Technology, Time, and the Conversations of Modernity

Technology, Time, and the Conversations of Modernitytakes as its impetus the idea that technology is an embodiment of our uneasiness with finitude. Lorenzo Simpson arguest that technology has succeeded in granting our wish to domesticate time. He shows how this attitude affects our understanding of the meaning of action and our ability to discern meaning in our lives. Simpson addresses the question of the price exacted by modernity in its scientific and technological guises; at the same time, he examines a number of critical responses that take measure of our modern or, arguably, postmodern condition. The book thus poses the question of technology in the context of a range of philosophical issues and themes, from hermeneutics and critical theory to neo-pragmatism, the rationality debates, narrative theory, and postmodernism. Simpson's main aim is to elaborate a critique of technological rationality that does justice to our contemporary situation. In the course of this,he examines philosophical nihilism and the affinities between postmodern sensibilities and the technological attitude toward the world--illustrated by a discussion of Virtual Reality technology--as well as providing critical discussions of the work of Rorty, Habermas, and MacIntyre.