Organon F
Volume 26, May 2019, Issue 2, Pages 249–264
ISSN 2585-7150 (online) ISSN 1335-0668 (print)
Research Article
Knowledge after the End of Nature: A Critical Approach to Allen’s Concept of Artifactuality
Sezen Bektaş
https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26204
Barry Allen’s criticism of the traditional definition of knowledge seems to share a radical tone with Stephan Vogel’s concerns about the customary representation of the causes that lie behind our current environmental problems. Both philosophers voice their complaints about the Cartesian picture of the world and dismiss the core idea behind the notorious duality embedded in that picture. What they propose instead is a monistic perspective positing an artifactual networking. In this paper, I will try to draw attention to certain weak aspects of Allen’s refreshing description of knowledge as “superlative artifactual performance” and offer a way to improve that characterization via Vogel’s notion “wildness.” More specifically, I will propose a solution to the problems pertaining to the distinction between good and bad artifacts with respect to the epistemic criteria proposed by Allen, and claim that the temporal gap standing in between the expectations of a designer and the qualities of her design may contribute to our understanding of the nature of an artifact. I maintain that each creative attempt to know a given artifact is to be appreciated by recognizing its different uses. In doing so, I will also try to show why and how certain bad artifacts get their undesirable status because of leading up to techno-cultural stagnation.
Allen; artifactuality; knowledge; use-value; Vogel; wildness.
Author
Sezen Bektaş
Affiliation
Middle East Technical University
Address
Philosophy Department, Middle East Technical University, Dumlupinar Bulvari, 1, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
Received
9 July 2018
Accepted
5 November 2018
Published online
14 March 2019
Publishers
Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
APA
Bektaş, S. (2019). Knowledge after the End of Nature: A Critical Approach to Allen’s Concept of Artifactuality. Organon F, 26(2), 249–264. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26204
Chicago
Bektaş, Sezen. 2019. "Knowledge after the End of Nature: A Critical Approach to Allen’s Concept of Artifactuality." Organon F 26 (2): 249–264. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26204
Harvard
Bektaş, S. (2019). Knowledge after the End of Nature: A Critical Approach to Allen’s Concept of Artifactuality. Organon F, 26(2), pp. 249–264. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26204
© Sezen Bektaş
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