Günter Ropohl

Günter Ropohl (born 14 June 1939 in Cologne, Germany) is a German philosopher of technology.

Biography

Günter Ropohl studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Stuttgart University, where he was a scholar of the philosopher Max Bense. After his PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in 1970, he wrote his Habilitation thesis in Philosophy und Sociology at Karlsruhe University 1978 under the supervision of Hans Lenk. His work deals with the systems theory of "Technik" (engl. technique), leading to the concept of general technology.[1] In 1979, Ropohl became Professor at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH). Soon after, in 1981, he became Professor for Allgemeine Technologie (general technology) and philosophy of technology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (until 2004). In the 1980s, he visited his colleague and friend Carl Mitcham in the United States. From 1983 to 1991, i.e. during the period of the Cold War, he was course director and visiting lecturer at the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (Croatia). In 1988, he was invited as visiting professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY. Ropohl is an honorary member of the German Engineering Association (VDI), due to his interdisciplinary engagement for the philosophy of technology. He is co-editor of an anthology of the classics in the philosophy of technology in a Continental-European tradition.[2] Ropohl published 15 monographs, (co-)edited another 15 books and published more than 180 articles.

Philosophy

A central concept in his work is sociotechnical systems, i.e. he regards techniques as societal structures. Ropohl is a critic of the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and votes for the recognition of material culture. His definition of (German) "Technik" includes a) the utility, b) artificiality and c) functionality. In the focus of his work is the combination of technique as artefact and action, whereas knowledge insinuates the meta-concept of technology. Therefore, he differentiates between engineering sciences and technical sciences.[3]

Ropohl is well known in the German-speaking academia for his writings on the concepts of Technik and Technologie, the ethics of technology, technology assessment, professional ethics for engineers and on the societal need for educating towards technology literacy.

He received a Festschrift with contributions from academic scholars, focusing on his work and related discourses, both on his 65th and 75th birthday (edited by Nicole C. Karafyllis, see literature), including a complete list of his publications from the late 1960s to 2014.

Selected publications in English

Monographs in German

Books about his work

External links

References

  1. ↑ published under the title Eine Systemtheorie der Technik 1979, 2nd. ed. under the title Allgemeine Technologie, 1999, 3rd ed. 2009, open source:
  2. ↑
    • Hubig, Ch., Huning, A. and Ropohl, G. (Eds.), Nachdenken über Technik. Die Klassiker der Technikphilosophie, Berlin 2000. 3rd ed. 2013 (to be translated into English and Chinese in the next years).
  3. ↑ Günter Ropohl, Eine Systemtheorie der Technik, 1979, p. 34f.
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