Prime Mover:vandmøller, teknologideterminisme og modernisering i historien

The important issue of technological determinism is analysed in relation to various theoretical positions, and it is highlighted with a chain of empirical cases drawn form history. The fundamental questions to be considered is the nature of determinism in Karl Marx' philosophical work and the shifting focus on technology in historical materialism and in the economic theory of capitalism. The aim is to decide in what sense and in which direction technology can be said to be a driving force in history if it is not deterministic? The wider perspective is taken up in a general discussion of modernism versus primitivism in historiography. This question is narrowed down to the discussion of the vertical water wheel as the prime mover in history. The problem is related to the abuse of technical development as an independent variable in general history