A Comparative Study Of Marx And Heidegger’s Concept Of Technology

Technology is an important issue, to which Marx and Heidegger pay attention,and a tool to serve people’s life at the very beginning since it was produced, however,its development is beyond human imagination. People are addicted to the hugeadvancement in society that technology makes, and pay the least attention to thehorrific crisis which might hide in the technological development. The rapiddevelopment of technology is changing the pattern of the world’s progression in aterrible way: people will be ruled by technology. After realizing the phenomenon,Marx points to technology as the reason for capitalism, hoping that it will savehumanity from capitalist domination through changing the practices of the world.Marx, passionate in the changing battle and absorbed in large references and worksabout technological history, develops his own critical technological view, in a way ofmaterialist dialectics and historical materialism. Heidegger imaginatively frames hisknowledge about technology, and believes that the variation in Western history beginsfrom the pure Greek source. What’s more, ideas were gradually replaced byphilosophy until the era dominated by technology. By using the idea ofphenomenological ontology of explanations, he draws the essence of technology fromanthropology and tools, and for the first time understands it as " Ge-stell ". As a kindof "Entbergen", the modern life, which is ruled by " Ge-stell ", is the biggest danger.Facing the crisis of modern technology, Heidegger needs to conquer crises in moderntechnology and seeks salvation to recover lost human beings as well as to restore thehuman spirit and re-comprehend the forgotten existence. We must take a different wayfrom the traditional metaphysical "thinking of the road" and prepare for the truth tocome back in the "thinking and poetry" way.Based on this, the first part of the paper discusses the technical concept of historical materialism of Marx and Marx, settles the purpose to liberate all humankind,by overlapping the existing capitalist system; in the second part of the paper, with thelate Heidegger ’s philosophical outlook on technological papers and books specificinterpretation of Heidegger’s ontological view of technology; the last part of thepaper analyzes the similarities and differences between the concepts of technology ofthese two philosophers, in order to reveal the different purpose on technologicalconcept.