Embodied Technics

by Don Ihde

While some people think that our new technologies which texture our lifeworld disembody human experience, and while others think that eventually we will be able to 'upload' our very embodiment into these technologies, this collection of chapters takes a close postphenomenological account of a myriad of these technologies as we interface with them. Beginning with cinema and the "Matrix Trilogy", then on to both ancient and new musical instrumentalities, romping with robots, venturing into radical imaging technologies which depict phenomena beyond human sensory capacity, and working with both information technologies and a deep history of writing technologies, Don Ihde brings his skills at doing variations to explore the role of human embodiment with technics. He argues that the new technologies both extend and transform our experience of embodiment. And the multistable trajectories of these new technics present possibilities often not yet explored.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2010

About the author

Don Ihde is an American philosopher of science and technology. In 1979 he wrote what is often identified as the first North American work on philosophy of technology, Technics and Praxis. Before his retirement, Don Ihde was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Reviews

[Vidar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don Ihde addresses the ironic dimensions of human-technology relations, with its unpredicted, unexpected, surprizing outcomes. Are we today in a ‘knowledge society’? And, if so, are we wiser? Can we design’ intended uses into our technologies? Or, do they always surprise us with the unexpected? Can we ‘technologize’ our very bodies? Are we increasingly becoming cyborgs? And have we or could we become ‘posthuman’?
Very well written from my favorite contemporary philosopher