Abstract
In part one of this paper I describe a tendency in technological production that I call the “leisure-as-liberation” model of technological design, and outline how it has evolved from Aristotle, to Marx, to today. In part two I show, by develo** an outline of what I call “human-nihilism relations,” how Nietzsche would criticize the idea that we could find liberation through leisure. In part three I provide a tour of Don Ihde’s postphenomenology, in order to set up parallels between Nietzsche’s human-nihilism relations and Ihde’s human-technology relations. In part four I develop these parallels into a new set of relations that I call “nihilism-technology relations,” in order to highlight how technologies can mediate nihilism and how nihilism can mediate technologies. I conclude with a reflection on how rehabilitating the concept of responsibility can help us to move away from this nihilistic “leisure-as-liberation” model of technological design.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akrich, M. (1992). The description of technological objects. In W. E. Bijker & J. Law (Eds.), Sha** technology/building society (pp. 205–224). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Aristotle. (1996). The politics and the constitution of Athens (S. Everson, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boston Business Journal. (2016). http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2016/08/irobots-newest-roomba-is-cheaper-but-still-smart.html#g1. Accessed 29 Oct 2016.
Bostrom, N. (2005). In defense of Posthuman dignity. Bioethics, 19(3), 202–214.
Fuller, S. (2015). We may look crazy to them, but they look like Zombies to us: Transhumanism as a political challenge. Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/fuller20150909
Fusion. (2015). ‘Netflix and chill’: The complete history of a viral sex catchphrase. http://fusion.net/story/190020/netflix-and-chill/. Accessed 8 Dec 2016.
Gertz, N. (2014). The philosophy of war and exile. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Gertz, N. (2016). Autonomy online: Jacques Ellul and the Facebook emotional manipulation study. Research Ethics, 12(1), 55–61.
Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the lifeworld. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few Mundane Artifacts. In W. E. Bijker & J. Law. (Eds.) Sha** technology/building society (pp. 225–258). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Marx, K. (1983). The portable Karl Marx (E. Kamenka, Ed.). Middlesex: Penguin Books.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1970). The German ideology (C. J. Arthur, Ed.). International Publishers.
Nietzsche, F. (1989). On the genealogy of morals and ecce homo (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). Vintage.
Sartre, J. -P. (1993). Essays in existentialism (W. Baskin, Trans.). Citadel Press.
Tromp, N., Hekkert, P., & Verbeek, P. -P. (2011). Design for socially responsible behavior: A classification of influence based on intended user experience. Design Issues, 27(3), 3–19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gertz, N. (2018). Nietzsche, Postphenomenology, and Nihilism-Technology Relations. In: Fritzsche, A., Oks, S. (eds) The Future of Engineering. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91029-1_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91029-1_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91028-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91029-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)