Technologies "Janus" - Stigler Phenomenology

The relation between human and technology is an important issue in the philosophy of technology in ancient or modern, in China or abroad. The question is ultimimitly of the relation between the human essence and that of technology. The existential analysis of Dasein in Heidegger's "Being and time" has been widely debated and reflected among scholars. Bernard Stiegler, a French philosopher, explored the issue from a brandnew perspective on the basis of Heidegger's existential phenomenology and thereby made a further research. While Heidegger considered the meaning of Dasein as temporality, Stigler pointed out that it is technicity that constitutes the temporality and the technicity is the meaning of human existence.Therefore, the research of Stiegler's phenomenology of technology will help us understand the relationship between human existence and technology.Firstly, the paper will briefly discusses Husser's phenomenology of consciousness and Heidegger's existential phenomenology, pointing out Stiegler's inheritance and development in his phenomenology and explaining why his thought is called phenomenology of technology in this paper. It reveals that techniciy is the meaning of human existence.Secondly, the author sum up two elements of prometheisa and epimetheia by analysis of the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus. On the one hand, the general meaning of "epimetheia" is anticipation of the future, unfolded into three specific parts:"prosthesis", "mortality" and "being toward death"."Being toward death" is constituted by "prosthesisity" toward "mortality".On the other hand, the general meaning of "epimetheiathe" is the rethinking of the past, the facticity of the already-there preceding Dasein. Therefore, Epimetheia indicates a kind of delay in terms of time.To express the mane idea of Stiegler, this paper is entitled "Janus of technology ", according to the traditional use of a Roman myth. Janus is a two-faces Roman door-god, who faces to the past on the one side and to the future on the other side.The meaning of "Janus of technology" expresses the idea that technicity, which constitutes temporality, is itself constituted by the two elements in original. But Heidegger has forgotten the importance of the delay and defered reflection in the constitution of temporality. So Stiegler critcizes Heidgger's existentialism and reveals his own idea of phymenology of technology. We will discuss his criticism through four specific aspects:"the alread-there", "analysis of everydayness", "structure of being-at-fault", "the world-historical".Through the above analysis, we finally pointed out the value of Stiegler's theory. His criticism shows the formalization of the existence of Dasein acquired by Heidgger's existential annlysis.We try to make a further investigation on this theme, pointing out the complexity of Heidegger's thought. The purpose of Stiegler's taking the "epimetheia" as an element of temporality of human being is to bring the richness of technological worlc tc the existence of Dasein. It shows his own understanding of the relation betweer human and technology and the meaning of the existence of Dasein. Stielger's phenomenology of technology marks a new stage of philosophy of technology and shows a possible direction of the development of technological philosophy for a time to come.