Week 1

Question 1

What are the main arguments of Skolimowski’s article?

Answer 1

erroneous to consider technology as being an applied science
technology is not science
the difference between science and technology can be best grasped by examining the idea of scientific progress and the idea of technological progress

Question 2

Methodologists and philosophers insist that technology is

Answer 2

in principle a composition of various crafts

Question 3

Science concerns itself with what ___ and and technology concerns itself with what ___

Answer 3

science: what is
tech: what is to be

Question 4

What is the technological progress

Answer 4

producing new objects and then making them better

Question 5

What does it mean for something to be better?

Answer 5

more durable, reliable, sensitive, faster in performing, and a combination of all

Question 6

Technological progress is achieved through…

Answer 6

shortening the time required for the production of the given object or through reducing the cost of production, like Henry Ford.

Question 7

What is Mario Bunge’s main argument? How is his approach different from Skolimowski?

Answer 7

Technology is applied science.
He uses a broad definition of science. You don’t need to know universal gravitational laws in order to know that something falls

Question 8

According to Bunge, what are the two types of theories?

Answer 8

Substantive and operative

Question 9

What is a substantive theory?

Answer 9

it provides knowledge about the object of action

applications of scientific theories

Question 10

What is a operative theory?

Answer 10

theories concerned with action itself

not preceded by scientific theories but are born in applied research itself