Abstract
In this chapter are interpreted certain passages of Heidegger’s essay Die Frage nach der Technik. Special attention is given to the concept of enframing (Gestell). In our reading this term refer to mechanical supporting structures, i.e. to devices that are not particularly complex, but they serve fundamental purposes such as supporting or containing in the broadest possible sense, so we might also translate Gestell as “assembly” or “framework”. With Gestell Heidegger attempts to express the essence of modern technology in the way that it reveals its “mechanicality”. The assembly is not just a device among others, but the horizon on which all the resources of the technological world, including human beings, are collected and coordinated. The object touched by the machine is thus converted into a “standing- reserve” (Bestand), or stock, something to be extracted, converted and consumed.
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Notes
- 1.
On the relationship between Heidegger and Ernst Jünger see, above all, the delightful essay by Franco Volpi, Itinerarium mentis in nihilum, which appeared as an introduction to Über die Linie (Adelphi, Milano 1989, pp. 11–45). This brief but concentrated work also provides all the bibliographical references relating to the questions raised by the two authors. Among the most relevant works on the topic of technology in Heidegger, see: Kunst und Technik . Gedächtnisschrift zum 100. Geburtstag von Martin Heidegger, edited by W. Biemel and F.W. von Herrmann, Klostermann, Frankfurt a. M. 1989; M.T. Pansera, L’ uomo e i sentieri della tecnica. Heidegger, Gehlen , Marcuse, Armando, Roma 1998; N. Russo (ed.) L’uomo e le macchine. Per un’antropologia della tecnica, Guida Editore, Napoli 2007.
- 2.
Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, trans. W. Lowitt, New York: Harper and Low 1977, pp. 13–14.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Id., Der Gestell, in Bremer und Freiburger Vorträge, Klostermann, Frankfurt am main, 1994, p. 57 (Eng. trans., by Positionality o The Ge-stell, in the Bremen and Freiburg Lectures
- 5.
Ivi, pp. 55–57.
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Grigenti, F. (2016). Martin Heidegger – Machine and Truth. In: Existence and Machine. SpringerBriefs in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45366-8_5
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