Nihilism Art Technology

Beginning in an analysis of three paradigmatic instances of the encounter between art and technology in modernism, this work analyzes three philosophical responses to the question of nihilism--those of Walter Benjamin, Ernst Jnger, and Martin Heidegger--all of which are characterized by an avant-garde sensibility that looks to art as a way to counter the crisis of modernity.

This volume contains both overviews of Heidegger's life and works and analysis of his most important work, Being and Time.

The Canadian discourse - Technological dependency: George Grant as the Nietzsche of the New World - Technological humanism : the processed World of Marshall McLuhan - Technological realism : Harold Innis' empire of communications.

Martin Heidegger is, perhaps, the most controversial philosopher of the twentieth-century. Little has been written on him or about his work and its significance for educational thought. This unique collection by a group of international scholars reexamines Heidegger's work and its legacy for educational thought. Thematically, the collection focuses on Heidegger's critique of modernity and contributors investigate the central significance for education of Heidegger's ontology and his investigation of the question of the meaning of Being by examining his 'art of teaching' (a translation of his submission to the denazification hearing), his view of science and reason, his philosophy of technology, his poetics, and the implications of his thought for learning. These essays point to the crucial importance of Heidegger's work for understanding modern, highly-technologized forms of education and for the possibilities of redemption from its worst excesses.

An examination of the meaning of meaninglessness: why it matters that nothing matters. When someone is labeled a nihilist, it's not usually meant as a compliment. Most of us associate nihilism with destructiveness and violence. Nihilism means, literally, “an ideology of nothing. “ Is nihilism, then, believing in nothing? Or is it the belief that life is nothing? Or the belief that the beliefs we have amount to nothing? If we can learn to recognize the many varieties of nihilism, Nolen Gertz writes, then we can learn to distinguish what is meaningful from what is meaningless. In this addition to the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Gertz traces the history of nihilism in Western philosophy from Socrates through Hannah Arendt and Jean-Paul Sartre. Although the term “nihilism” was first used by Friedrich Jacobi to criticize the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Gertz shows that the concept can illuminate the thinking of Socrates, Descartes, and others. It is Nietzsche, however, who is most associated with nihilism, and Gertz focuses on Nietzsche's thought. Gertz goes on to consider what is not nihilism—pessimism, cynicism, and apathy—and why; he explores theories of nihilism, including those associated with Existentialism and Postmodernism; he considers nihilism as a way of understanding aspects of everyday life, calling on Adorno, Arendt, Marx, and prestige television, among other sources; and he reflects on the future of nihilism. We need to understand nihilism not only from an individual perspective, Gertz tells us, but also from a political one.

This discussion responds to the work of Langdon Winner, Albert Borgmann, Charles Taylor, Martin Heidegger, David Abram, and others."--BOOK JACKET.

Largely because of the Internet and the new economy, technology has become the buzzword of our culture. But what is it, and how does it affect our lives? More importantly, can we control and shape it, or does it control us? In short, can we make technology more democratic? Using the work of Andrew Feenberg, one of the most important and original figures in the field of philosophy of technology, as a foundation, the contributors to this volume explore these important questions and Feenberg responds. In the 1990s, Feenberg authored three books that established him as one of the leading scholars in a rapidly developing field, and he is one of the few to delineate a theory for democratizing technological design. He has demonstrated the shortcomings of traditional theories of technology and argued for what he calls "democratic rationalization" where actors intervene in the technological design process to shape it toward their own ends. In this book, the contributors analyze foundational issues in Feenberg's work, including questions of human nature, biotechnology, gender, and his readings of Heidegger, and they also examine practical issues, including democratizing technology, moral evaluation, and environmentalism.

Jacob E. Van Vleet argues that the work of Jacques Ellul is frequently misread on account of inattention to the theological underpinning that governs Ellul’s thought. In a penetrating analysis, the first of its kind, Van Vleet provides a substantive account of the theological structure of Ellul’s work and demonstrates the determinative role that theology plays in a proper understanding of Ellul. The book offers a major introduction to Ellul’s thought, his contribution to theology and philosophy, and how his philosophy of technology is both theologically informed and culturally relevant.