A Door Must Be Either Open or Shut: A Little Philosophy of Techniques.

There is no better way to think about the essence of a technique than through a simple example — at least, that is our bias as empirical philosophers. And so as not to intimidate the reader with cutting edge technology, lets consider the invention of a door by that master of invention, Gaston Lagaffe, Franquin's cartoon hero. In one cartoon strip, everything is said : the essence of a technique is the mediation of the relations between people on the one hand and things and animals on the other.