Between classic Greece and modernity: displacement of the meaning of the signifier “technology”

This paper presents and analyses shifts in the signifier ‘technology’ over time. It focuses on two historical periods: Classical Greece and Modernity. After verifying general patterns present for twenty centuries, this work considers the changes in the meaning of the signifier ‘technology’ that are...

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Published inTrilogía, ciencia, tecnología y sociedad Vol. 9; no. 17; pp. 63 - 78
Main Author Horacio Correa Lucero
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano - ITM 01.07.2017
Subjects
capitalism
meaning
modernity
technique
technology
technê
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Summary:This paper presents and analyses shifts in the signifier ‘technology’ over time. It focuses on two historical periods: Classical Greece and Modernity. After verifying general patterns present for twenty centuries, this work considers the changes in the meaning of the signifier ‘technology’ that are due to the emergence of capitalist production. Thus, modernity is described as a crucial moment when the new meanings of such signifier are formed, but also when contingency appears as an essential phenomenon that is verified in the various nuances of the term in different languages. Finally, the multiple meanings of this signifier do not constitute the impossibility of conceptual apprehension. Specifically, the meanings that were found range from an association with rhetoric and grammar started by Aristotle, including the discourse, description, and terminology of arts and techniques, to the point at which the signifier designates the object made by using technical, scientific, and industrial knowledge. We observe an increasing shift towards the latter meaning that is reinforced in the present.
ISSN:2145-4426
2145-7778
DOI:10.22430/21457778.625