In the second half of his essay "The Question Concerning Technology", Heidegger argues that old-school technology was based in the four causes of Aristotle. This old technology was basically insturmental, yet it was still capable of being revealing. On the other hand, what Heidegger calls "modern technology" (I would hate to see what he would say about our current level of technology) is capable of challenging. By challenging, I think Heidegger means capable of forcing nature to supply energy which can be forced into a standing reserve. Thus, our view of nature is transformed into one where we see all of the natural world as merely resources to human control. This radical shift in our view of nature is one of the dangers Heidegger is most concerned with. However, he does argue at the end of the article that art can save us. Not really sure how that works though.. But in this modern technology with its ability to challenge nature, Heidegger argues that the entire world appears to be under human control. The problem with this is that eventually this can lead to humans being under the same control. The distorted world view that modern technology has created will inevitably end in humans also becoming part of the standing reserve. Our desperate need to control our world will lead to us enslaving ourselves. Interesting. The positive aspect that I did manage to pick our from this is that Heidegger must be some sort of a quasi-enviornmentalist. If he argues against the enslavement of nature and humans into the standing reserve, the most resonable alternative would be that Heidegger believes all natural things should be free from technology and control. In a sense, I think that is a hint of environmentalism.
But the big problem I have with Heidegger is his idea of "Ge-Stell". Heidegger's ambiguous, misleading, and completely unhelpful language did not give me an accurate understanding of what exactly this "ge-stell" was even by the end of the article. He says it is of non-human origin but yet is not technological.
What exactly does Heidegger mean when he says "Enframing is the gathering together which belongs to that setting-upon which challenges man and puts him in position to reveal the actual, in the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve"
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