Phenomenological Reviews

Book | Chapter

182839

The question concerning thinking

Søren Riis

pp. 123-145

Abstract

Martin Heidegger's thought-provoking essay "The Question Concerning Technology' (1977a) placed technology at the heart of philosophy. Heidegger tried to show that the essence of technology provokes humans to think about the world in a very dangerous way. Yet if we follow Heidegger's analysis of technology, what role does that ascribe to philosophy? To be able to understand the programmatic scope of Heidegger's question "concerning' technology, we need to see it as inseparable from his famous thesis about the end of philosophy (1977c) and what he considers to be the ideal kind of thinking. However, by doing so, we will in the end realize two important things. First, that Heidegger's declaration of the end of philosophy in fact also means the end of anything we can meaningfully call thinking. Second, that Heidegger's own thinking is completely different from his own ideal of thinking. Our question concerning thinking reflects these consequences and finally strives to find another way to think about thinking — a way that brings us back to another of Heidegger's thoughts and that makes it possible to appreciate the work of thought.1

Publication details

Published in:

Berg Olsen Jan Kyrre, Selinger Evan, Riis Søren (2009) New waves in philosophy of technology. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 123-145

DOI: 10.1057/9780230227279_7

Full citation:

Riis Søren (2009) „The question concerning thinking“, In: J. K. Berg Olsen, E. Selinger & S. Riis (eds.), New waves in philosophy of technology, Dordrecht, Springer, 123–145.