The Hermeneutic Side of Responsible Research and I nnovation

<p>Foreword&nbsp; ix</p>
<p>Preface xiii</p>
<p>Chapter 1. What Makes New Science and Technology Meaningful to Society? 1</p>
<p>1.1. Motivation and objectives&nbsp; 1</p>
<p>1.2. The need for orientation in NEST fields&nbsp; 8</p>
<p>1.3. Short propaedeutic 12</p>
<p>1.3.1. The meaning of sociotechnical meaning &nbsp; 12</p>
<p>1.3.2. NEST: new and emerging science and technologies&nbsp; 13</p>
<p>1.3.3. Techno–visionary futures&nbsp; 15</p>
<p>1.4. A brief guide to this book&nbsp; 17</p>
<p>1.4.1. The flow of argumentation 17</p>
<p>1.4.2. The chapters&nbsp; 18</p>
<p>1.4.3. The achievements 22</p>
<p>Chapter 2. Extending the Object of Responsibility Assessments in RRI 25</p>
<p>2.1. Motivation and overview 25</p>
<p>2.2. Some impressions of RRI debates so far&nbsp; 27</p>
<p>2.3. A pragmatic view on the notion of responsibility&nbsp; 31</p>
<p>2.3.1. The concept of responsibility&nbsp; 32</p>
<p>2.3.2. The EEE approach to responsibility&nbsp; 34</p>
<p>2.3.3. Responsibility assessment&nbsp; 35</p>
<p>2.4. The object of responsibility debates in RRI so far&nbsp; 38</p>
<p>2.5. The object of responsibility debates in RRI: an extension 39</p>
<p>2.6. Concluding remarks&nbsp; 43</p>
<p>Chapter 3. Assessing Responsibility by Considering Techno–Futures&nbsp; 45</p>
<p>3.1. Responsibility assessments: introduction and overview 45</p>
<p>3.2. Brief remarks on the epistemology of prospective knowledge 46</p>
<p>3.2.1. The epistemologically precarious character of prospective knowledge&nbsp; 47</p>
<p>3.2.2. Futures as social constructs 48</p>
<p>3.3. Responsibility for NEST: the orientation dilemma&nbsp; 50</p>
<p>3.3.1. Challenges to providing orientation in NEST fields&nbsp; 52</p>
<p>3.3.2. The orientation dilemma 55</p>
<p>3.4. Three modes of orientation&nbsp; 56</p>
<p>3.4.1. Prediction and prognostication: mode 1 orientation&nbsp; 57</p>
<p>3.4.2. Scenarios and the value of diversity: mode 2 orientation&nbsp; 58</p>
<p>3.4.3. The value of divergence: mode 3 orientation 60</p>
<p>3.5. The hermeneutic approach to techno–visionary futures 61</p>
<p>Chapter 4. Definitions and Characterizations of NEST as Construction of Meaning&nbsp; 65</p>
<p>4.1. Motivation and point of departure 65</p>
<p>4.2. Some observations from NEST debates&nbsp; 66</p>
<p>4.2.1. Nanotechnology&nbsp; 66</p>
<p>4.2.2. Synthetic biology 68</p>
<p>4.2.3. Enhancement 71</p>
<p>4.3. The pragmatic character of definitions 72</p>
<p>4.4. Defining and characterizing as meaning–giving activity&nbsp; 75</p>
<p>Chapter 5. Understanding Nanotechnology: A Process Involving Contested Assignments of Meaning&nbsp; 79</p>
<p>5.1. Nanotechnology: a paradigmatic RRI story&nbsp; 79</p>
<p>5.2. The early time of nanotechnology: troubled beginnings&nbsp; 82</p>
<p>5.2.1. Apocalyptic techno–visionary futures related to nano 82</p>
<p>5.2.2. Threats to human health and the environment&nbsp; 84</p>
<p>5.2.3. Philosophical characterizations 86</p>
<p>5.3. Defining nanotechnology: a mission impossible?&nbsp; 89</p>
<p>5.4. The meaning of nanotechnology: the shift from a revolutionary to a quite normal technology&nbsp; 94</p>
<p>5.4.1. Looking back: the development of nanotechnology s meaning 94</p>
<p>5.4.2. Hermeneutic work on nanotechnology&nbsp; 96</p>
<p>5.4.3. Lessons learned for RRI debates&nbsp; 99</p>
<p>Chapter 6. Robots: Challenge to the Self–Understanding of Humans 101</p>
<p>6.1. Autonomous technology: challenges to our comprehension 101</p>
<p>6.2. Robots that can make plans and Man s self–image&nbsp; 103</p>
<p>6.2.1. Planning robots&nbsp; 103</p>
<p>6.2.2. Planning as special type of acting 105</p>
<p>6.2.3. Step 1: Can robots act?&nbsp; 107</p>
<p>6.2.4. Step 2: What do robots do when they plan? 109</p>
<p>6.2.5. The difference between planning humans and planning robots 113</p>
<p>6.3. Technology futures in robotics 115</p>
<p>6.4. The hermeneutic view of robots 119</p>
<p>Chapter 7. Enhancement as a Cipher of the Future 123</p>
<p>7.1. Introduction and overview&nbsp; 123</p>
<p>7.2. On the semantics of (technical) enhancement 125</p>
<p>7.2.1. Enhancement as action&nbsp; 125</p>
<p>7.2.2. Technical enhancement 127</p>
<p>7.3. Human enhancement 128</p>
<p>7.3.1. Enhancement in history: some ambivalences&nbsp; 128</p>
<p>7.3.2. Human enhancement: some illustrations 130</p>
<p>7.3.3. Healing, doping and enhancement 132</p>
<p>7.3.4. Human enhancement: from visions to the marketplace&nbsp; 136</p>
<p>7.4. Animal enhancement 138</p>
<p>7.5. Conclusions 142</p>
<p>7.5.1. Conclusions I: dissolving borders between humans, animals and technology 142</p>
<p>7.5.2. Conclusions II: better understanding contemporary time&nbsp; 144</p>
<p>7.5.3. Conclusions III: technicalizing the self–image of humans&nbsp; 148</p>
<p>7.5.4. Conclusions IV: RRI debates on enhancement 149</p>
<p>7.6. Enhancement as a cipher of the future 151</p>
<p>Chapter 8. Technology to Combat Climate Change: the Hermeneutic Dimension of Climate Engineering&nbsp; 153</p>
<p>8.1. Climate change and the ambivalence of technology 153</p>
<p>8.2. Limitations of the previous approaches to finding a solution&nbsp; 156</p>
<p>8.3. Climate engineering as a technical option 157</p>
<p>8.4. Chances and risks of climate engineering 159</p>
<p>8.5. The hermeneutics of climate engineering 162</p>
<p>8.5.1. Climate engineering: revival of Baconism? 163</p>
<p>8.5.2. Expanding the object of responsibility&nbsp; 166</p>
<p>8.6. Epilogue: hermeneutic extension of the imperative of responsibility? 168</p>
<p>Chapter 9. Hermeneutic Assessment: Toward an Interdisciplinary Research Program 169</p>
<p>9.1. Assigning meaning to NEST as object of responsibility&nbsp; 169</p>
<p>9.2. Hermeneutic approaches 172</p>
<p>9.3. The emergence of NEST meaning: hermeneutic assessment&nbsp; 175</p>
<p>9.3.1. The dynamics of assigning meaning&nbsp; 175</p>
<p>9.3.2. NEST meaning: understanding origin and process 178</p>
<p>9.3.3. NEST meaning: understanding content&nbsp; 180</p>
<p>9.3.4. NEST meaning: understanding diffusion and impact&nbsp; 183</p>
<p>9.4. Reflection and epilogue&nbsp; 185</p>
<p>Inspiration Behind the Chapters&nbsp; 189</p>
<p>Bibliography&nbsp; 191</p>
<p>Index 215</p>