Philosophy of Technology: Chapter 20 (Arnold Gehlen)

"A Philosophical-Anthropological Perspective on Technology" (1965, reprinted 1983)

Background notes:

• German philosopher, sociologist, and philosophical anthropolgist
  
• Many terms from his work, like Reizüberflutung ("Sensory overload"), deinstitutionalization or post-history, have gained popular currency in Germany.
• major influences while studying philosophy were Hans Driesch, Nicolai Hartmann and especially Max Scheler 
• joined the Nazi Party in 1933 
• career as a member of the 'Leipzig School' under Hans Freyer

Reading Response:
Gehlen defines technology as both the actual tools and the skills needed to create and use the tools, allowing humanity to "preserve himself" (213), although he does admit that it is difficult to determine what technology is, which is why it is important to stick with a general definition that includes all concepts. He suggests that our culture has surpassed all previous cultures because we have created an information superstructure, which does not just produce goods but phenomena in the form of sensing and computing devices. Humans, to Gehlen, lack the necessary survival instincts, and so must use their reason and creativity to survive. He says we are dependent on our constructed environment: "although an individual with his natural organic resources and what he might make with his own hands could hold out alone for a while in nature, he could not get through three days in a non-functioning technological-industrial system" (217). (He uses bomb shelters as an example of this.)

What we have created (Gehlen provides Hannah Arendt's view) has become so much a part of our biological makeup, that "it looks as if mankind no longer belongs to a species of mammals, but has instead turned into some kind of shellfish" (217). We are stuck in a world of inequality, war, and dishonesty. Great times of discovery and human advancement, like we are experiencing with technology, bring about population explosions that double in shorter and shorter intervals. As a result,iIndividuals are increasingly dependent upon society and their concerns will become more generalized. For the first time in history, and thanks to the easy communication methods technology provides us (news services, computers) and the population explosion, Gehlen believes it will be possible for humans to accept values--peace, equality, and material and spiritual development--that receive universal assent.