Nick Seaver

Anthropologist, Tufts University



The Lost Wanderers: Technology and the Auxiliary MotiveThis short essay describes the philosopher Otto Neurath’s notion of “auxiliary motives”: the inevitable extras that guide scientific and technological decisionmaking, beyond the pure application of rationality or pursuit of efficiency. By neglecting or demeaning these auxiliary motives, we risk the perils of pseudorationalism.
September 2013