5369/ Ellul/ Ch 16 Reading Response

Gregory Zobel
Chapter 16
Jacques Ellul: On the Aims of a Philosophy of Technology

The Ellul excerpt centers on contextualizing the setting for his argument and defining key ideas. He begins strategically by claiming that no total account of technology, or what he calls technique, is possible. Ellul defines technique thus: "[T]echnique is the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity" (182). Shortly thereafter, Ellul acknowledges that he, too, is involved in a technological civilization, and thus his perspective is biased (183). Then he claims that he has not set out to prove anything (183). Ellul continues hedging his position and states that his work centers on collective, not individual, mechanisms. The only role of the historical past is for comparison. Once he completes his hedging, he warns the reader not to be fatalistic; his conclusions are only probable if the populations do not respond and change their current course.

Ellul offers no solution, and he claims that no solution offered as yet to the challenge of technique is viable. Earlier solutions he dismisses as fanciful or simplistic. These will not work because, "Technique presents man with multiple problems" (185). The problems are complex and require complex solutions. Ironically, the individual man whose life Ellul cannot account for is then held accountable and, according to Ellul, is the potential source of the solution: "Each man must make this effort [to overcome technological determinants] in every area of life, in his profession and in his social, religious, and family relationships" (185). Resisting technological determination not only helps humanity avoid the oncoming problems Ellul will describe in his book, but is also an expression of personal freedom for Ellul defines freedom as not inherent; rather, "[F]reedom consists in overcoming and transcending these determinisms" (185). Thus, the solution Ellul provides appears to be one of individually designed resistance to technological determinism.