SPT newsletter



		*SPT newsletter* Volume 24, Number 1 (Winter 1999) Current Newsletter \| Previous Newsletters Message from the President Dear SPTers, I wish you all a happy new year and new millennium! Lets hope that the early years of the 21st century bring more attention to the field of philosophy and technology! There is no doubt about the increasing importance of our field, especially as globalization of the world economy intensifies. In this issue of the Newsletter you'll find the results of the Society's recent election process. It was a good election with serious contenders. Special thanks to all those who were willing to run and to the election committee! I congratulate Andrew Light on becoming Vice-President/President-elect and Langdon Winner on joining the Board! As Vice-President-elect, Andrew becomes program chair for the biennial conference in Edinburgh in 2001. Since we worked together on the program committee for the San Jose conference, I am confident that Andrew will put together an exciting, well-organized conference, and I look forward to working with him on the conference and other Society endeavors. If any of you will be attending the Eastern Division meetings of the American Philosophical Association in Boston, please don't forget to attend the SPT sponsored session on the 28th. The Board will be meeting after that session and I am currently in the process of putting together an agenda for that meeting. The agenda will include planning for the 2001 conference in Edinburgh, a report on the Society's electronic journal, and a discussion about how to increase membership in the Society. If any of you have additional ideas for topics that need addressing, let me know. I hope all of you renewed your membership after receiving the last newsletter. If not, it is not too late to send in your dues. It would also be enormously helpful to the Society if you would contact colleagues of yours who might be, or should be, interested in joining the Society. Give them the membership form and encourage them to join. Best Wishes for 2000, Deborah G. Johnson President, SPT deborah.johnson@pubpolicy.gatech.edu SPT at APA/Eastern in Boston The SPT session at the APA/Eastern Meeting is entitled "Questioning Technology and the Environment." It well be an author-meets-critics session focused on Andrew Feenberg's new book, Questioning Technology. This session will focus specifically on the environmental issues raised by Feenberg's book. Speakers include Andrew Feenberg and Andrew Light. The meeting is at 11:15 Tuesday, Dec 28, in the Cape Cod room. Minutes from the Society for Philosophy and Technology, Board Meeting 15 July 1999 David Baird was made editor for the Society, with primary responsibility for the Journal. The Publications Committee reported: 1) Baird, in consultation with others, will explore ways to improve the image, quality and circulation of the Journal; 2) Baird, in consultation with others, will assess the long-term status of the Journal in an electronic form. The Board approved: pending a web search for conflicts, the Journal will be renamed Techne: the Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology and the Newsletter, now called Techne will become The SPT Newsletter. The Board approved: $500.00 for desktop publication of the current issue of the electronic journal. The Board approved the following expenses for SPT/99: approx. $765 for the reception; $500 for student assistants; reimbursement to Noam Cook of $104.03 for the wine, $280 for tickets to the Tech Museum, $80.38 for folders, $2.98 for a receipt book, and $46.98 for name tags. These expenses total $1,779.37. [Cook herewith reports that the intake for registration fees and Tech Museum tickets totaled $1,738.00, plus $60.00 in dues. This totals $1,798.00. This minus the expenses of $1,779.37 listed above leaves $18.63.] The Nominations Committee announced the need to fill and invites nominations for two candidates for the Board to be elected this year. [Correction: two nominations each are needed for: VP; one board vacancy; and, possibly one to three additional board vacancies, should any of those eligible for a second term decline to serve.] The Board accepted Ed Byrne's offer to continue for another academic year as Treasurer. The Board noted the need to find a new Treasurer to take office after this academic year. The Board will consider the pros and cons of combining the offices of Treasurer and Secretary. Noam Cook agreed to continue as Secretary, pending any decision by the Board concerning the office. The Board notes the need for a coordinator for the APA Central Division SPT session meetings, beginning with the year 2001. Paul Thompson and Hanz Seigfried were mentioned as possible people to approach. Joe Pitt will coordinate the meeting for the year 2000. [Correction: The 2000 meeting will be a session on Joe Pitt's new book.] The Board approved the following concerning Society dues 1) effective immediately, annual dues shall be $15, with students paying $5 and membership for persons in the Developing World being gratis; 2) "inactive" members can become active again by paying dues for the current year (i.e., no payment of "back" dues is required); 3) the Board will ask Ed Byrne to see if the Society can establish a credit card payee account so members worldwide can pay dues by card number (if this becomes possible the Society's Canadian account will be closed). [Correction: The Canadian account was closed and folded into the current account when Ed Byrne took the over Treasurer position from Al Anderson.] Addendum: By canvas of the Board out of session, the Board approved: Paul Durbin shall be named "Founding Editor" of the Society. Recent Publications by SPT members Albert Borgmann, Holding On To Reality: the nature of information at the turn of the millennium (Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1999). Stephen H. Cutcliffe and Carl Mitcham, eds., Visions of STS: Contextualizing Science, Technology, and Society Studies (Albany: SUNY Press, forthcoming 2000). Includes short original statements by ten STS leaders: Langdon Winner, Wiebe Bijker, Lars Fuglsang, Richard Sclove, Susan Cozzens, Rudi Volti, Albert Teich, Eulalia Perez Sedeno, Robert Yager, and Wilhelm Fudpucker. Andrew Feenberg, Questioning Technology (London; New York: Routledge Press, 1999). Robert Frodeman, ed., Earth Matters: Geology, Philosophy, and the Claims of Community (Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, forthcoming 2000). This collection of original essays on geophilosophy includes contributions by Christine Turner, Kristin S. Shrader-Frechette, Victor Baker, Al Lingis, Richard Williams, and others. Gordon Graham, The Internet: A Philosophical Inquiry (London; New York, Routledge). Donald Ihde, Expanding Hermeneutics: Visualism in Science (Evanston: North Western University Press, 1998). Carl Mitcham and Shannon Duval, Engineering Ethics (Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, forthcoming 2000). Joseph Pitt, Thinking About Technology: Foundations of the Philosophy of Technology (Seven Bridges Press; New York). Research in Philosophy and Technology vol. 18: "Philosophies of the Environment and Technology" (1999), guest edited by Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino, Don E. Marietta Jr., and Lester Embree. Contributors include J. Baird Callicott, Don Ihde, Larry Hickman, Timothy Casey, Robert Frodeman, Frederick Ferre, and Holmes Rolston. Research in Philosophy and Technology supplement 4: "Stains on the Screen: The Geometric Imaginary and Its Contaminative Process" by Noel Gray, and "Design Bibliography" by Gerhard Banse. A special issue of the journal Technology in Society, on the theme of "Science, Technology, and the Spiritual Quest," has been guest edited by Carl Mitcham and Mark Richardson. The issue grew out of the Science and the Spiritual Quest project of the Center for Theology and Natural Science (Berkeley) and is dedicated to the late Marc Weiser, former director of Xerox PARC and inventor of "ubiquitous computing". Contributors include Weiser, Anne Foerst, Kevin Kelly, Mitch Marcus, Jennifer Cobb, Rustum Roy, Ed Wenk, Gene Moriarty, Marc Pesce, and Christelle Didier. The latest issue of Tekhnema: Journal of Philosophy and Technology, issue 5, published at the American University of Paris, is now available from or by order from 31, avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris, France. The theme of this issue is "Energy and Chance" and includes a conversation with Jean-Francois Lyotard. Continuing Series: Science and Technology Studies Graduate Programs - Virginia Tech The Science and Technology Studies (STS) Program at Virginia Tech was founded in 1986. The STS program is run in cooperation with the Center for Science and Technology Studies (which a part of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies), and the Departments of History, Philosophy and Sociology. The Program is also affiliated with the School of Public and International Affairs. It offers both MS and Ph.D. degrees. To date it has awarded 74 degrees: 54 MS and 20 Ph.D.. The program operates out of two sites, one at the main Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia; the other at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. Currently, 44 students seek MS and Ph.D. degrees at the Blacksburg campus and 25 are enrolled part time at the Falls Church Campus. The program develops and explores a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives about science, technology, and society. The faculty's research interests include areas like the history, philosophy and sociology of biology, the history of medicine, history and philosophy of early modern science, science policy, and philosophy of science. A significant number of faculty members are interested in technology studies of different sorts. These interests include: philosophy of technology, engineering cultures, computers in society, history of technology, and instructional technology and education. The members of the department also have editorial responsibilities for Science, Technology and Human Values. Student research is equally diverse. Of particular interest to the Society is the recent development of the Philosophy of Science and Technology Track at both the MS and Ph.D. level. This allows the student to focus their course work in that area. Additionally there are Tracks in Cultural Studies, Policy Studies and the History of Science and Technology. For more information on the program, please consult their web page at: http://www.cis.vt.edu/sts/ Upcoming Conferences At Virginia Tech, March 3-5, 2000, in Blacksburg, Virginia there will be conference entitled "Kuhn Reconsidered," Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Philosophy, Virginia Tech, and the Matchette Foundation. Speakers: Peter Achinstein (Johns Hopkins), Roger Ariew (Virginia Tech), Jed Buchwald (MIT), Richard Burian (Virginia Tech), Daniel Garber (Chicago), Deborah Mayo (Virginia Tech), Alan Musgrave (Otago), Joseph Pitt (Virginia Tech), Robert Westman (UC-San Diego). For more information, contact Terry Zapata at tzapata@vt.edu. A conference entitled "Interdisciplinary Collaboration and the Development of Cognitive Models: The Diffusion of Public Choice Theory" will be held at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia from May 19-21, 2000. The conference is being held in honor of Noble Laureate in Economics James Buchanan's return to Virginia Tech. For more informationcontact Andrew Garnar at agarnar@vt.edu. The Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science (CSHPS) is holding its annual conference at the University of Alberta, May 25-27, 2000. Please note that our meeting overlaps with the Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought (May 24-26). Canadian Philosophical Association (M 24-27), the Canadian Society for the Study of European Ideas (M 25-26), the Canadian Society of the History of Medicine (M 26-28), the Canadian Historical Association (M27-29), the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies (M 25-27), the Canadian Women's Studies Association (M 27-29), and other societies. The committee welcomes suggestions for joint sessions with these other societies. Deadline for submissions of titles of papers, paper abstracts (minimum 150 words), panel and workshop proposals, joint sessions with other societies: January 30, 2000. They can be sent to any one of the members of the programme committee, either through e-mail, fax or snail-mail. Programme Committee / Comite du programme Bernard Lightman; Div. of Humanities; 309 Bethune College; York University; 4700 Keele St.; Toronto, Ont. M3J lP3. Phone: (416) 736-5164; Fax: (416) 736-5892; E-mail: lightman@yorku.ca The 6th International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Environment will be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 21-24, 2000. You may participate as session organizer, presenter of one or two papers, chair, moderator, discussant, or observer. The early deadline for abstract submission and participation is April 15, 2000. All papers will pass a peer review process for publication consideration in the Conference Proceedings. For more information, please contact Kevin L. Hickey or Demetri Kantarlelis either through Regular Mail: IEA/Hickey-Kantarelis; Assumption College; 500 Salisbury Street; Worcester, MA 01615, USA. or Tel: (508) 767-7296 (Hickey), (508) 767-7557 (Kantarelis), Fax: (508) 767-7382, E-mail: (Hickey) khickey@assumption.edu (Kantarelis) dkantar@assumption.edu or the World Wide Web at: http://champion.iupui.edu/~mreiter/iea.htm Newsletter Affairs The Newsletter accepts unsolicited editorials, op-ed pieces, reviews, and other expressions of intellectual interest. Publication is at the determination of the editors. Send inquiries about and information for The Newsletter to: Joseph C. Pitt, Newsletter Editor Department of Philosophy Major Williams Hall Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061-0126 E-mail: jcpitt@vt.edu or Andrew Garnar, Associate Editor E-mail: agarnar@vt.edu The Newsletter is published by Joseph C. Pitt and Andrew Garnar
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