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15-02-2023 | Theoretical / Philosophical Paper

Mediation and Transcendence: Balancing Postphenomenological Theory of Technological Mediation with Karl Jaspers’s Metaphysics of Ciphers

Author: Dmytro Mykhailov

Published in: Human Studies | Issue 3/2023

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Abstract

The purpose of the present article is to contribute to the postphenomenological theory of technological mediation by introducing a new type of ‘human-technology’ relation named ‘transcending mediation’. Previously postphenomenology didn’t pay much attention to the role technology plays in mediating human relation to Transcendence. This was because of empirical turn and pragmatism that are anti-metaphysical in their nature. In the present paper, however, I will show that the empirical element of technology can be balanced by some metaphysical findings. Keeping this in mind, I will rely on Karl Jaspers’s metaphysics of ciphers in order to demonstrate how technology mediates not only our relation to the world but also shapes human’s relation to Transcendence. As I am going to show in the present paper, this sort of mediation becomes possible because technologies are actively participating in so-called self-transcending practices. The latter, according to Karl Jaspers, are practices through which humans can elucidate one’s true self (e.g., become an Existenz). In this article, I will take a case of Smart education as a particular type of self-transcending practice and will show how contemporary AI educational systems enable and disable particular forms of becoming true self (Existenz).

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It is worth mentioning that the so-called ‘transcendental/empirical’ debate frames a significant part of the landscape in the contemporary philosophy of technology. Going into detail about this debate is out of the scope for the present paper. For more details on the current state of the debate see Don Ihde’s article Postphenomenology, the Empirical Turn and ‘Transcendentality’ (2021) and also some recent literature dedicated to this topic (Miller and Shew 2020).

The increasing popularity of Jaspers’s philosophy might be illustrated by numerous international societies that are dedicated to his philosophical heritage. Among the most influential for today are the Karl Jaspers Stiftung in Basel, Karl Jaspers Society of North America (KJSNA), which publishes the journal Existenz. There are also Japanese and Polish international societies of Karl Jaspers’s philosophy.

In the present paper, I will use the original German term Existenz which has been used by Karl Jaspers. This term is not the same as the English word ‘existence’ because in Jaspers’s philosophy ‘existence’ (existieren) related to Dasein. To omit misunderstanding further in the text I will use the term Existenz.

The first time the notion of cipher has been used by Immanuel Kant in Kritik der Urteilskraft (2004). However, Kant is using the word Chiffreschrift, in contrast to German Chiffre, which is used by Jaspers. However, the usage of this term in Kantian philosophy is very close to Jaspersian usage. For example, Kant is applying the notion of cipher in his esthetics. According to the Kantian view, nature reveals itself to the human through the cipher of beauty (2004: 234f.). In this sense, for Kant, in the same way as later for Jaspers, the notion of cipher remains in deep connection with personal experience.

Jaspers provides several examples of different ciphers like: nature, art, religion, history, etc. All of them, according to Jaspers, represent Transcendence in the form of material and historical arrangements (Olson, 1979: 35–45). At the same time Jaspers claims that self-transcending practices are usually related to ciphers and can be (but not limited to) art practices, philosophizing, religious experience, etc. In this paper I will take an education as a particular kind of self-transcending practices.

Although Jaspers never considered technology as a cipher of Transcendence such an interpretation still goes in line with his metaphysics. In the third volume of Philosophie Jaspers claims that for Existenz everything could be a cipher and so, as I am going to show in the present paper, technology can be also included to this list.

It is important to remind that Jaspers uses the term Dasein differently from Heidegger. There is no space to analyze this difference here. However, it is important to keep this fact in mind while reading the present article. For more on difference between Jaspers and Heidegger see (Olson, 1984).

It is interesting that the last work written by Jaspers and that has been published posthumously is titled ‘Chiffren der Transzendence’ (1970). This fact clearly indicates that the idea of ciphers was an important philosophical concept for Jaspers up to the very end of his philosophical career.

However, science for Jaspers is essential for philosophy. As he points out in his Existenzphilosophie (2020) without the scientific knowledge philosophy can’t understand the world. That is why technology becomes of special importance in this regards.

While the so-called ‘transcendental/empirical’ debate in the philosophy of technology is regularly referring to such term as ‘Transcendence’ (see, for example, Lemmens, 2021) it will be useful to note that while the present paper aims in contributing to the above-mentioned debates, I am using the term ‘Transcendence’ in a slightly different way. The present debates, as have been noted earlier in this paper, are influenced by the Heideggerian interpretation of Transcendence which is different from the one provided by the Jaspers. In the present paper though, I am developing a Jaspersian interpretation of Transcendence and trying to show how this interpretation might be helpful for the contemporary philosophy of technology.

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Title: Mediation and Transcendence: Balancing Postphenomenological Theory of Technological Mediation with Karl Jaspers’s Metaphysics of Ciphers
Author: Dmytro Mykhailov
Publication date: 15-02-2023
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Human Studies / Issue 3/2023
Print ISSN: 0163-8548
Electronic ISSN: 1572-851X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-023-09666-6

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