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In our introduction to the book The Empirical Turn in the Philosophy of Technology we argued for a triple reorientation in mainstream philosophy of technology, namely (1) from a focus on the use of technology and its societal effects to the development of technology, in particular engineering design, (2) from a normative to a descriptive approach and (3) from moral to non-moral issues (Kroes and Meijers 2000 ). Our main reasons for arguing for this triple reorientation, referred to as "an empirical turn", was the treatment of technology as a black box and the dominance of (negative) normative starting points underlying many of the most infl uential analyses of technology in the philosophy of technology. We believed (and still believe) that "a better understanding of technology resulting from an empirical turn will contribute to better normative analyses and evaluations" (ibid, p. xxxiii). In this paper we analyze what a turn to better normative analyses and evaluations will imply for the philosophy of technology. We refer to such a turn as an axiological turn in the philosophy of technology. We distinguish between a descriptive and normative axiological turn. The former is very much in line with the empirical turn and the latter deviates from it by trying to reintroduce, in a specifi c way, a normative element in the philosophy of technology. Our analysis of what is involved in an axiological turn is not to be understood in the sense that we think that the empirical turn in the philosophy of technology has been completed and that now the time has come to turn to normative issues.

Preparation of zirconium oxide on silica and characterization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, temperature programmed oxidation and infra-red spectroscopy. Applied Catalysis, 70(1), 53-71.

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