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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on December 16, 2008
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/ben055
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Reality and technology

Albert Borgmann*

* The University of Montana

Address for correspondence: Department of Philosophy, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812-5780, USA; email: albert.borgmann{at}umontana.edu

Is it possible to have a wide and deep theory of technology? Commodification provides a helpful clue. It refers to the width of the economy and suggests incisive criticism. Although it is economically precise, its moral and cultural force needs explication. In that sense it refers to the detachment of a thing or practice from its context of engagement with a time, a place, and a community. Engagement is replaced by a technological machinery. The conjunction of commodity and machinery sheds light on consumption and labour and on the discontents of life in an advanced industrial society. It also suggests a disjunctive view of the future—still more commodification or a recovery of engagement.

Key Words: Philosophy of technology • Commodification • Device paradigm • Ethics of technology

JEL classifications: A13, O33

Manuscript received January 17, 2008; final version received October 20, 2008.


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