The Maze of Ingenuity: Ideas and Idealism in the Development of Technology

1992 | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

From cathedrals to star wars, Arnold Pacey looks at the interaction of technologies and society over the last thousand years and uses that survey to argue for a more humane form of future technological development. The second edition of The Maze of Ingenuity concentrates on Europe and North America and incorporates recent insights from the history and sociology of technology. A new series of chapters extends Pacey's discussion of the role of ideas and ideals in technology in the period since the industrial revolution. Arnold Pacey has taught the history of science and technology at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Work on this new edition has been carried on in parallel with tutorial teaching for an Open University course entitled "Technology and Change."

ContentsThe Cathedral Builders: European Technical Achievement between 1100 and 1280A Century of Invention: 1250-1350Mathematics and the Arts: 1450-1600The Practical Arts and the Scientific RevolutionSocial Ideals in Technical Change: German Miners and English Puritans, 1450-1650The State and Technical Progress: 1660-1770Technology in the Industrial RevolutionConflicting Ideals in Engineering: America and Britain, 1790-1870Institutionalizing Technical Ideals, 1820-1920Idealistic Trends in Twentieth-Century Technology.

Arnold Pacey (Author)