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Mediation and Transcendence: Balancing Postphenomenological Theory of Technological Mediation with Karl Jaspers’s Metaphysics of Ciphers

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Dmytro Mykhailov at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Dmytro Mykhailov
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Abstract

The purpose of the present article is to contribute to the postphenomenological theory of technological mediation by introducing a new type of ‘human-technology’ relation named ‘transcending mediation’. Previously postphenomenology didn’t pay much attention to the role technology plays in mediating human relation to Transcendence. This was because of empirical turn and pragmatism that are anti-metaphysical in their nature. In the present paper, however, I will show that the empirical element of technology can be balanced by some metaphysical findings. Keeping this in mind, I will rely on Karl Jaspers’s metaphysics of ciphers in order to demonstrate how technology mediates not only our relation to the world but also shapes human’s relation to Transcendence. As I am going to show in the present paper, this sort of mediation becomes possible because technologies are actively participating in so-called self-transcending practices. The latter, according to Karl Jaspers, are practices through which humans can elucidate one’s true self (e.g., become an Existenz). In this article, I will take a case of Smart education as a particular type of self-transcending practice and will show how contemporary AI educational systems enable and disable particular forms of becoming true self (Existenz).
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Human Studies (2023) 46:405–422
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-023-09666-6
1 3
THEORETICAL / PHILOSOPHICAL PAPER
Mediation andTranscendence: Balancing
Postphenomenological Theory ofTechnological Mediation
withKarl Jaspers’s Metaphysics ofCiphers
DmytroMykhailov1
Accepted: 30 January 2023 / Published online: 15 February 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023
Abstract
The purpose of the present article is to contribute to the postphenomenological
theory of technological mediation by introducing a new type of ‘human-technology’
relation named ‘transcending mediation’. Previously postphenomenology didn’t
pay much attention to the role technology plays in mediating human relation to
Transcendence. This was because of empirical turn and pragmatism that are anti-
metaphysical in their nature. In the present paper, however, I will show that the
empirical element of technology can be balanced by some metaphysical findings.
Keeping this in mind, I will rely on Karl Jaspers’s metaphysics of ciphers in
order to demonstrate how technology mediates not only our relation to the world
but also shapes human’s relation to Transcendence. As I am going to show in the
present paper, this sort of mediation becomes possible because technologies are
actively participating in so-called self-transcending practices. The latter, according
to Karl Jaspers, are practices through which humans can elucidate one’s true self
(e.g., become anExistenz). In this article, I will take a case of Smart education as
a particular type of self-transcending practice and will show how contemporary
AI educational systems enable and disable particular forms of becoming true self
(Existenz).
Keywords Postphenomenology· Technological mediation· Karl Jaspers· Existenz·
Transcendence· Smart education· AI adaptive educational system
* Dmytro Mykhailov
101300137@seu.edu.cn; faeton60@gmail.com
1 School ofHumanities, Southeast University, Nanjing211189, China
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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