Knots and Strands: An Argument for Productive Disillusionment

Author: Nordmann, Alfred¹

Source: The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Volume 32, Number 3, May 2007 , pp. 217-236(20)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This article offers a contrast between European and US-American approaches to the convergence of enabling technologies and to associated issues. It identifies an apparently paradoxical situation in which regional differences produce conflicting claims to universality, each telling us what can and will happen to the benefit of humanity. Those who might mediate and negotiate these competing claims are themselves entangled in the various positions. A possible solution is offered, namely a universalizable strategy that aims to disentangle premature claims to unity and universality as in the case of the greater "efficiency" of nanomedicine. This is the strategy by which Science and Technologies Studies (STS) can analytically tease apart what it has helped produce and sustain in the first place. The virtues and limits of this strategy are briefly presented, deliberation and decision-making under conditions of productive disillusionment recommended.

Keywords: converging technologies; disentangling entangled concepts; European and US approaches to research and develop; nanotechnology; Science and Technology Studies (STS)

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/03605310701396976

Affiliations: 1: Darmstadt Technical University, Darmstadt, Germany

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