Technology, modernity and thought: rethinking Martin Heidegger’s The Question of Technology in the context if brazilian philosophy

Abstract

The following article aims to outline some of the central elements of Martin Heidegger's text The Question of Technology and, based on this, to present in an introductory manner new directions in the context of the challenges faced by Brazilian philosophy. To achieve this objective, the article is divided into five sections, with the first four focusing on presenting the central elements of Heidegger's text – as well as an interpretative line that distinguishes it from certain recurring criticisms and expands its horizon of possibilities – and the last section seeks to delineate the critical legacy, its contemporary relevance, and some of its limitations. Starting from Heidegger's critique of the prevailing notion of technology and the thesis of neutrality, delving into the question of the essence of technology and its relationship with metaphysics and the history of being, moving through the issue of the apparatus (Gestell) and subjectivity as the metaphysical foundation of modernity, and finally addressing the danger posed by technology and the horizon of humanity's salvation, the article concludes with a brief contextualisation of the Brazilian scenario and an indication of some of the main critical legacies of Heidegger's reflection, as well as its limitations, for contemporary Brazilian philosophy.