Daian Tatiana Flórez Quintero - Technological Incommensurability & Artifactual Kinds

Daian Flórez

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at Daian Tatiana Flórez Quintero

November 19 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST

Title: Technological Incommensurability & Artifactual Kinds

Abstract:

Contemporary philosophers remain captivated by the siren songs of Scylla (physics) and Charybdis (biology), despite the remarkable progress achieved by engineering sciences in our time, which continues to be underappreciated. This is one of the motivations that has driven me to explore whether a semantic phenomenon akin to the one Kuhn discovered occurs in the domain of technology. Another motivation stems from observing the immense conceptual richness of technology, which has been overlooked by philosophers for decades. One reason for this neglect is that, among both laypeople and scholars, has prevailed a perspective that equates technology with the mere production of material objects and artifacts.

My goals are twofold. First, I will defend the claim that there is incommensurability in technology. Second, I will argue that the semantic changes characteristic of incommensurability occur specifically in a special type of kind terms—which Kuhn insightfully identified in his unpublished work as artifactual kind terms. To support both theses, I will present a historical argument that supports the existence of kind terms in the engineering sciences. Specifically, I will show that the term “concrete” not only exhibits the archetypal characteristics of kind terms, but that the semantic changes occurring in the transition from Roman to contemporary engineering exemplify technological incommensurability. To argue that there is incommensurability in technology, I will advance a formulation of such thesis, which is subsidiary of the one given by Kuhn in the 1980s. Secondly, I will explore the characteristics of artifact kind terms and show how technological terms, such as ‘unit element’ or ‘concrete’, qualify as genuine kind terms.

Can’t make it in-person? This talk will available online through the following:

Zoom https://pitt.zoom.us/s/91677465974 and

YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.