![His proposed answer: “ Here and now and in little things, that we may foster the saving power in its increase. This includes holding before our eyes the extreme danger.” “ threatens it [revealing] with the possibility that all revealing will be consumed in ordering and that everything will present itself only in the unconcealedness of standing-reserve. Human activity can never directly counter this danger. Human achievement alone can never banish it. But human reflection can ponder the fact that all saving power must be of a higher essence than what is endangered (essence of technology), though at the same time kindred to it”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/thequestionconcerningtechnology-090528214015-phpapp02/85/The-Question-Concerning-Technology-11-320.jpg)
The Question Concerning Technology
- 1. The question concerning technology Martin Heidegger http:// www.universitethomiste.com/Images/heidegger.jpg
- 2. Brief background Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) Born in Baden, educated at Freiburg in the phenomenological tradition of Husserl. Became privatdozent at Freiburg in 1915 Professor at Marburg in 1923 Professor at Freiburg in 1928 1933: Openly positioned himself in favour of the Fuhrer (Hitler)
- 3. What is technology Provides the anthropological and instrumental definition Technology is a means to an end (I.E. Developed with a purpose to solving something) Is a human tool
- 4. The essence of technology “that which pervades every tree, as tree, is not itself a tree that can be encountered among all the other trees. Likewise, the essence of technology is by no means anything technological.”
- 5. What we have taken as granted is what Heidegger is challenging We have grown to not take notice of certain aspects of the technologies we use and in doing so, we miss out on the ‘essence’ “In giving ourselves to thinking we do something which is on the one level quite an ordinary activity but at another level subverts much of what we take to be ordinary, it leads us to the extra -ordinary, the extra -mundane.”
- 6. Poiesis Any activity that produces something that wasn’t there before is poetry/ poiesis I.E. Something has been made present through the process of Occasioning Occasioning originates from the Greek word Aitia which means ‘cause’ The notion of bringing-forth “ Occasioning has to do with the presencing of that which at any given time comes to appearance in bringing-forth” Through occasioning and Bringing-forth, a new definition of technology emerges and that is “a way of revealing the world we live in”
- 7. Poiesis (2) The concept of Physis (nature) “ The bursting of a blossom into bloom” The concept of Techne (craftsmanship) The difference between Human techne and physis techne
- 8. Aletheia Definition: Un-concealing When Heidegger speaks of “ truth ” this is what he is talking about; the un-concealing of the essence We do not have full control over aletheia ; we simply respond to it. “ Technology is a mode of revealing. Technology comes to presence in the realm where revealing and un-concealment take place, where aletheia , truth, happens”
- 9. Middle section of Heidegger Emphasis placed on the manner in which modern technology reveals Modern technology does not look to nature for its resources, but looks to manipulate nature, with scientists at the forefront Heidegger explicitly states he is not like other’s and does not resent the development of technology (“ there is no demonry of technology ”), but he wants to find what is different about modern technology. En-framing Limits us to “reveal the real in the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve” The hegemonic force at the heart of the essence of technology Characterised as a manner of revealing which destines.
- 10. End section of Heidegger “…since we are always and ever beings who reveal, and given that there is only one way for us to reveal, our attempts to grasp that which allows us to reveal can only ever be subsequent to its actual appearance as the precursor to our activities or thoughts (O’Brien, 2004)”
- 11. His proposed answer: “ Here and now and in little things, that we may foster the saving power in its increase. This includes holding before our eyes the extreme danger.” “ threatens it [revealing] with the possibility that all revealing will be consumed in ordering and that everything will present itself only in the unconcealedness of standing-reserve. Human activity can never directly counter this danger. Human achievement alone can never banish it. But human reflection can ponder the fact that all saving power must be of a higher essence than what is endangered (essence of technology), though at the same time kindred to it”