Technological De-Worlding, Search for a Fleshy Method: An Investigation into La Quotidienne

Abstract

The evolution and survival of humankind from the Homohabillis to the Homo-faber would not be so if it were not for technology. We are technological beings and cannot be otherwise, so it is only natural that we are seduced by the orgasmic, rhythmic current of technology. I first explore the idolatry and euphoric metaphysical entanglements associated with technological determinism but also consider if there is reason to throw caution to the wind. Realizing the benefit of technology, Martin Heidegger (The Question Concerning Technology) et al., were optimistically cautious about technological enframing that (de-)worlds humankind from his habitat (fleshiness of being-in-the-world). Resolved to find a solution, Heidegger's project was to avoid Cartesian pitfalls and metaphysical jargon by clarifying Dasein's relationship to transcendence, reinstituting Dasein concretely in the world. Bemused, Heidegger himself said this project remains a puzzlement. This essay considers Henri Lefebvre's Métaphilosophie (Métaphilosophie: Promolegomenas) (Festival, Rhythmnalysis, La Quotidenne, Moments) as a non-philosophical means to dèpasser our technological commonplace and re-habiter the "total man" in the world. What I am proposing here is that if Heidegger's Faustian-like bargain is correct, then Lefebvre's method and possibly others of the same spirit are critical to first locate and account for moments of alienation in one's everyday commonplace and to find or create concrete ways of making do by realizing the potentiality of those moments.