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Cyborg intentionality: Rethinking the phenomenology of human–technology relations

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Abstract

This article investigates the types of intentionality involved in human–technology relations. It aims to augment Don Ihde’s analysis of the relations between human beings and technological artifacts, by analyzing a number of concrete examples at the limits of Ihde’s analysis. The article distinguishes and analyzes three types of “cyborg intentionality,” which all involve specific blends of the human and the technological. Technologically mediated intentionality occurs when human intentionality takes place “through” technological artifacts; hybrid intentionality occurs when the technological actually merges with the human; and composite intentionality is the addition of human intentionality and the intentionality of technological artifacts.

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Notes

  1. Some works of the artists discussed can be viewed at http://www.aias-artdesign.org/mediatedvision.

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Acknowledgement

This article was written with financial support of NWO, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

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  1. Department Philosophy, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Peter-Paul Verbeek

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  1. Peter-Paul Verbeek
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Correspondence to Peter-Paul Verbeek.

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Verbeek, PP. Cyborg intentionality: Rethinking the phenomenology of human–technology relations. Phenom Cogn Sci 7, 387–395 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-008-9099-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-008-9099-x

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