I have explored spaces, where negotiations of border transgressions take place and where issues of technology and politics mingle. We meet a diversity of actors in the world of information technology (IT): political texts, people and technology participating in numerous sociomaterial relations. Time is the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium, 2000. Years, when IT occupied the western world and created its own fuzzy discourse. Years, when IT stole the biggest newspaper headlines and years, when IT became a mundane everyday part of our work practices. Years, when we learned to live in heterogeneous worlds. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Actor-Network Theory and After (ANTa) provide analytical and methodological perspectives when working with the empirical material. I present a chronological exposé of some of the key concepts of ANT and ANTa. I also discuss how the classical ANT perspective has changed during the last few years from being a theory of networks to become a methodological and analytical approach to other kinds of spaces such as fluid and fire. The heart of the thesis consists of six empirical cases. My aim of writing stories of information technology has been to investigate the black box of information technology. Investigating includes also efforts of opening. Concepts that are taken for granted, such as the very notion of information technology in my case, can be explored, questioned, transgressed, blurred and opened up. Each of the diffracted stories is specific and unique, with its own actors, context, location and situatedness. But the stories are also connected through ANT, and feminist technology and technoscience studies. Case number one, ‘Discourses and Cracks – A Case Study of Information Technology and Writing Women in a Regional Context ’, is about a project, where questions concerning discourses of information society with a special focus on citizenship are discussed and where global and national politics are translated to local and situated practices. Case number two, ‘Translating and Negotiating Information Technology ’, consists of two main parts. The fi rst one is about a regional library project. The analysis of the project is based on the classical Actor Network Theory (ANT) approach that invites the study of the heterogeneous and negotiable shaping of IT. The second part is about librarians developing web-based services. The analysis is inspired by the later development of ANT (called ANTa in the thesis) in order to include more invisible actors, relations and negotiations. Case number three, ‘Negotiating Information Technology: Politics and Practices of The Public Sector Web Production’, is about work practices of a municipal web developer, through which creation of sociotechnical relations of everyday information technology practices is analysed and also mirrored to national and local IT politics. Case number four, ‘Making e-Government Happen – Everyday Co-Development of Services, Citizenship and Technology’, is presenting the same web developer as in the third case, but now his everyday practices are connected with an expanded and wider circuit of co-constructors of information technology. The text is a co-production of a multidisciplinary research group aiming to describe, analyse and problematise connections when creating practices, where technology and society collaborate. Case number fi ve, ‘Citizenship at the Crossroads of Multiple Layers of Sociotechnical Relations’, enrols technology as an active actor in the construction of citizenship in an IT context in Sweden. The perspective emphasising the active agency of non-humans both enhances and challenges the Scandinavian approach of systems development by suggesting a direction towards a cyborgian approach towards technology design. Case number six, ‘Between Stability and Instability – a Project about e-Democracy ’, takes its point of departure from a small-scale project having as its goal the development of e-democracy in a municipal context. In the text the focus is on the stabilisation processes in shaping the technology (‘e’) and democracy parts of the project. I also discuss what kinds of spaces exist in between (the hyphen in e-democracy) and ask if integration between technology and democracy is possible as a whole. Finally, my intention is to step further into stories and practices not yet existing. Inspired by the French philosopher Michel Serres, I introduce the fi guration of an angel as a cartographer, intermediator and (co-) constructor of sociomaterial relations. Angels are needed to sew the separate fi elds of technology, politics and everyday practices to a rich seamless tapestry. They are the ‘artful integrators’ (Suchman).

This study examined the dynamics, challenges and opportunities of developing innovation systems in low resource settings with a particular focus on Uganda. It applied perspectives of technoscience and concepts of innovation systems, triple helix as university-industry-government relationships, mode 2 knowledge production and situated knowledges in understanding the context, identifying key policy issues and suggesting ways to address them. A mixed methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative methods was used in the study. It involved review of key policy documents, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and meetings with scientists, business leaders in the target organizations and firms, community members as well as observations of production processes in firms. Findings underscore the need for greater interaction and learning among actors in the emerging innovation systems in Uganda and eastern Africa. An opportunity for this to happen may be the growing number of entrepreneurial initiatives at the university and some public research organizations in the country. These entrepreneurial initiatives are driven by scientists, who are enthusiastic about moving their research results and innovations to market. This makes it plausible, in low resource settings like in Uganda, to promote the university working closely with public research organizations and firms as a locus for research and innovation. However, enabling conditions, which foster interaction and learning among actors, should be put in place. First, there is need to formulate specific policies and strategies with clear goals and incentives to promote growth of particular innovation systems. Second, a clear national policy for financing research and innovation is needed, which involves on the one part core funding to universities and research organizations, and on the other, competitive grants for research and innovation. Third, business incubation services should be established and/or supported as places where entrepreneurial scientists and other persons develop and test their business ideas and models. Fourth, there is need for institutional reforms to make administrative processes less bureaucratic, more costeffective and efficient. These reforms are necessary for example in processes involving procurement and financial management, research project approvals (for ethics and safety), technology assessments, contracting and licensing and other registration services. The findings and conclusions from this study demonstrate that technoscientific perspectives and innovation systems approaches can be adapted and used as a framework for identifying and explaining conditions that promote or hamper innovation in low resource settings as well as policy options to address them.

Résumé. En partant d’une description des nombreux changements de la pratique médicale depuis quelques décennies, la thèse étudie divers aspects constitutifs du malaise du médecin. L’accroissement de la puissance médicale qu’a permis la technoscience est analysée et remise dans un contexte plus large où les technologies de l’information ont une grande place. L’augmentation considérable des connaissances pose un problème de maîtrise de la science médicale. La multiplicité des observations fait qu’il y a discordance de certaines d’entre elles avec les théories médicales largement acceptées. De cette manière, le gain d’efficacité est associé à une perte de la cohérence du discours médical. Le rôle du médecin disparaît derrière la technique, qui semble pouvoir, seule, rendre tous les progrès accessibles. Le médecin devient alors un simple distributeur de services et, à ce titre, développe parfois des offres de pratiques sans fondement, voire dangereuses. Le pouvoir du médecin est évoqué, et se ramène in fine à la fourniture d’un diagnostic et d’une explication de sa maladie au patient. Le rôle des explications particulières que donne le médecin au malade est exploré à la lumière d’une conception narrative et évolutive de la vie humaine. Le rôle du médecin apparaît alors comme d’aider le patient à réécrire a posteriori le fil d’une histoire qui apparaît initialement comme interrompue par la maladie. Le rôle social de maintien de l’ordre de la pratique médicale est alors évoqué. Ensuite, par une approche descriptive du phénomène religieux, on montre que la médecine du XXIe siècle a les caractéristiques d’un tel phénomène. Entités extrahumaines, mythes, rites, tabous, prétention à bâtir une morale, accompagnement de la vie et de la mort, miracles, promesse de salut, temples, officiants sont identifiés dans la médecine « classique » contemporaine. Seule la fonction de divination de l’avenir d’un homme précis est devenue brumeuse, la technoscience permettant régulièrement du « tout ou rien » là où auparavant un pronostic précis (et souvent défavorable) pouvait être affirmé. L’hypothèse que la médecine est devenue une religion du XXIe siècle est confrontée à des textes de S. Freud, M. Gauchet et P. Boyer. Non seulement ces textes n’invalident pas l’hypothèse, mais la renforcent même. Il apparaît que le fonctionnement de l’esprit humain favorise l’éclosion de religions et donc la prise de voile de la médecine. La dynamique générale de la démocratisation de la société montre que la médecine est une forme de religion non seulement compatible avec une société démocratique, mais est peut-être une des formes accomplies de celle-ci, où chaque individu écrit lui-même sa propre histoire. Le danger qu’il y a, pour le patient comme pour le médecin, si ce dernier accepte de jouer un rôle de prêtre, est ensuite développé. Enfin, la remise dans le cadre plus général de l’existence humaine, l’évocation de la dimension de révolte de la médecine, de son essentielle incomplétude, l’acceptation d’une cohérence imparfaite permettent au médecin de retrouver des sources de joie afin de, peut-être, ne tomber ni dans un désinvestissement blasé, ni dans un cynisme blessant. Summary From a description of the many changes medical practice has undergone for a few decades, the work goes on to study many sides of the modern doctor’s malaise. The gain of power made possible by technoscience is put on a larger stage where information technologies play a major role. The abundance of knowledge makes health literacy more difficult. the great number of observations makes discrepancies with general theories more frequent. The gain in power is associated with a loss of coherence of the medical speech. The doctor’s role vanishes behind technology that seems to be the only access to all medical progresses. Doctors becomes mere service providers and go on to offer unvalidated or even harmful services on the market. Modern medical power resumes into the explanations and diagnosis given to the patient. The role of medical explanations is explored through an evolutive and narrative vision of human life. The duty of the doctors then appears to allow a new narration of the self that bridges the gap disease introduced into the patient’s life. The role of medicine in maintaining social order is mentioned. Through a sociological approach of the religious phenomenon, one can see that XXIst century medicine is such a phenomenon. Medicine knows of extrahuman entities, myths, rites, taboos, miracles, temples; priests are present in modern mainstream medicine. Some want to derive objective moral values from medicine, and it brings companionship to man from birth to death. The only departure from old religions was the weakened ability to predict the future of an individual patient: for some diseases for which survival was known to be very poor, the possibilities are now long-term survival with cure, or early death from the treatment. The hypothesis that medicine is a religion is confronted to texts from Freud S., Gauchet M. and Boyer P. Not only do they not invalidate the hypothesis, but they bring enrichment to it. Brain/mind dynamics is such that the appearance of religions is frequent, and makes the transformation of medicine into a religion easier. Society’s democratisation confronted to religion’s history shows that medicine is the most compatible form of religion within a truly democratic society, where each individual writes his own story. To become a priest brings some dangers for the patient, but also for the doctor. These dangers are discussed. This discussion is put into the larger context of human life. The revolt dimension of medicine is discussed, as is its never-ending task. Their acceptance, as that of a lack of total logical coherence can open the possibility for the doctor to enjoy his work, without being neither unfeeling nor cynical.

This thesis applies an interdisciplinary cybernetic and phenomenological analysis to contemporary theories of representation and interpretation of architecture, resulting in a speculative theoretical model of architectural experience as a behavioural system. The methodological model adopted for this research defines the main structure of the thesis where the narrative and the contributing parts of its complexity emerge. The narrative is presented through objectives and hypotheses that shift and slide between architectural representation and its experience based on three key internal components in architecture: the architectural forms and spaces, the active observers that interact with their environment, and finally, the responsive environment. Three interrelated research questions are considered. The first seeks to define the influence of the theoretical instability between complex life processes, emerging technologies and active perception upon architecture. The second questions the way in which the architectural experience is generated. The third asks: Does architecture behave? And if so, is it possible to define its behavioural characteristics related to its representation, experience and the medium of communication in-between? The thesis begins by exploring the effect of developments in digitally interactive, biological, and hybrid technologies on representation in architecture. An account of architectural examples considers the shift in the meaning of representation in architecture from the actual and literal to the more conceptual and experimental, from the individual human body and its relations to the multifaceted ecosystem of collective and connected cultures. The writings of Kester Rattenbury, Neil Leach, and Peter Cook among others contribute to the transformation of the ordinary perceptual experience of architecture, the development of experimental practices in architectural theory, and the dynamism of our perception. The thesis goes on to suggest that instability in architectural representation does not only depend on the internal components of the architectural system but also on the principles and processes of complex systems as well as changes in active perception and our consciousness that act as the external influences on the system. Established theoretical endeavours in biology of D’Arcy Thompson, Alan Turing, and John Holland and philosophies of Merleau-Ponty, Richard Gregory, and Deleuze and Guattari are discussed in this context. Pre-programmed and computational models, illustrative and generative, are presented throughout the thesis. In the final stage of the development of the thesis architecture is analysed as a system. This is not an unprecedented notion, however defining the main elements and components of this system and their interactions and thereafter identifying that the system behaves and defining its behavioural characteristics, adds to the knowledge in the field of theoretical and experimental architecture. This thesis considers the behavioural characteristics of architecture to be derived from the hypothetical links and unstable thresholds of its non-dualistic notions of materiality and immateriality, reality and virtuality, and finally, intentionality and interpretation.

La différence entre Dieu et un chirurgien, réplique-t-on classiquement à celui-ci lorsque il s'estime comme créateur de son opéré, c'est que Dieu, lui, ne se prend pas pour un chirurgien. Qu'y a-t-il dans cette action qui soit si spécifique que son agent, le chirurgien, puisse à ce point risquer de s'idolâtrer ?Il semble bien, tout d'abord, qu'il y ait dans la chirurgie une réelle dimension religieuse c'est-à-dire un rapport certain avec le sacré – l'interdit –, ce que l'on ne doit pas profaner. Le questionnement sur le chirurgien et la chirurgie éclaire cet aspect. Si tout chirurgien est d'abord un médecin, et comme tel s'il a bien pour mission de soulager une personne humaine lorsqu'elle est affectée par la maladie ou le traumatisme, pour autant son mode « opératoire » est particulier. La chirurgie, malgré la prégnance de plus en plus forte de l'appareil techno-scientifique à son service, reste encore une activité manuelle et particulièrement immédiate. Elle nécessite certes une connaissance scientifique, mais sa technicité se nourrit de l'expérience pratique. C'est ici qu'elle recèle l'autre dimension sacrée que représente le sacrifice, de manière sans doute plus aboutie que la médecine purement clinicienne. Mais elle est surtout agressive, parce que douloureuse et sanglante, et transgressive, parce qu'elle autorise son agent à inter-venir, à rentrer dans un corps humain. Cette intervention ne se fait jamais sans un rituel quasi religieux qui semble attester de la sacralité de son champ : le corps-personne de l'opéré. Malgré la profonde influence de la Modernité qui, avec Descartes en particulier, vise à dissocier radicalement le corps de l'esprit, une analyse rigoureuse de la pratique chirurgicale tend à infirmer cette illusion, même s'il y a nécessité d'objectivation pour parvenir à assumer la transgression qui consiste à ouvrir un corps. La phénoménologie nous éclaire sur la subjectivité transcendantale du chirurgien qui, en même temps qu'il vise son opéré comme l'objet de son faire, ne peut pas être complètement extérieur à cet opéré et à son intervention. Le chirurgien ne saurait être le simple réparateur d'un objet, ni même un vétérinaire, obligé qu'il est de par la spécificité morale de l'être humain qu'il prend en charge. Il devient alors plus que la cause efficiente de l'opération chirurgicale, pour être nécessairement concerné par sa finalité. Cette obligation de viser à la restauration du pouvoir-être au monde de son opéré, plus que de le re-mettre dans une norme arbitraire, fait en effet de la chirurgie une action morale. Car oublier cette finalité, cherchant à s'exonérer de cette responsabilité qui dépasse le pur faire, ce serait réduire la chirurgie à une simple fabrication. La démesure alors guetterait celui qui pourrait se prendre pour Dieu, mais au mauvais sens du concept, puisque s'ouvriraient subrepticement les portes de la barbarie. Etre instrumentalisé par le désir jamais assouvi de son patient, comme être prisonnier de sa pure technicité, sont alors les deux écueils, intimement liés, qui empêchant le chirurgien de décider, ferait perdre toute dimension morale à son action. D'autant que le lent « désenchantement du corps » présent dans nos sociétés occidentales contemporaines, semble participer de ce déni. La question de la contribution de la chirurgie au vaste désir de transformation de l'homme, véhiculé par le transhumanisme, s'abreuve peut-être à la source d'une insidieuse barbarie.Retrouver la nature spirituelle de l'homme reste alors sans doute le point d'appui le plus sûr pour parer à une telle dérive, en sacralisant ainsi, et la personne de l'opéré, et le geste d'y intervenir, lui rendant peut-être son véritable sens._____ / At the question what is the difference between God and a surgeon when the latter thinks he is the creator of his patient, we usually answer that God does not think he is a surgeon. However it seems there is a spiritual/religious dimension in the act of surgery, meaning there is a definite link with what is sacred, forbidden, what should never be defiled. If each and every surgeon is a doctor before being anything else, and as a doctor his role being to relieve a human person affected by a disease or a trauma, his way of 'operating' is particular. Despite the imposing help of science-technology, surgery is still a manual activity that is particularly immediate. And above all it is very aggressive, because it causes pain and blood is involved, and transgressive because it allows his representative to 'step in' the human body.This intervention always happens with a lot of almost religious rituals that certifies the sacredness of the field/subject : the body-person belonging to the operated. Despite the profound influence of the Modernity that particularly for Descartes aims for a completely dissociation between the body and the spirit, a drastic analysis of the surgical practice tends to invalidate this illusion, even though there is a need to objectify the subject to be able to undertake the infringement of opening a human body. The surgeon could never simply be fixing an object or even be a veterinary, because he is obligated to respect the moral specificity of the human being he is in charge of. More than putting the person back in an arbitrary standard, this duty of aiming for the re-establishment of 'being able to be' in the world of the person operated, makes surgery an ethical act. Because trying to forget that intention by exonerating oneself of this responsibility that goes beyond the simple action, would reduce surgery to a plain manufacturing. But one must be careful of the exaggeration of believing he is God in the wrong way because it might allow the doors of savagery to slowly open.The transhumanism carrying the question of the contribution of surgery to the wide desire to transform the human being, might takes its source from an insidious savagery. Finding the spiritual nature of the human being is then definitely the starting point to ward off such a drift, keeping the person who is operated and the act of operating sacred.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T17:21:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 27 / Nenhuma / O trabalho teve como objetivos a investigação da evolução histórica e dos pressupostos do conceito de responsabilidade, bem como a reflexão acerca das possibilidades de limitação ética do desenvolvimento tecnológico a partir da ética da responsabilidade. Desde o seu aparecimento na modernidade, a ideia de responsabilidade se caracteriza como um elemento ético que atesta a liberdade do indivíduo e afirma a objetividade moral. Se compreendermos a responsabilidade neste horizonte, podemos concluir que está subjacente a esse conceito a ideia de uma medida reguladora possível da comunidade ética. Isto é, a responsabilidade surge como uma medida para o agir, sendo uma forma de conter a satisfação do interesse próprio face ao reconhecimento dos interesses alheios. Isto significa que as práticas hedonistas do indivíduo moderno são submetidas à medida do agir configurada pela responsabilidade, tornando as ações empíricas em ações éticas. Entretanto, com o desenvolvimento tecnológico, as práticas hedonistas se renovara / The research had as goals the inquiry of the historical evolution and the purposes of the responsibility concept, as well as the reflection concerning the possibilities of ethical limitation of the technological development from the ethics of the responsibility. Since its appearance in modernity, the responsibility idea is characterized as an ethical element that certifies the freedom of the individual and affirms the moral objectivity. If we understand the responsibility in this horizon, we can conclude that it is underlying to this concept the idea of a possible regulating measure of the ethical community. That is, the responsibility appears as a measure for the acting, being a form to contain the satisfaction of the own interest face to the recognition of the strange’s interest. This means that the hedonist practicals of the modern individual are submitted to the measure of acting configured by the responsibility, turning the empirical actions into ethical actions. However, with the technological developme

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:27:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raimunda Diva de Vasconcelos Ribeiro.pdf: 2566714 bytes, checksum: f64ff183208f288f0c57fed1cc1d1f9d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-10 / This thesis revisits the concept of technical in Hans Jonas by looking to expand its evaluation as the dominant telos of contemporary society, that is, that technique is no longer a mere instrument and has increasingly become a human end in a technological world. The aim is to think of technique as a practice, in light of the conceptual contributions of Alasdair MacIntyre, in which the ethical dimension is a key feature, since every practice as a socially developed and organized activity has a teleological structure, and consequently mobilizes concepts of virtue and also of a greater human good as excellence. Thus, it is possible to achieve a distinct perspective from Jonas s, with the contribution of MacIntyre, to overcome partial difficulties of the Jonasian thought regarding his understanding of technoscience, which it seems to be still connected to the instrumentalist vision. Therefore, it is necessary to identify, clarify, understand, and reflect on technoscience in all its complexity, the benefits that supply many human needs, while remembering the need of seeing it not as a neutral instrument, but as a practice in the MacIntyrian sense, which it means that carries on an inescapable ethical dimension. Theoretical elements were sought to provide evidence for understanding the evolution and conceptual transformations in the fields of technical until becoming technoscience, in order to provide conceptual elements to make a case for a critical interpretation of the main ethical problems and challenges posed by the emergence of technoscientific society in the XXI century. Besides the philosophers mentioned above, some other contributions are discussed from authors who study contemporary issues relevant concerning the use of technoscience and its power of saving and destroying / Esta tese faz uma releitura do conceito de técnica em Hans Jonas buscando expandir sua avaliação como o telos predominante da sociedade contemporânea, isto é, que a técnica deixou de ser instrumento e passou a ser entendida como finalidade humana em um mundo cada vez mais tecnológico. O objetivo é pensá-la como uma prática, à luz dos aportes conceituais de Alasdair MacIntyre, na qual a dimensão ética é uma característica fundamental, já que toda prática como atividade socialmente desenvolvida e organizada possui uma estrutura teleológica e, por conseguinte, conceitos de virtude e de um bem humano como excelência maior. Assim, pode-se atingir um plano de reflexão distinto de Jonas e, deste modo, com a contribuição de MacIntyre, superar as dificuldades parciais do pensamento jonasiano no tocante à compreensão da tecnociência, ainda vinculada a uma visão instrumentalista. Para tanto, acreditamos ser necessário identificar, aclarar, compreender e refletir sobre a tecnociência como ela se faz em toda sua complexidade, os benefícios que suprem as necessidades humanas, sem deixar de lembrar a necessidade de vê-la não mais como um instrumento neutro, mas como prática no sentido dado por MacIntyre, portadora de uma dimensão ética que lhe é iniludível. Procurou-se apresentar elementos teóricos para a compreensão da evolução e das transformações conceituais nos domínios da técnica até transformar-se em tecnociência, visando fornecer elementos conceituais para defender uma interpretação crítica dos principais problemas e desafios de ordem ética, colocados pela emergência da sociedade tecnocientífica do século XXI. Além dos filósofos citados, discute-se também algumas contribuições de autores contemporâneos que estudam questões pertinentes à nossa reflexão sobre o uso da tecnociência no tocante ao poder da salvar e destruir que esta possui

La différence entre Dieu et un chirurgien, réplique-t-on classiquement à celui-ci lorsque il s'estime comme créateur de son opéré, c'est que Dieu, lui, ne se prend pas pour un chirurgien. Qu'y a-t-il dans cette action qui soit si spécifique que son agent, le chirurgien, puisse à ce point risquer de s'idolâtrer ?Il semble bien, tout d'abord, qu'il y ait dans la chirurgie une réelle dimension religieuse c'est-à-dire un rapport certain avec le sacré - l'interdit -, ce que l'on ne doit pas profaner. Le questionnement sur le chirurgien et la chirurgie éclaire cet aspect. Si tout chirurgien est d'abord un médecin, et comme tel s'il a bien pour mission de soulager une personne humaine lorsqu'elle est affectée par la maladie ou le traumatisme, pour autant son mode " opératoire " est particulier. La chirurgie, malgré la prégnance de plus en plus forte de l'appareil techno-scientifique à son service, reste encore une activité manuelle et particulièrement immédiate. Elle nécessite certes une connaissance scientifique, mais sa technicité se nourrit de l'expérience pratique. C'est ici qu'elle recèle l'autre dimension sacrée que représente le sacrifice, de manière sans doute plus aboutie que la médecine purement clinicienne. Mais elle est surtout agressive, parce que douloureuse et sanglante, et transgressive, parce qu'elle autorise son agent à inter-venir, à rentrer dans un corps humain. Cette intervention ne se fait jamais sans un rituel quasi religieux qui semble attester de la sacralité de son champ : le corps-personne de l'opéré. Malgré la profonde influence de la Modernité qui, avec Descartes en particulier, vise à dissocier radicalement le corps de l'esprit, une analyse rigoureuse de la pratique chirurgicale tend à infirmer cette illusion, même s'il y a nécessité d'objectivation pour parvenir à assumer la transgression qui consiste à ouvrir un corps. La phénoménologie nous éclaire sur la subjectivité transcendantale du chirurgien qui, en même temps qu'il vise son opéré comme l'objet de son faire, ne peut pas être complètement extérieur à cet opéré et à son intervention. Le chirurgien ne saurait être le simple réparateur d'un objet, ni même un vétérinaire, obligé qu'il est de par la spécificité morale de l'être humain qu'il prend en charge. Il devient alors plus que la cause efficiente de l'opération chirurgicale, pour être nécessairement concerné par sa finalité. Cette obligation de viser à la restauration du pouvoir-être au monde de son opéré, plus que de le re-mettre dans une norme arbitraire, fait en effet de la chirurgie une action morale. Car oublier cette finalité, cherchant à s'exonérer de cette responsabilité qui dépasse le pur faire, ce serait réduire la chirurgie à une simple fabrication. La démesure alors guetterait celui qui pourrait se prendre pour Dieu, mais au mauvais sens du concept, puisque s'ouvriraient subrepticement les portes de la barbarie. Etre instrumentalisé par le désir jamais assouvi de son patient, comme être prisonnier de sa pure technicité, sont alors les deux écueils, intimement liés, qui empêchant le chirurgien de décider, ferait perdre toute dimension morale à son action. D'autant que le lent " désenchantement du corps " présent dans nos sociétés occidentales contemporaines, semble participer de ce déni. La question de la contribution de la chirurgie au vaste désir de transformation de l'homme, véhiculé par le transhumanisme, s'abreuve peut-être à la source d'une insidieuse barbarie.Retrouver la nature spirituelle de l'homme reste alors sans doute le point d'appui le plus sûr pour parer à une telle dérive, en sacralisant ainsi, et la personne de l'opéré, et le geste d'y intervenir, lui rendant peut-être son véritable sens._____

Le néologisme « technoscience » est généralement évoqué pour décrire une mutation du rapport que la science contemporaine entretient avec la technique. La transformation à laquelle réfère ce terme consiste alors en ceci : la science contemporaine a abandonné son entreprise de se constituer en explication générale du monde phénoménal, et se caractérise désormais par le souci d'efficacité et par l'omniprésence des techniques. Si la colonisation de l'activité scientifique par des impératifs technicistes est généralement acceptée comme étant ce qui constitue la nouveauté du phénomène de la technoscience, la réalité technicienne de la science contemporaine a cependant été appréhendée de différentes façons. Parmi celles-ci figure le thème de l'autonomie de la technique. Selon cette interprétation, la technoscience serait un processus par lequel la technique s'émanciperait de toute forme d'emprise humaine et deviendrait complètement autonome. Suivant cette perspective, la technique ne serait plus au service de l'homme, mais imposerait plutôt ses lois à ceux qui l'ont créée. Dans le cadre du présent mémoire, nous nous intéresserons à la position défendue par le sociologue Michel Freitag. En nous appuyant sur les principaux ouvrages et textes de son œuvre, nous observerons que sa théorie générale empêche à plusieurs égards d'appréhender la technoscience à la lumière de la thèse de l'autonomie de la technique. D'une part, nous verrons que la technicité est selon lui une activité essentielle de toute existence subjective dans le monde en ce qu'elle permet au sujet de s'adapter efficacement aux conditions hostiles de son milieu. D'autre part, tout rapport humain au monde étant selon lui médiatisé par le symbolique, nous constaterons que ce n'est qu'en étant elle-même médiatisée symboliquement que l'efficacité visée par l'activité technique peut être accomplie. Comme la théorie défendue par Freitag ne lui permet pas d'associer la technoscience à l'émancipation de la technique par rapport à toute forme d'emprise humaine, nous verrons que ce sera plutôt l'adoption d'une norme techniciste et pragmatique suite à la dissolution des idéaux qui orientaient a priori la science qui constituera pour lui la nouveauté de la technoscience. Nous constaterons cependant qu'en dépit de sa théorie du symbolique qui intègre la technicité en tant que modalité ontologique de la pratique humaine, Freitag en viendra lui-même à admettre que la technoscience conduit à l'autonomie de la technique. C'est cette contradiction des idées défendues par Freitag à propos de la technoscience que notre mémoire tentera d'exposer. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : science, technique, technoscience, modernité, capitalisme, société contemporaine, sociologie de Michel Freitag, brevet

Thèse (D. en sociologie)--Université du Québec à Montréal, 2005. / En tête du titre: Université du Québec à Montréal. Bibliogr.: f. [479]-504. Publié aussi en version électronique.