Postphenomenology and Ethics

In this chapter, the author explains the post-phenomenological approach to ethics of technology. He introduces post-phenomenology itself, as a specific way to analyze technology and its role in society and discusses the various dimensions of the moral significance of technology that become visible from the post-phenomenological approach. The author explains how technologies mediate moral actions and decisions, how they help to shape value frameworks, and how they challenge the concepts. He moves the discussion from theoretical philosophy to practical philosophy, by explaining the approach of Guidance Ethics, which grew out of post-phenomenological ethics of technology. Post-phenomenology leaves the romantic opposition of humans and technologies behind, and approaches technology as constitutive for human existence. Instead of taking ‘Technology’ as its object of investigation, it focuses on actual technologies and the ways in which they help to shape the relations between human beings and their world. The Guidance Ethics Approach derives its normative content from the people who follow the approach.