Technology, communication, and Society: From Heidegger and Habermas to Feenberg

Abstract

In this article, I examine the nature and impact of modern technologies, as discussed in three seminal texts. These three pieces are: Martin Heidegger's essay "The Question Concerning Technology" published in 1954 in a collection of his lectures and essays; Jürgen Habermas's essay Technology and Science as "Ideology" that first appeared in his book Toward a Rational Society in 1971; and, finally, Andrew Feenberg's piece "Between Reason and Experience," which appears both in the Danish Yearbook of Philosophy (2007) and in his text Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity published in 2010. I begin this essay with a brief overview of all three pieces and describe their connection to the field of communication. I then examine three distinct themes around which each text revolves - particularly with respect to how they take up the problem of technology. I also speak to how the historical and theoretical movement between these pieces reflects changing positions in technology and communication studies. © 2011 National Communication Association.