The Algorithmic Thing, The Real, and Contestation: Tracing the Fringes of Critical Constructivism

Abstract

A unique and powerful approach in the philosophy of technology, Critical Constructivism endeavors to show how technologies instantiate and consolidate power relations. This chapter elaborates on an enduring vulnerable spot in the framework, namely, that Critical Constructivism only starts to do its work as soon as some problem, struggle, or controversy is recognized as such. Only then, the work of “contestation” can begin. For problems that have not been unearthed yet, but that may be brooding in the background or behind the “screen of attention,” the approach is, as it stands, less equipped. This issue is exacerbated nowadays with recent developments around “algorithmic technologies” such as artificial intelligence or the internet of things, whose inner workings are extremely difficult to access from a user’s point of view, and even increasingly from an expert one. To start orienting Critical Constructivism toward these issues, this chapter pairs it with an unlikely partner, object-oriented ontology (OOO), in order to help it make sense of the problem of the “discovery of problems.” The Heideggerian notion of “breakdown” is crucial in this respect. In fact, it will turn out there is already much “object-oriented potential” in Critical Constructivism, but to start bringing that out fully, we need to take a fresh look at several components of Critical Constructivism from the perspective of OOO, specifically the latter’s provocative take on breakdown.