Being and Technology

The present wntmg attempts a clarification of the questIon bearing on technology and of its "Essence" in the Philosophy of Martin Heidegger. In view of this, our initial task will consist in examining the origins of modern technology, which Heidegger descries in the primordial "experience" of Being as cpvO'u;, together with the human manners of comportment to this the primordial manifestness of Being. We will begin in Part One by attending primarily, but not exclusively, to the subjective dimen­ sion, allowing thereby the manner of the historical "progression" of Being, that is, its transforming self-showing, to stand in the background. This procedure seems to us not merely appropriate with respect to our purpose as a whole, but moreover cor­ responds to the matter at issue, for Being in its own progression is essentially self-concealing, which in turn brings to prominence the "subjective" in union with the varied modes of the "Being of beings", termed "beingness". In conformity with Heidegger's interpretation of "Metaphysics", there can be but little doubt that Being itself persists throughout in presence only as absence. Thus, we will trace out this manner of Being's presence in absence and the respective dominating human manners of relatedness to Being's beingness, that is, we must observe the transformation of original vo6v (or I,SYElV, TSXV1J), into Platonic i6slV ( 'j6S!Y. ).

Contenu

One: Preparation for the Question Concerning Modern Technology.- I. Beginnings: $$ T\varepsilon '\chi \nu \eta $$ and the Origin of Modern Technology.- A. The Primordial Notion of $$ \Phi \upsilon '\sigma \iota \zeta $$.- B. $$ \Phi \upsilon '\sigma \iota \zeta$$ and $$ \Lambda o'\gamma o\zeta $$ (Heraclitus and Parmenides).- 1. Heraclitus and the $$ \Lambda o'\gamma o\zeta $$.- 2. Parmenides.- C. The Notion of $$ T\varepsilon '\chi \nu \eta$$ (Sophocles' Chorus).- 1. Stage One.- 2. Stage Two.- 3. Stage Three.- D. The Notion of $$ T\varepsilon '\chi \nu \eta$$ as Responsive "Wissen".- II. The Platonic $$ ^,I\delta \varepsilon '\alpha$$ and $$ ^,I\delta \varepsilon '\nu$$.- A. The Platonic $$ ^,I\delta \varepsilon '\alpha$$ "Affinity" and "Distance".- B. A More Appropriate Interpretation of the Relationship $$ ^,I\delta \varepsilon '\alpha { - ^{{\text{ }},}}I\delta \varepsilon '\iota \nu $$.- C. The "Primacy of Beings" ("Vorrang des Seienden").- III. Descartes: The "Beginning" of Modern Technology.- A. The Notion of "Reality".- B. The Second Determination of the Notion of Reality.- C. The Cartesian Task.- 1. Preliminary.- 2. The Execution of the Task.- IV. Nietzsche and the "Consummation" of Metaphysics.- A. First Approximation to the Notion of the Will to Power.- B. The Will to Power as the Most Radical Subjectivity.- C. The Will to Power and the Eternal Return of the Same.- D. The "Consummation" and the "End" of Metaphysics.- Two: First Approach toward the Question of the Essence of Modern Technology.- I. Remarks concerning Some Earlier Texts.- A. A Text from Nietzsche II (pp. 20-29).- B. "Seinsverlassenheit und Irrnis".- II. Texts from "Wozu Dichter".- A. The Will (der Wille) and Human Willing (Wollen).- B. Human Willing.- C. The "Danger" and the "Turn".- III. The Essay "Die Frage nach der Technik".- A. "Technology Is Not Identical with the Essence of Technology".- B. The "Correct" Notion of Technology and the Analysis of Causality ($$T\varepsilon '\chi \eta $$).- C. Modern Technology as a Manner of "Revealing".- D. The Notion of "Unconcealment", Especially the Thesis that the Unconcealment of Beings Implies the Concealment of Being.- E. The Notion of Ge-stell.- Three: Second Approach toward the Question of the Essence of Modern Technology.- I. The Notion of Geschick.- A. The Truth-Untruth Structure.- 1. Sein und Zeit: Dasein's Openness.- a. Attunement.- b. Primary Understanding.- c. Rede.- d. Fallenness.- e. Being-toward-Death and Resolute Openness (Entschlossenheit).- 2. VWW and the Notion of Truth.- a. The Inner Possibility of Accordance.- b. The Ground of the Possibility of "Richtigkeit" (section 3).- c. The Essence of Dasein's Opening (Freiheit).- d. The Essence of Truth (section 5).- e. Untruth as Concealment.- f. Untruth as Errancy.- 3. Truth-Untruth according to "Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes".- B. The Self-Revealing Self-Concealing of Being Itself.- 1. "Die Seinsgeschichtliche Bestimmung des Nihilismus".- a. The Determination of Nihilism or Metaphysics.- b. The "Remaining Aloof" of Being Itself.- c. "Inauthentic Nihilism".- 2. The Principle of the Ground and Being's Self-Sending.- a. The First Formulation.- b. The Second Formulation.- C. Conclusion: A Note on the Time of Being.- II. Being's Self-Sending, the Danger, and the Saving.- A. Being's Self-Sending and the Danger ("Die Frage nach der Technik," pp. 24ff).- B. Being's Self-Sending and the Saving.- C.The Notion of Essence (Wesen).- III. Technology and Ereignis.- A. Preliminary.- B. Technology and Ereignis according to "Die Kehre".- C. Technology and Ereignis according to "Der Satz der Identität".