Towards „another" history of technology

Abstract

The fact that the historiography of technology is biased is demonstrated along the postmodern thinking as well as some well-known approaches addressing the History of Technology. In the opinion of the author, History of Technology should ask for its own prerequisites and conditions, because it arose as a scientific project of modernism. Since the view of present historiography of technology is closely attached to the paradigm of the modern rationalistic ideal, it does not allow for a cultural interpretation of technology. To remove this deficiency it is proposed to use methods provided by the History of Mentalities and by semiotics. These approaches are to be reviewed in its suitability to include a materialistic foundation rooted in the material-natural dimension of technology.