Technology and the Philosophy of Religion

Front Cover
Cambridge Scholars, 2011 - Philosophy - 252 pages
The last one hundred years has seen unimaginable technological progress transforming every aspect of human life. Yet we seem unable to shake a profound unease with the direction of modern technology and its ideological siblings, global capitalism and massive consumption. Philosophers such as Marcuse, Borgmann and especially Heidegger, have developed important analyses of technological society, however in this book David Lewin argues that their ideas have remained limited either by their secular context, or by the narrow conception of religion that they do allow.

This study guides the reader along the newly formed paths of the philosophy of technology, arguing that where those paths come to an abrupt end, a religious discourse is needed to articulate the ultimate concerns that drive technological action. It calls for a meditation on the central insight of many religious traditions that, in an ultimate sense, we â ~know not what we do.â (TM) To acknowledge that we know not what we do is the first step towards a theology of technology that draws upon insights from the mystical theological tradition, as well as from recent developments in the continental philosophy of religion.

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About the author (2011)

David Lewin is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at Liverpool Hope University (UK). His research addresses the religious and philosophical implications of modern technology, as well as related philosophical issues in education. In addition to publishing several articles on the philosophy of technology and its relation to religious philosophy, he has recently published Technology and the Philosophy of Religion (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011) and (co-edited with Todd Mei) From Ricoeur to Action: the Socio-Political Signficance of Ricoeur's Thinking (Continuum, 2012).

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