Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays, The by Martin Heidegger (PDF)

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“To read Heidegger is to set out on an adventure. The essays in this volume–intriguing, challenging, and often baffling to the reader–call him always to abandon all superficial scanning and to enter wholeheartedly into the serious pursuit of thinking….”Heidegger is not a ‘primitive’ or a ‘romanitic.’ He is not one who seeks escape from the burdens and responsibilities of contemporary life into serenity, either through the re-creating of some idyllic past or through the exalting of some simple experience. Finally, Heidegger is not a foe of technology and science. He neither disdains nor rejects them as though they were only destructive of human life.”The roots of Heidegger’s hinking lie deep in the Western philosophical tradition. Yet that thinking is unique in many of its aspects, in its language, and in its leterary expression. In the development of this thought Heidegger has been taught chiefly by the Greeks, by German idealism, by phenomenology, and by the scholastic theological tradition. In him these and other elements have been fused by his genius of sensitivity and intellect into a very individual philosophical expression.” –William Lovitt, from the Introduction

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries can be as much of a problem as a help. As an instrument, it can make mass killing much easier. Indeed, nuclear bombs enable the world to potentially destroy itself in less than an hour. Yet technology can enable human flourishing as well. For instance, I develop software professionally that I hope will help my domain (medical research) advance. How are we to understand technology, a concept as ancient as early Greeks, and how do we ensure that we use it properly? These questions, Heidegger – the famous German philosopher – considers in his essay “The Question Concerning Technology.” (I will not here address the other essays in this volume.)Heidegger describes technology by the cryptic but descriptive word, an “Enframing.” That is, technology frames a truth about the world and about human nature. For example, cars encapsulate the truth about the combustion engine and also the truth that humans like motility. Technology is related to science by presenting this truth of use of combustion to provide energy, but technology is not merely applied science. Instead, technology is somewhat of an art-form that engages the human spirit. Cars therefore become an extension of who we owners are.Understanding instruments as “Enframings” makes us understand that technology merely presents humanity with an ethical question: Should I act thusly? It is up to the human to decide this, and it is up to the arts to allow us to see our situation clearly enough to make the right choice. Science provides the truth that the instrument is based upon, but the arts engage the human soul. Used correctly, technology can have “saving power.” Used incorrectly, it can merely provides humans with estrangement and alienation. Potentially, it can lead to our destruction.Science (first) and industry (later) have transformed civilization and produced the modern world. Some fear that the technological revolution has created a world that is run afoul of its purpose. Instead of this reactionary view that would have us return to an agrarian society, Heidegger provides a way forward by identifying technology’s saving power. In an era where American Big Tech is accused of monopolizing and censoring powers, such a saving power is still needed. That makes this essay, published originally in the 1950s (shortly after the mass destruction of World War II), more relevant than ever seventy years later.

⭐Seriously, I’m not into philosophy and I only read this book for one of my generals. I’m a senior in Computer Science and I thought this would maybe give me a different view on technology. Not exactly, really there is nothing technical at all and it’s a really hard to read. After you start to understand his language (yeah feels like a whole new language), you start to understand his meaning. I find his dense sentences to be necessary though, after you start to understand what he’s saying it gets pretty entertaining.Thing is you can get everything in this book online somewhere, and some guides that will help you through it. I read better with a hard copy, which is the only reason I bought the book. Turns out this guy is pretty big in the philosophy world, so it’s a good read if that stuff intrigues you. Personally, I’m going to stick to programming and stay “enframed”.

⭐For anyone interested in the philosophy of science and technology these essays are essential reading. Heidegger’s observations are just as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. In addition to the title essay, “The Age of the World Picture” and “Science and Reflection” are both great essays with rich insights.Yes, Heidegger is difficult. Heidegger is always difficult. But it is worth trudging through.For those seriously attempting to understand Heidegger’s essays this is a very helpful edition; although I do not know German, Levitt really seems to understand both Heidegger and the nuances of the German language. His notes (while not necessarily clearer than Heidegger) help the English speaker get into the nuances lost in translation which is of utmost importance.

⭐I’m going to have to find the essay in the original German. Heidegger’s prose is dense but the translation reads like a third year German student hacking their way through something they don’t completely understand.

⭐A great book a great edition!

⭐Great condition.

⭐I didnt expect too many underlines and highlights, but this is better than not having it.

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