The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In what follows we shall be questioning concerning technology..." (more)
Key Phrases: inconspicuous state, suprasensory world, new positing, New York, Middle Ages, Joan Stambaugh (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"To read Heidegger is to set out on an adventure. The essays in this volume--intriguing, challenging, and often baffling to the reader--call him always to abandon all superficial scanning and to enter wholeheartedly into the serious pursuit of thinking....

"Heidegger is not a 'primitive' or a 'romanitic.' He is not one who seeks escape from the burdens and responsibilities of contemporary life into serenity, either through the re-creating of some idyllic past or through the exalting of some simple experience. Finally, Heidegger is not a foe of technology and science. He neither disdains nor rejects them as though they were only destructive of human life.

"The roots of Heidegger's hinking lie deep in the Western philosophical tradition. Yet that thinking is unique in many of its aspects, in its language, and in its leterary expression. In the development of this thought Heidegger has been taught chiefly by the Greeks, by German idealism, by phenomenology, and by the scholastic theological tradition. In him these and other elements have been fused by his genius of sensitivity and intellect into a very individual philosophical expression."--William Lovitt, from the Introduction

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 19, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061319694
• ISBN-13: 978-0061319693
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,777 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heidegger at his best and most relevant, September 30, 1999

By A Customer

The Question Concerning Technology frequently has been criticized as lacking content beneath Heidegger's stormy language. Not true! It may take more than one reading (it took me about 5), but once the meaning of the concept of Enframing really takes a hold of you, it becomes the most powerful and relevant philosophical concept since Nietzsche's will to power. Responding to the challenge of Enframing, man has reduced the world of Being to his own self-referential bubble. Heidegger's words are at times the bleakest that the 20th century has to offer, yet in the second essay "The Turning," he suggests that Enframing's pervasive control of the world also provides a context for true, authentic behavior through the resistance of this powerful force. Authenticity is not a possibility for Heidegger without danger. For the detailed and patient reader, Heidegger provides a compelling description of global technology and its implications, distinguishing between the essence of technology and technological activity as well as the vibrations the essence of technology stirs in the realms of truth and ethics.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Tough Nut to Crack, April 13, 2009

By	AmazonGraceHowSweetTheSound - See all my reviews

This book is what it is. Be prepared to be confronted with terse, abstract language. If you are feeling up to the challenge of figuring out it's nuances and insights, give it a go. I was particularly interested in the essay about the pros and cons about technology. However, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the diction of the book and never got around to reading much. I have set aside the book for a time later in life when I am more mature and patient and ready to wrestle with contemplating the full meaning. I was also disappointed to learn from others that Heidegger may have been rather Anti-Semitic against Jews despite his literary contributions. There's really nothing to complain about nor anything to celebrate. Another old dead philospher leaves his mark upon the world and we are left pondering the meaning.

9 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars understand, April 26, 2004

By	Adam Goodell (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

After reading Heidegger I feel as if I sort of understand nature and the nature channel.