This week the philosophy of educational technology is digging deeply into Martin Heidegger’s article “The Question Concerning Technology”. One of the focus questions was “How do we relate to technology?”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In order to answer this question, we need to understand the word ‘relate’. When we first think of\u00a0relationship we think in human terms – one person to another, in mutual and reciprocal ways. But\u00a0in digging deeper into this word, it brings forth many other forms of being in relationship:\u00a0subjugation, formal contract, affiliation, membership, friendship, assimilation, acquaintance,\u00a0dependance. The one common element in all of these forms of relationship is the sense of an\u00a0emotional connection, either good or bad, positive or negative.\u00a0In terms of our relationship with technology, each one of these forms of relating can be seen in the\u00a0way an individual uses any form of technology. For example, we could see our dependance on cell\u00a0phones as becoming a relationship of subjugation. We are in relationship with technology through\u00a0our membership in an online course.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heidegger refers to technology being a means to an end and as a human activity. “This much\u00a0remains correct: modern technology too is a means to an end.” He also states “The will to mastery\u00a0becomes all the more urgent the more technology threatens to slip from human control.” This\u00a0makes me think that the relationship is one of subjugation and dominance rather than one of\u00a0reciprocity and mutual dependance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He later also states “Everything depends on our manipulating technology in the proper manner as a\u00a0means.” This makes me think of relating to technology as one would an unmannerly child… with\u00a0firm hand and stern voice. Let’s keep that technology in line or it will get out of control. (Think of a\u00a0classroom full of 13 year olds!)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet, further into Heidegger’s article, he talks about techne belonging to the ‘bursting forth’ and that\u00a0it is grounded in revealing. This ‘brings forth’ a more mutual sense of relationship. It is one of\u00a0reciprocity. We are revealing ourselves through our use of technology and technology is revealed in\u00a0our use. We are changed by our use of technology and technology is changed by our use. Just think\u00a0of our own personal change and revealing that has occurred over the previous few weeks as\u00a0evidence of that reciprocity!\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, in conclusion our relationship with technology is how we choose it to be… one of a means to an\u00a0end, one of subjugation, one of assimilation, or one of mutual interdependence. Love it or hate it…\u00a0there is always an emotional connection when there is relationship.<\/p>\n
Reference: Heidegger, M. (1953\/1977). The question concerning technology. In M. Heidegger, The question concerning technology and other essays (trans. W. Lovitt) (pp. 3-35). New York: Harper & Row.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week the philosophy of educational technology is digging deeply into Martin Heidegger’s article “The Question Concerning Technology”. One of the focus questions was “How do we relate to technology?”.\u00a0 In order to answer this question, we need to understand the word ‘relate’. When we first think of\u00a0relationship we think in human terms – one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3752,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3752"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/hdew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}