Human Flourishing in Science

and Technology
Human Flourishing in Science
and Technology
 Flourishing - a state where people experience positive
emotions, positive psychological functioning, and positive
socialfunctioning, most of the time," living "within an optimal
range of human functioning.
 Human Flourishing
→ an effort to achieve self-actualization and fulfillment within the
context of a larger community of individuals,each with the
right to pursue his or her own such efforts.
→ involves the rational use of one's individual human
potentialities, including talents, abilities, and virtues in thepursuit
of his freely and rationally chosen values and goals.Human
civilizations and the development of science and technology
Human Flourishing in Science and
Technology
 Human person as both the bearer and
beneficiary of science and technology.
 bearer – a person or thing that carries or holds
something.
 beneficiary
 Human Civilizations and the development of Science and
Technology

 Human person as both the bearer and

beneficiary of science and technology
→ bearer - a person or a thing that carries
or holds something
→ beneficiary - Human flourishes and
finds meaning in the world the she/he
builds
TECHNOLOGY AS A MODE OF
REVEALING
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
 a German philosopher and a seminal thinker in
the Continental tradition of philosophy.
 widely acknowledged to be one of the most
original and important philosophers of the 20th
century.
 Revealing is his translation of the Greek word
“alètheuein” which means “to discover” –to
uncover what was covered over. Related to this
verb is the independent noun “alètheia” which is
usually translated as “truth.”
HEIDEGGER'S VIEW ON
TECHNOLOGY
 He strongly opposes the view that technology is "a
means to an end” or "a human activity.“
These two approaches, which he calls, respectively, the
"instrumental" and "anthropological" definitions, are
indeed "correct', but do not go deep enough; as he says,
they are not yet "true.“
Heidegger points out, technological objects are means
for ends, and are built and operated by human beings, but
the essence of technology is something else entirely
 HEIDEGGER'S VIEW ON TECHNOLOGY

Since the essence of a tree is not itself a

tree, he points out, so the essence of
technology is not anything technological.
What, then, is technology, if it is neither
a means to an end nor a human activity?

 Technology, according to Heidegger

must be understood as “a way of
revealing” (Heidegger 1977, 12)
HEIDEGGER'S VIEW ON
TECHNOLOGY
-Revealing is his translation of the Greek word
alètheuein, which means ‘to discover’ – to
uncover what was
covered over. Related to this verb is the
independent noun alètheia, which is usually
translated as “truth,” though
Heidegger insists that a more adequate
translation would be “un- concealment
 HEIDEGGER'S VIEW ON TECHNOLOGY
What is reality?
-is relative in the most literal sense of the
word – it exists only in relations.
-inaccessible for human beings. As soon as
we perceive or try to understand it, it is not
‘in itself’ anymore, but ‘reality for us’.
HEIDEGGER’S VIEW ON
TECHNOLOGY
How can technology be ‘a way of
revealing’?
1. What does this have to do with
technology?
2. What does Heidegger mean
when he says that technology is “a
way of revealing”?
HEIDEGGER'S VIEW ON
TECHNOLOGY
-technology embodies a specific way of revealing the
world, a revealing in which humans take power over
reality.
-while the ancient Greeks experienced the ‘making’ of
something as ‘helping something to come into being’ – as
-Heidegger explains that modern technology is rather a
‘forcing into being’.
-technology reveals the world as raw material, available
for production and manipulation
WHY IS TECHNOLOGY NOT A HUMAN
ACTIVITY
 According to Heidegger, there is
something wrong with the modern,
technological culture we live in today. In
our ‘age of technology’ reality can only
be present as a raw material (as a
‘standing reserve’). This state of affairs
has not been brought about by humans;
the technological way of revealing was
not chosen by humans.
 WHY IS TECHNOLOGY NOT A
HUMAN ACTIVITY
-Rather, our understanding of the world - our
understanding of ‘being’, of what it means ‘to be’ -
develops through the ages. In our time ‘being’ has
the character of a technological ‘framework’, from
which humans approach the world in a controlling
and dominating way.
-Every attempt to climb out of technology throws
us back in. The only way out for Heidegger is “the
will not to will”
ENFRAMING: Way of
Revealing in Modern
Technology
 What is enframing...
The term "enframing" -->Heidegger introduced the
concept in his essay "The Question Concerning
Technology" (1954).
Enframing, or "Gestell" in German, refers to the
way in which technology shapes and frames our
understanding of the world.
Enframing is not just a tool or instrument but a way
of revealing and ordering the world. Technology,
according to Heidegger, is not merely a neutral
means to an end; it fundamentally shapes our
perception of reality. Enframing involves a way of
seeing the world as a resource to be exploited and
controlled through technological means.
 Heidegger distinguished between calculative thinking and meditative
thinking.
● Calculative thinking – one orders 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.
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 want also control and are afraid of unpredictability, 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.
 Example…
When Heidegger says that technology reveals things to us as “standing reserve,” he
means that everything is imposed upon or “challenged” to be an orderly resource for
technical application, which in turn we take as a resource for further use, and so on
interminably.

For example, we challenge land to yield coal, treating the land as nothing but a
coal reserve. The coal is then stored, “on call, ready to deliver the sun’s
warmth that is stored in it,” which is then “challenged forth for heat, which in
turn is ordered to deliver steam whose pressure turns the wheels that keep a
factory running.” The factories are themselves challenged to produce tools
“through which once again machines are set to work and maintained.”
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 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.
●“But where danger is, grows the saving power also.” (poet Holderlin), the
saving power lies in the essence of technology as technology.
●The essence of technology is not found in the instrumentality and function of
machines constructed, but in the significance such technology unfolds
(Heidegger, 1977).
 Conclusion
In today's technological age, enframing
manifests itself in how we approach and
interact with technology. It shapes how we see Understanding enframing enables people to
nature, society, and ourselves. The enframing critically evaluate the role of technology in
mindset is defined by its emphasis on their lives, as well as its broader societal
efficiency, control, and resource manipulation. and environmental implications. It allows
Heidegger’s View us to reflect on how we interact as well as
- expresses concern about the potential connect with technology, resulting in a
dangers of enframing more mindful relationship with the tools
- promotes a more thoughtful and reflective
that shape our world.
approach to technology, encouraging people
to consider its impact on our lives and to
question the prevailing mindset that views
everything as a resource to be exploited.
Technology as Poiesis:
Applicable to Modern
Technology
 Does the idea that technology is poiesis apply to
modern technology?
What is Poiesis?
●The act of creation or bringing something into
existence and it is also the process through which
something is brought into being
 Modern Technology to Martin
Heidegger
●The renowned German Philosopher, had a
complex relationship with modern technology. In his
essay “The Question Concerning Technology,” he
argues that modern technology has fundamentally
altered our way of being in the world.
Technology as Poiesis: Applicable to
Modern Technology
●Modern technology challenges
nature and demands of its
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 and brings about
the setting upon of land.
Art as a Way Out Of
Enframing
Art as a Way Out Of Enframing
Enframing, as the mode of revealing in modern technology blocks
Poiesis. It disrupts our way of making and appreciating a certain thing
because it has an enframing factor in it.
The way of revealing is no longer poetic; it is demanding. However,
Martin Heidegger, a German Philosopher upholds an alternative, and
that is Art.
•With Art, it brings us closer to Poiesis and further away from Techne
According to Heidegger, the art of ancient Greek culture
expressed humanity’s sense of connectedness with All Being.
• It leads us away from calculative thinking and towards meditative
thinking.
• When meditatively looking at technology, it will question its
significance more than its use.
THE FOUR CAUSES
 Aristotle conception of (4) four causes was mechanical as Heidegger explained.
>The four causes are; causa materialis, causa formalis, causa finalis, and the
causa effciens.
>Heidegger claims that the Greek word translated as cause, aition, really means to be
indebted. The four causes signify ways in which a thing is indebted for its existence.
I think you’re accustomed to what enframing is, but as a review. Enframing is like putting in a
box or frame so it can be better understood. To perceive things as what we want them to be
instead of what they actually are. Poesies is etymologically derived from the ancient term
ποιέω, which means “to make”. Techne is an art, skill, or craft.
It is basically the mode of revealing in modern technology but blocks Poiesis.
 But, what is Poiesis?

Poiesis is etymologically derived from the ancient term Poyao which

means to make or bringing something into existence.
－ It disrupts our way of making and appreciating a certain thing because it
has an enframing factor in it.
－ The way of revealing is somewhat demanding, challenging because we
didn’t dig in to its depths.
－ It made us not to make or create more from it because we were put in a
frame where everything is calculated, controlled and orderable and it
stopped us from imagining and actually seeing things the way they are and
that is part of poiesis.
 How does Art brings us closer to Poeisis and
further away from Techne?
 Art provides us with a way out of enframing by bringing us closer to poieses and further
away from techne. Art activates human sensitivity if it even exists in an individual. The use
of imagination and actually seeing things the way they are is part of poieses.
 Art provides a way out of enframing because it reveals things as they are in themselves as
opposed to revealing them as they are in terms of flexibility, reliability, efficiency,
usefulness, etc. We can escape the essence of modern technology through art because art
changes our understanding of things from one of standing reserve to one of truth.
Art depends on human perceptiveness if it actually lives in a person. With the help
of creativity and in existence, seeing theimportance in the manner they exist a
component of expected to the particular artwork adjustments our knowledge of
characteristics from definitely felt one among qualityreserve to certainly considered
one among the validity. Through art, we can be savedfrom the impending disaster caused
by technology. This is because there is a broad understanding that innovates individuals in
creativity.