The Human Person Flourishing in terms of Science Technology

• German philosopher Martin Heidegger's essay "The Question Concerning Technology" addresses modern technology as an instrumental way of revealing the world beyond traditional views of machines and technical procedures
• Heidegger's understanding of technology is based on its essence, seeing it as a mode of being or revealing with its own presence, endurance, and connections among parts and wholes
• For Heidegger, the essence of technology is not the best or most characteristic instance of technology, nor is it a nebulous generality, but an event to which we belong, involving the structuring, ordering, and "requisitioning" of everything around us and of ourselves
• Heidegger distinguishes modern technology's revealing process as challenging, demanding things to be brought forth, and expediting, hastening the movement of something while unlocking and exposing resources that must be used efficiently
• Heidegger's concept of modern technology:

  • Modern technology reveals things as "standing in reserve", not as autonomous objects
  • Objects stand against us with autonomy, while things in reserve are called forth in challenging and expediting
  • Modern technology reduces things into the objectlessness of manipulation and demands
• Old technology respects nature as an object of autonomy, contrasting with modern technology's objectlessness

  • Old technology reveals nature as a part of itself, respecting it as a landscape with autonomy
• Enframing, according to Heidegger, is the essence of modern technology, putting everything in nature into the frame of manipulation and demands
• Heidegger warns that modern technology risks losing the mystery of truth, leading to a realm of erring where nothing is mysterious anymore
• Human flourishing, or Eudaimonia, involves virtue, knowledge, and excellence, not just material prosperity, according to Plato and Aristotle
• Human flourishing involves the rational use of one’s individual potentialities, talents, abilities, and virtues in the pursuit of freely and rationally chosen values and goals
• An action is considered proper if it leads to the flourishing of the person performing the action
• Human flourishing is both a moral accomplishment and a fulfillment of human capacities, and it is one through being the other
• Human flourishing is real and highly personal by nature, consisting in the fulfillment of both a man’s human nature and unique potentialities
• Human flourishing becomes an actuality when one uses practical reason to consider his unique needs, circumstances, and capabilities to determine which concrete instantiations of human values and virtues will comprise his well-being
• To flourish, a man must pursue goals that are both rational for him individually and also as a human being
• Living rationally (i.e., consciously) means dealing with the world conceptually, implying respect for the facts of reality
• Living rationally implies dealing with the world conceptually and respecting the facts of reality
• The principle of living consciously involves the acceptance of using one's reason in recognizing and perceiving reality and in choosing values and actions to the best of one's ability
• Rational goals can be pursued through rational means to cope successfully with reality and achieve one's goals
• Values required for personal flourishing can be discovered and attained through the use of one's mind
• Human flourishing is positively related to a rational man's attempts to externalize his values and actualize his internal views of how things ought to be in the outside world
• Activity: Film Viewing - Watch the movie clip "The Magician's Twin: CS Lewis and the Case against Scientism" and answer questions about scientism and modern science

  
• Activity: Questions for Reflection - Reflect on whether the idea of human flourishing reflects in progress and development, and consider the rewarding and enriching aspects of your life
• Martin Heidegger, a German Philosopher, wrote an essay in 1954 entitled "The Question Concerning Technology," addressing modern technology as an instrumental way of revealing the world
• According to Heidegger, technology is not something we make; it is a mode of being, or of revealing
• Heidegger's view is that modern technology is primarily a matter of modern and industrial technology, not simply the practical application of natural science
• Heidegger uses the term "enframing" to describe the essence of modern technology, which he believes leads to nature being beyond our control and on the verge of destruction
• Human flourishing, translated from the Greek word 'Eudaimonia,' involves rational, spirited or emotional, and appetitive aspects according to Plato and Aristotle
• Plato and Aristotle both emphasize that human flourishing is achieved through virtue, knowledge, and excellence, not just material prosperity
• Human flourishing requires an ordering of the tripartite structure of the soul according to Plato, and rational activity according to Aristotle
• To flourish, a person must pursue goals that are rational for them individually and as a human being, dealing with the world conceptually and externalizing their values