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09 - The Question Concerning Technology - Part 1

Tue, Feb 13

Today we'll be getting into some more primary texts on the philosophy of technology. We'll be reading Martin Heidigger, he is an existentialist philosopher, who changed the way I think about technology. There are a few things that are important to know before getting into reading him. 

  • Heidegger is a little tricky to read. So my goal for you is to just try to push through, eventually, I hope you'll get to a spot where you get what he's been setting up in a potentially roundabout way. So don't worry if you're not getting everything, I'm looking for you to identify the main overarching arguments he's making in these texts. I've split the reading up, so that we read this essay over two class periods. I want you to look for the main argument in today's section and for the other building on that in the reading for Thursday
  • Heidegger comes from the existentialist flavor of philosophy, so I've included a crash course video on that for context, setting up the lineage/history of his thought. 

The learning goals for today's class are:

  • To gain a historical understanding of technology, and its relation to the greek term, poesis.
  • To begin to consider how technology acts to reveal truths.
  • Gain an understanding of how (informational) technology can be used to control outcomes.

The slides for today's lecture can be found here. 

 

Read This:

Via Perusall

 

Do This:

As we prepare for class today I want you to think about the following questions, which we will use to guide our in class discussion:

  • What is the difference between technology and the essence of technology?
  • Can you think of examples of technologies that are not merely instrumental but that have a strong influence on how people see the world?
  • What are the differences between 'episteme' and 'techne'?
  • How might Heidegger's idea of technology be similar to the CST idea of work?

Watch This: