'The Interrelatedness of Many Things': Toward a McLuhanist Philosophy of Technology

Yoni Van Den Eede ( Faculty of Philosophy, VUB)

Abstract:

Can media theorist Marshall McLuhan be "read" as a full-blown philosopher of technology? We attempt to do so, by reformulating his ideas in the context of a systematic "philosophy of media." The concept of "human-technology relationships" is deployed as guiding metaphor. And we proceed, practically, by synthesizing McLuhan's approach with that of contemporary philosophers of technology, hence constituting a crucial overall link between the disciplines of Media Ecology and contemporary Philosophy of Technology.

References:

Van Den Eede, Yoni. 2010. “In Between Us: On the Transparency and Opacity of Technological Mediation.” Foundations of Science 16 (2-3): 139–159. doi:10.1007/s10699-010-9190-y.

The Speaker:

Yoni Van Den Eede is affiliated to the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences at the VUB as a Ph.D. fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). He conducts research into the philosophy of technology, media theory, and media ecology, with an emphasis on phenomenological, cultural, and existential themes. His doctoral dissertation, 'Amor Technologiae,' synthesizes the work of Marshall McLuhan with diverse approaches in the contemporary philosophy of technology, in that way reformulating McLuhan's ideas in the context of a systematic 'philosophy of media,' that circles around the notion and metaphor of 'human-technology relationships.'

Speaker's website:  http://www.westofthediamond.com.

Slides of the talk