Technology as a concept emerged in the 18th century

Why this is here: The National Conservatory of Arts and Trades was founded as a result of a growing 18th-century public interest in techniques.

Liliane Hilaire-Pérez, a professor at Paris Cité University, traces the history of the concept of technology to the 18th century. She analyzes how artisanal and scientific environments changed during the Enlightenment. This period saw growing interest in techniques among the Encyclopédists.

This fascination with techniques helped create a public space for them. It eventually led to the founding of the National Conservatory of Arts and Trades.

In the 19th century, Andrew Ure, a professor at the University of Glasgow, praised the mechanization of British industry. However, discussion of technology largely remained with inventors and engineers outside of universities.

Early in the 20th century, ethnologists—following Marcel Mauss—began to focus on techniques as a central subject. Later, André Leroi-Gourhan integrated biology, philosophy, and psychology to understand human technical ability within the living world. Nathan Schlanger’s research uses archival work to map Leroi-Gourhan’s intellectual networks, but the article notes that roughly 40% remains unread for non-subscribers.