- http://www.cas.umt.edu/phil/Faculty/Info%20Pages/borgmann.htm
Albert Borgmann is an American philosopher who was born in Freiburg, Germany in 1937.
The University of Montana, where he currently teaches as Regents Professor of Philosophy, contains a brief biographical list of his various works and reviews, as well as contact information.
- It is imperative to know that Borgmann was influenced by Heidegger.
***Heidegger & Borgmann Comparison***
*Both believe that technology plays a role in the human experience.
*Both exclusively examine the negative impact of this.
*Where they differ: Heidegger looked in technological possibilities whereas Borgmann uses concrete technological examples.
*Where they differ: Heidegger describes technology as a way of revealing (Gestell) while Borgmann describes technology as a way of shaping human existence.
For this reason, Borgmann's philosophy of technology can be seen as an extension to Heidegger's.
- Borgmann's work is the center piece of this chapter: Verbeek wishes to show how artifacts help to shape human existence with the aid of Borgmann's studies.
THE DEVICE PARADIGM
- Borgmann claims there are 3 approaches to technology:
(all quoted and found on p. 174)
*Substantivism views technology as an independent power that unfolds according to its own logic and holds society and culture firmly in its grasp.
*Instrumentalism is in many respects the opposite of substantivism, for it sees technology not as independent but as neutral, a mere means for the realization of human ends.
*Pluralism developed as a response to the shortcomings of both substantivism and instrumentalism. It sees technology as the outcomes of complex processes of evolution and interaction in which a play of myriad forces and influences determines which technologies ultimately arise and the forms that they take.
- Borgmann also claims there are problems with these approaches:
(critique on substantivism and instrumentalism on p. 174, critique on pluralism follows on p. 175)
*Substantivism doesn't bother to explain why technology is seen as developing autonomously.
*Instrumentalism assigns a bit role to technology, which makes the explanation unconvincing in Borgmann's eyes.
*Pluralism presents the development of technology in a manner more complex that it actually is. Thus, it is inadequate when attempting to be used as a response to the problems of substantivism and instrumentalism.
- Borgmann wishes to create a better response than pluralism to the tension between substantivism and instrumentalism. He calls his approach "paradigmatic," insofar as he understands technology in terms of paradigms.
- What is a paradigm?
- (Quote found on p. 175)
In Borgmann's view, technology contributes “a characteristic and constraining pattern to the entire fabric of our lives,” a “pattern” or “paradigm” that “inheres in the dominant way in which we in the modern era have been taking up with the world” which he calls the “device paradigm”. Borgmann’s entire philosophy of technology consists of an attempt to bring to light and understand this paradigm inhering in the way in which human beings engage the world.
- Borgmann uses concrete examples of technological devices (television sets, central heating plant, automobiles) to show the pattern/paradigm of modern technology.
- Borgmann believes that although "the pattern of technology is fundamental to the shape the world has assumed over the last three or so centuries, it has gone largely unnoticed." (bottom of p. 175 - 176)
This is because this paradigm came forth during the Age of Enlightenment.
Key points about the Enlightenment: 18th century, goverment stability, nation creation, common people obtaining greater power, nobility/church begin losing power.
As is evident, there were many contributig factors to the idealistic lifestyle of this era, with technology being among them. However, due to technology's "promising character", as Verbeek calls it, it was able to both enhance and hide its transformative power.
- This promise is a key point that was formulated by Bacon and Descartes. They deduced that technology was brought forth with the goal of "liberating humanity from disease, hunger, and toil, and of enriching life with learning, art, and athletics." (p. 176)
Technology was thus originally meant to improve and ease the living conditions of human beings. Verbeek, though, notes that the promise is vague; for example, there is no mention to what degree technology seeks to liberate humanity from its woes or to what extent it seeks to enrich our lives. This means technology's promise could be fulfilled a in a very small, unnoticeable
way.
On the other hand, it is due to the promise's lack of details that technology has been able to continuously grow even further. Technology's promise may bring forth small results, but it is also capable of producing enormous, world-changing possibilities. This limitless potential, though, has had the side effect of turning the attention away from the social changes it is capable of yielding. Ergo, the technological pattern Borgmann describes has not come to light just yet and this has resulted in a new "character of contemporary life."
DEVICES AND THINGS
- Borgmann describes the "technological pattern" in modern life. He begins by analyzing the relation humans have with technological devices.
- Key terms used:
Device: entity that fulfills the technological promise of liberation (from needs and burdens) and enrichment (making things more accessible).
Thing: pretechnological version of a device. Dealing with one forces us to be involved extensively in its world. It cannot be removed from its context.
Availability: a commodity that has been rendered instantaneous, ubiquitous, safe, and easy.
Commodity: that which a device makes available.
These four terms describe how a relation between a human and a technological device can produce results: A device makes a commodity available.
- Borgmann analyzes warmth and its availability in an example of how this relationship works:
(paraphrasing example from p. 176)
Warmth. In the old days, warmth was delivered to houses by a fire that burned in the stove or fireplace – it was not “available”. It was not instantaneous (too much work), was not ubiquitous (not all rooms could be warmed in this manner), not safe (you could be hurt chopping or burning the wood and houses could catch fire), and was not easy (work, skill, and attention were always needed). Technologies have made warmth available today; turning up the dial of a thermostat on a central heating system make it so.
Device: Central heating system.
Device availability: Yes.
Thing: Fireplace.
Thing availability: No.
Commodity: Warmth.
- According to Borgmann, devices are capable of delivering a commodity so efficiently due their machinery, which makes up the "background of technology". Although it is not in the limelight often, it makes it possible for a device to function without the need to understand the exact details. Were it necessary to understand every minute detail, the device would cease to be available due to its complexity; this would reduce it to the status of a thing.
(Example found at the top of p. 178)
The ability to tell time from a watch is not dependent on what powers it. The only thing a human needs to understand is that the device is a watch and the commodity it provides is the ability to tell time. Meanwhile, the battery or spring which is powering said watch works in the background and should only become a concern when there comes a time to replace it.
- "The technological pattern consists in the ongoing replacement of the presence of things by the availability of commodities delivered by devices". (p. 178)
As a thing cannot be removed from its context and requires the utmost attention, machinery is given its task and is hidden in the background. This allows us to obtain and enjoy commodities with relative ease. In this way, the device paradigm divides things into commodities and machinery.
- Borgmann believes that devices are not the technological innovations that they appear to be: going by his previous definitions and terms, he believes they promote the consumption of commodities (constant taking) without a form of engagement (ignorance or lack of knowledge of machinery). This is the device paradigm, or pattern, that is mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.
- Borgmann quickly concludes that only nontechnological things have the ability to engage human beings and that technological artifacts only invite disengaged consumption. Verbeek believes that devices can indeed promote engagement.
TECHNOLOGY AND THE GOOD LIFE
Borgmann talks about technology and how it has changed the way we interact with the world today.
Technology according to Borgmann has developed, ‘a definite style of life’, which can be
labeled as consumption. (p178)
He says that technology promised to bring fulfillment and enlightenment to the world through commodities. But it is now difficult to see how the consumptive relation to commodities contributes to a meaningful human existence.
Technology has shaped our way of life in such a way or a ‘pattern’ that it now stands in our background to structure the way in which we human being deals with the world.
The replacement of things by device and of engagement with consumption has decreased our engagement with the world to a lesser degree. (p179)
Borgmann states the existence of consumptive behavior by giving example of the couch-potato, a person who spends hours and hours each day watching television. This make him deprived from social interaction as well as from reading a book or going out and having a walk with the dog.
He says that it’s such a paradox to see how technology that promised to provide enrichment provides impoverishment.
Borgmann says that initially technology did protect us with hunger, cold, disease, darkness etc but could some of the modern day technologies come under these characterization of saving or protecting us. He gives example of microwave food, where one has to stand for 20 minutes to get a frozen dinner ready.
Though technologic advancement in the past have saved and have liberated human beings from misery, the new technological innovations nowadays only severe to eliminate our interaction with the world.(p.180)
LIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND THE GOOD LIFE
Borgmann says it is only the devices that shape the human context but also the way in which they are organized.
He says that liberal democracy and technology together shape the context in which human beings are invited to organize their existence.
Liberal democrative vision of a society gives rise to the idea of freedom, liberty and choice. The same message is given through the power of technology.
An idea of a free and liberated world where everything is made easy for one‘s convinces.
By creating availability human beings can both choose their own means for realizing themselves and make free choices from the available consumable goods.
As Borgmann says “liberal Democracy is enacted as technology” (p.181)
Belief in the promise that technology is the path to deliverance from want and provision of human enrichment by generating availability provides a kind of social and political stability. (p.183)
FOCAL THINGS AND PRACTICES
Borgmann talk about the focal things and focal practices in today’s world.
To him things and commodities can never be equal. One always has to replace the other.
Focal things are the one that invite engagement and draw together human interaction. They result in focal practices, by means of dealing with the world. (p184)
Borgmann’s point of view can be explained by the example of today’s heating system and the traditional fireplace.
In early days homes were kept warm through lighting up fire in the fireplace. The procedure to lit the fire took up involvement of all the people in the house as well as interaction with outside world.
The process started from cutting up the wood to bringing them in the house and then lighting it up in the fireplace. According to Borgmann the fireplace is a ‘thing’, a focal thing.
The fireplace not only brought warmth but also made ones interaction with the rest of the
world. This created a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment which gave rise to a focal practice.
Where as in today’s world, with the invention of the new technology the old fireplaces are replaced by the modern heating systems. Borgmann calls these devices as mere ‘commodities’. By using these devices our interaction with the world and with the people around us, has diminished and is not equal to the interaction and satisfaction that one got through the fireplace.
Borgmann is not calling for us to retreat to prtechnological patterns, but rather to keep technology more at bay, more at periphery of our lives.(p.185)
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