In this paper, I attempt to understand Heidegger’s conception of technology in light of Stiegler’s critique of that conception, anchored in a discussion of books and libraries as technological artefacts. I argue, following Stiegler, that Heidegger did not adequately take into account the inherent technological character of the means by which Dasein’s heritage is transmitted to subsequent generations. Stiegler’s concept of epiphylogenesis—dead matter externally organized to support living, internal memory and instantiated in books and libraries—is therefore a useful supplement to (...) the Heideggerian account of the transmission of heritage. I examine the points where Heidegger mentions books and/or libraries in three exemplary texts from the beginning, middle, and end of his career, indicating at each point how Stiegler’s thought can supplement that of Heidegger. I conclude with a brief discussion of David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas, considered as a paradigmatic example of Stiegler’s conceptual framework. (shrink)

Neste artigo, o autor examina a abordagem da ciência e da técnica que foi apresentada por Martin Heidegger no seu curso de inverno de 1928, intitulado Introdução à filosofia. A tese central examinada é a de que a ciência e a técnica mostram a impotência originária do ente humano. O conceito de impotência é circunscrito pela determinação concreta da transcendência do Dasein, a cujas determinações negativas acrescenta-se, ainda, aquela que resulta da interpretação ontológica do conceito de jogo.In this paper the (...) author examines Heidegger's account of science and technology, that is presented in Winter course of 1928 Introduction to Philosophy. The main examined thesis says that science and technology display the primordial impotence of human being. The concept of impotence is circumscribed by the concrete determination of transcendence of Dasein, to which negative determinations adds, yet, that resulting from the ontological interpretation of concept of game. (shrink)