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The Philosophy of Technology: On Medicine’s Technological Enframing

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Applied Philosophy for Health Professions Education

Abstract

This chapter examines the growing role of technology in healthcare through the lens of the philosophy of technology. I introduce insights from three philosophers of technology, Martin Heidegger, Andrew Feenberg and John Dewey, each of whom challenges commonplace views of technology as simply applied science and offers important lessons for health professions education. These lessons teach how technology is not merely material artifact but instead a way of thinking and interacting with the world; how technology is not value-neutral but rather the product of social choices; and how technology is not purely means to an end but rather embodies a continuum of means and ends emerging from within a context of inquiry. As healthcare professionals face increasing use of technology in patient care, these critical insights help support more reflective engagement with technology in practice, challenging us to leverage technologies in order to better serve the needs of clinicians, patients, and their communities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    International Business Machines Corporation, an American multinational technology corporation.

  2. 2.

    Since the time of writing, IBM has sold its Watson Health data and analytics business.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Benjamin Chin-Yee

  2. Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Benjamin Chin-Yee

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  1. Benjamin Chin-Yee
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Correspondence to Benjamin Chin-Yee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Imperial College London, London, UK

    Megan E. L. Brown

  2. Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Mario Veen

  3. The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Gabrielle Maria Finn

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Chin-Yee, B. (2022). The Philosophy of Technology: On Medicine’s Technological Enframing. In: Brown, M.E.L., Veen, M., Finn, G.M. (eds) Applied Philosophy for Health Professions Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1512-3_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1512-3_17

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-1511-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-1512-3

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