Using Knowledge

On the Rationality of Science, Technology, and Medicine

In Using Knowledge: On the Rationality of Science, Technology, and Medicine Ingemar Nordin analyses the philosophical problems and nature of science, technology, and medicine. The main focus of the book is on the structure and dynamics of technological change. What implications do the goals of technology have for its rationality? How can the pragmatic problem of induction be solved within a fallibilistic and skeptical context? Nordin shows that the social context is of vital importance for the goal of technology (usefulness) and its rational development, with important consequences for how to design a techno policy in society. A rational technological development needs technological pluralism since knowledge of what is useful is scattered among millions of users.