9411876 Feenberg This project in philosophy of technology addresses the relationship between democracy and technical change. Its purpose is to consider whether, when and how public interventions into technical change are justified. It will attempt to explain the sort of public interventions into technical change that are occurring, for example in the environmental movement, and that might be fostered by the growth of a new democratic "technical public sphere." The investigator will study two types of public action for technical change: actions directed at the state in an attempt to influence regulatory policies, and actions directed at technology itself in an attempt to alter its design to favor new applications. Both types of intervention may be called democratic; the first, because the intervention represents neglected social interests; the second, because it enlarges the domain of active agency open to citizens. The research addresses challenges to the democratic legitimacy and technical rationality of public intervention, by providing an account of the role of various mediations, such as government regulation and technical professionalism, through which the demands of self-selected social groups are transformed into technical policy. Using philosophical analysis and case histories, the research will attempt to identify when public demands are able to meet tests of legitimacy and rationality, because they are structured around procedures that can assure the representativity of decisions and their place in the evolutionary development of technical practice. Results from this research will be published in articles and a book; the case studies will also be incorporated into an undergraduate textbook. ***
