Editing Technocracy (section)

==Precursors==
Before the term ''technocracy'' was coined, technocratic or quasi-technocratic ideas involving governance by technical experts were promoted by various individuals, most notably early socialist theorists such as [[Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon|Henri de Saint-Simon]]. This was expressed by the belief in state ownership over the economy, with the state's function being transformed from pure philosophical rule over men into a scientific administration of things and a direction of production processes under scientific management.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Saint Simon''; ''Socialism''</ref>  According to [[Daniel Bell]]:
<blockquote>"St.-Simon's vision of industrial society, a vision of pure technocracy, was a system of planning and rational order in which society would specify its needs and organize the factors of production to achieve them."<ref name="bell">{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Daniel |year=2008 |title=The Coming Of Post-industrial Society |orig-year=1st. Pub. 1976 |url=https://archive.org/details/comingofpostindu00bell_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/comingofpostindu00bell_0/page/76 76] |publisher=Basic Books |access-date=2014-11-02 |isbn=978-0465097135}}</ref></blockquote> Citing the ideas of St.-Simon, Bell concludes that the "administration of things" by rational judgment is the hallmark of technocracy.<ref name="bell" />

[[Alexander Bogdanov]], a Russian scientist and social theorist, also anticipated a conception of technocratic process. Both Bogdanov's fiction and his political writings, which were highly influential, suggest that he  was concerned that a coming revolution against capitalism could lead to a technocratic society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/apr07/page10.html|title=Bogdanov, technocracy and socialism|work=worldsocialism.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223913/http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/apr07/page10.html|archive-date=2007-09-26}}</ref><ref name="Remington (1984) Building Socialism">{{cite book |last1=Remington |first1=Thomas F. |title=Building socialism in Bolshevik Russia: ideology and industrial organization 1917-1921 |date=1984 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh press |location=Pittsburgh, Pa |isbn=0-8229-3809-X |url=https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057896064/viewer#page/1/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|114}}

From 1913 until 1922, Bogdanov immersed himself in writing a lengthy philosophical treatise of original ideas, ''Tectology: Universal Organization Science''. [[Tectology]] anticipated many basic ideas of [[systems analysis]], later explored by [[cybernetics]]. In ''Tectology'', Bogdanov proposed unifying all social, biological, and physical sciences by considering them as systems of relationships and seeking organizational principles that underlie all systems.

Arguably, the [[Plato]]nic idea of [[Philosopher king|philosopher-kings]] represents a sort of technocracy in which the state is run by those with specialist knowledge, in this case, knowledge of the Good rather than scientific knowledge.{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}} The Platonic claim is that those who best understand goodness should be empowered to lead the state, as they would lead it toward the path of happiness. Whilst knowledge of the Good differs from knowledge of science, rulers are here appointed based on a certain grasp of technical skill rather than democratic mandate.