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Human Flourishing in Science and Technology

Martin Heidegger analyzes the essence of technology in his work. He argues that technology is not just a means to an end, but rather a way of revealing or unconcealing nature as "standing-reserve" to be exploited and ordered for human purposes. This "enframing" of nature as standing-reserve through modern technology poses the danger that humans may see themselves only as part of the reserve to be ordered, rather than as the revelers. However, Heidegger suggests the saving power may allow a revealing that does not challenge-forth nature merely as reserve.

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440 views

Human Flourishing in Science and Technology

Martin Heidegger analyzes the essence of technology in his work. He argues that technology is not just a means to an end, but rather a way of revealing or unconcealing nature as "standing-reserve" to be exploited and ordered for human purposes. This "enframing" of nature as standing-reserve through modern technology poses the danger that humans may see themselves only as part of the reserve to be ordered, rather than as the revelers. However, Heidegger suggests the saving power may allow a revealing that does not challenge-forth nature merely as reserve.

Uploaded by

michelle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Human Flourishing

in Science and Technology


Martin Heidegger
• He was part of the
Continental tradition of
philosophy
• His work in philosophy
focused on ontology or
the study of “being” or
dasein in German
The Essence of Technology
1. Technology is as a means to an end (instrumental)
2. Technology is a human activity (anthropological)

• What is the essence of technology?


Causality
• Technology brings about change causally
• The cause is what is responsible for the effect, and
the effect is indebted to the cause
• According to Aristotle, there are four ways in
which this relation holds
The Four Causes: Didactic Illustration
The Four Causes
• causa materialis --- hyle -- the “material”
• causa formalis --- eidos – the form or shape
• Causa finalis -- telos – that for which it is
for
• causa efficiens
Technology as a Way of Revealing
• Poeisis – the act of bringing something out
of concealment
• Aletheia- unclosedness, unconcealedness,
disclosure or truth
Technology is a form of poeisis- a way of
revealing that unconceals aletheia or the truth
Modern Technology
• Both primitive crafts and modern
technology are revealing
• But the revealing of modern technology is
not a bringing-forth, but a challenging-forth
• It challenges nature, by extracting
something from it and transforming it,
storing it up, distributing it, etc.
The Standing-Reserve
• Modern technology takes all of nature to
stand in reserve for its exploitation
• Man is challenged to do this, and as such he
becomes part of the standing reserve
• Man becomes the instrument of technology,
to be exploited in the ordering of nature
Enframing
• Enframing is a way of ordering (framing) nature
to better manipulate it
• Enframing is the essence of technology
Destining
• Men are sent upon the way of revealing the
actual as a standing-reserve
• So enframing, and hence technology, is a
“destining”
• The destining of man to reveal nature
carries with it the danger of misconstrual
The Danger
• Man is in danger of becoming merely part of the
standing-reserve
• He may find only himself in nature
• He may think that the ordering of the world
through technology is the fundamental mode of
revealing
• So the real threat of technology comes from its
essence, not its activities or products
The Saving Power
• The poet Hölderlin writes that the saving
power grows where danger is
• The saving would allow a bringing-forth
that is not a challenging-forth (things would
reveal themselves not just as standing-
reserve)
• Both technology and bringing-forth grow
out of “granting,” which allows revealing
“The essence of technology is by no means
anything technological.”
- Martin Heidegger (1977)

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