1st Edition

The Good Life in a Technological Age

Edited By Philip Brey, Adam Briggle, Edward Spence Copyright 2012
    376 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    376 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes in light of their implications for individual and social welfare. How can we conceptualize and evaluate the influence of technology on human well-being? Bringing together scholars from a cross-section of disciplines, this volume combines an empirical investigation of technology and its social, psychological, and political effects, and a philosophical analysis and evaluation of the implications of such effects.

    Introduction  Adam Briggle, Philip Brey and Edward Spence  Part I: Mapping the Landscape  1. Well-Being in Philosophy, Psychology, and Economics  Philip Brey  2. Theorizing Technology  Carl Mitcham and Adam Briggle  Part II: Theoretical Approaches  3. Quality of Life in Technological Society: A Macrosociological Approach  Ruut Veenhoven  4. Capabilities and Technology  Justine Johnstone  5. Happiness and Meaning in a Technological Age: A Psychological Approach  Michael Steger and Joo Yeon Shin  6. The Ambivalence of the Good Life: Happiness, Economics, Technology, and Relational Goods  Luigino Bruni  7. Desire-Satisfactionism and Technology  Anton Tupa  Part III: Consumer Products and Well-Being  8. Consuming Happiness  Lindsey Patterson and Robert Biswas-Diener  9. Thinking Through Consumerism and Technology  Pak Hang Wong  10. Consumption and Sustainability: A Neo-Epicurean Approach to a Sustainable Good  Life in a Technological World  Edward Spence  11. Cell Phones, iPods, and Subjective Well-Being  Valerie Tiberius  Part IV: Information Technology and Well-Being  12. New Social Media and the Virtues  Shannon Vallor  13. Web 2.0: Community as Commodity?  Diane P. Michelfelder  14. Types of Internet Use, Well-Being and the Good Life: Ethical Views from Prudential Psychology  Omar Rosas  15. Virtually Good? Disclosing the Presuppositions Behind the Claimed Inferiority of Virtual Worlds  Johnny Hartz Søraker  Part V: Medical and Agricultural Technology and Well-Being  16. What’s Wrong with Techno Food?  David Kaplan  17. Human Enhancement and Well-Being  Bengt Brülde  18. On Hubris and Hybrids: Ascesis and the Ethics of Technology  Peter Paul Verbeek  19. Brave New World: Platonism 2.0  Tsjalling Swierstra  20. Care Robots, Virtual Virtue, and the Best Possible Life  Mark Coeckelbergh  Part VI: Technology Design and Policy  21. Can We Design for Well-Being?  Ibo van de Poel  22. The University, Metrics, and the Good Life  Robert Frodeman, J. Britt Holbrook and Kelli Barr  23. Science Policy and the Expectation of Health: The Case for Reforming Peer Review at the National Institutes of Health  Adam Briggle  24. Neutrality and Technology: Ortega Y Gasset on the Good Life  Jeroen van den Hoven  25. Technological Change and the Destabilization of Liberal Politics  Govert Valkenburg

    Biography

    Philip Brey is Professor of Philosophy of Technology and chair of the Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, the Netherlands.

    Adam Briggle is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of North Texas.

    Edward Spence is a Senior Lecturer in Moral Philosophy and Professional Ethics in the School of Communication, Charles Sturt University, Australia.