Chapter 4: Human Flourishing

In Science &. Technology

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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.
Science and technology must be taken as part of human life that merits
reflection.
• Martin Heidegger – German philosopher, says it is a meditative thinking
The Question of Technology [his seminal work]
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 able to appreciate the fruit of science and technology, they must be examine
not only for their function and instrumentality but also for their greater impact
on humanity
Con’t

• The various gadgets/machines/appliance and vehicles are all tools

that make lives easier because they serve as a means to an end.

• Their utility lies on providing people with a certain good,

convenience or knowledge.

• The medical research employs the best scientific and

technological principles to come up with cures for diseases and
ways to prevent illness to ensure a good quality of life.
TECHNOLOGY AS A MODE OR REVEALING
• In his seminal work, THE QUESTION OF TECHNOLOGY,
Martin Heidegger urges us to question technology.
• 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.

One says:
• Technology is a means to an end.
• Technology is a human activity.
The two definitions of technology belong together. For to
posit end [affirm] and procure and utilize the means to them
is a human activity
Con’t

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
instrumental and anthropological definition of technology.
• Heidegger urged people to envision technology as a mode
of revealing as it shows so much more about the human
person and the world
Heidegger also forward the ancient Greek concepts of:
1. Aletheia – means unhiddenness
2. Poiesis – means bringing forth
3. Techne – [ the root word for technology]- means skill, art
and craft
Con’t

Technology as Poisis: Applicable to Modern Technology

Example:
• mining – it extract mineral from the earth and forcefully
assigns the land as a means to fulfill the never-ending
demands of people.
• IT – information at our finger tips, food harvested
even out of season & gravity defied to fly off to space
 Questioning as the Piety of thought
• Questioning is the piety of thought, stated Heidegger in ‘The
Question Concerning Technology’
• Piety – is associated with being religious.[NORMALLY]
• Piety – means obedience an dsubmission.

ENFRAMING : Way of Revealing in Modern Technology

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.
Poiesis is concealed in enframing as nature is viewed as an
orderable and calculable system of information
 Heidegger distinguished between calculative thinking and
meditative thinking
• Calculative thinking – one order and puts a system to
nature so it can be understood better and controlled.

• Meditative thinking – one lets nature reveal itself to him/

her without forcing it.
 HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY

• If we allow ourselves to get swallowed by modern

technology, we lose the essence of who we are as beings in
the world.
• If we are constantly plugged online and no longer have the
capacity for authentic personal encounters, then we are
truly swallowed by technology
ART as a Way out of Enframing
Enframing as the mode of revealing I modern technology,
tends to block poiesis.
Example: watermill compared to hydropower plant
telephone to iPhone
Heidegger proposes art as a way of this enframing. With art,
we are better able to see the poetic in nature in reality.

Once there was a time when bringing – forth of the true into
the beautiful was called techne. The poiesis of the fine ats
was also called techne.
Techne means skill art of craft
Aristotle’s conception of the 4 causes was mechanical
As explained by Heidegger:
1. Causa materialis – the material , the matter out of which.
e.g. a silver chalice is made
2. Causa formalis – the form, the shape into which the
material enters
3. Causa finalis – the end
e.g. the sacrificial rite in relation to which the chalice
is determined as to its forms and matter.
4. Causa efficiens - brings about the effect that is the
finished , actual chalice – the silversmith.
Greek experience of cause is aition or indebtedness not
cause and effect
Aition is responsible for bringing forth
Con’t

• According to Aristotle HAPPINESS is the ultimate end of human

action.

• HAPPINESS defines a good life

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THE END