MODULE 5: TECHNOLOGY AS A WAY OF REVEALING

This section tackles the essence of technology based on Martin Heidegger's work, The Question
Concerning Technology. The section shall engage in the process of questioning concerning
technology. It discusses the key concepts related to Heidegger's work and how these concepts
relate to an understanding of the essence of technology.
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this section, the students should be able to:
1. differentiate the essences of technology technology
2. discuss and illustrate the dangers of modern technology; and
3. explain why art is the saving power of modern technology

CONTENT
AT A GLANCE: WHO IS MARTIN HEIDEGGER?
The essence of technology is by no means anything technological" Martin Heidegger (1977)
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is widely acknowledged as one of the most important
philosophers of the 20th century He was a German philospher who was part of the Continental
tradition of philosophy. His stern opposition to positivism andd technological world domination
received unequivocal support from leading postmodernists and post-structuralists of the time,
including Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jean-François Lyotard.
In 1933, he joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and remained to be a member until it was dismantled
toward the end of World War I1. This resulted in his dismissal from the University of Freiburg in
1949. He was only able to resume teaching in 1951. Heidegger's membership to the Nazi Party
made him controversial-his philosophical work was often eclipsed by his political affiliation,
with critics saying that his philosophy would always be rooted in his political consciousness.
Heidegger's work on philosophy focused on ontology or the study of being' or dasein in German.
His philosophical works are often described as complicated, partly due to his use of complex
compound German words, such as Seinsvergessenheit (Forgettulness of Being),
Bodenständigkeit (Rootedness-in-Soil), and Wesensverfassung(Essential Constitution).
To know more about the life and philosophy of Heidegger, watch a five-minute YouTube video
entitled, The Philosophy of Marin Heidegger which can be accessed on this link:
https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Br1sGrA7XTU. This can be done as a class, if internet
access is available, or individually as an added out-of-class work. Remember, it is important to
understand basic concepts related to Heidegger's philosophy to better make sense of his work.
The Essence of Technology
It cannot be denied that science and technology are responsible for the ways society is
continuously being modernized. Science and technology continuously seep into the way people
go about their daily lives. However, the omnipresence of science and technology must not
eclipse the basic tenets of ethics and morality. Instead, it should allow the human person to
flourish alongside scientific progress and technological development. In order to spark the
discussion on the role of ethics and social morality in science and technology, it is necessary to
go back to the very essence of technology, i.e., its definition.
The essence of technology can be captured in its definition. In his treatise, The Question
Concerning Technology, Martin Heidegger (1977) explains the two widely embraced definitions
of technology: (1) instrumental and (2) anthropological
1. Instrumental definition: Technology is a means to an end.
Technology is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end. In this context, technology is
viewed as a tool available to individuals, groups, and communities that desire to make an impact
on society. How technology is used varies from individual to individual, groups to groups, and
communities to communities according to their individual and collective functions, goals, and
aspirations. While technology is omnipresent, knowing its functions requires paying attention to
how humans use it as a means to an end. In this sense, technology is an instrument aimed at
getting things done.
2. Anthropological definition: Technology is a human activity.
Alternatively, technology can also be defined as a human activity because to achieve an
end and to produce and use a means to an end is, by itself, a human activity. The production or
invention of technological equipment, tools and machines, the products and inventions, and the
purpose and functions they serve are what define technology.
Both definitions, i.e., instrumental and anthropological, are correct. However, neither touches on
the true essence of technology.
Technology as a Way of Revealing
Heidegger stressed that the true can only be pursued through the correct. Simply, what is correct
leads to what is true. In this sense, Heidegger envisioned technology as a way 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. The truth is
understood through another Ancient Greek concept of aletheia, 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. This is seen in the way the term techne, the Greek root word of 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 that it encompasses not only craft, but other acts of the mind, and poetry,
Technology as Polesis: Does Modern Technology Bring Forth or Challenge Forth?
Heidegger, in The Question Concerning Technology, posited that both primitive crafts and
modern technology are revealing. However, he explained that modern technology is revealing
not in the sense of bringing forth or poeisis. Heidegger made a clear distinction between
technology and modern technology in that the latter 'challenges' nature. Moden technology
challenges nature by extracting something from it and transforming, storing, and distributing it.
On the surface, Heidegger's criticism of modern technology might appear counterintuitive to the
purpose of nature to human existence. However, by digging deeper into Heidegger's question, it
becomes clear that the essence of modern technology is not to bring forth in the sense of poiesis.
Instead, Heidegger considers modern chnology'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 enframing the
earth's natural resources. Challenging forth reduces objects as standing-reserve or something to
be disposed of by those who enframe them-humans. This is evident in the way people exploit
natural resources with very little concern for the ecological consequences that come with it.
Challenging forth as a result of modern technology is also evident in the information age such
that greater control of information to profit from its value gives rise to concerns about privacy
and the protection of human rights.
The challenging forth of modern technology is seen everywhere: in the rise and depletion of
petroleum as a strategic resource; the introduction and use of synthetic dyes, artificial flavorings,
and toxic materials into the consumer stream that bring about adverse effects on human health;
and the use of ripening agents in agriculture that poses threats to food safety and health security.
Enframing as Modern Technology's Way of Revealing
If the essence of technology can be understood as a way of bringing forth the truth in the sense of
poiesis, Heidegger distinguished the way of revealing of modern technology by considering it as
a process o enframing Humankind's desire to control everything, including nature is captured in
this process. By putting things, in this case nature, in 4 frame, it becomes much easier for
humans to control it according their desires.
Enframing, according to Heidegger, is akin to two ways of looking at the world: calculative
thinking and meditative thinking, In calculative thinking, humans desire to put an order to nature
to better understand and control it. In meditative thinking, humans allow nature to reveal itself to
them without the use of force or violence. One thinking is not necessarily better than the other. In
fact, humans are capable of using both and will benefit from being able to harmonize these ways
of looking at the world. Yet, calculative thinking tends to be more commonly utilized, primarily
because humans' desire to control due to their fear of irregularity,
Enframing, then, is a way of ordering (or framing) nature to better manipulate it. Enframing
happens because of how humans desire for security, even if it puts all of nature as a standing
reserve ready for exploitation. Modern technology challenges humans to enframe nature. Thus,
humans become part of the standing reserve and an instrument of technology, to be exploited in
the ordering of nature. The role humans take as instruments of technology through enframing is
called destining. In destining, humans are challenged forth by enframing to reveal what is real.
However, this destining of humans to reveal nature carries with it the danger of misconstruction
or misinterpretation.
The Dangers of Technology
The dangers of technology lie in how humans let themselves be consumed by it. Although
humans are looped into the cycle of bringing forth or challenging forth, it is their responsibility
to recognize how they become instruments of technology.
The Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho, once remarked that it is boastful for humans to think that
nature needs to be saved, whereas Mother Nature would remain even if humans cease to exist.
Hence, in facing the dangers of technology, the fear of disappearing from the face of the Earth
should concern people more potently than the fear of the Earth disappearing. As mere tenants on
Earth, people must not allow themselves to be consumed by technology lest they lose the essence
of who they are as human beings. In this sense, humans are in danger of becoming merely part of
the standing reserve or, alternatively, may find themselves in nature.
Recognizing its dangers of technology requires critical and reflective thinking on its use. For
example, social media has indeed connected people in the most efficient and convenient way
imaginable, but it also in advertenty gave rise to issues such as invasion of privacy, online
disinhibition, and proliferation of fake news. The line has to be drawn between what constitutes a
beneficial use of social media and a dangerous one. As exemplified, social media comes with
both benefits and drawbacks.
However, the real threat of technology comes from its essence, not its activities or products. The
correct response to the danger of technology is not simply dismissing technology altogether.
Heidegger (1977) explained that people are delivered over to technology in the worst possible
way when they regard it as something neutral. This conception of technology, according to
Heidegger, to which today humans particularly like to pay homage, makes them utterly blind to
the essence of technology. Ultimately, the essence of technology is by no means anything
technological (Heidegger, 1977).
Art as the Saving Power
Necessary reflection upon and confrontation with technology are required in order to proactively
address the dangers of technology Friedrich Hölderlin, a German poet quoted by Heidegger, said:
"But where danger is, grows the saving power also" (1977, p. 14). Following this, the saving
power can be traced exactly where the danger is in the essence of technology. As mentioned, this
essence is not neutral and by no means anything technological. Along this line, Heidegger
proposed art as the saving power and the way out of enframing: "And art was simply called
techne. It was a single, manifold revealing" (1977, p. 18). Heidegger saw art as an act of the
mind, i.e., a techne, that protected and had great power over the truth. By focusing on art, people
are able to see more clearly how art is embedded in nature. Art encourages humans to think less
from a calculative standpoint where nature is viewed as an ordered system. Instead, it inspires
meditative thinking where nature is seen as an art and that, in all of art, nature is most poetic
Heidegger encapsulated this as follows:
Because the essence of technology is nothing technological, essential reflection upon
technology and decisive confrontation with it must happen in a realm that is, on the one hand,
akin to the essence of technology and, on the other, fundamentally different from it. Such a realm
is art. But certainly only if reflection on art, for its part, does not shut its eyes to the constellation
of truth after which we are questioning (1977, p. 19).

Questioning as the Piety of Thought

Heidegger concluded his treatise on technology by saying:

The closer we come to the danger, the more brightly do the ways into the saving power
begin to shine and the more questioning we become. For questioning is the piety of thought
(1977, p. 19).
Heidegger underscored the importance of questioning in the midst of technology. For him, there
is unparalleled wisdom gained only when humans are able to pause, think, and question what is
around them. Humans are consumed by technology when they are caught up in enframing and
fail to pay attention to the intricacies of technology, the brilliance of the purpose of humankind,
and the genius of humans to bring forth the truth.
Questioning is the piety of thought. It is only through questioning that humans are able to
reassess their position not only in the midst of technology around them, but also, and most
importantly, in the grand scheme of things. Heidegger posited that it is through questioning that
humans bear witness to the crises that a complete preoccupation with technology brings,
preventing them from experiencing the essence of technology
Thus, humans need to take a step back and reassess who they were, who they are, and who they
are becoming in the midst of technology in this day and age.