Responsible Innovation in a Technological Society

This thesis aims to get an understanding of the conceptual challenge of Responsible Innovation (RI). This challenge entails that the concept of innovation is not or vaguely defined in RI, even though the conceptualization of innovation is epistemically and politically relevant. In the current literature, this challenged is addressed, but not sufficiently explained and explored. Moreover, even though there is an aim in RI to move beyond a techno-economic concept of innovation, innovation is stuck in a techno-economic paradigm. The key objective of this thesis is to understand the conceptual challenge, and specifically to examine why the conceptual challenge implies a concept of innovation that operates in a technological paradigm. A second objective is to examine the consequences of this technological paradigm of innovation are for the aims of RI. I use the philosophy of Jacques Ellul to argue that the concept of innovation became technical under the influence of 'modern technique'.