Heideggers Gestell essays

Heidegger's Gestell essays In his essay, The Question Concerning Technology, Heidegger describes the problem with man and his Being in dealing with his technology. In reference to his works before this, Being here refers to the ideal self that a person is meant to pursue from his birth, and it is the state upon which we will be able to obtain ultimate satisfaction. For Heidegger, technology tends to diverge man from achieving his real Being. Heidegger first said that technology is defined for us as a way of means, but this is not essentially complete. He said that we need to know also the essence of technology. According to him, technology is not equivalent to the essence of technology. (Heidegger, p. 7) Technology, in our view, is an object, or a complex of objects and techniques, that seems passive itself. We conceive of it as activated by us only. According to Heidegger, however, we are fundamentally mistaken in this; "we are delivered over to it in the worst possible way when we regard it as something neu tral." (Heidegger, p. 4) The essence of technology is that it is something upon which humans themselves are formed and structured because we continue to depend too much on it. The problem, which he termed as Gestell, translated as enframing, means the gathering together of that setting-upon which sets upon man, i.e., challenges him forth, to reveal the real, the mode of ordering, as standing-reserve." (Heidegger, p. 20) But, "where Enframing reigns, there is danger in the highest sense." (Heidegger, p. 28) To understand this concept of Enframing, Heidegger showed us that technology is a process, which is present in the world and has great scope. It is something that has been shaping our destiny for as long as we can recall. This technology that we think is a neutral instrument that we humans are in control of is an illusion. We may think we are in control of technology but the truth is that technolog...