The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human

The idea of progress, commitment to which has been a defining feature of modernity, has almost always been associated with a belief in the progressive possibilities inherent in technology. The improvement of the world—even the achievement of some sort of utopia—has thus been seen as tied to the incr...

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Main Author: Jeff Malpas
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Institute Nova Revija for the Humanities 2018-12-01
Series:Phainomena
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_4_Malpas.pdf
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author_facet Jeff Malpas
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description The idea of progress, commitment to which has been a defining feature of modernity, has almost always been associated with a belief in the progressive possibilities inherent in technology. The improvement of the world—even the achievement of some sort of utopia—has thus been seen as tied to the increasing technological mastery of the world. Yet, there are good reasons to suppose that the optimistic progressivism associated with technological modernism is misplaced, and that regardless of the various instantiations of modernity, with which technology is associated, and regardless, too, of the many benefits of particular technological advances and devices, the essential structure of technology conceals a danger within it. The key claim in this argument is that technological modernity is intimately connected with a certain mode of spatialization, and through this, to a blindness to, or even a refusal of, the necessary limits within which even technology itself comes to be. As a result, there is an essential contradiction within technological modernity that threatens the very possibility of a genuinely human—or ethical—form of life.
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spelling doaj.art-30a612f8f5e9440e8d93971198f08d932022-12-22T03:20:31ZdeuInstitute Nova Revija for the HumanitiesPhainomena1318-33622232-66502018-12-0127106-1079110710.32022/PHI27.2018.106-107.4The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the HumanJeff Malpas0University of TasmaniaThe idea of progress, commitment to which has been a defining feature of modernity, has almost always been associated with a belief in the progressive possibilities inherent in technology. The improvement of the world—even the achievement of some sort of utopia—has thus been seen as tied to the increasing technological mastery of the world. Yet, there are good reasons to suppose that the optimistic progressivism associated with technological modernism is misplaced, and that regardless of the various instantiations of modernity, with which technology is associated, and regardless, too, of the many benefits of particular technological advances and devices, the essential structure of technology conceals a danger within it. The key claim in this argument is that technological modernity is intimately connected with a certain mode of spatialization, and through this, to a blindness to, or even a refusal of, the necessary limits within which even technology itself comes to be. As a result, there is an essential contradiction within technological modernity that threatens the very possibility of a genuinely human—or ethical—form of life. https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_4_Malpas.pdfethicshuman beinglimitnumberplacespace
spellingShingle Jeff Malpas
The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
Phainomena
ethics
human being
limit
number
place
space
title The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
title_full The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
title_fullStr The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
title_full_unstemmed The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
title_short The Spatialization of the World. Technology, Modernity, and the Effacement of the Human
title_sort spatialization of the world technology modernity and the effacement of the human
topic ethics
human being
limit
number
place
space
url https://www.phainomena.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/E-PHI27_106-107_4_Malpas.pdf
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