In opposition to philosophers focused on the intimacy of the subject, a number of French philosophers were more concerned with understanding the objective world as it is, and as we built it. In this respect, technology as an historical process, ending up in a set of objects and practices, affords a worthwhile ground for developing such world-oriented philosophical reflections. This paper provides a survey of this philosophical landscape with a special emphasis on the pro-eminent role of François Dagognet who pioneered a material and object philosophy in France.