sts

• Martin Heidegger


  Widely acknowledged as one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, a German philosopher who joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and remained a member until it was dismantled toward the end of World War II. His philosophical work focused on ontology or the study of 'being' or 'dasein' in German.
• Instrumental Definition of Technology

  Technology is a means to an end. It means that technology is a tool available to individuals, groups and communities that desire to make an impact on society.
• Anthropological Definition of Technology

  Technology is a human activity. The production of invention of technological equipment, tools and machines, the products and inventions and the purpose and functions they serve are what define technology.
• "The essence of technology is by no means anything technological" (1977)
• Heidegger stressed that the true can only be pursued through the correct.
• Technology as a way of revealing - a mode of 'bringing forth'


  Bringing forth can be understood in the Ancient Greek philosophical concept Poiesis, which means the act of bringing something out of concealment. It can also be understood to another Ancient Greek concept of aletheia, which translated as unclosedness, unconcealedness, disclosure or truth.
• Technology as Poiesis


  Technology is a form of poiesis - a way of revealing that unconceals aletheia or the truth.
• According to "The Question Concerning Technology", both primitive crafts and modern technology are REVEALING.
• Modern technology challenges nature


  By extracting something from and transforming, storing and distributing.
• Modern technology is not to bring forth in the sense of poiesis but revealing in a challenging forth


  Technology is a challenging forth because it makes people think how to do things faster, more effectively and with less effort.
• Enframing


  The gathering together of that setting-upon which sets upon man, i.e., challenges him forth, to reveal the real, in the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve. Enframing means the way of revealing which holds sway in the essence of modern technology and which is itself nothing technological.
• Nature needs to be "framed" so that it can be better understood and controlled according to the desire of man.
• Enframing is done because people want security.
• The Dangers of Technology: Human Swallowed by Technology


  If people allow themselves to get swallowed by modern technology, they lose the essence of who they are as beings in this world.
• Heidegger asserted that the essence of technology is nothing technological.
• Human dependence on technology cannot be resolved by refusing technology.
• Friedrich Holderlin, a German poet: '"But where danger is, grows the saving power also" (1977,p.14)'
• Art as the saving power


  Art encourages humans to think less from a calculative standpoint where nature is viewed as an ordered system.
• Growth has been the main object of development for the past 70 years, despite the fact that it's not working
• Since 1980, the global economy has grown by 380%, but the number of people living in poverty on less than $5 (£3.20) a day has increased by more than 1.1 billion
• Questioning as a Piety of Thought

  Piety is associated with being religious. Piety means obedience and submission. Thinking brings forth insights and understanding becomes significant when evoked with questioning. Questioning allows us to submit ourselves to our thoughts and builds a way towards knowing the truth and who we are as beings in this world.
• Orthodox economists insist that all we need is yet more growth
• More progressive types tell us that we need to shift some of the yields of growth from the richer segments of the population to the poorer ones, evening things out a bit
• Even at current levels of average global consumption, we're overshooting our planet's bio-capacity by more than 50% each year
• Growth isn't an option any more – we've already grown too much
• Scientists are now telling us that we're blowing past planetary boundaries at breakneck speed
• This global crisis is due almost entirely to overconsumption in rich countries
• Our planet only has enough resources for each of us to consume 1.8 "global hectares" annually
• People in the US and Canada consume about 8 hectares per person, while Europeans consume 4.7 hectares – many times their fair share
• Instead of pushing poorer countries to 'catch up' with rich ones, we should be getting rich countries to 'catch down'
• Cuba has a comparable life expectancy to the US and one of the highest literacy rates in the world with GDP per capita of only $6,000 and consumption of only 1.9 hectares – right at the threshold of ecological sustainability
• 70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk
• A similar majority also believe we should strive to buy and own less, and that doing so would not compromise our happiness
• GDP as a measure is not going to get us to a more sophisticated form of progress, and we need to get rid of it
• Either we slow down voluntarily or climate change will do it for us
• If we do not act soon, all our hard-won gains against poverty will evaporate, as food systems collapse and mass famine re-emerges to an extent not seen since the 19th century
• Rethinking our theory of progress is not only an ecological imperative, it is also a development one
• This is not about giving anything up, and it's certainly not about living a life of voluntary misery or imposing harsh limits on human potential
• It's about reaching a higher level of understanding and consciousness about what we're doing here and why
• Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics


  The fundamental basis of Aristotelian ethics, consists of 10 books, originally were lecture notes written on scrolls when he taught in Lyceum