AQUINO Journal of Philosophy

Our attempt in this paper is to explore the implications or effects of western technology on African values from the lenses of the German philosopher of the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger. Drawing primarily from his seminal work The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, it will be discovered that modern technology is a revealing in the sense of challenging that unlocks what is hidden in nature to transform, store and control it. This means that modern technology is using nature as a “reserve,” a “standing-reserve” ready at hand. Its contact with African values has been devastating, exploitative, impositional and reductionist. Given that African values are relational, communitarian, and spiritual in nature, Heidegger calls for a return to the essence of ancient technology—the pious, respectful outlook that does not amount to imposition; a rediscovery of techn? as poi?sis—a revealing that is unharmful to nature and a technology that preserves and respects the harmony of the Fourfold (Earth, Sky, Mortals, Divinities). The method we employed here is hermeneutic, that is, an interpretation of the texts of Heidegger. The challenge is to develop a technology of the future that preserves, respects, and cares for African values while revealing its potentials.

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