Roots of the Philosophy of Technology in China

Abstract

An engineering colleague and collaborator of Chen Changshu, who has been called the founder of contemporary Chinese philosophy of technology, Yuan Deyu recalls early efforts to develop philosophy of technology that took place at Harbin Institute of Technology in the 1960s. Case studies based in the idea of learning from workers and frameworks adapted from Japanese theory of technology scholarship constituted the original philosophy of technology in contemporary China. The importance of this work is largely unknown in the West and even among Chinese scholars born after the Cultural Revolution. Against this background, Yuan questions many of the ways Chinese philosophers have tried to adapt or relate to Western studies in philosophy and technology.

In discussion with CAO Dongming 曹东溟, Carl MITCHAM, and YIN Wenjuan 尹文娟