JPI 965
Technê: Ancient and Modern
This course considers the theological and ontological roots of the meaning of technê (skill)/technology, in light of the dominion granted to man in God's command to "subdue the earth." Central concerns of the course are to examine what kind of knowledge is involved in an adequate notion of technê/technology; what kind of technê is proper to man in his creatureliness; and, finally, what is the place of technological intervention in the enhancement of human life? The course considers the biblical-Christian meaning of dominion and the ancient (classical) Greek understanding of technê; and then focuses on the reconfiguration of that meaning that occurs in modernity, in the seventeenth-century beginnings of modern science and on into the contemporary period. What is meant by the claim that technology is already the form and not merely the eventual product of modern science? That technology is "the ontology of modernity"?
The intended outcome of the course is that the student will develop theological-ontological criteria for assessing the phenomenon of technology as a pervasive feature of modern culture.
Readings will be drawn from ancient, modern, and contemporary sources: e.g., Genesis, Plato, Aristotle, W. Jaeger, F. Juenger, H. Jonas, R. Brague, W. Berry, G. Grant, M. Heidegger, J. Ratzinger, H.U. von Balthasar, K. Kelly.
