Günter Ropohl (14 June 1939 in Cologne, Germany – 28 January 2017) was a German philosopher of technology. Biography Günter Ropohl studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Stuttgart University, where he was a scholar of the philosopher Max Bense. After his PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in 1970, he wrote his Habilitation thesis in Philosophy und Sociology at Karlsruhe University 1978 under the supervision of Hans Lenk. His work dealt with the systems theory of "Technik" (engl. technique), leading to the concept of general technology. In 1979, Ropohl became professor at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH). Soon after, in 1981, he became professor for Allgemeine Technologie (general technology) and philosophy of technology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (until 2004). In the 1980s, he visited his colleague and friend Carl Mitcham in the United States. From 1983 to 1991, i.e. during the period of the Cold War, he was course director and visiting lecturer at the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (Croatia). In 1988, he was invited as visiting professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY. Ropohl was an honorary member of the German Engineering Association (VDI), due to his interdisciplinary engagement for the philosophy of technology. He was co-editor of an anthology of the classics in the philosophy of technology in a Continental-European tradition. Ropohl published 15 monographs, (co-)edited another 15 books and published more than 180 articles. He died on 28 January 2017 at the age of 77. Philosophy A central concept in his work was sociotechnical systems, i.e. he regarded techniques as societal structures. Ropohl was a critic of the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and voted for the recognition of material culture. His definition of (German) "Technik" included a) the utility, b) artificiality and c) functionality. In the focus of his work is the combination of technique as artefact and action, whereas knowledge insinuates the meta-concept of technology. Therefore, he differentiated between engineering sciences and technical sciences. Ropohl was well known in the German-speaking academia for his writings on the concepts of Technik and Technologie, the ethics of technology, technology assessment, professional ethics for engineers and on the societal need for educating towards technology literacy. He received a Festschrift with contributions from academic scholars, focusing on his work and related discourses, both on his 65th and 75th birthday (edited by Nicole C. Karafyllis, see literature), including a complete list of his publications from the late 1960s