STS and the Human Condition

Technology as a Way of Revealing

⮚ At a Glance: Who is Martin Heidegger
⮚ The Essence of Technology
⮚ Technology as a Way of Revealing
⮚ Technology as poiesis: Does Modern Technology
Bring Forth or Challenge Forth?
⮚ Enframing as Modern Technology’s Way of
Revealing
⮚ The Dangers of Technology
⮚ Art as the Saving Power
⮚ Questioning as the Piety of Thought
 At the end of the topic, you must be
able to:
1) discuss and illustrate the dangers of modern
technology
2) discuss human flourishing in the context of
progress in science
3) differentiate between the traditional
framework of progress & development and
Hickel’s concept of de-development
GENERATION GAP

● It is attributed mainly to the changes

brought about by the technology. Mostly
those who belong to the older generation
think that these technologies are too
complicated to operate.
 The Essence of Technology
1) Technology is a means to an end.
- technology is an instrument in getting
things done. (Instrumental)
2) Technology is a human activity.
- the production or invention of
technological equipment, tools and
machines, the products and inventions,
and the purpose and functions they serve
are what define technology.
(Anthropological)
At a Glance: Who is Martin Heidegger?
The Question Concerning Technology

“The essence of technology is by

no means technological.”

- his complicated philosophical works focused on

ontology or the study of “being” (link)
Technology as a way of revealing

“Technology is therefore no
mere means. Technology is a
way of revealing” .

● Technology is not simply a tool that

we use to achieve our goals, but
rather a way of revealing the world
to us.
▪ Heidegger envisioned technology as a way of revealing - a
mode of bringing forth.
▪ Bringing forth can be understood through a philosophical
concept, poiesis, which refers to the act of bringing
something out of concealment.
▪ By bringing something out of concealment, the truth of that
is something revealed.
▪ The truth is understood through Greek concept aletheia,
which is translated as unclosedness, unconcealdness,
disclosure, or truth.

Technology as a
way of Revealing
 Technology as poeisis

▪ Heidegger posited that both primitive crafts and modern technology

are revealing.
▪ However, modern technology is revealing not in the sense of
bringing forth or poeisis.
▪ Modern technology ‘challenges’ nature from extracting something
from it and transforming, storing, and distributing it.
▪ Modern technology’s way of revealing as a way of challenging forth
because it makes people think how to do things faster, more
effectively, and with less effort.
▪ It prompts people into dominating and enframing the earth’s
natural resources.
 Enframing as Modern Technology
▪ The way of revealing of modern technology is a process of
enframing as exemplified in human’s desire to control everything
including nature.
1) Enframing by calculative thinking
⮚ humans desire to put an order to nature to better understand
and control it
2) Enframing by meditative thinking
⮚ humans allow nature to reveal itself to them without the use of
force or violence
▪ Enframing is a way of ordering (or framing) nature to better
manipulate it
▪ Destining refers to the role humans take as instruments of
technology through enframing; humans are challenged forth to
reveal what is real and carries with it the danger of
misconstruction or misinterpretation
 The Dangers of Technology

▪ The dangers of technology lie in how humans let

themselves be consumed by it.

▪ Although humans are looped into the cycle of bringing

forth or challenging forth, it is our responsibility to
recognize how we become instruments of technology

▪ Recognizing the dangers of technology requires critical

and reflective thinking on its use
 Art as the Saving Power
▪ Heidegger proposed art as the
saving power and the way out
of enframing

▪ Art is an act of mind (techne)

that protected and had great
power over the truth

▪ Art encourages people to

think less from a calculative
standpoint but instead
inspires meditative thinking
 Art as the Saving
Power
Because the essence of technology is nothing
technological, essential reflection upon technology
and decisive confrontation with is must happen in a
realm that is, on the one hand, akin to the essence of
technology and, on the other, fundamentally different
from it. Such a realm is art. But certainly only if
reflection on art, for its part, does not shut its eyes to
the constellation of truth after which we are
questioning (Heidegger. 1977, p. 19)
 Questioning as the Piety of Thought
The closer we come to the danger, the more brightly
do the ways into the saving power begin to shine and
the more questioning we become. For questioning is
the piety of thought (Heidegger. 1977, p. 19)
▪ There is unparalled wisdom gained only when humans are able to
pause, think, and question what is around them.
▪ Humans are consumed by technology when they are caught up in
enframing and fail to pay attention to the intricacies of
technology, the brilliance of the purpose of humankind, and the
genius of humans to bring forth the truth.
▪ Humans need to take a step back and reassess who they were,
who they are, and who they are becoming in the midst of
technology in this day and age.
Focus Group Discussion

Facebook says 87 million may be affected by data

privacy scandal by Agence France-Presse (link) video

Questions:
1) How does this Facebook privacy scandal relate to
Heidegger’s notion of revealing of modern technology
as challenging forth?

2) How can the Heideggerian notion of “questioning”

guide Facebook users toward a beneficial use of social
media?
STS and the Human Condition

Human Flourishing in Progress and De-

development
● A Radical New Approach to Economic Growth and Environmental
Sustainability is a critique of the dominant development paradigm.
● Hickel begins by defining human flourishing as "the ability to live a
good life."

Here are some of the key points from Hickel's book:

● Economic growth is not necessary for human flourishing.
● The current economic system is unsustainable and is leading to climate
change, pollution, and other environmental problems.
● We need a new development paradigm that is based on human
flourishing and environmental sustainability.