Technology as Habitual Mode of Being in the World

Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research, 2022

Purpose. To substantiate the definition of technics as the attributive characteristics of a human being and the necessity of its orientation towards human flourishing in the context of new anthropological models of the 21st century. Theoretical basis. Correlation between technics, technology and the human essence is examined. The role of technics is traced at different historical stages of human development. Negative and positive effects of digital technology development upon a contemporary human being is analysed in the light of new anthropological models: homo technologicus, homo digitalis and homo eudaimonicus. The content of a new worldview-value paradigm of defining goals of technology is outlined. Originality. Transformation of the role of technics correlates with value and worldview shifts in person's understanding of his/her purpose in both natural and social worlds. Nowadays, philosophical analysis of anthropological dimension of technics and technology opens a horizon for seeking effective solutions in the face of the contemporary challenges and anti-utopian threats by means of focusing on the fact that, indeed, technological development is subordinate to the humanist goal that is flourishing, wellbeing and comprehensive development of a human being. Conclusions. The essence of technology reveals not through its functional but anthropogenic definitions in a sense of a source of institutionalization and in a sense of a source of realization of a human way of self-identification and self-objectification of human subjectivity. Technics/technology is the attributive characteristics of human essence and being: a human being is as much human as much he/she is a creator of technics. The purpose of technics is not to master the nature and to transform the world; technics is, above all, a tool of human self-improvement and self-creation through broadening the horizon of human capacities. The analysis of new modern anthropological models shows that it is the orientation of technology/technology towards human flourishing that is, on the one hand, a response to the existential demands of modern man, and on the other hand, a way of preventing future threats related to technological development.

2010

We live in an “always-on” world where people are expected to stay connected with friends, family members, and co-workers. We are becoming a culture that is dependent on technology to complete the activities in our daily lives. Technology is changing our culture in such a way that we may be expected to be available and “online” at anytime of the day or night. This exploratory study of 88 undergraduate and graduate students at a midAtlantic university found that students depend on technology to fulfill their communication and information seeking needs and to complete their daily activities. This study argues that students are becoming increasingly dependent on technology to accomplish their daily activities and thus forgetting how to complete these tasks without the use of technology.

Culture should be seen as the first nature of human beings. However, the rich diversity of cultural objects present within the life world of humans presupposes the all-embracing role of tools en technology. What appears to be unique and distinctive in human tool-making is the innovation to use tools in the production of other tools. Simpson even discerns in this ability a defining trait: humans are " the only living animal that uses tools to make tools. " Against this background attention is given to prominent scholars and their views on technology and its development. It starts with the philosophy of Descartes and Hobbes and proceeds by considering the views of Dijksterhuis, von Bertalanffy, Heidegger, Weber, Habermas and Ellul – with special attention given to the rise of machine technology. The Enlightenment ideal of progress is related to an over-estimation of technology present in what Schuurman calls technicism, which ought to be understood in terms of the dialectic between nature and freedom in modern philosophy. The technocrats assume universal cultural laws while the revolutionary utopians accept an open future for human freedom. In the final part of the article an assessment is given of some implications entailed in the preceding analysis. It is noted that technology is not " applied science " and that technology and tools should be understood in term of both subject-subject relations and subject-object relations. Since subjects and objects are determined and delimited by applicable cultural norms and principles attention is also given to such principles, intimately connected to an account of the mening of technology. In conclusion it is pointed out that the nature of technology and the all-pervasive use of tools confirm the opening remark regarding culture as the first nature of human beings. Sometimes culture is seen as the second nature of human beings, whereas in fact it should be appreciated as the first nature of humankind. This remark is confirmed by the fact that the general history of human civilizations is assessed in terms of the artefacts they produced. However such artefacts could not have been produced without the development of multiple tools. And with the advent of tool-making technology irrevocably entered the scene. The life-world of humankind is unthinkable without the presence of a cultural environment, including cultural objects such as clothes, cutlery, furniture, houses, roads and so on. Just contemplate the diversity of cultural designs evinced in functionally differentiated cultural objects: analytical artefacts (test tubes) lingual artefacts (books), social artefacts (homes),

19-31, in: Essays in Post-Critical Philosophy of Technology. Eds.: M. Héder and E. Nádasi, Vernon Press, Wilmington, Delaware, 2019

This paper proposes a specific approach to understanding the nature of technology that encompasses the entire field of technological praxis, from the making of primitive tools to using the Internet. In that approach, technology is a specific form of human agency that yields to (an imperfect) realization of human control over a technological situation—that is, a situation not governed to an end by natural constraints but by specific human aims. The components of such technological situations are a given collection of natural or artificial beings, humans, human aims, and situation-bound tools. By performing technological situation analysis, the essential form of tool making, the complex system of relationships between science and technology, technological practices with and without machines, the finiteness or imperfectness of any technology, and engineering (i.e., the possibility of the creation of technological situations) can be considered. For a better characterization of the approach to technology, the paper also presents a comparison of other philosophies of technology. Following Feenberg’s comparative analysis, the so-called fundamental question of the philosophy of technology is formulated, its two sides are identified, and it is applied for clarification of our position within philosophy of technology. In our approach, all human praxis can be considered to be technological; more precisely, every human activity has a technological aspect or dimension

The prosperity and progress of a civilization depend on its unending quests for discovery and innovations. Our identities as societies are tied to our artifacts and to our understanding of the culture they represent. Thus, technology in its cultural meaning refers to all the social customs by which people manipulate material entities and substances of all kinds. It includes techniques of manipulating raw materials to produce artifacts, ways of handling or modifying artifacts, and means of manipulating animal and human bodies, including one's own body (Honigmam, 1959:290).The history of technology dates back to thousands of years before Christ when man discovered the know how to make fire. Technology has historically changed its nature. After the growth and development of human civilization, for many years technology remained the means by which people secured food and shelter, established social order as well as shaped and sustained their cultures. Along with language, religion and social structure, technology is part of the culture of a given people and perhaps more than any given factor, is used to shape and symbolize a society's values and beliefs. According to Carlson (2006) "while all cultures have technology, every culture uses technology differently". Moreover, history is witness to the fact that unlike Western culture which uses technology just as the means to pursue material and economic goals, non-western cultures view technology in different ways such as sustaining the social order and expressing cultural perception.

Journal of Business, Economics and Finance, 2017

Technological developments lead to a level of prosperity as well as to misery. Latest industrial developments also caused serious problems in the economic, social and political context. In today's world, information as well as information technology are of great significance -this will be of increased importance. Our today's source of information is based on computer technology. Wars between countries are rather made by the power of information as per weapons. While in the past, reduplication of knowledge generation took 4.000 years, today we only need 50 years for it. The accumulation of knowledge leads to new innovations so that technology is today an indispensable factor of our world. This leads to the fact, that the world is today a global village. Today, the industry is not able to meet the demand of the information society. Developments in the information technology go hand in hand with the individual context and the fields like governance, industry, economy, social policy and entertainment. The rapid change and development of technology and information caused incorrect use of technology and information as well as the facts of not being able to follow current trends and a great competitive pressure. All the above-mentioned indicators pointed to pressures and stress on people. In addition, the cultural structure and standards are negatively impacted. People and the world suffer from the incorrect use of technology and information. The rapid change of information and the access to this information caused and increased information pollution. People were not able anymore to differ between correct and incorrect information. This information pollution affected the soul and mind of people negatively.

2016

Since technology invaded human life, there has been a strong relationship between humans and machines. In this relationship, similar to other relationships in which humans are involved, there are emotions. When technology brings irresistible innovations and creates a multi-mediated environment, it becomes more difficult to reject the materiality of technology. In time, the acceptance of machines into life has created a new society which cannot exist without machines, and the individual's life in this new society has become dependent on machines. For some individuals, this interdependence may become an enthusiasm and even addiction, intentionally or unintentionally. Technophilia and technophile are useful burgeoning terms to describe the devotion of humans to new technologies and other technological inventions. This content-based descriptive paper aims to study technophilia in the context of technological reductionism. The research includes examples from science-fiction cinema and Hatsune Miku (virtual pop singer) with the concept of technium. The paper explores the term technophilia from the cultural perspective for relationship between human and machines, presenting this new notion as the element of human identity.

Microelectronics and Society, 1982

Strong concerns have been voiced about the influence of technology on our society and educational system. Much of the criticism is based on a polarized view of technology and human activities. At one pole is the perceived mechanistic sterility of the technical approach and its reliance on computational devices. At the other pole is the creativity and intuition of humans in relationship with the natural world. Unfortunately this separation does not provide a framework for coping with the inevitable influx of computer-related technology.