Technology: A Postphenomenological Case Study

• In Event: Postphenomenology - IV: Refining the Conceptual Framework

Abstract

It seems like the word “technology” has lost its way. Educators request “more technology” in funding requests and parents ask for “new technology” in the classroom. Consumers wish for more “technology” in everyday objects and medical industries continue to “technologize” healthcare. What, however, does this word actually mean? This case study aims to illustrate postphenomenological macro and micro-perceptions, variations and trajectories of the term technology and how this word currently is often used in a generic sense in a variety of media and mainstream literature. A postphenomenological rendering of the word “technology” in contemporary society, as both a body of knowledge and a synonym for tools and devices, will be considered, with specific focus on the nature of technology, the technological condition and technology’s place in human-technology relations. Don Ihde’s work (1986, 1993, 2006, 2009) figures prominently in the analysis.

Author

• Stacey O Irwin, Stacey Irwin