Here’s what I gathered from reading Heidegger’s influential essay on technology
Introduction to Martin Heidegger
A 20th-century German philosopher, Martin Heidegger is popular for his contributions to the fields of phenomenology, existentialism, and hermeneutics. He is also known for his critique of traditional metaphysics, positivism, and world domination through technology. His main contributions have been to the field of ontology (study of being). It is believed that Soren Kierkegaard had a major influence on Heidegger, as reflected in his work Being and Time.
Introduction to Philosophy of Technology
The study of technology and its relevant relations to society are the major focus area of the philosophy of technology. This has further branches, covering aspects like the political and ethical implications of technology, inter-human-technology relations, and more. Another criterion of division can be on the basis of the theoretical/practical nature of the discussion. There have been major developments in this field since the 20th century when its general practice shifted from developing general theories about knowledge to taking technologies as actual starting points for philosophical discussion (empirical approach).
Overview of Heidegger’s View of Technology
Heidegger’s understanding of the word ‘technology’
There are two popularly accepted conceptions of the word technology:
- Technology as a means to an end
- Technology as a human activity (which humans have control over)
As per Heidegger, both of these are wrong. He claims them to be right in the commonly accepted sense of the term, describing them as ‘anthropogenic’ and ‘instrumental’, but at the same time criticizes their lack of depth. He states that the essence of technology is different from all this.
To elucidate this, he gives the example of a tree. He points out how the qualities of a tree that make us recognize it as a tree in the first place, are not the tree itself. He then goes on to say that “the essence of technology is by no means anything technological”.
This is how he distinguishes between the implications of ‘correct’ and ‘true’ as being different. Even though it is correct that technology is a means to an end, it is not necessarily true. Additionally, correctness does not imply uncovering the essence of a thing, and when uncovering does happen, truth is revealed.
The three claims of Heidegger’s Technology
In his work The Question Concerning Technology, Heidegger points out the following three claims after analyzing technology:
- Instead of being a mere ‘instrument’, technology is a way of perceiving, understanding, and acknowledging the world around us
- Human control of technology is not absolute, it goes beyond it as technology is not just a ‘human activity’
- Labeling technology to be the ‘highest danger’, Heidegger warned us of the danger of seeing the world only through the lenses of technology
About Aristotle’s 4 Causes
Heidegger refers to Aristotle’s four causes:
- The Causa Materialis- The material that is responsible.
- The Causa Formalis- The form into which the material enters.
- The Causa Finalis- The goal or the end.
- The Causa Efficiens- The maker who is responsible for gathering the other three.
As per Heidegger, it is these four causes that hold a thing to be responsible or indebted. To elucidate, he gives a pretechnological example — Imagine a discus thrower’s marble sculpture. This sculpture, as per Heidegger, is indebted to marble (material), discus thrower (form), and memorialization as a historic/heroic athlete (goal). The efficient cause here is the sculptor, as they bring together the different aspects of indebtedness, or, in other words, ‘brings forth’ or ‘poiēsis’ the sculpture. This bringing forth is a part of the process of unconcealing.
Heidegger says, “The four ways of being responsible bring something into appearance. They let it come forth into presencing [An-wesen]. They set it free to that place and so start it on its way, namely, into its complete arrival.”
The takeaway here is that technology is not merely a means, it is also a way of revealing. Realizing this allows us to perceive an altogether new and different realm of technology, which is the realm of revealing and truth.
Bringing-Forth and Revealing
Heidegger introduces the term ‘technē’, which refers to two things:
- Skills and activities of the craftsman
- Arts of the mind and fine arts
It is said to be poietic in the sense that it belongs to the process of bringing forth. Another term that Heidegger introduces here is ‘epistēmē’, which has the following two meanings:
- A way of knowing
- Being skilled and belonging in a thing
Technē and epistēmē are linked to each other. This leads to the creation of an opening up or revealing. Technology is a mode of revealing which comes to be when unconcealment and revealing take place and where Aletheia (truth) is also present.
Objection
This mode of revealing is not applicable to modern technology. It only applies to the ancient world of artisan and handcrafted objects. In contrast, as an exact science, modern technology is more closely related to physics. And physics is, in turn, dependent upon technology.
Enframing as the Essence of Technology
Gestell is the German word that Heidegger uses to refer to the process of Enframing, which describes the essence of technology. Gestell can be understood to signify an inclusive and all-encompassing view of technology. Our understanding of the concept of ‘reality’ has been formulated through the process of enframing. The nature of reality is not absolute, hence is not possible to know it. Our perception and thought process are enframed or revealed to us.
Here, Heidegger makes a crucial point. He says that since technology represents a particular way of revealing the world, it is essentially a way of revealing, one in which humans have power over reality. It should be kept in mind that the reality that is revealed needs to be Enframed first. To be Enframed means to be capable of being seen and understood, or exist in the world.
It is imperative that modern technology make use of sciences, as the essence of its Enframing lies in the former. A common misunderstanding is that applied science and modern science are synonymous. This is cleared when we apply the essence of enframing here by questioning our perception of things in the age of technology, and the essence of modern technology.
This line makes clear the meaning of Enframing — Enframing is the call/demand that complex a human to “order the self-revealing [nature] as standing-reserve.
Heidegger further goes on to say that — “Enframing means the gathering together of that setting-upon which sets upon man, i.e., challenges him forth, to reveal the real, in the mode of ordering, as standing- reserve. Enframing means that way of revealing which holds sway in the essence of modern technology and which is itself nothing technological.”
To summarize the above, technology presents the world as raw material meant to be used for production and manipulation by humans.
Freedom and Technology
The essence of freedom, at the outset, is not related to human will or its causality. To elucidate, Enframing, which refers to the way the real reveals itself as a standing reserve, is neither in control of humans nor entirely out of it. It can be understood as coming as a type of ‘destining’. This is not to be intercepted as ‘fate’, but at the same time, it is also not a product of individual will. Freedom can be attained when one follows what this destining says.
The happening of truth, also known as revealing, stands in very close relationship to freedom. Freedom controls the open or the revealed. All revealing is contained within harboring and concealing. But the mystery, that which frees, is always either in a state of concealment or in the process of concealing itself.
All revealing:
- Comes out of the open
- Goes into the open
- Brings into the open
Open freedom doesn’t come from unchecked discretion or the mere application of laws. Instead, Freedom is the world of the destining, which at any time begins to reveal itself.
As Heidegger said — “Once we open ourselves expressly to the essence of technology, we find ourselves unexpectedly taken into a freeing claim.”
Since they believe that they control nature rather than the other way around, humans are not afraid of enframing. People consequently end up enframing other people as a standing reserve. Furthermore, there is more risk when people interpret this age as necessary rather than contingent. Enframing puts humans and their relationships with everything around them in danger, but it also forces man to reveal in a way that eliminates all other ways of revealing.
But Heidegger contends that by challenging technology, we increase the likelihood of being able to protect ourselves from harm. We can catch a glimpse of what is forgotten when we recognize their threat. In this situation, the question is not how to use technology, but rather how to think about it; we can never defeat technology because we are never its master. There is always a risk that humans will misinterpret the being of their time by emphasizing certain things, like cause and effect relationships, to the point where they interpret it as the concealed or hidden and lose sight of the ‘open’ aspect and the underlying mystery of truth. Heidegger seems to be alluding to the fact that modern science has influenced philosophical thought at least since the 17th century.
Later on, he adds that by challenging technology, we increase the likelihood of being liberated from the threat. When we understand the Enframing’s true nature, we can put it in its proper perspective while also bringing to light other facets of technology’s fundamental nature. This is how he concludes his analysis of technology, stating that since there is nothing technological about the essence of technology, critical thought about it and decisive conflict with it must take place in a domain that is both fundamentally similar to the essence of technology and fundamentally distinct from it.
Summary
This essay has examined some of the key facets of Heidegger’s technological philosophy in relation to ancient Greek philosophical thought. Heidegger sets out on a mission to create a free relationship with technology throughout the entirety of his essay “The Question Concerning Technology,” but whether he is successful in doing so remains a mystery for another day. Overall, though, Heidegger believes that technological thinking cannot be avoided, and as he uses his method of questioning, this belief begins to take root. He concludes by saying that the best way to achieve this is to develop a free, constantly critical, and questioning relationship with technology.
Endnote on Heidegger
As a philosopher, Heidegger seems to be post-Kantian and post-Nietzschean in his thinking. In his era, philosophy ranged from the extremes of intense idealism to nihilism. He has been credited with recreating the conception of western philosophy. Even though he has been closely associated with existentialism, he did not fit into, nor did he leave behind, any philosophical school of thought. Despite his popularity and success as a philosopher, his contributions were tainted by his controversial political position of supporting the Nazis.
Sources
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/philosophy-of-technology/0/steps/26315#:~:text=As%20we%20just%20heard%2C%20Heidegger’s,3)%20technology%20is%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20highest
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/philosophy-of-technology/0/steps/26314
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