The Technological Determinism and the "Dialectic of History"]

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to take a second look at the phenomenon known as technological determinism. Although the belief in something like an autonomous, technological development, with a sort of logic of its own, has been recently attacked and dismissed by many philosophers of technology, here it is argued that such a conclusion is hasty and unfair. Relying on the important theoretical contributions of Hans Freyer and Friedrich Rapp —not usually considered in the current debate—, it is showed how technological determinism can be seen to play an ineludible role in what Karl Löwith has named the "dialectic of history".