II

«
~

•
fl tvt a nail d Teehili q •
II e ••

•
••
The O.rganic and its Substitwtes

.
••
SINCE TilE TIMES of Nietzsche mid Spengler a literature

cOIu:erned with critidzing contempor-ary society and cul­

turo. has flourished in Gerinany; and, ·8mong its persistent

•• ~
lilOlirs has hi!~m a polemic: againsl technique, 'It This is iI

symptom )hat our own society has not yet nnished its .in­

ternal debate over the radical changes in its nature which

•..
are associated with the advance of industrialization. In
Germany. pubJ"ic di~c.ussion {Jften brings to tho 'fore anxi.­ .­
eUes over the reI ture statets proba'ble similarity to un anthiU;' 4
- the manipulation of regimented brains; the individual's
bewilderment. and the culture's decay. In this context.
••
,tm:hniqlltl OflHI1 appears in the rolH of the tlcfendunl.

whorcl(ls it seollls 10 enjoy nmHlrkalJlc~ popularity in Ilw •II

United~talcs and in Soviot Russia. The Americans possess

a widely diffused scienco fiction literature which enthusi­

asticallyprojcctstecbnological Utopias. arid takes pleasure

••
in contemplating such extravagant conceptions as, for in­
stance..8 ~astery over time -which would allow one to
••
wander. tOl~ristlike, into the .stlci~nes uf times long past.
It is notal all clear why hi Germany we remain rei uc­ ••,
tant to concede the sume rights 'Of citizenship to technique
as to otlwrrnaJms of c:ulturo, in spite of our achievements
in technological innovation. Theexplunation may partly ••
• "Techniclue"'is milch less cnmmonly used in English in this sense than is

"technology·'; hilt dle lIIt!lIl1ing a:;sociated with Ihe (,,"er term is too narrow for
••
••
Ihe Cerruan 'J't'c'h,',jk::

••
86 •
•t
 2 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

lie in the persistence of traditional vinws concnrning Ihe

superiority of theory over practice. of pure nvnr applied
scienco. Or perhaps the old idea livos Oil. thai Ilw inlollnc­
•. c tual resources of idealistic philosophy can como to terms
with all human problems; whereas. in reality. they are at a
loss when confronted with technique. -indeed. on ..the
whole. our philosophical concepls arn in no wny mloC]t1utc
to the circumstances of our own time. Our task here; how­
ever. is not the very large one of remedying this state of af­
fairs, hut a more modest one. 10 be pursucd \vilhin the
framework of philosophical anthropology. Wo sl~nll look
for objoctive viewpoints from which \V(~ may hrillg I It is as­
tonishing dOln~in of the human mind-Iecllll~q\lo-toboar
upon our understanding of ourselves.
Tec:hnique is as old as man himsolr. for whcn we denl
with~fn~sil rellJalns it is only wh,e;n we COllle upon trac(~s 01
the use of fabrleated tools that'we fee') sure we aro dealing
with men. Indeed. the roughe'st wedge hcwn of flint em­
\ bodies the same ambiguity which today attaches to nuclear
energy: it was a useful tool. and at the samo.lill.lwa deadly
weapon. The modificatiou I<l his OWI1 ends of Ihings (lrigi­
nally found in nature is an activity of man r:onne,ded from
the beginning with his struggle against his fellow man;
and only fltliterecanUy have we sought 1-0 tludulhis fa-teful
connection. If this endeavor ~s to succeed and produce. per­
petual peace; it must presuppose a very high level of tech­
nical attainment. witho~t: whi.ch no effnctive mulual COl1­
trol of arnlanlents Can be 'achieved.
Further reflection throws light upnn Ihi!'; involvmnent
of mall with technique. Building uponf\..fax Scholer's
w'ork, 1 modern anthropology indicates thai I1WI1. lacking
speciati.zcI} organs and inslincts.,-:.;is nol nithll'ClJly__ adllgh}d
to a specific environment of his own. and is thereby

87

 3 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

thrown upon his ability to transform intelligently OIly pre­

constituted natural conditions. Poorly equipped as he is
with sensory apparatus. naturally defenseless, naked, con­
stitutionally embryonic through and through, * possessing·
only inadequate instincts, man is a being whose existence
necessarily depends ·'uponaction. 2 On the strength of such
considerations. such authors as W. Sombart, P. Alsberg.
J. Ortega y Gasset. and others, have derived the necessity
of techniclue from the limits 'of nla"n'S physical potential. 3
Thus. among the oldest artifacts we· find weapons,
which are not given to man in the .form" of organs; fire
should also be "thought of in this connection. having come
into use both for security and for warmth. From the
hoginning this principle of organ substitution operated
along with that of organ strengthening: The stone grabbed
to hit with is much more eCree.live. than the bare fist. Thus.
next to repJucemcnttechniques t!ia1,aUow· us to perrorm
beyond the potentials of our organ~, "\ive find strengthening
techniques that extend the performance of our bodily
equipnlenl-thu hammer, lhe. tni€roscope. the telnphone
reinforce natu.ral abilities. Finally, there are facilitation
techniques. t operating to relieve the burden upon organs.
to disengage them. and finally to save effort-as when use
of a wheeled vehicle replac~s the dragging of weights by

• In Der ~fensch Gehlen argues, on evidence from comparative embryology,

thol shu human gestation period is tau. short (by several months) to bring the
humon rulus 10 Ihe sumo Jevel of m"8iurUy lit birth as fot Ihe fetus of.f;losely
related $lJeC:ics.
t We translate the German En,JIIstung os "fac:;iIItaUon'" EnUos'unf( is a key
term in Gehlen's philosophical a(lthro~logy. It. characteri2:esthohunum heing',
as.cumpared to olher animals. as "burdened" (belosten) with the necessJly of
making arrangements for its own survival. due to the insufficiently ti~hl Ilt be­
Iween human ',physical equipment and Ihe enviromnent:"n is" thus the task of
those arrangements to relieve or facilitate (entJosten) man's existence,

88

 4 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

hand. If one flies in an airplane. all three principles

operate-the plane supplies us with tlie wings we do 110t
possess, outperforms all animal flights. and relieves us of
making any contribution whatever to our own motion over
vast'distances.
Ultimately. all attainments of the human mind remain
enigmatic; but the enigtna would be nil tho l11or~ impene­
trable if not seen in connection with 'n1au's organic and in­
stinctual deficiencies; for his intellect relieves him f[OIll
F ___

the necessity 10 under 0 off:~anic adaptations 10 which ani­

mals are subject. and conversel 'a ows lUll () a er liS
191na clrcUIDstances to suit' himself. If b~ tnc 111 iqlln W(~
understand the capacities and mean~wherehy mUll pul:;
nature to his own service. by identifying nature's profJer- '
ties and laws in order to exploit them and to contrnl tllflir
interaction. clearly technique. in this highly gmmral snww,
is part and parcel of man's very essence: It truly mirrors,
man=Iike man himself it is 'clever. it rep,resents something
intrinsic~lly improbable. it bears a complex, twistml rnln­
tionship to nnture.
These features are illustrated by the fad thnt tho carli·
est and nlost fundamental tectlnicnl attainmmils worn
achieved without reference to 'models given in ualu m. This
is true of the starting of fires by friction. of wood upon
wood. of the invention of the bow and arrow,.:and f1bove all
of the use of the wheel. the rotating move.J~P,llt around an
axis. This invention is so ahstract thnt it \\'~s nul ~ll1ainnd
evnn in high cultures, s\lch as Ihuse of I'm-( :olmuhinn
South Americll. wll kh possnssnd nlnhoraln I i1(!ratll WS,
complex state apparatuses. and high Iy dnvdopml 1'0­
Iigions, and yet had to make dn wilhout lilt! cart or Illn pol­
ter's wheel. Equally unprecedenled ill lluture is propulsion
by m~ans of an explosion. as is one o.f tlU! v£~ry oldnsl ill­

89

 5 MAN AND TECHNIQUE·

vontions-thal of thn flint knife. which goes back to tho

Gilnz-tvlindel intorglaciatioll. half a million years ago.

C. Kraft has pointed out that nowhere in nature do we lind

anything lil<.e a sharp blade which. propelled in a given di­

.L ". .

rection. produces a straight or a curved cut. 4

The world of technique. then. embodies the features

t
we associate with our images of a Ugreat man.· Like that

man. it is inventive. resourceful. life-fostering and at the

same lime lire-destroying, involvnd with primeval nature
in a complex relationship. Tuchniqll~ constitutos. as does
..•
ell

Jnan hilnsolf. Jlnture (Jrtifidelle.

Ovorthu ages. the tendency to replace missing orguns
••
has reached beyond the spJ1ere of the body. and penetrated

into deeper and deeper organic strata. The replacement of

••
the organic hy the ino'rganic constitutes one of tl~e" most
signJficant outcomes or. the development of culture. There
. are t.lvo·aspeds to tll"~s tendency: artificial materials replac­
••
••
ingthose organically produced; and nonorganic energy
repl(Jcing organic energy: ~As to the former, the develop­

ment of nwtnllurgy constitutos a cultural throsholtl of tho

first J1l(Jgl1ihulu; we speak of the Uronze Age. Iron Age. ote.
..

..
.-
..•
Metals replm:e and outperform materials immediately

nvailablu ill the unvironment. purticularly stolle and wood.

As lat~ .. as the Middle Ages ships, bridges. vehicles, and

tools w.eie largely made of wQad, and no other fuel was

II
know"n.:Today, concrate, meta{s, coke. co~l, and nume~ous
synthetic materials have largely supplanted wood. and 'car
bodies made of plastic may soon replace those made of
steel. Leuther and henlp have been replaced by steel ca­
..
iii

bles. wax candles by gas or electricity. indigo and purple

by anilililf dyes. nearty ull natural drugs anti medicinal
. ~erbs by synthetic products. As Freyer has argued. the ul­
timate goal seems
.:". . ..
to be to produce .m'Bterials
... with certain

90
 6 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

selected properties. s Thus the chemist say~. HI wan I to pro­

duce a substance which can be molded at I1rst. but then
hardensspoDtaneously: another which would remain plas­
tic at no matter what temperature; a third which might be
carved at will, and a .fourth one which can be'spun into
very fine thread." . .'
As to the' other aspecf of this tendency, thai is. in­
·organic supplanting organic energy. with the steam engine
and the internal-combustion engine. civilization has be­
come dependent upon undnrground ~lIpplins of coal mId
oil.. Ultimntely thnsn too arn legndes of past organic life.
·yet they entail a kny transilion: as far as energy SO\lf(:es are
concerned. mankind has made itself illdnpCl~dell' of I host!
that are renewed from year to year. As long' as wood re­
nrained the most significant fuel material. a:nd the work of
·domestic animals the most important source. of nnnrgy,',lw
advance of material culture, and thus ultimately popula­
tion growth. met a limit of a nontechnical kind that rested
upon the slow tempo of organic growth and reproduction.
By building hydroelectric power stations· and hy gaining
control over nuclear energy. man has freed his fHwrgy sup­
plies from the limitations of the renewal of orgnnic sub­
stances. .
The tendency. which· characterizes the progress or
te,c~lliCJ.ue. from th.e substitution ~or or~~lls to 11m rnpl:,ce­
m,ent of the organIc as a whole, IS ulhn18tely rooted In n
mystQrious law pertaining to the .roolm of the' mihtl. Briefly
pu(. this law is: NOllorganic nalure is more kno\\~abln than
organic nature. Bergson has duly Clnphasi7.8(1 this,f' Our
capacity for rational thinking. and the abstrm:l modols and
mathemnticnl concepts ,which, iI prndl1cns. npprnxltlwln 11J(~
givens of inorganic natum with nstonish ing mwel illld(~;
whereas. in spite of a If progt:ess in organ ie. ciwm islry. we

91

 7 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

are nol-much uetter informed than were the. earliest philos­

ophers of classical Greece as to the real nature of life. Ac­
cording 10 Bergson. intellect can only be judged in relation
to action. and its primary aim is the production of artifacts:
"Therefore . . . we may expect,.1o find that. whatever is
fluid in the real will escape (the intellect] in part. Our in­
telligence. us it leaves the hands ,of nature. ha~ for its chief
object the unorganized solid."? . .
The basic knowability of inorganic nature and the
stuuboril irnitiollality of the organic are renlarkaule facts.in
theulselves; but it is even more remarkable thaI only very· ..
recently has man learned to represent the course of natural
events as a dead. wholly material, yet uniforlll process.
One can conceive of nature tis an external world of facts."
U

as a realm of things. of properties. and of.regular transfor­

Inations uffcding them. a flmlril legitimized excl~~sively by
virtue of being there and occurring in a certain. fashion'.8
This world saturated with fucts. accounted fC)fc)J1 equally
factual grounds. constitutes Qne single complex. sufficient
unto itsolf und IcgitiJilized by its sheer existence and its
factual properties., Such a conception was occasionally put
forward by early Greek philosophers, and made its reap­
pearance in the seventeenth century with the rise otexact,
experimental, natural science. This outlook need not be
construed as an express philosophical theo~y (which as
such winlld stand near positivism or mQ-terialism); rather,
it gener~lizcs un attitude inherent in" ~c.i~nti.fiG research
and in tochnical practice from the time they" begsil to be
engaged ill as distinctive activities. (There is a distinction
between thqse unarticulated presuppositions which Ull­
derlie the actual conduct ~f people. and the properly theo­
retical views those people 'may consciously expound.) . ­
These last considerations are basic to the following

92

 8 MAN AND TECIINIQUE

argument: the supplanting of organic by inorganic Illate­

rials and energy through the developnHmt of tochn iquo is
grounded on the fact that the realm uf inorganic· natUf(~
most easily offers itself to methodicat rational analysis,
and to the associated practice 'Of experimentation. The bio­
logical realm and that of the psyche are incomparably
more irrational. Technicians and nnlurnl s.~ientisls tOlltlln
shape their own world views in aceurdam:n \\rHh tho posi­
tivism-or-facts described above. Tlw· m()rc~ slU:(;essful
sciences und tnchniquns exnrdsn a kind of rneJinticm offm:1
upon our image of tlw world.
In spite of this. this view or IllC! \\,or!(t hilS !JeHII currellt
only over the last three centuries. HHhough IIHlflkilldhngull
to produce by means of technique some half million ymlfs
ago.

The Modern Age: Its Su perstrtH:ture

vVe all sense Ihnt since tho timBs of st(jJ)C).....t ools or of Ilw
bow an.d arrow a (llJa1itatjn~ Iransrornwtiol1 has occurro(l
in what we call technique. But this chango should not. as
is often the case, be thought to consist in tlie transilion
from the simple tool to the Inachine. If wo call "IlHIehino"
any material arrangement which transnlils eJlergy and· per­
fornls work. we can app·ly this term 10 ·lhn-.lllmter·s trap
with its triggering mechanism. which· has'exi'sted.sinco the
Stone Age. Even 0 rotating mOVOllmnt hm:k\'·ard nn·d for­
ward can alrendy he found in flw StOllH I\gP fieldl., drill.
and the contifllHllIS rolating \I10VPllumt or tI working IlW­
chine (wntnr wlwnl) gO(~S htlck In I{lIl1lilll filliPS, Thus IIII!
difference between tool and, IJ.HH:h inc is nol Ihok!!.y qun I it a­
live difference involved in the t"rnnsitiotl rromprml1odcrn
to ffi.odern technique.

93

 U MAN AND TECIINIQUE

\Vo gut dostll' 10 Iltu Irulh if \\'tl cease 10 visualize sin­

gle Illm:hinos. utonsils. or discoveries. and consider in­
stead structural (;hatlges in whole areas of culture. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the natural sciences
attained lhc modern configuration. that i~~ "'1hey hecome
analytical-expcrimental. Briefly. an experiment consists in
isolating natural processes in such a way as to Dlakc them
opon to ohsnrvutinll and measurement. In two senses this
makes tho nalural sciellces. which proviously relicti basi­
cally on m:t:asionul ousen'alion and 011 speGuJation. shuilar' ,
III technical prm:lice. III 1110 firsl placH thn lools of physical
l:xpel'il1wntalionaru compurable' 10 lIlat:hil1es. allhough
lhey are intended not to produco useful effects but to bring
about pure. isolated natural phenomena. Even the inclined
pl~ne. used by Gal ilea to study Ihe faH of bodies, is a ':sim­
.vlellluchil1o·· of this naturo. In the sccond place, by moans
of the' logic of experimentation one isolates a natural pro­
C(~sS- (which 0110 ohst!l'vCS under varying conditions): and
to that oxll~ll( 11m oxptlrinwnt conslilutus a first step (oward .
II\(} tm:h/licill II~U of thai process .. In lhis way. two splwres
of cullurn. which fOl"llwrly cunw logether only in a few
nulds (in parlicular. ill tlto constructioll of nuvigational
tlevic(~s. optical instruments, aud precision weapons)-, and
for the rest had remaine~ e"ssentially separate from one
another, are now hrought' into the closest methodological
conncdicHl. Technique derived lhe brealhtaking lempo of
ils advancu frOlH the new natural sdencc. and the S"(;iullce
acquired from lechniquu its pract.icul. constructive, un­
specu la live hunt.
Nonetheless, Ihe astonishing i1t:colllpJishnwnts of the
'..HHHlern era would not Iwvo beun mdl iU\'lHJ4.vil houl the ill·
~urvunliunofa third factor. the contm,llporary emergence of
the . capitalis.l IllOth~ of produclioti.', .~\'Iwse spirit. as rvlax

94

 10 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

Weber showed. is a further product of Ihe sevcnlmmth e(m­

tury.~ The in\'cntion. or rnther the radknl improvcnwlIt, of
the steam engine by James \tVaH was financed by a capital­
ist interested in its industrial exploitation. Either entrepre­ li

neurs or states inteJrested in techniques of warfare (note. II

1/
for instance; the early employment of the wireless tele­
graph by war fleets) madepossihle experil1umtol discovnr­
ies and their practical applications.
Today it is vital to understnnd the fllncliollnl c:ollnoG-.
lion betweon nalural scimu:o. Im:hniqlw. nnd tim industrial"
system. Scientific researeh employs c\'nr-.lww Im:11II ka"' (In­
vkes; nnlure is forced open thrflllgh lechnique. TIH~~c:inl1­
tist must reach all understanding wHh tim Inchnidm\. fur
each problem is defined by the. Ilot-yel-u\'ailahln mill ip­
me~t required to solve it. Advnnccs in theoret icnl Ijhy&~cs,
for instance. depend no Ins::;". upon nlnctronk ct.;mputnrs
than' upon the brains of physicists. Ivleasurement!-i carr'ied
out with the cyclotron. using energies of sovernl nlillioll
electron volts. enter the values under calculation rmel thus
tho relaled theories. On the othor hnnd"lhn Inrg(~r illdlJ~­ 'I
trial complf3~es possess their own rO~HardI t!stnhl ishnumts.
'I

~!
II
Natural science is no long[~r Ihe monopoly of (,Inivcrsi­ Ii
.1

ties-indeed sometimesonJy gran~s from industr.y nllo\V I

otherwise unclerfinanced laboratories ill h!dlllolngical ulli­

yersities to keep going.' The notion that tr.dlllique consti­
tutes "applied science" is obsolete and ot'd-fashionnd:
today the three establishments-industry. It!chnhltln. ml(l
natural science-presuppose one nnothur. \\'hal is the ul­
timate basis of phnrlnacnutical c1wl11 istrv-hi()(:lumJical rn­
search. the industJ:ial firms Iha I COIll t1l is·siolJ iI. or tho pro­
duction and Jllark~ting organizatiolls of thosH firms'!' If 110
longer even makes sense 10', PO~(! the quol"tiol\ in Ihis fash­
ion.

95

 11 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

Supernatural Technique: Magic

The rapid advance of modern technique has thus taken
place in doso alliance with natural science and the capital­
ist Inode of production. which extend their hold with
equai :rnpi<-lity. All these fa~tors feed· upon one another.
One cannot expet:l such historically unique and radical
processes to reu1ain without influence upon the conscious­
ness of tho 111011 flivolved in them. "The pragmalic-posilivis­
tic attitude which characterizes this "industrial system"
has decisively 'extended its reach beyond the confines of
the SystClll wilhin which it originally developed. It has af­
feeled, for instance, the political.realm and, even more so,
....
til

=
the reahu of interpersonal relalions. We shall have to deal
with tj1ese phenomena later on, since they constitute the
sodul~psych{)logicalprol>lmlls of industrial sodety. For the
lime hoing. hnwover. WB must dnvnlop another idoa, which

..
..

III
should help 10 illuminate the hunlan coIidilion. This con­
cerns tlw human impulses operating in the technical
..
realm.

During hy far the greatest purt of its history. as we

have s~elJ. mankind has lnade do with fairly modest tech­
nical resources, however ingenious those early discoveries
....
~

Inight have been. Such basically simple instrun1ents and

artifacts as the war· chariot'" fireanns, or the plow. could
have extraordinariJysignificant historical and social conse­
quences. Even so, technique did not com(~. to occupy the
....
III

.very Genter of man's vision of the world. and thus also of

his conception of himself. This is what is happening
loday, when for instance we look at cyburnetics, to the
theory of technique~· of regulation. for clues to the work­
=
..
II
ings ~O.{ our own brains and nervous systems. It) . II

..

. " .
If we ask, "\Vhy did thig· "not happen before?" we get a ill
surprising answer. For millennia, in all primitive cultures

96

 12 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

as well as in the higher ones (the Egyptian, the classical.

etc.). man believcd in the possibility of a "sllpnrnatural
techniquett-of what today we call magic. Since prehis­
toric times magic has held Reentral place in man's concep·
lion of the world and" of himself. Even in monotheistic cul­
tures . which denied the ppssibitity of maJ£ic, magic
Inaintained a' foothold on the nmrgins. ,of sm:infY-Els
shown by the Irinls-of witches and Il1nRic;'~,nns in thn Mid­
dle Ages.........and only modern,' technicnl-sdnntiflc culture
has dealt it a mortal blow.
Maurice' Pradines calls magic "an attempt to ·bring
abollt changes to tho advantagp, of nWI1. hy divm'ling lhings
from their own pc-Ilh and toward our 0\\'11 servic:c." II It is
easy to see that this definition Gan encompass both mngic
and technique proper. thus both supernatural alHl nntural
technique..
We . cannot undertake, here, a closer allalysi~ of
magic. J2 hut we. Jllustemphnsizc its tremendous diffusiori
in time and space. If we con~idp.r till! rmnnrkahln similnfi~
ties found in the magical practices of nil races {Illd civi liza-'
lions, we see that magic IUlist ilivohre something anthro­
pologically fundamental. Rainmaking." for illslanco.w.1S
II

practiced in classical antiquity:. accordil1~ to pio~cnes

Laertius, Empedocles possessed tlj-is skill. Tho lluHllJwr of
Witcltes(1487)gives explicit directions for c:ollnlerllwgi~ :.
to b.c used against magically induced had wnatlwf. New,
Gu"inea nativespfacticc rahullakhlg, just as €In Omaha In- .
di~l1s. tho Bantus of lJolngoa. and tho CltinH~n.· .
. " If wn consider morn c)osol\, the nllnwrOll~ acc(lll1ll~
and documents nvailahlc~. a (;pll';-al COJl(:nrl1 or IIw IIlngka
"arts" beGo~es evident: HIe need 10 P.JlSUfH tlw "wgularily
of.. the process of nature," and to "stabilizc;"-tll(~ world's
rhythm by smoothing out irregu larities and excnpt jonnl oc­

97
 J:I MAN AND TECllNIQlJE

CUITt~IIC(~S. Thlls. wlwn dd'm:tive hirlhs. moon or SIIII m:lip­

sese or ollwr slrunge evenlS uppeilr as unfuvomble "signs"
against whic;h Inagic must intervene. what is being sought
is the reinstatement of the usual uniformiti~s' of nature •
.just as when nlagic is employed to call forth the usual
rains or winds which have failed to appear. The same
holds true for the innumerable examples of "fertility
mugk." used to unsure the cyde.s of vegetable life or to
incruasu 11m numhor of plants 01' unimols. In fertility Illagk
ifisiml)o-I~taill it) rospect I)red:-mly given dittos, su'nsol1s, or
hours. or pnrhnl)s recurring philses such as· the beginning
.of cultivation. of sowing. or of harvesting.
This primary human interest in the regularity of the
processes of nature deserves mnphasis: It betrays a semi­
instinctual need or stability in the endronment. Since real-' a
..

ily is unu\'oiunbJy su . Jec~ to time an to C lange, the most·

stability one ean· hope fOr. 'consists in the same effects re­
peating Ihmu:.;nlves HlI.hlinuticnlly and periodically. as in­
deed Ihcyhmd to do ill .Huturt!. The primeval, "a priori"

cOIu:nplioil ttf' Ilw world. Itot ynl inl1umH:ml hy sdmu:o.

..
...
ill

,'jews 11m \\'odd. aud the Hwn who eire pari of it. us caughl
ill
in a rhytlHuic. :wlf-susluining. circular process of motion, ill
thus constiluting Ull animated CllIlun1ulism. Also, the magi­ ill
cal forces with \vhich the world is filled are nelther arbi­ a­
trary nor spontaneous; one· can set them into motion by
means of the approp'r.i:al~>precisely repeated formulas.
after. \Vlti.d) they operate ll}l.der their OWll impulse, neces- .
il
ill

'.
sarily <1lld illitolllatically. . . ill
A cOl1siderahle re~iduu of this primeval.' inllatn viow is

still prest!nt ill astrology. in spite of all Iho "ralionalhdng"

effects of I he new. scien t ilk world image. ~fost of liS

JI
Ji
. would 1m asl(Hlish{~tl--at Ihe IHlmbe.. of LJusillessIllCll lind
politicians who belIeve in an inescapable connectionb¢:
.
~

98

 I
!.

14 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

tween the immense. rotating mnc:hanism of the stnrs rind

the destinies of individuals-a connection which thn l11etn­
physics of primitive peoples views. without nllY sense of
contradiction. as both willed by spirit and necessary.
Something that has resisted all the thrtis~ of offended rea­
son must obviously be deeply rooted in the mind of man­
kind. '
The fascination with automatisms is a preratioual.
transpractical impulse. which previously. for millennia..
found exprossion in mugic-. tlw' II!chll iqul! of th iugs HJ..HI
proc(!Sscs beyond O~I r S(!I1s(!s-a ltd has lIIorn rm:mlll,\'
!
found its full realization in docks. l!llginos. and nil IWllllwr
I

of rotaling mechanisms. \Vhof!\'(!1' consicfnrs from a psy­

~ .

I chological.,viewpoinl.the magic wit ieh CHI'S (!xercisn UpOIl

I today's"yoitng, cannot do'ltbt that the interests nppealcd to
lie deeper than those of a.tational and pradknl liatiire. II"
this seems improbable. 'one should consider the fact that a
machine's automatism. exercises a fascination entirely in­
dependent of its practicnl uses. a fascinntioil that mjght
well be best embodi{~d in a perpetual-motion mnchiJw
whoso only gonl and nclivil~' would consisl in forever re­
producing the 'same circular mot iou. Noun of tim inIHlllu;r­
able individuals who. ovnr thn cmlturit$ llil\'(f· grnpplnd
with the insoluhle prohimn of Imrpntunllllolinn. did so ill
view of any practical ef-fect. Instead. thew were all fas­
cinated by the singular'aj>peal of a nlachi'lw that runs it­
'self, a clock that winds itself. Such all' aPI)(ml is not Hwrely
intellectual in nnture. but has dnnper sources.
That appeal involves what w(! nUl\, call it f'(~S()IIUJJC(!
phenomenon. Bnset by tho onigma of :his OWl1 existonc(!
and his,o:wn nature. man Illllst donlic--h~illlsldf hy referring
to ·what.:is othnr than hilliself. other Ihan 1,,'I)llHil. Ilis
awaren¢$~. of himself is indirect. and his snare" for a self­

99

--- ~---
r.
;..
i
j
11
••
15 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

definitioll alway~ lllll~t CUJlsi~t ill comparing' himself to

.II

til
something nonhuman, and then differentiating himself
•
"
from that.1.l It is not difficult to establish this point with

reference to the concepts of divinity of the higher mono­

II
theistic or polytbuislic reUg.jgns, o~ alternatively with ref­ II
erence to the nllich more ancient and more widely diffused

'myths concerning man's descent from animal demons.

Also. in 1nterpreting his own psyche, man has largely re­

•
III
II
ferred to phenomena of the external world; availed himself
II
.
of shadows, of blood, of mirror hilages and other visual
phenomena in order to penetrate his own inner naturo.. ·11
Primitive religions have found throughout nature sHeIlt
answers to the question of man's own essence. II
vVilhill this orientation, however. what necessarily
..
makes the 8r~test impression is the fact that natural pro­
"
II
.~

.
.

cesses ud'vance rhythmicully and periodically. with an inl-

perturbabilily that bespeaks a' "'logic:' ;,vhether the atten­ ill
tion be fasteund upon the puzzling exactitudo of the

recurrent motions of the stars, or upon the stubborn, ste­

reotyped, immutahlu habi~s of uniInal:s. "And in fuct, in a

number of quite central aspects of his own nature man

1
himself is un automatism: he is heartbeat. and breath, he

lives in and by' a number of meaningful. functioning.

rhythmical autonlatisms-think of the motions or walking.
think above all of the" ways in which the hand operates.
Think of the "cirde of actioil;~; which goes through object,
eye, anu hund.and \Vhid~ ir~ "returning to the object con..
eludes itself a1ullmgins onew. The fascination exercised by
the analogolls processes of the external world bespeaks a
"resonance, which conveys to man an intimate feeling for
It 1
.-1J
" his very nature. by focllsing 011 what echoes his nature in II
"the external . world. And if we todav.. still'speak_of the
~. I'

"course" of the stars and of the "running" of machines, the

100

 16 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

similarities thus evoked are not in the lenst superficinJ:

they convey to men certain distinctive conceptions of their
own essential traits based on "resonance:' Through these
similarities man interprets the world after his own inlnge
all<bwice-versa. himself ~fter his image of the world.

Objectification aild Fflcililalioll

We come thus to a point of great significnnce for deh~rmin­
ing the relationship between Illnll -<tnll technique. For if
there is n deep-snntedboncJ betwoen man and thosn pro­
cesses of the external world that advnllcn rhythmically. pn­
riodically. under their own momentuiu. this makes morn
. comprehensible the drive ,components (Trif?bkompOIJHnte)
implicit in technique. Thern is a widnspread prejud ice.
largely of academic origin. '9 th(~: nffm:t that lechnknl I)(~­
havior is "merely rationat· nnd "oxclusively goal-ori.
onted." Yel. as Hermann Sdlillidt hns mnphnsiznd. lhn oh­
jectijicatiolJ of-luhor involved in technicnl phenomena is
the result of a process specific to mnnkind. hilt of which
we ~s individuals are not conscious. ond whoso motivation
flows frOJn the"scllsuoC'sicJc of our nalum." "I\ny group of
men placed under identical conditions would always un­
dertake to objectify labotas in response to a drive." In this
connection. Schmidt quotes a rcmnrkabln stntemcnt (if
\Valter Rathenau's: ·"Mechm~i7.atioll is not the result of fr(~n.
conscious deliberation. eXJlrnssin~ mnnki·iul's ntllit:nJ wi II:
rather. it grnw wilhont hcillA intnndnd. or illd(~Hd f!vnll no­
ticed. In spite of its ralional and casuislic slrtl(:IHn~. iI is it
dumb pro(;ess of nature. not OIW originating from
choice.'· 14
T~e' process .in questiOl~ cnH he variouslv construed.

101

f
r
t
iI

17 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

Man-as I havo shown ill It:nglh t:lscwlw.. e-is a lmillg

constituted for cicHon, for the modification of the facts of
the external world. IS One of his essential dlOracletistks is
the circle of. aqlign (Handlungskreis)-a modifiable,
directed motion capahle of correction on the, basis of its
outcolue, and which 1n the end may become autom~tized
and wholly hnbitual. 16 "Each of our nleaningful ·opera­
tions," wrilns II. Schmidt. "nm:essnrily tokes this fOfll1 of a
self-colltai ntH I drclo of actio)), where fomlbuck cO))llcds
the slIbjm:t wilh himself on lho hasis of the previous re­
sults of his action:' Em:h is approprintnfy said, for (:V(!ll the
speaking-hearing circlo cOllslilutns such i.l circle of HC­
tion-and language is the vehicle of all mental activity.
liThe circle of action is lhe universnl form of mall'S mean­
ingful expression." 17 In keeping with this, Norbert \Viener
calls feedback a very general feature of for~s of behavior:
UIn its 'sinlplest form the feedback principle ·~eans that be- .
havi<)r is scanned for its wsults. and that "the success or
failure of lhis result lJlodillusfuturn lwhavior."lti
II is lIol l!asy 10 tIIHIt~rslal1d llw il'wtional illl pl! Isos Ht
work wilhin lndiilique. The lwetlof IllUIl to ruad hinumlf
into Iluturo and tlum lointorprel himself ill !l}rms of nature
(a need evidenced illlovc.r the world. and preserved at the
very core of religion) is fundamental. All periodicaL. cycli­
cal processes evoke a near-instinctual reson~·l1~e.:· in man;
from the beginning he has seen him~elr: 'as :c~u.ght .ill a
cycle of rebirth. Huving thus brought himself close to the
world. 110 relates to it moinly through his own power 10
act. tvlngic as supurnaturaltnchnit'llH hrings into llw circlo
of OCliOll the lotality of the external world, makes it possi­
ble 10 slim 111011 "rhe wi utI. to call forth the seaSOllS. to
.transfer one's illnesses to animals. The basic need uehind

102

- - - ~
 18 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

the practice of nlogic-tho nend to slahi Iizo I ho cOllr~c of

the world and free it from di"~turbanc:o~-i~ the lIoml of 011
oGling being.
It is an equally primeval fact, however,t.hat man also
objectifies his own material action, and thro.ugh it. makes
an impact upon the world; he sees his action .as part of the
world, allows the latter to extend and reinfofcchis oWll ac­
tion: he "objectifies" his own labor. Ilence the tool. The
stone is a "representation" of tho fist. stmHls in it~ stcnel,
and indeedluagnifics its offm:l. Thus tho'lwrrow spllnr(} of
one's netunl conlrol mnrgos inre', rhn widnr splwn~ of whal
one can conlrol through imagination. III fad tlw (!xIWndi­
ture of one's phy·sical energy dirninislws'in relation to tho
nlasses set in moHon. vVorking with tools is demauuing,
but magical formulas suffice to stabilizo rho wHolhor or to
guarantee the spring's return.
Here ond can see in operation a further. fundamental
'~uman law: the tendency toword fncilHation. As we have
luade cleat elsewhere, the principle involvod is ono of gOB­
eral anthropolllgical significance. Ie) Ifnrn oitly its implic:n­
tions fortechlliquc nro rnlnvant: tho "la~ger circle of nc­
n
Hon of nlogic mlinvns tIm hurden of IIw wnnknuss mu)
helplessness one feels whetlGoufrontedwi 111 the pnwnrs of
. nature~ by facilitating"the reduction of the world to human
,dimensions. The smaller circle, that involving ~Y~)fk, radli­
t.~tes in the Iiterol. physical sense. The "ohject Uica.tion of
hUlnan labor" into the 1001 Blakes it evidcnt thi..t·n Ics~nr
effort can achie"o greater results: for "this roason" we have
already discussml tho usn of tools C1~ a 1H:lflf~" of organ
facilitation.
Gnn should. nol forgnt a Ihird prOCf!SS of f;lf:ilitaliolt:
both techniques share the sariH~~ implicit purpose. Of alHIlY
ratn tendency. In huild hnhils .. "to la\' down !"OllliIWS. to'

103

19 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

make lllUlly actiolls a matter of course. This third tendency

toward facilitation is expressed hy R. Wagner as follows:
"In this. fashion the supretne tribunal, the cerehral cor­
.....
II
tex, frees itself tinle and again of whatever task has be­
come highly probable. everyday and trivial, and ~eeps
II
itself available for unusual and more sensational per­
II
formances.:' 20
One luay now understand why technique, from its
beginnings. operates from motives that possess the force of .
ill
II

unconscious, vital drives. The constitutional humall fea­

tures of the circle of action and of facilitation are the ·ul-· ~
timate determinants of'all technical development. This is ..
II
II
not to say that one Inay predict the content of a given in­
vention hy reference to those determinants: dearly the
operation of nn engine is to be understood on the J}asis of
.
phy~ical Ulul technical Coilsideralions. rilther thun r)y' refer­
ence. ·10.. the motives leading up to its construction. Ilow­
ever.-if wu cOllsidor'the development of technique in its to­
tality. we come II pOll a law more fundamental than these
"=
physical cOIlsiderations. a law obeyed unconsciously yet
invariably. which can only be identified on the basis of the
concepts of the progressive objectification of human labor
and porfonnuncc. anu of increasing facilitation.

Thi.s process develops in.three stages. In the first. that of the

toot the·physical energy necessary fOI labor and the requir·ed 'in­
tellectual input s.lill dopend on the subject. In the second. that'of
the muchiJw. physical onergy becomus {)bjectified by means' of
technique. Finally. in the third stage. that of automata, tnchnical
means make dispensable also the intellectual input of the sub­
ject. \Vith each of these steps, the objectification of goal attain­
ment by technical means advances. un·til the goal we have set
ourselves is accomplished. in the case of automata. without our
p~ysical or intellectual participation. In· automation. le.chnique

104

 20 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

attains its methodical perfection. and this conclusion of a devel­

opment in the technical objectification of labor which had
started in pre-history. is a distinctive feature of our own time. 21
In the course of this development. which accompanies
and largely determines the "uistory ,of-nlankind. it is only
recontIy that techniqun has come to UC(:upy IIw spcu:n hold
for hundreds of thousands of yours-during tlw limns
when men knew only primitive tools-" by magic. the "su­
pernatural techniC]ue:' But magic was also intended to (ill
the words of Pradines) "divert things from their own paths
and toward our own servh~(1"~ it sought 1I1H:0IlSdollsly 10
strengthen the effectiveness. to. multiply tho reach of
human action; and it envisaged something liknthe"great
automatism:' whose operations arn regulated hy tbn infor­
mation feeding back from areas of pnssihln distllrharH:(~.

A uh:>Ination
H. Schmidt's law of the three stages sliggests lhat.. from
man's standpoint. the objeclification of actions and facul­
ties into the exterual world dovelups as if from tim outside
toward the inside. At first it is Ihe performance of organs
which are strengthened. improved. fncilitatml. Then IIw
same thing happens to physical energy inputs: lhe nnorgy
expenditure originally carried out orgonically (hy.animals
or by ~~n) is taken oVHrb~' llonliving malter. In, thn third
stage. whe:re wo find ourselves. what hn<:nulns uhim:. inmt is
lhe eirdo ofnclinn· itsnlf. including its control mit!" (Iime­
lion. At the snnw limo. lhat part or physiologic:..1 lifn.\\'hid,
operales" through .cin;ular snns-orY-lHotor pnH~(~S:.;ns Im­
comes objectified.---:.as does lhal part in which regulalion is
performed in a whollv automnLic fashion. for instuJlce bv
means of chemically transnliUed information. Final":.

105

 21 MAN AND TECHNIQt IE

com It tI till g a lit onHi ta ca n so I \'e d ifTeren tial all dill h:gra I

equations fustor and more effectively tlum Inan, Hlul appear

as "a now source of IlHlthemetical knowledge." 22

These modern regulatory devices endowed with feed­

back all rost on the principle that, uulike..-the automobile.

the system dues not vary in its operations according to

comnlands inlparted fronl outside, but rather under the in­

fluenco of tho rnsults of those o(Jorations themsulvns. Tn

this mHI onn niust huild into slIch automata sensory do­

vices. sllch as II thnrlnostmsor ill tho hot wilter tunk.. which

switdws Ull dm:tric C\llTtmt all or otT according to tlw tmn­

. perature. Here thermal quantilies are being regulated. but a
variety of nlechanical and electrical ones can similarly be
regulated. "TJle essential is that such a Inechanisnl should
continuously react upon itself via a closed circle. Or. as
one might- u)$(.) -suy: These dovicf's are so arranged that a
very small po'r_~ion of the energy stf(~am traversing the sys­
tem is put to ,i'$e for tho regulation of thH energy stream il­
sel f. .. 1.1 .
TIlt: cin:lt! or reglllaiioH 1< C<l11 lw considered in tlw first

pIau! as a "cupy" of the circle of actiou; and ill fuet it is

)uchnieaJly possible to lmild a Gur whore tho Imrdt.m of

driving is takennff the driver and taken over by automatic ~
controls. But. apart from the circle of action. the sanle
structural principle is found to operate in many physiolog­
ical regulHtoryprocesscs. The wgulation of blood pressure. =
for instaifce. la~es plac:n through a self-enclosed circle of
operations tmdowcd with fcedlmck.:!.a Within ·tlm walls of
the larger hlood vessHls. thB aorta [or illstmu:n. thH"" ~lI'C
sensitive nern~s which report information uhollt rising
blood pressure to a nlsclilar Iwrve cHIl~.er in the medulla
=
....
III
• Hq,wlhds: the expressioll .Idopkd ill the lexl IranslaltlS Jilt:wlly it Cefl1lan

term whose mCilllillg is nol \'I~ry diffcfl!lIt frtlm "feedback."

=
•..
.­
••
--=-=- --- -
106

­
..
 22 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

oblongata. and there activatca countereffoct. The tension

in the walls of the peripheral vessels is rnducml: they be­
come dilated and admit a .Iarger flow fro III the aorta.
where, as a consequence, the pressure diminishes. But this
activates.- the 'bptjOsite process. so that the blood pressure
oscillates. pendulumIike. around a central value. Nu­
merous bioJogiccj, ·states such as the regularity of breath­
ing, the saline concentration and sugar content of blood.
and bodily temperature. nre regulflted in this fnshion. a:; is.
for instance, the vestibulnr orgun that t:ontruls (lquilihriUIH.
Physiologists omploy concepts nisi) u~mf in rhn rnrilm of
feedback autonlata. such as Ihat of "rnaffnrmH:(~." in order
to describe mote effectively both voluntary mal involun­
tary movements. 25
A philosophical evaluation of such mailers would be
premature, and·it· is be.st to avoid hasty mm:hanistk in­
terpretations, such ·~s that the insights info utife" afforded
us by the technicaL circle of ragu lation have now made
plain the mechanical nature of life itself. All 0110 can say is
that the circle of regulation. viewed as a complt~x of opera­
tions. appears to share Ihe samn fo,.m nsthn hUllwndn:ln
of action and a number of physiologknl IIwdwnisI1IS of
regulaUon:but this allows for fundnmcntaldiFfermH:ns in
the components of tluit form. Thus when we. hnvn is all
uisomorphism:' a similarity of configurnlioJl. 2 (. not a simi­
larity of nature: and we are today no closnr Ihan hefore to a
. "synthesis·· of life. This leaves open the possihiJ ily of tak­
ing certain life processes. inclnding some of the greatest
significance. and Ireatingthnm m; ohjm:ls in tllO f!xlornul
world. inanimate. and as it worn "nslnm~nd." TIWrt~ art!
other. equnllysignificant.. proc(~ss(~S for wit jell t II is. is not ns
yet possible: though cell division has ah'(ltllf" IHlOi, mJa­
IY7ed \V ith ref~rc~lce to regu Inl ion processes. .

107

 23 MAN AND TECHNIQUE

Thus the advalu;e of leehnique nllows nwn to trollsfer

into inanimate nature a principle of organization which

operatos at various points within the organislll. We have

spoken of inanimate nature. meaning. by this not unpro­

cessed. raw. lifeless nature. but rather technical equiplnent

prodirti-t\J· by man himself. Prehistoric man .1lttributed to

raw nature a principle of organization, though in fantastic

form, when he employed magical techniques to 8.dllress

the clouds or the winds as if they could hear him. .

~todern technologists, however. have developed their

regulatory devices wilboulbeing aware of their isomor­

phisnl with biological processes. which became apparent

. only later; they have somehow, unconsciously· and semi­

instinct i\'uly. prod.iu:etl mudels applicable to certain lifo
processus. As a predictable result of this. rich areas of ex­
perience slIch as technology, physiology, biology. and psy­
chology. will enter into.closer and more frequent contact.
exchanging queries and·:··tlmories
. . . with one another. Il is
still too early to consider cybernetics as adislinctive. self-
standing. general science. For the time being it constitutes
an· endeavor to consider. jointly and to cross-fertilize sev­
eral sciences. Sociology will have to be added to those dis­
ciplines already l11entioned. since the Hot ion of "signaling
bac~" raises lhe problem of c:olumunication, or ratlwr of ~
information lransnlission, not only in machines (SUdlUS ~
computers) but also in living beings.

=••
..
=
.•.
~
108

=
•