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Intro -- Contents -- Preface by the Authors, with Acknowledgements -- Preface by Giuseppe Tanzella Nitti -- Authors' Introduction -- 1: Technology in prehistory -- 1.1 A TECHNOLOGICAL ANIMAL -- 1.2 STONE IMPLEMENTS -- 1.3 THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION -- 1.4 FIRE CONTROL -- 1.5 THE MESOLITHIC CRISIS -- 1.6 THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION -- 1.7 THE AGE OF METALS -- References -- 2: From prehistory to history -- 2.1 TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION -- 2.2 TECHNOLOGY AT THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY -- 2.3 SIMPLE MACHINES -- 2.4 CRAFTSMEN AND SLAVES -- 2.5 THE INVENTION OF MONEY -- References -- 3: Greek rationality -- 3.1 A UNIQUE PHENOMENON -- 3.2 HUMANS, GODS AND TECHNOLOGY -- 3.3 APPLIED RATIONALITY: THE ORIGINS OF MEDICINE -- 3.4 GREEK NATURAL PHILOSOPHY -- 3.5 HELLENISTIC SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY -- 3.6 THE END OF HELLENISTIC SCIENCE -- 3.7 A HELLENISTIC INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION? -- References -- 4: From Abraham to Jesus: The Judeo-Christian rational horizon -- 4.1 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE LOGOS... -- 4.2 THE RATIONAL GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT -- 4.3 JUDAISM AND CENTRIFUGAL THRUSTS -- 4.4 CIRCULAR TIME, THE MYTH OF THE AGES AND PROGRESS -- 4.5 THE CHRISTIAN DNA OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL WEST -- 4.6 THE TWO SOULS OF CHRISTIANITY -- References -- 5: The Roman world and the "broken history" -- 5.1 THE 'PILLARS OF HERACLES' OF ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY -- 5.2 MATTER, SLAVES AND MACHINES: A BLIND ALLEY -- 5.3 THE STRUCTURAL LIMITATION OF THE ROMAN ECONOMY -- 5.4 NOT JUST SHADOWS: IMPERIAL TECHNOLOGY -- 5.5 METALLURGY -- 5.6 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY -- 5.7 CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY -- 5.8 ENERGY PRODUCTION -- 5.9 AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES -- 5.10 MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION -- References -- 6: The Middle Ages: "Dark ages" or the dawn of technology? -- 6.1 THE INVENTION OF THE DARK AGES -- 6.2 FOUR COMMON MYTHS ABOUT THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (476−1000).

The degree of development (or, if you prefer, material civilization) of any society is set by the size of its surplus (the total amount it producesminusthe amount needed for the bare subsistence of the population) and the uses to which the surplus is put. In Emerson's wise words, "The question of history is what each generation has done with its surplus produce. One bought crusades, one churches, one villas, one horses and one railroads." The size of the surplus is, in turn, determined by four factors: the amount of energy available to the society, the society's technology, the mix of its economy, and the size of its population. Until comparatively recently, energy was, with the important exception of sailing ships, provided exclusively by human or animal power.1Two important steps forward were the invention of the watermill and that of the windmill; their development will be discussed later. Nevertheless, it has been estimated that until the Industrial Revolution, some 80–85 percent of total energy was provided by plants, animals, and people.2This means that the basic factors determining the amount of energy available to a society were the amount of land (arable, pasture, and woodland) it had at its disposal and the land's productivity. Land "was not simply the principal source of food for the population [the other being the seas and rivers] but also virtually the sole source of the raw materials used in industrial production"—fibers, hides, hair, wood, and so forth; almost all industrial workers were engaged in processing agricultural materials.

"This is a collection of essays focused on problems concerning the philosophy of technology, the concept of nature, the relationships between policy and economic development on the one hand and technological development on the other hand, with respect to philosophical principles, historical and cultural background both in Western and Chinese Civilization."--Publisher's website