A Study Of "The Sirens Of Titan" From The Perspective Of The Critique Of Technological Reason

Kurt Vonnegut(1922-2007),a representative of American black humor and a famous postmodern humanistic novelist.Vonnegut was self-described as a “Luddite”(someone hates new technology)when he realized that technology posed a powerful threats for human survival after the World War II.In order to criticize the blind worship of technology and refute the rampant technocracy at that time,Vonnegut integrated the obvious critical consciousness into his novels.The Sirens of Titan,published in 1959,was Vonnegut’s second novel.Vonnegut focused on the "space journey" of the protagonist Constant.By depicting the tribulations and setbacks suffered of Constant,Vonnegut reveals the alienation and destruction of human nature caused by technological reason in capitalist society,as well as the war and environmental degradation caused by the abuse of technology.At the same time,he affirmed the power of human will,called on people to regain the human nature with love and art,to reconstruct the harmonious relationship between man and nature.The critical theory of the Frankfurt School is similar to Vonnegut’s views on science and technology.Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas,the representative scholars of the Frankfurt School,pointed out that the technological reason in capitalist industrial society has become an "ideology",which has the negative effect of controlling and alienating people’s thoughts.With the help of the technological rational critique,we can better understand the critical realism of The Sirens of Titan.The Introduction mainly introduces Vonnegut’s life experience,the overview of The Sirens of Titan and related research achievements.In addition,provide a briefly introduction of about the research methods and idea of the thesis,and theoretical content of the rational criticism of technology.Chapter one focuses on the representation of technological reason in The Sirens of Titan,In order to clarify the technical rational representation.In the novel,technological reason is represented as absolute power to rule and dominate the whole world.Under the domination of technological reason,politics,economy and culture are dominated by technology.Chapter two introduces Vonnegut how to criticize technological reason in the text.Through Constant’s meaningless "outward exploration"(space travel)and all that happened to him,Vonnegut reveals the deep disaster brought by technological reason to human beings,such as the totalitarianism,the alienation of human beings,and the devastating impact on the human world.It refutes the argument of the supremacy of technological reason in the capitalist society and weakens the authority of technological reason.Chapter three describes Vonnegut’s attempts on how to resist the technological reason and reconstruct a utopia in The Sirens of Titan.The "Titan" in the novel is the embodiment of utopia in Vonnegut’s mind.Vonnegut not only put forward an assumption in the novel,but also demonstrated it by his own writing practice.He believes that when people are dominated by technological reason,they can rebel against technological reason with love,art and nature,by "searching inward"(spiritual exploration).Chapter four is the evaluation about the critique subject of The Sirens of Titan.Although The Sirens of Titan is a novel with strong science fiction,it contains strong practical significance.This novel has a strong post-modernist feature in genre narrative technique and language style.From the point of view of the realism,the novel reflects the social reality in the 1950 s.The erosion of technological reason to human nature,enlighten us on technical reason.We must insist in the idea of "People-oriented",strive for the development of science and technology and the construction of spiritual civilization.However,the critical view of technical reason in the novel also has some limitations,Vonnegut’s thoughts on technology and the development of technical reason need to be viewed dialectically.Conclusion is a summary of all the chapters.The Sirens of Titan is a "science fiction" with a strong realistic interest.From the perspective of the technological rational critique,the "space journey" of the protagonist Constance is also a journey to criticize technological reason.First,Vonnegut constructed a world which technological reason dominated all human beings,and then he revealed and criticized the negative effects of technological reason through the experience of Constant.Finally,Vonnegut reconstructs an utopia from the "ruins" of technological reason,thus affirming the power of human willpower(including love,art and perception of nature).Vonnegut not only criticizes the technological reason with the text,but also resists the technological reason through writing.Despite his attitudes towards technical rationality is biased,he emphasizes the importance of humanist from another perspective by criticizing technological reason,which reflects his humanitarian spirit.