Keirl, Steve. 2013. Binarial hermeneutics for exploring the phenomenon of Technology in support of Design and Technology Education. In: P. J. Williams and D. Gedera, eds. PATT27: Technology Education for the Future: A play on Sustainability, Conference Proceedings. Waikato, NZ: Technology Environmental Science and Mathematics Education Research Centre, University of Waikato, NZ, pp. 253-260. ISBN 978-0-9922497-2-4 [Book Section]

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Abstract or Description

The phenomenon of technology remains a challenge for philosophers of technology itself let alone for the field of Design and Technology education. Because ‘technology’ is a complex concept it defies definition and finds itself the object of study of multiple disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, and more.

This paper introduces the concept of ‘binarial hermeneutics’ as a means for exploring, in a non- or anti-disciplinary way, the phenomenon of technology. The concept of binary is clarified and used to locate the kinds of spectra that present themselves when technology is under discussion. Examples of such spectra could be (technology as): arts-science; theory-practice; subject-object; utopia-dystopia; product-process; etc. There is no prescribed set of binaries but a key point is that the binaries are not dualisms, that is, they engage with ‘both-at-once’ rather than ‘either-or’.

Having used a binary to locate a particular spectrum, a hermeneutic approach is then taken. This approach draws upon the field of philosophical hermeneutics which addresses questions of interpretation, while resisting Cartesian dualism and serving to develop what Bohman (1999) has described as, ‘…understanding as continuing a historical tradition, as well as dialogical openness, in which prejudices are challenged and horizons broadened’.

The paper seeks to locate the kinds of discourses that arise in the theorising of Design and Technology Education (and curriculum) as well as in the areas of public and policy-making discourse. It is written to help articulate the identity of Design and Technology Education as a contested, yet distinctive and worthy, educational enterprise.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	binarial hermeneutics; Design and Technology Education; curriculum theory
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Design
Dates:	Date Event December 2013 Published
Item ID:	20231
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2017 09:49
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2024 12:15
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/20231

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