"Critical theory of technology: An overview"

by Feenberg, Andrew (2008)

Abstract

What makes technical action different from other relations to reality? This question is often answered in terms of notions such as efficiency or control, which are themselves internal to a technical approach to the world. To judge an action as more or less efficient is already to have determined it to be technical and therefore an appropriate object of such a judgment. Similarly, the concept of control implied in technique is “technical” and so not a distinguishing criterion. There is tradition in philosophy of technology that resolves this problem by invoking the concept of “impersonal domination” first found in Marx’s description of capitalism. This tradition, associated with Heidegger and the Frankfurt School, remains too abstract to satisfy us today but it does identify an extraordinary feature of technical action.

Key Passage

Technological systems impose technical management on human beings. Some manage, while others are managed. […] The world appears quite differently from these two positions. The strategic standpoint privileges considerations of control and efficiency and looks for affordances, precisely what Heidegger criticizes in technology. (p.38)

Keywords

Feenberg, Heidegger, Marx, Frankfurt School, Technology, Critical Theory, Technical Action

Themes

Technology, On Heidegger

Links to Reference

• https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gZRxDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA31&ots=3ugkw6Uww-&sig=_jbYaZpYF_oFUVjsDryHbocxi5g
• https://www.academia.edu/download/45943475/Information_Technology_in_Librarianship__New_Critical_Approaches.pdf#page=38

Citation

Share

How to contribute.