|
Instructors: Dr. phil. Suzana Alpsancar; Dr. Alexander Friedrich
Event type:
proseminar
Org-unit: Dept. 02 - Institute of Philosophy
Displayed in timetable as:
ModerneTechnik
Subject:
Crediting for:
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
German
Min. | Max. participants:
- | -
Course Contents:
Thinking about modern technology has always been intertwined with the reflection of its crisis proneness. But what is the nature of this crisis? What is, e.g., the difference between agricultural techniques or stock farming, and power plants or atomic bombs? Is there any essential difference between 'traditional' and 'modern' technology? If so, how could this difference be defined? What are the specific sets of problems and challenges of the technological constitution of the modern world?
In this course, we will address these questions based on authors who reflected on modern technology from a phenomenological perspective: Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt und Hans Blumenberg. These thinkers emphasized different aspects and problems of the assumption that European culture in the 20th century is in a crisis which is in largely technological driven.
We will start with Husserl, whose Krisis-writings are a crucial reference point for technological reflections of later, especially phenomenological oriented, authors. Even though these philosophers don’t belong to a certain school, there is a remarkable continuity in their works concerning the relation between life and technology. In many respects, this phenomenological, German-language reflection on the problem, crisis and myth of modern technology informs the controversies on technology from World War I until today. Therefore, this course is also a good starting point for exploring the philosophical discourse on the phenomenon of modern technology.
Literature:
Edmund Husserl: Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie (1936), Hamburg 1996.
Martin Heidegger: Die Zeit des Weltbildes (1938), in: Holzwege (GA 5), Frankfurt/Main 1977, S. 75-113.
Martin Heidegger: Die Frage nach der Technik (1953), in: Vorträge und Aufsätze (GA 7), Frankfurt/Main 2000, S. 5-36.
Günther Anders: Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen (1956), Bd. 1 (Über die Seele im Zeitalter der zweiten industriellen Revolution) und Bd. 2 (Über die Zerstörung des Lebens im Zeitalter der dritten industriellen Revolution), München 1980.
Hannah Arendt: Vita activa oder vom tätigen Leben (1958), München/Zürich 2002.
Hans Blumenberg: Lebenswelt und Technisierung unter Aspekten der Phänomenologie (1963), in: Wirklichkeiten, in denen wir leben, Stuttgart 2009.
|
