Working the Natural/Artificial Distinction:
The Role of Technology in Shaping Humanity

Joseph C. Pitt
Virginia Tech

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Joseph C. Pitt is Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he holds the title of Department Head. In his thirty-one years of experience at Virginia Tech, he has also served as the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Science in Society, Director of the Program in Humanities, Science and Technology, Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, and Administrative Fellow in the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. He is past President and Vice-President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, edits the Society's newsletter, and is Associate Editor of the  journal, Techne.  Widely regarded as an extraordinary author and teacher, Professor Pitt has written three books, edited ten additional books, and penned more than fifty articles, essays, and book reviews in various professional journals. His books include: Thinking About Technology (Seven Bridges, 2000), New Directions in the Philosophy of Technology (Kluwer, 1995), Galileo, Human Knowledge, and the Book of Nature (Kluwer, 1992), Technological Transformation (Kluwer, 1989), Theories of Explanation (Oxford, 1988), Rational Changes in Science (D. Reidel, 1987), Change and Progress in Modern Science (D. Reidel, 1985),  Philosophy in Economics (D. Reidel, 1981), Pictures, Images, and Conceptual Change (D. Reidel, 1981), New Perspectives on Galileo (D. Reidel, 1978), and The Philosophy of Wilfrid Sellars (D. Reidel, 1978). A member of Sigma Xi and Eta Sigma Phi, Professor Pitt has received eight teaching awards at Virginia Tech, including the prestigious honor of being inducted into the Academy of Teaching Excellence.

-- Abstract --

On the assumption that, in a way to be explained, Humanity is a constantly self-creating natural entity, then isn't anything Humanity creates equally natural?  To pose the question this way immediately prompts a dilemma.  On the one hand, if Humanity is constantly deliberately changing itself then why is something else that Humanity changes not natural?  On the other hand, if being created by deliberate action rather than the laws of nature is the mark of the artificial, then why is Humanity itself not artificial?  This is a nasty dilemma, either everything is natural, or Humanity and everything we create is artificial.  The solution I propose is to abandon the distinction between the artificial and the natural.

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Updated April 5, 2002