TECHNOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

In this paper we examine aspects of the ontological and cognitive role of technology in science. We explore the fact that technology is capable of producing phenomena whose nature is unclear, it is not obvious whether the products obtained in the experiments are newly discovered natural manifestations or if it's an artificial effect created in the world by a particular technology (Hacking). We name the artificial effects 'technological effects'. Technological effects are objective, observable, highly predictable and reproducible phenomena. The proposal is that science incorporates them as natural phenomena, both, to prove the existence of theoretical entities, and to support novel scientific theories. In this paper we assess both cases.