URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY

San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
College of Arts and Sciences

➢ To be able to appreciate the fruits of science and technology, they

UNIT 2: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY, AND THE HUMAN CONDITION must be examined not only for their function and instrumentality but

Chapter 4: HUMAN FLOURISHING in Science and Technology also for their greater impact on humanity as a whole
➢ Various gadgets, medicines, appliances and vehicles are tools that

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this chapter, the

make human lives easier because they serve as a means to an end.
➢ Their utility lies on providing people with a certain good,
students should be able to:
convenience or knowledge.
1. Discuss what technology reveals;
2. Examine modern technology and its role in human flourishing MARTIN HEIDEGGER (1889 - 1976) was a 20th Century German philosopher. He
3. Explain the role of art in a technological world.
was one of the most original and important philosophers of the 20th
Century, but also one of the most controversial. His best known
book, "Being and Time", although notoriously difficult, is generally
Introduction: considered to be one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th
Century. In “The Question The Question Concerning
➢ The progress of human civilization throughout history
Concerning Technology,”
mirrors the development of Science and Technology. The human person,
Martin Heidegger
as both the bearer and beneficiary of science and technology,
discusses the essence of
flourishes and finds the meaning in the world that he/she builds.
technology.
➢ In the person’s pursuit of the good life, he/she may unconsciously
acquire, consume or destroy what the world has to offer. “The essence of
➢ It is necessary to reflect on the things that truly matter. technology is by no means anything technological.”
➢ Science and technology must be taken as part of human life that
➢ We can use technical devices, and yet with the proper use also keep
merits reflective and – as the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger
ourselves so free of them, that we may let go of them anytime....We
says – meditative thinking.
can affirm the unavoidable use of technical devices and also deny
 URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY
San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
College of Arts and Sciences

them the right to dominate us, and so to warp, confuse and lay waste ➢ There are times when one’s thinking brings forth eureka moment.
our nature........ ➢ Whatever understanding is found becomes significant
because it is evoked by questioning who or what we
Human Flourishing in Science and Technology
essentially are in the world.
➢ “The poetic roots of technology have been obscured by mechanization
that has compelled us to harness nature’s energy into an accumulated
heterogeneous reserve that conceals the true nature of things. The WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

solution is to question and confront technology through its

TECHNOLOGY AS A MODE OF REVEALING:
forgotten roots in the arts.”
➢ Based on Martin Heidegger’s work, “the question of Technology”: he
QUESTIONING AS THE PIETY OF THOUGHT
urges us to questions technology.

➢ In this stepping back and taking stock of things, we begin to wonder o The essence of a thing is considered to be what the thing is.

and question. o We ask the question concerning technology when we ask what it

➢ One may admire the intricacy of mechanisms and the sophistication of is.

mobile applications. ➢ Technology defined as

➢ There is so much wealth of insights that can be gathered when people o instrumental – a means to an end

stop, think and question o anthropological – a human activity

➢ Questioning is the piety or virtue of thought. ➢ To imagine ends and procure and utilize the means, to them

➢ According to Heidegger, however, piety means obedience and is a human activity.

submission. ➢ The manufacture and utilization of equipment, tools and

➢ In addressing what technology has brought forth, one cannot help but machines=technology is contrivance – in Latin,

submissive to what his/her thoughts and reflections. instramentum.

➢ Thinking brings forth insights that the mind has not yet fully ➢ definition is correct but not necessarily true

understood or developed. ➢ the “true” entails so much more meaning and significance.
 URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY
San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
College of Arts and Sciences

➢ The experience and understanding of what is correct lead us to what TECHNOLOGY AS POIESIS or REVEALS THE TRUTH: APPLICABLE TO MODERN
is true. TECHNOLOGY?
➢ Heidegger urged people to envision technology as a mode of revealing
➢ Heidegger characterizes modern technology as a challenging forth
as it shows so much more about the human person and the world.
since it is very aggressive in its activity.
➢ Technology is a way of bringing forth
➢ Modern technology may also be a mode of revealing but not as the
➢ Considering technology as a mode of revealing, then truth is
harmonious bringing forth that is described.
brought forth.
➢ Wherein, modern technology challenges nature and demands of it
➢ Example, the truth that the Earth is weeping could be
resources that are, most of the time, forcibly extracted for human
revealed by the information and data taken by modern devices.
consumption and storage.
Whatever truth is uncovered, it will be something more
➢ It brings about a “setting upon” of the land.
meaningful and significant or practical use of technology.
➢ Mining is an example of modern technology that challenges forth
➢ Heidegger also put forward the ancient Greek concepts of aletheia,
and brings about the setting upon of land.
poeisis & techne.
➢ It extracts minerals from the earth and forcefully assigns the
➢ Aletheia means unhiddenness or disclosure
land as a means to fulfill the never-ending demands of people.
➢ Poeisis is defined as bringing forth
➢ With modern technology, revealing never comes to an end. The
➢ As for Aristotle, it means making or producing
revealing always happens on our own terms as everything is on
something for a purpose
demand.
➢ It is a means of bringing forth something.
➢ Example: information at our fingertips, food harvested even out of
➢ Technology is a poiesis that discloses or reveals the
season, gravity dared to fly off to space.
truth
➢ We order nature and extract, process, make ready for consumption and
➢ Example: cellphone
store what we have forced it to reveal.
➢ Techne means skill, art or craft.
 URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY
San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
College of Arts and Sciences

ENFRAMING: WAY OF REVEALING IN MODERN TECHNOLOGY ➢ If we are constantly plugged online and no longer have the
capacity for authentic personal encounter, then we are truly
➢ This enframing that challenges forth and sets upon nature is a way
swallowed by the modern technology
of looking at reality.
➢ If we cannot let go of the conveniences and profit brought
➢ It is as if nature is put in a box or in a frame so that it can be
about by processes and industries that pollute the environment
better understood and controlled according to people’s desires.
and cause climate change, then technology has consumed our
➢ Poiesis is concealed in enframing as nature is viewed as an
humanity.
orderable and calculable system of information
➢ Heidegger further asserted that the, “The essence of technology is
➢ According to Heidegger, calculative thinking is one orders and puts
by no means anything technological.”
a system to nature so it can be understood better and controlled.
➢ The essence of technology is not found in the instrumentality
Meditative thinking, one lets nature reveal itself to him/her
and function of machines constructed but the significance such
without forcing it.
technology unfolds.
➢ Enframing is done because people want security, even if the ordering
that happens in enframing is violent and even if the Earth is made ART AS A WAY OF ENFRAMING
as a big gasoline station from which we extract, stockpile and put
➢ ENFRAMING, as the mode of revealing in modern technology tends to
in standing-reserve, ready to be used as we see fit.
block poeisis.
HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY ➢ The poetry that is found in nature can no longer be easily
appreciated when nature is enframed. If the Earth has just become as
➢ Though it is true that the individual takes part in the revealing of
a gas station for us, then we have become enframed as well.
nature, limits must still be recognized.
➢ In modern technology, the way of revealing is no longer poetic, it
➢ Human do not really call the shots on this Earth.
is challenging
➢ If we allow ourselves to get swallowed by modern technology, we lose
➢ Heidegger proposes art as a way out of this enframing. With art, we
the essence of who we are as beings in this world.
are better able to see the poetic in nature in reality. It leads us
➢ Basis that we swallowed by technology:
away from calculative thinking and towards meditative thinking.
 URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY
San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
College of Arts and Sciences

Through meditative thinking, we will recognize that nature is art ➢ What tecgnology is, when represented as a means, discloses
par excellence. itself when we trace instrumentality back to fourfold
➢ When meditatively looking at technology, one will begin to question casuality.
its significance in his/her life more than in its instrumental use.
Name: _______________________________________________ Score:_________
➢ Technology is normally thought of as that which solves problem, but
Heidegger asserted that it is something that must be questioned. Questions for reflection:
➢ The calculative thinking in which we perceive nature in a technical
and scientific manner is becoming more important in the modern
world. 1. How is technology a mode of revealing?
➢ On the other hand, it is meditative thinking that provides a way for 2. In your daily experience of technology, what else is revealed to you
us to remain rooted in the essence of who we are. It grounds us so aside from its function?
as not to let our technological devices affect our real core and 3. Why should technology be questioned?
warp our nature. 4. How is questioning the piety of thoughts?
➢ Aristotle’s four causes of mechanical: 5. How does art provides a way out of enframing?
o The causa materialis, the material, the matter out of which,
for example, a silver chalice is made
o Causa formalis, the form, the shape into which the material
enters
o Causa finalis, the end, the sacrificial rite in relation to Activity
which the chalice rewired is determined as to its form and
Reflect among yourselves how the artwok describes and reveals technology.
matter.
Ground your discussion from the concepts earned in this chapter.
o Causa efficiens, which brings about the effect that is the
finished, actual chalice on this instance, the silversmith