The Problem of Understanding the Integrity and Ontological Differentiation of Technology

The article poses two questions. First, how should we think about the integrity of technology, given that it consists of very different entities (phenomena)? What, for example, do tools, technical structures, mechanisms, machines, the technical environment, and technology have in common? The answer that all these phenomena are artifacts created by man, who spied and enhanced the effects of nature, is clearly insufficient. Secondly, what relationships connect the listed types of technology? To answer, the author analyzes several cases (the formation of the ancient Egyptian pyramids, the prerequisites of the first industrial revolution, the formation of engineering, technology, A. Bogdanov’s theory “Tektology”), using the methodology of cultural and historical reconstruction developed by him, which in turn relies on the means of a number of humanitarian and social sciences. Sci. He shows that the implementation of this methodology makes it possible to characterize not only the patterns of formation of different types and essences of technology, but also to describe their unique features (singular aspect), as well as to understand the relationships they have.