Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
The Technological Imperative in Canada
An Intellectual History
From the mid-nineteenth century onward, advocates argued that technology, as a moral force, would strengthen the ties that bound Canada to Britain and Western civilization, while opponents saw technology as a source of American power that threatened Canadian independence. The Technological Imperative in Canada offers new insights into the ideas of influential and lesser-known theorists of technology and morality that will appeal to anyone who wants a Canadian perspective on a critical subject.
340 pages | © 2009
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Perspectives on Technology
Part 1: Approaching the Imperative
2 T.C. Keefer, T.C. Haliburton, Sandford Fleming, and Alexander Graham Bell: Technology as Railways, Communication Media, and Time
3 Advocates of Technical Education: Technology as Knowledge
Part 2: Grappling with the Imperative
4 George Stanley Brett and the Debate on Technology as War: Technology Dethroned
5 William Lyon Mackenzie King and Frederick Philip Grove: Technology as Industrialism
6 Stephen Leacock and Archibald Lampman: Technology as Mechanization
Part 3: Philosophizing the Imperative
7 Harold A. Innis and Eric Havelock: Technology as Power
8 Marshall McLuhan: Making Sense(s) of Technology
9 Northrop Frye and E.J. Pratt: Technology as Mythology
10 George Grant and Dennis Lee: Technology as Being
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index