The Question Concerning Technology
Cover of Vorträge und Aufsätze
|
|
| Author | Martin Heidegger |
|---|---|
| Original title | Die Frage nach der Technik |
| Translator | William Lovitt |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Subject | Phenomenology, Philosophy of technology |
| Publisher | Garland Publishing |
|
Publication date
|
1954 |
|
Published in English
|
1977 |
| Preceded by | Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister" |
| Followed by | The Origin of the Work of Art |
The Question Concerning Technology (German: Die Frage nach der Technik) is a work by Martin Heidegger, in which Heidegger articulates the essence of technology and humanity’s role in revealing technology. Heidegger originally published the text in 1954, in Vorträge und Aufsätze.
Heidegger initially developed the themes in the text in the lecture "The Framework" ("Das Gestell"), first presented on December 1, 1949, in Bremen. "The Framework" was presented as the second of four lectures, collectively called "Insight into what is." The other lectures were titled "The Thing" ("Das Ding"), "The Danger" ("Die Gefahr"), and "The Turning" ("Die Kehre").
Heidegger begins "The Question Concerning Technology" by examining the relationship between humans and technology, a relationship Heidegger calls a "free relationship". If this relationship is free, it "opens our human existence to the essence of technology". This essence of technology, however, has nothing to do with technology. Rather, as Heidegger suggests, "the essence of a thing is considered to be what the thing is". According to Heidegger, it is necessary to find truth, for "only the true brings us into a free relationship with that which concerns us from its essence". This truth is sought "by the way of the correct".
Heidegger examines two definitions of technology. Firstly, he offers that "technology is a means to an end". Secondly, he proposes that "technology is a human activity". These two definitions are the instrumental and anthropological definitions. These definitions, however, have to do with technology, not with the essence of technology.
The relationship between humans and technology is dependent on the notion of instrumentality. This, Heidegger relates to his first definition of technology, that it is a means to an end. From here, Heidegger attempts to define instrumentality, but to do so must question causality.
To examine causality, Heidegger draws on the four Aristotelian causes:causa materialis, the material cause; cause formalis, the formal cause; causa finalis, the final cause; and cause efficiens, the effect or efficient cause. The craftsman is vital in uniting these four causes. To explain this, Heidegger uses the example of a silver chalice. Each element works together to create the chalice in a different manner:
Thus four ways of owing hold sway in the sacrificial vessel that lies ready before us. They differ from one another, yet they belong together. ... The four ways of being responsible bring something into appearance. They let it come forth into presencing. They set it free to that place and so start it on its way, namely into its complete arrival.
...
Wikipedia