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Philosophical Issues in Technology Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Stanley R. Carpenter
Stanley R. Carpenter*
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Abstract

The current sociotechnical enterprise known as technology assessment (TA) is examined. Applying Skolimowski's analysis of epistemic possibility, the two foci of TA activities, impact analysis and policy analysis are shown to involve different logical and methodological forms. Impact analysis is shown to follow the logic of applied science while policy analysis involves the logic of technological design. Methodological implications of this distinction are isolated. Areas requiring conceptual clarification internal to TA practice are identified and limitations of the overall approach are articulated.

Type
Special Section on Value Issues in Science, Technology, and Medicine
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 1977 , pp. 574 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1977

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Footnotes

†

Research for this paper was sponsored in part by NSF (ERS 76–04474). I wish to thank my colleagues F. A. Rossini, A. L. Porter, and R. Larson for helpful criticisms of an earlier draft. Conclusions, however, are not necessarily endorsed by either my team members or NSF.

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