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Heidegger on technology and Gelassenheit: wabi-sabi and the art of Verfallenheit

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Abstract

The question of the contemporary relevance of Heidegger’s reflections on technology to today’s advanced technology is here explored with reference to the notion of “entanglement” towards a review of Heidegger’s understanding of technology and media, including the entertainment industry and modern digital life. Heidegger’s reflections on Gelassenheit have been connected with the aesthetics of the tea ceremony, disputing the material aesthetics of porcelain versus plastic. Here by approaching the art of wabi-sabi as the art of Verfallenheit, I argue that Gelassenheit may be understood in these terms.

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Notes

  1. [Himmlischer! sucht nicht dich mit ihren Augen die Pflanze,/Streckt nach dir die schüchternen Arme der niedrige Strauch nicht?/Daß er dich finde, zerbricht der gefangene Same die Hülse,/…Daß er belebt von dir in deiner Welle sich bade] Hölderlin, An den Aether (1797).

  2. [Aber indes ich hinauf in die dämmernde Ferne mich sehne,/Wo du fremde Gestad‘umfängst mit der bläulichen Woge,/Kömmst du säuselnd herab von des Fruchtbaums blühenden Wipfeln,/Vater Aether! und sänftigest selbst das strebende Herz mir,/Und ich lebe nun gern, wie zuvor, mit den Blumen der Erde.] Hölderlin, An den Aether. See for a discussion Binder 1993. See too for a discussion encompassing Pindar and Rilke, Janke 2005 and, more generally on Höderlin, Hornbacher 1995.

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  1. Fordham University, 113 West 60th St., New York, NY, 10023, USA

    Babette Babich

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Babich, B. Heidegger on technology and Gelassenheit: wabi-sabi and the art of Verfallenheit . AI & Soc 32, 157–166 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-015-0605-8

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