Towards a Conception of Sociotechnical Pathology

Abstract

The concept of social pathology has long belonged to the toolkit of<br/>social scientists, and several critical social philosophers have found it<br/>indispensable for linking social ontology to social criticism. While different<br/>conceptions of social pathology, as well as their applicability as diagnostic tools<br/>for social wrongs, have been debated, a common area of neglect becomes<br/>apparent when we consider pathological states of social wholes, such as societies,<br/>as not only socially but technically constituted. As a first step towards filling this<br/>gap, this paper introduces the concept of sociotechnical pathology. Drawing on<br/>existing work on social pathology, it discusses four different general conceptions<br/>of sociotechnical pathology as a diagnostic tool for analyzing socially and<br/>technically constituted social wrongs. The paper contributes to philosophical<br/>inquiry at the cross-section of critical social philosophy and philosophy of<br/>technology by paving way for substantive conceptions of sociotechnical<br/>pathology.