A Study Of Anders’ Technology Criticism Theory

From Western Marxism to post-Marxism,the ideal good life has been constructed on the basis of critique of the present human social existence.The 20th-century Western Marxist Günther Anders(hereafter Anders)took everyday work and family life as the source of his ideas and philosophically reflected on the concrete practical problems of everyday human life,the state of human existence today,and typical examples from the world.In his writings such as The Obsolete Man,he depicts the tragic situation of human life after its destruction by modern technology through an almost realistic approach,expressing his deserved vision of a better life from the opposite side.In the face of the various forms of alienation and their new development in capitalist society,Anders inherited Marx’s theory of alienation criticism and Western Marxist cultural criticism theory,extended the focus of technological criticism from the fields of production and labor to technology,economy and politics,and intervened in the criticism of modern social alienation with a technological phenomenological research method,developing a realistic,in situational and practical technological critical thought.Based on this,this study endeavors to restore the meaning of the textual world through the reading and analysis of Anders’ major works and conducts a more systematic and in-depth study of his technology criticism theory.On the premise of fully revealing the close relationship between Anders’ thought and the context of the times,Anders’ technology criticism theory is placed in the modern life of the 21 st century,reflecting on the contemporary value of his technology criticism theory,trying to show the uniqueness of Anders’ technology criticism theory,and deepening the research on Anders’ thought by domestic scholars.The specific contents of this paper include the following four areas:Primarily,about the theoretical basis of Anders’ technology criticism theory.Anders’ technology criticism theory not only absorbs Heidegger’s view of technology and Scheler’s phenomenological,ethical and philosophical anthropological ideas,but also is an inherited development of Marx’s theory of alienation and a dialectical renunciation of Western Marxist cultural-critical theory.This chapter prepares the ground for the specificity of the later study by vertically sorting out the development of Anders’ technology criticism theory.Additionally,about Anders’ technology criticism theory.In the context of the technocratic era,Anders takes the theory of alienated labor and the critique of modern labor society as his theoretical premise,analyzes the problem of technological alienation with reference to technology as the productive force of capitalist society,and constructs a distinctive critical theory of technology in the fields of production,consumption,and politics.In his interpretation of technology criticism theory,Anders takes a humanist standpoint and considers alienation itself in the context of human existence.He argues that while drawing on Marx’s theory of alienated labor,it is necessary to go beyond the mode of discourse on technology in classical Marxist texts and leap into the horizon of the technological age to consider the problem of alienation as it relates to human beings themselves.For Anders,modern technology cannot simply be understood as a neutral means to an end,but embodies an ideology that includes elements of power,profit,and discrimination.As technology itself loses its value neutrality,human society is subjected to technological alienation and its negative effects,depriving human beings of the power of criticism,transcendence,and negation,and eventually becoming “obsolete man” under the triple grip of technological industrial alienation,technological economic alienation,and technological political alienation.What’s more,about reflection on Anders’ ethics of technology.Anders’ ethical reflection on technology is shaped by the application of technology criticism theory to moral analysis.Anders seeks to address the social contradictions that may arise from the rapid development of technology through a moderate ethics of industrial production.In the context of the widespread use of nuclear technology and artificial intelligence in all areas of human society,Anders proposes a “moral imaginary” solution to suppress the intrinsic nature of human beings.In his view,“moral imagination” can not only regulate the use of technology,but also reflect on technical rationality,the ideology of science and technology,and correctly grasp the problems and dilemmas encountered by contemporary human civilization.Finally,about reflection on Anders’ technology criticism theory and its contemporary value.Anders’ technology criticism theory points to a heightened focus on the anomalies and contradictions in the structure of modern society,using technology as a prism for a broader understanding of social change.The limitations of his theory,however,lie in the inversion of the dialectical relationship between man and technology,the neglect of the subjective initiative of the subject,and the lack of indepth analysis of the basic contradictions of capitalist society.Deeper excavation of Anders’ technology criticism theory is conducive to deepening our thinking about Chinese contemporary social,cultural,and technological background,and is of great practical significance for China to deeply understand and correctly grasp sinicization of Marxism,to create a new form of human civilization in the new historical period,and to solidly promote Chinese-style modernization.