a stand-alone textbook in the study of technology and values. Readings are taken from the twentieth and twentyrst centuries covering all aspects of technology and values, from the fundamental and abstract aspects of the meaning of technology, to general introductions to science and technology studies, right up to the practical and applied spheres of the role and values of technology in use.
Hanks begins the book...