Ontological layers of modern technology

Abstract

The word “technology” in the modern understanding became the subject of wide discussion only at the second part of the XXth century. Today technology is considered as ontologically distinct, no longer a dependent process but a special phenomenon. It encompasses many meanings from different discourses, the word is used as self-evident, and is employed in a wide variety of contexts, sometimes with widely divergent implications. In order to reveal the ontological heterogeneity of this concept, we consider it in three layers or levels of being: the subject-object level where technology breaks up into many objects, practices and knowledge, presented phenomenologically and closely related to various areas of scientific activity; the social level where technology permeates society as a network, system and power, a web of influences and relationships that shape the technological environment in which people exist; and the metaphysical level where technology is seen as the fate of humankind. Technology turns out to be the cornerstone of modernity, entering into a dialectical contradiction with nature and culture, and is considered as the driving force of civilizational development.