https://edspace.american.edu/kt4065a/wp-content/uploads/sites/1073/2019/11/Final-AHIF-Essay-Trip-revised.pdf
Has Technology Become a Means to an End?
Heidegger’s essay on technology implies that America is the epitome of a global existential crisis, where man has lost its sense of “being’ and a loss of spirit due to the technologicalization of everyday life. This is significant because it is another instance of a European philosopher pinning global problems on the United States, even if it is only perception. In addition, it may imply an implicit bias towards America on part of Heidegger because he does not specifically mention America as the root cause of this crisis. This paper will examine his mentioning of America in an essay on “The Fundamental Question on Metaphysics” and will analyze how that relates to his argument on Technology, that technology has chained man because we do not understand the “essence of technology” and that technology has become a means to an end.
In his essay on Metaphysics, he describes how America and Russia are the essence of a technological revolution that has catapulted a loss of spirit in the world. Furthemore, he argues that, “From a metaphysical point of view, Russia and America are the same; the same dreary technological frenzy, the same unrestricted organization of the average man.” (37) From this quote, we can infer that Heidegger believes that America is the epitome of a technological frenzy that has restricted man’s being. His argument that this epitome of technologization has created a loss of spirit comes a few lines later when he argues that, “ The spiritual decline of the Earth is so far advanced that the nations are in danger of losing the last bit of spiritual energy that makes it possible to see the decline.” (38) This idea of technology as a catalyst for spiritual decline is evident, as I’m about to show in an essay on technology as well.
Heidegger’s argument on the essence of technology corresponds with his view of America in his metaphysics essay, which suggests as a whole that he may believe that America is the epitome of a technological revolution that has removed one’s sense of existence and “being.” For instance, he argues that, “Everywhere, we remain unfree and chained to technology, whether we passionately or affirm or deny it. But we are delivered over to it in the worst possible way when we regard it as something neutral; for this conception of it, to which we particularly like to do homage, makes us utterly blind to the essence of technology.” (4) His description of the unrestricted organized man that he associates with America, and his description of being chained to technology both symbolize a submission to technology that has come over the world in recent years. In addition, his description of a not yet identified spiritual decline in his essay on metaphysics and his description in the technology essay on being blind to the essence of technology are similar because they both identify a blindness to a deeper purpose to the objects around us. Through these comparisons of submission to technology and loss of a deeper purpose in the material world, in addition to his description of America analyzed above, we can infer that Heidegger believes that America symbolizes the epitome of a global crisis that has made man slaves to technology and in return created a loss of a spiritual being and a deeper purpose in the world. This is very significant because it suggests implicit bias in Heidegger’s work. He does not specifically mention America in his essay on technology. However, he does mention America in his essay in metaphysics. And this implicit bias may symbolize an implicit European bias towards America that can not be analyzed just from Heidegger’s essays.