Technology as a mode of revealing

Part I
 WDNESDAY, 2022
Objectives:

• To discuss the meaning of • To distinguish technology

technology according to as “challenge forth” and
Martin Heidegger “bring forth”
seminal work
or classical paper -German philosopher
-describe a study -seminal thinker
that changes our -philosophical hermeneutics
understanding - refers to the
of a topic detailed
examination
of human
understanding
published urges us to question
in 1954 technology and see
The Question beyond people’s common
of Technology understanding of it
Heidegger urges us to question technology and see
beyond people’s common understanding of it.

He wants us to understand technology beyond its physical contribution

to human life, but viewed it using meditative thinking.
 Technology as a mode of revealing*
Form 10 groups and select a work of art
(in our campus) that you feel best reveals technology.
Reflect and discuss among yourselves how the artwork describes and
reveals technology.

HOMEWORK (FC) 1 April 6, Wednesday

At home, select a piece of art.
Reflect and describe the common usage Maybe
(practical thinking), and the reflective Done
usage (meditative thinking). By Pair
The Essence of Technology

*
= aimed at getting things done

*
Pls. refer to page 64-65 of the textbook

The 2 widely embraced definitions of technology.

However, neither touches on the true essence of technology.
 Technology is a human activity.

What technology was used

during the stone age?
About 2.5 million years before
writing was developed, technology
began with the earliest hominids
who used stone tools, which they
may have used to start fires, hunt,
and bury their dead.
Among their distinguishing characteristics, the hunter-gatherers
actively killed animals for food instead of scavenging meat left
behind by other predators and devised ways of setting aside
vegetation for consumption at a later date.

6 Major Breakthroughs in Hunter-Gatherer Tools

https://www.history.com/news/hunter-gatherer-tools-
breakthroughs

https://hyperaxion.com/archeology/hunter-gatherers-culinary-traditions/
Why developing • Technology’s Role in Economic
technology is Development
important? • https://hardeebusiness.com/resources
/technologys-role-in-economic-
development

Leisure reading ssignment

 Technology as a Way of Revealing
According to Heidegger…
The true can only be pursued through the correct.
What is correct leads to what is true.
The experience and understanding of
what is correct lead us to what is true.
HELPING THE POOR
Dole out is good….but it is just temporary
but if you help the person the “HOWs” in life, then….will have
the enduring benefits.
• “Revealing” is one of the terms Heidegger
developed himself in order to make it
possible to think what, according to him, is
not thought anymore.
•It is his translation of the Greek word
alètheia, which means unhiddenness or
disclosure.

disclosure – something that is made known

• Heidegger urged people to envision technology as
a mode of revealing – a mode of
“bringing forth”

Bringing forth can be understood through the

Ancient Greek philosophical concept, poiesis, which
refers to the act of bringing something out of
concealment.
By bringing something out of concealment, the truth
of that something is revealed.
By bringing “bring forth”
something
out of
concealment,
the truth of
that
something is
revealed.
 Pls. refer to page 71

Do you agree
that this photo
reflects “bring
forth”?
The truth is understood through another Ancient
Greek concept of alètheia, which is translated as
unclosedness, unconcealedness, disclosure, or
truth.
Thus, for Heidegger, technology is a form of
poeisis – a way of revealing that unconceals
aletheia or the truth.

disclosure – something that is made known

• For instance, the truth that the Earth is
weeping could be revealed by the via
information and data taken by imaging
satellites
modern devices.

Why mother Earth is weeping…

Whenever truth is uncovered, it will be

something more meaningful and significant
than the superficial or practical
use of technology.
• Techne (the Greek root word for technology) is
understood in different contexts:

In philosophy, techne resembles the term episteme that

refers to the human ability to make and perform.
Techne also encompasses knowledge and understanding.

In art, it refers to tangible and intangible aspects of life.

The Greeks understood techne in the way Tik tok
Savage love?
that it encloses not only craft, but other acts
of the mind, and poetry. examples ???
Technology (etymology)
• Techne (the Greek root word for technology)
means skill, art, or craft.

•It is a means of bringing forth something.

Thus, in Heidegger’s work,
Technology is a poeisis that
discloses or reveals the truth.
 In Heidegger’s work Pls. refer to page 65

• Considers modern technology’s way of revealing as

a way of challenging forth.
Modern technology challenges forth, because it makes people think
how to do things faster, more effectively, and with less effort.
It prompts people into dominating and
Primitive crafts?
enframing the earth’s natural resources.
Challenging forth reduces objects as standing reserve or
something to be disposed who enframe them – humans.
 challenging forth
• This is evident in the way people exploit natural
resources with very little concern for the ecological
consequences that come with it.
The challenging forth of modern technology is seen everywhere:

- The introduction and use of synthetic dyes, artificial flavorings,

and toxic materials into the consumer stream that bring about
adverse effects on human health
- The use of ripening agents in agriculture that poses threats to
food safety and health security.
- The rise and depletion of petroleum as a strategic resource.
 Open-pit mining*

Is this an
example of
“challenge
forth”?

https://www.angloamerican.com/futuresmart/stories/our-industry/mining-explained/mining-terms-
explained-a-to-z/open-pit-mining-definition