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Darryl Cressman (D.M.)

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I am a philosopher of technology working in the tradition of the humanities and the social sciences. My research and teaching draws on a variety of disciplines and traditions, including  Science and Technology Studies (STS), media theory, the history of technology, critical theory, and political economy. In my research and teaching I have applied these approaches to technologies ranging from pipe organs and concert halls to artificial intelligence, online education, and disruptive innovation.

My current research is focused on the different ways that people have thought about technology throughout history. I am exploring this topic through research on French philosophies of technology, critical theories of technology, and the contested relationship between labour and technology. I am a founding member of the History of the Philosophy of Technology Working Group and the organizer of a conference on the same topic. 

I have published articles on Herbert Marcuse's philosophy of technology, Harold Innis's media theory, actor-network theory, the philosophy of technology, the conceptual history of disruptive innovation, sound studies, and acoustic architecture. My book, "Building Musical Culture in Nineteenth-Century Amsterdam," was published by Amsterdam University Press in 2016 and I am the editor of "The Necessity of Critique: Andrew Feenberg & the Philosophy of Technology," which was published by Springer Press in 2022. I am also the co-editor (with Alice Fox) of a forthcoming book on Langdon Winner's work.

I organized the symposium "Critical Theory of Technology & STS" with Andrew Feenberg, Sally Wyatt, Wiebe Bijker, and others and I have been invited to present my research at a number of universities, including the Universite Catholique de Lille, the Institute for Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Science in Prague, the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, TU Delft, the University of Amsterdam, and Utrecht University.

I received my PhD in 2012 from the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver where I was a member of Andrew Feenberg's Applied Communication and Technology Lab. Interested in the relationship between technology, science, and musical culture, I wrote my dissertation on how ideas about aesthetic philosophy, patronage, and architectural acoustics shaped the design and meaning of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, a concert hall opened in 1888. While completing my PhD, I was also involved in studying the relationship between technology and education. 

I am one of the editors of the Springer book Series Philosophy of Engineering and Technology and I am a member of The Society for the Philosophy of Technology (SPT), The Society for Social Studies of Science, The European Association for the Study of Science & Technology (EASST) and The Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology, and Modern Culture (WTMC). 

My teaching  is focused on the the philosophy of technology, STS, and the history of philosophy. I was awarded the "Education Award" for top teacher (as voted by students) in the Arts & Culture program in 2014 and 2018. I served as the Program Director for the Undergraduate Program in Arts & Culture in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at Maastricht University (2021-2024) and I represent the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences on the Curriculum Committee at the University College Maastricht and coordinate education between the Faculty of Arts & Social Science and Department of Advanced Computer Science (DACS) and the Maastricht Science Program (MSP).

Keywords

Philosophy of Technology; Science & Technology Studies (STS); Critical Theory; History of Technology; History of the Philosophy of Technology; Media Theory

Career history

 

  • Assistant Professor/Tenured (2017-Present) - Philosophy Department, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Maastricht University
  • Director, Arts & Culture Undergraduate Program (2021-2024)
  • Assistant Professor/Tenure-Track (2015-2017) - Philosophy Department, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Maastricht University
  • Lecturer in the Philosophy of Technology (2012-2015) - Philosophy Department, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Maastricht University
  • Sessional Instructor (2006-2012) - School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
  • Teaching Assistant (2004-2012) - School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
  • Teaching Assistant (2002-2004) - Department of Communication Studies, University of Windsor