Technique, Technology, and Theory. Blumenbergian Perspectives in Philosophy of Culture

Objects and concepts of technology were a lifelong theme in Blumenberg’s work. In a broad sense, this comprises cultural techniques such as observation and description, rhetorical devices or individual helpful tools as well as the atomic bomb with its destructive power, and the entire field of modern technology. Blumenberg worked on the project of an ‘intellectual history of technology’ against a philosophical hostility towards technology that was widespread in the Federal Republic of Germany at his time, and considers technology in all its forms as a human cultural form. With this in mind, the article looks at Blumenberg’s understanding of theory and works out its technical dimension. In contrast to the ancient understanding of theoria as contemplation, Blumenberg already identifies a technically shaped understanding of theory in the ancient science, and gains an ‘epistemological model function’ from astronomy: here the gaze is not content with contemplation, but follows a theoretical curiosity that makes use of technical instruments in addition to speculation and mathematics. Against a widespread juxtaposition of theory and practice, the article outlines Blumenberg’s understanding of theory in its intervening dimension.