Clarence Ayres, technology, pragmatism and progress

Anne Mayhew

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2010, vol. 34, issue 1, 213-222

Abstract: This paper explores the origins and continued relevance of Clarence Ayres' definition of technology as a process involving both physical tools and a scientific method of reasoning, where science is understood to achieve cross-cultural explanatory power by virtue of technological validation. Ayres' concept of technology derived from his training as a Pragmatist and was primarily philosophical rather than descriptive, but is congruent with the work of modern historians of technology and remains useful in addressing a variety of concerns about both the promise and dangers of technological change. Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Date: 2010
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