Quantification as social technology: Integrating studies of quantification with philosophy of technology

Abstract

Studies of quantification are an emerging academic interest due to the datafication and quantification trends in modern society. The existing literature on this interdisciplinary field involves two approaches: a history of science approach and a sociology approach. This article argues for adding perspectives from the philosophy of technology. The philosophy of technology raises otherwise neglected ontological, epistemological, and ethical questions about the technology of quantification. Quantification as social technology is non-neutral and exhibits social constructed features, which beyond the commonly perceived realist opinions. The social-constructed quantification also has the ability to influence social agents, mediating the way humans exist in and understand the life world. Ethical and political questions about quantification call for integration into an already rich ethical and political discourse surrounding technological artifacts, actions, and political agendas.