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. In the person's pursuit of the good life, he/she
may unconsciously acquire, consume, or destroy what the
world has to offer. It is thus necessary to reflect on the things
that truly matter. Science and technology must be taken as part
of human life that merits reflective and as the German
philosopher Martin Heidegger says-meditative thinking. Science
and technology, despite its methodical and technical nature,
gives meaning to the life of a person making his/her way in the
world.
To be able to appreciate the fruits of science and technology,
they must be examined not only for their function and
instrumentality but also for their greater impact on humanity as
a whole. The various gadgets, machines, appliances, and
vehicles are all tools that make human lives easier because they
serve as a means to an end. Their utility lies on providing
people with a certain good, convenience, or knowledge.
Meanwhile, medical research employs the best scientific and
technological principles to come up with cures for diseases and
ways to prevent illnesses to ensure a good quality of life.
TECHNOLOGY AS A MODE OF REVEALING
In his seminal work, The Question of Technology, Martin
Heidegger urges us to question technology and see beyond
people's common understanding of it.
According to ancient doctrine, the essence of a thing is
considered to be what the thing is. We ask the question
concerning technology when we ask what it is. Everyone knows
the two statements that answer our question. One says:
Technology is a means to an end. The other says: Technology is
a buman activity. The two definitions of technology belong
together. For to posit ends and procure and utilize the means
to them is a human activity. The manufacture and utilization of
equipment, tools, and machines, the manufactured and used
things themselves, and the needs and ends that they serve, all
belong to what technology is. The whole complex of these
contrivances is technology. Technology itself is a contrivance-in
Latin, an instrumentum. The current conception of technology,
according to which it is a means and a human activity, can
therefore be called the instrumental and anthropological
definition of technology (Heidegger, 1997, p. 5).
This definition is correct but not necessarily true. The "true"
entails so much more meaning and significance. Heidegger,
however, asserted that the true can be pursued through the
correct. In other words, the experience and understanding of
what is correct lead us to what is true. Heidegger urged people
to envision technology as a mode of revealing as it shows so
much more about the human person and the world.
Technology is a way of bringing forth, a making something. By
considering technology as a mode of revealing, then truth is
brought forth. For instance, the truth that the Earth is weeping
could be revealed by the information and data taken by
modern devices. Whatever truth is uncovered, it will be
something more meaningful and significant than the superficial
or practical use of technology
Heidegger also put forward the ancient Greek concepts of
aletheia, poiesis, and techne. Aletheia means unhiddenness or
disclosure. Porisis is defined as bringing forth. For Aristotle, it
means making or producing something for a purpose. It is
sometimes used to refer to poetry and composition. Finally,
techne (the 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.
On the other hand, to think of technology as poetry takes a
different mindset, a more reflective and sensitive way of
looking at the world. This perspective is not easy to take
especially in this era when instant knowledge is demanded and
split-second updates are the norm, and when the pursuit of
fame and fortune is unceasingly bannered on social media.
There is so much noise in the world that it would take a
disciplined stepping back to see what Heidegger meant and to
appreciate how technology could actually be poetry that brings
forth truth.
Does the idea that technology is poeisis apply to modern
technology? Heidegger characterizes modern technology as a
challenging forth since it is very aggressive in its activity.
Modern technology may also be a mode of revealing but not as
the harmonious bringing forth that is described in his thesis of
technology as poeisis. Modern technology challenges nature
and demands of it resources that are, most of the time, forcibly
extracted for human consumption and storage. It brings about
a "setting upon" of the land. Mining is an example of modern
technology that challenges forth and brings about the setting
upon of land. It extracts minerals from the earth and forcefully
assigns the land as a means to fulfill the never-ending demands
of people.
With modern technology, revealing never comes to an end. The
revealing always happens on our own terms as everything is on
demand. Information at our fingertips, food harvested even out
of season, gravity defied to fly off to space-such is the capacity
of the human person. We no longer need to work with the
rhythms of nature because we have learned to control it. We
order nature, and extract, process, make ready for
consumption, and store what we have forced it to reveal.
Heidegger described modern technology as the age of switches,
standing reserve, and stockpiling for its own sake. This
observation is manifest in the mechanization and digitization of
many aspects of our life-from agriculture to communications
and transportation, among many others.
What kind of unconcealment is it, then, that is peculiar to that
which results from this setting upon that challenges?
Everywhere everything is ordered to stand by, to be
immediately on hand, indeed to stand there just so that it may
be on call for a further ordering. Whatever is ordered about in
this way has its own standing. We call it the standing-reserve
(Heidegger, 1977, p. 5).
In this stepping back and taking stock of things, we begin to
wonder and question. One may admire the intricacy of
mechanisms and the sophistication of mobile applications.
Another may marvel at the people and circumstances that
allowed for such technology. There is so much wealth of
insights that can be gathered when people stop, think, and
question. "Questioning is the piety of thought," stated
Heidegger in The Question Concerning Technology
Normally, piety is associated with being religious. For
Heidegger, however, piety means obedience and submission. In
addressing what technology has brought forth, one cannot help
but be submissive to what his/her thoughts and reflections
elicit. Sometimes, thinking brings forth insights that the mind
has not yet fully understood or developed. There are times
when one's thinking brings forth eureka moments. Whatever
understanding is found becomes significant because it is
evoked by questioning who or what we essentially are in the
world. For example, it is a known truth that we, human beings
and everything around us, are made of the same substances
that constitute the stars. Therefore, we actually are stardust.
Do we just take this matter-of-factly or do we wonder at its
significance? It is when we start questioning that we submit
ourselves to our thoughts. This kind of questioning leads one to
search for his/her place in the universe and in the grand scale
of things. It is through this process that one builds a way
towards knowing the truth of who he/she is as a being in this
world.
niversequests that
ENFRAMING: WAY OF REVEALING IN MODERN TECHNOLOGY
The way of revealing in modern technology is an enframing.
This enframing that challenges forth and sets upon nature is a
way of looking at reality. In simpler terms, it is as if nature is put
in a box or in a frame so that it can be better understood and
controlled according to people's desires. Poeisis is concealed in
enframing as nature is viewed as an orderable and calculable
system of information.
In looking at the world, Heidegger distinguished between
calculative thinking and meditative thinking. In calculative
thinking, as mentioned earlier, one orders and puts a system to
nature so it can be understood better and controlled. In
meditative thinking, one lets nature reveal itself to him/her
without forcing it. One kind of thinking is not in itself better
than the other. The human person has the faculty for both and
would do well to use them in synergy. However, people also
want control and are afraid of unpredictability, so calculative
thinking is more often used. Enframing is done because people
want security, even if the ordering that happens in enframing is
violent and even if the Earth is made as a big gasoline station
from which we extract, stockpile, and put in standing-reserve,
ready to be used as we see fit.
HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY
Though it is true that the individual takes part in the revealing
of nature, limits must still be recognized. Humans do not really
call the shots on this Earth. If we allow ourselves to get
swallowed by modern technology, we lose the essence of who
we are as beings in this world. If we are constantly plugged
online and no longer have the capacity for authentic personal
encounters, then we are truly swallowed by technology. If we
cannot let go of the conveniences and profits brought about by
processes and industries that pollute the environment and
cause climate change, then technology has consumed our
humanity.
Nevertheless, as expressed by the poet Holderlin, "But where
danger is, grows the saving power also." The saving power lies
in the essence of technology as technology. Essence is the way
in which things are, as that which endures. Heidegger further
asserted that the "essence of technology is nothing
technological" (1977). The essence of technology is not found in
the instrumentality and function of machines constructed, but
in the significance such technology unfolds.
He also expressed that the various problems brought about by
human's dependence on technology cannot be simply resolved
by refusing technology altogether. He stated:
Thus we shall never experience our relationship to the essence
of technology so long as we merely represent and pursue the
technological, put up with it, or evade it. Everywhere we
remain unfree and chained to technology, whether we
passionately affirm or deny it. But we are delivered over to it in
the worst possible way when we regard it as something neutral;
for this conception of it, to which today we particularly like to
pay homage, makes us utterly blind to the essence of
technology (1977, p. 1).
ART AS A WAY OUT OF ENFRAMING
Enframing, as the mode of revealing in modern technology,
tends to block posisis. The poetry that is found in nature can no
longer be easily appreciated when nature is enframed. If the
Earth has just become a gas station for us, then we have
become enframed as well. In modern technology, the way of
revealing is no longer poetic; it is challenging. When
instruments are observed linearly, its poetry can no longer be
found. For example, the watermill is a primitive structure
compared to the hydropower plant; or the first iPhone model is
just an obsolete piece of machine. People no longer realize how
the watermill is more in tune with the rhythms of nature or
how much genius went into the building of the first iPhone.
Heidegger proposes art as a way out of this enframing. With
art, we are better able to see the poetic in nature in reality. It
leads us away from calculative thinking and towards meditative
thinking. Through meditative thinking, we will recognize that
nature is art par excellence. Hence, nature is the most poetic
There was a time when it was not technology alone that bore
the name techne. Once the revealing that brings forth truth
into the splendor of radiant appearance was also called techne.
Once there was a time when the bringing forth of the true into
the beautiful was called techne. The poiesis of the fine arts was
also called techne.
At the outset of the destining of the West, in Greece, the arts
soared to the supreme height of the revealing granted them.
They illuminated the presence (Gegenwart of the gods and the
dialogue of divine and human destinings. And art was called
simply techne. It was a single, manifold revealing. It was pious,
promos, i.e., yielding to the holding sway and the safekeeping
of truth.
The arts were not derived from the artistic. Artworks were not
enjoyed aesthetically. Art was not a sector of cultural activity.
What was ar perhaps only for that brief but magnificent age?
Why did art bear the modest name techne? Because it was a
revealing that brought forth and made present, and therefore
belonged within poiesis. It was finally that revealing which
holds complete sway in all the fine arts, in poetry, and in
everything poetical that obtained poiesis as its proper name
(Heidegger, 1977, p. 13).
When meditatively looking at technology, one will begin to
question its significance in his/her life more than in its
instrumental use. Technology is normally thought of as that
which solves problems, but Heidegger asserted that it is
something that must be questioned. Again, it is in questioning
that we build a way to understand. In the nuclear age, we view
nature as a problem to be solved. The calculative thinking in
which we perceive nature in a technical and scientific manner is
becoming more important in the modern world. On the other
hand, it is meditative thinking that provides a way for us to
remain rooted in the essence of who we are. It grounds us so as
technological devices affect ou our nature.
Aristotle's conception of the four causes was mechanical. As
explained by Heidegger:
For centuries philosophy has taught that there are four causes:
(1) the causa materialis, the material, the matter out of which,
for example, a silver chalice is made; (2) the causa formalis, the
form, the shape into which the material enters; (3) the causa
finalis, the end, for example, the sacrificial rite in relation to
which the chalice required is determined as to its form and
matter; (4) the causa efficiens, which brings about the effect
that is the finished, actual chalice, in this instance, the
silversmith. What technology is, when represented as a means,
discloses itself when we trace instrumentality back to fourfold
causality (1977, p. 2).
Though correct in the four causes, Aristotle remained in the
mechanical sense and did not allow for a larger truth to disclose
itself. The poetic character may be hidden but it is there. For
example, the ancient Greek experience of cause is aition or
indebtedness, not cause and effect. Thus, the Greeks revere the
sun because they are indebted to it, and not because the sun is
the cause of energy on Earth. Aition is responsible for bringing
forth.
Though enframing happens, it cannot completely snuff out the
poctic character of technology. We ponder technology and
question it. In so doing, we also become aware of the crisis we
have plunged the Earth into. The danger is made present and
more palpable through our art and poetry. Amid this
realization, we remain hopeful because, as the poet Holderlin
put it,"...poetically man dwells upon this Earth" (Heidegger,
1977, p. 13).