Technikerhaltung

This study systematically and comprehensively analyzes the maintenance of technical artifacts, which, alongside their creation and use, constitutes the third fundamental form of technical action, as a subtopic of the philosophy of technology. Only through maintenance can the immense and diverse values generated by technical processes be preserved from premature decay and demise. The study explores maintenance from both a phenomenological (foundational) and normative perspective (maintenance and society). The irreversibility of actions and, more generally, of events establishes the finitude of their duration, integrating the individual technical artifact as an essential element into the course of general, technical, cultural, economic, and social history.