TECHNOLOGY AND HETEROGENEOUS ENGINEERING: THE CASE OF PORTUGUESE EXPANSION
TECHNOLOGY AND HETEROGENEOUS ENGINEERING: THE CASE OF PORTUGUESE EXPANSION
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技术与异构工程：葡萄牙扩张案例
DOI：
10.22394/0869-5377-2018-5-169-199
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发表时间：
2018
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
J. Law
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Law
本文以15、16世纪世纪葡萄牙海上扩张的技术史料为基础，说明要理解技术体系的产生、运行和崩溃，我们需要发展一个
方法，将集中在异构工程的概念。异质工程的前提是，技术系统的建设涉及到关联和引导不同的实体和力量，包括人类和非人类。这就允许分析特定系统的存在是如何被不同的因素平等地塑造的：自然的、社会的、经济的和技术的。
在葡萄牙海上扩张的案例中，系统建设的成功取决于造船、航海家的航海技能、航海设备和枪支、海角、洋流和风的特征之间的联系;以及国家支持、培训、及规例─所有这些都使得建立一个稳定而强大的网络成为可能，使葡萄牙人能够统治大西洋和印度洋。因此，技术系统的构建是解决异质元素之间冲突的过程，相关元素必须能够承受与敌对力量和实体的遭遇，包括物理（例如海洋）和社会（例如穆斯林）。
作者提出的系统方法表明，首先，技术可以
使用广义对称性原理进行分析，该原理指出，
应该对系统中的所有组成部分进行一种分析，无论这些组成部分是否是人;第二，应该将行为者理解为对其他实体施加可检测影响的实体
Based on historical materials about the technology of the 15th and 16th century Portuguese maritime expansion, the author shows that in order to understand the emergence, functioning, and collapse of technological systems we need to develop an
approach that will be centred on the notion of heterogeneous engineering. Heterogeneous engineering presupposes that the building of technological systems involves associating and channelling diverse entities and forces, both human and nonhuman. This permits an analysis of how the existence of particular systems is shaped equally by different factors: natural, social, economic, and technical.
In the case of Portuguese maritime expansion, the success of system-building was determined by the association between shipbuilding; the navigational skills of the navigators; navigational equipment and guns; features of the capes, oceanic currents, and winds; and the system of state support, training, and regulation—all of which made possible the establishment of a stable and powerful network that allowed the Portuguese to dominate the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Therefore, the construction of a technological system is a process of resolving conflicts between heterogeneous elements, and the associated elements must be able to withstand encounters with hostile forces and entities, both physical (e.g. oceans) and social (e.g. the Muslims).
The systems approach proposed by the author shows, first, that technology can
be analysed using the principle of generalized symmetry, which states that the same
type of analysis should be made for all components in a system whether these components are human or not; and, second, that actors should be understood as entities that exert detectable influence on other entities