FILAMER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Sciences

Accredited Level III - ACSCU - ACI
Roxas City, Capiz

GEC 7

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Module 4: HUMAN FLOURISHING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Overview

The progress of human civilizations throughout history mirrors the development of science
and technology. The human person, as both the bearer and beneficiary of science and
technology, flourishes and finds meaning in the world that he/she builds. To be able to
appreciate the fruits of science and technology, they must be examined not only for their
greater impact on humanity as a whole. Technology utility lies on providing people with a
certain good, convenience, or knowledge.

Objectives

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1. Discuss what technology reveals;

2. Examine modern technology and its role in human flourishing; and
3. Explain the role of art in technological world

Module Contents

THE ESSENCE OF TECHNOLOGY

1. Instrumental definition
Technology is a means to an end.

2. Anthropological definition
Technology is a human activity.

Both definitions are correct. However, neither touches on the true essence of
technology.
HEIDEGGER’S VIEW ON TECHNOLOGY

 TECHNOLOGY AS A WAY OF REVEALING

 Heidegger stressed that the true can only be pursed through the correct. It simply
means that what is correct will lead to what is true. In this sense, he envisioned that
technology as a way of revealing - a mode of bringing forth.

 BRINGING FORTH

 This can be understood through the ancient Greek philosophical concept, Poeisis,
which refers to the act of bringing something out of concealment, the truth of that
something is revealed.

 The truth is understood through another Ancient Greek concept of Aletheia, which is
translated as unclosedness, unconcealedness, disclosure or truth.

 Finally, techne (root word for technology (which means skill, art or craft.

TECHNOLOGY AS POEISIS: APPLICABLE TO MODERN TECHNOLOGY

 Heidegger characterizes modern technology as a challenging fort since it is very

aggressive in its activity. Modern technology challenges nature and demands of its
resources that are, most of the tine, forcibly extracted for human consumption and
storage.
 With modern technology, revealing never comes to an end. The revealing always
happens on our own terms as everything is on demand.
 He described modern technology as the age of switches, standing reserve, and
stockpiling for its own sake.

 HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY

Humans do not really necessary call the shot of this earth. It we allow ourselves to get
swallowed by modern technology, we lose the essence of who we are as beings in this
world. It we are constantly plugged online and no longer has the capacity for authentic
personal encounters, then, we are truly swallowed by technology.

 Essence is the way in which things are, as that which endures. Heidegger further
asserted that the “essence of technology is no9thing technological”. The essence of
 technology is not found in the instrumentality and function of machines constructed,
but in the significance such as technology unfolds.

 ART AS A WAY OUT OF ENFRAMING

Art provides us with a way out of enframing by bringing us closer to poieses and further
away from techne. Art activates human sensitivity if it even exists in an individual.
The use of imagination and actually seeing things the way they are is part of poieses.

 Modern technology, on the other hand, challenges everything is its desire to prepare for
the future. In other words, it destroys and disrupts the natural world. It is now part
of our life causing it to be an enframing factor in it. To get away from it from time to
time and indulge in the arts reacquaints us to our past reality that is increasingly being
forgotten today.

 ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPT OF FOUR CAUSES

 a. Matter: a material cause is determined by the matter that composes the changing
things. For a table, that matter might be wood; for a statue, it might be bronze or
marble.

 b. Form: a formal cause is due to the arrangement, shape, or appearance of the thing
changing. Numerical relationships are of this nature.

 c. Agency or Efficiency: an efficient cause consists of things apart from the thing being
changed, which interact so as to be an agency of the change. For example, the efficient
cause of a table is a carpenter acting on wood. According to Aristotle, the efficient
cause of a child is a father.

 d. End or Purpose: a final cause is that for the sake of which a thing is changing. A
seed’s end is an adult plant. A sailboat’s purpose is sailing. A ball at the top of a ramp
will finally come to rest at the bottom.

 The essence of Technology

Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology” presents a search for finding the
essence of technology and humanity’s free relationship to it. Questions to consider
while reading his essay include:

 How do we currently relate to technology?

 How do we stand in relation to technology?
 How do we think about technology?
  What do we imagine technology to be?

He begins the essay by simplifying technology into its fundamental being in an attempt to
uncover its essence. This is accomplished through defining technology in relation to
explanations of instrumentality, causality and revealing.

 Instrumentality: Technology is an instrument humans use as “a means to an end” and

“as a human activity” to be mastered is a way of getting done.
 Causality: Instruments are developed to cause, bring forth, occasion and presence an
end.
 Revealing: Bringing forth something; unconcealing something that was concealed.

According to Heidegger, the essence of technology is a way of revealing. He considers the

origin of the word “technology” referring to both technique and knowledge. This
understanding of technology extends the definition of the word from merely instrumental to
revealing. In contrast to the revealing definition of technology, Heidegger presents modern
technology as a “challenge” to world’s resources through exploitative method.

Self-Evaluation

A. Answer the following questions:

1. How is technology a mode of revealing?

2. In your daily experience of technology, what else is revealed to you aside from its
function?
3. How does art provide a way out of enframing?
4. Do you believe that human person was really swallowed by technology?

B. Differentiate the essence of technology from modern technology using the table
below:
 TECHNOLOGY MODERN TECHNOLOGY

C. Supplemental Activities

Select or pick an art from the internet source which you believe best reveals technology.
Reflect and write a statement on how an artwork describes and reveals technology.

References

McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V.M., and Belleno, R. III. (2018). Science, Technology and Society.
Philippines, C & E Publishing, Inc.
Video Clips/Slides