Enframing, the Essence of Modern Technology (p. 13 - 24)

In this section, Heidegger elaborates on modern technology, which is entirely different from the what the Greeks knew technology as. He concludes that Enframing is the essence of modern technology.

Techne (p. 13)
Now that we understand the essence of technology as lying in the realm of revealing, or of truth, it is now essential to understand what “technology” is.
The word technology stems from the Greek word “Technikon”, which means “that which belongs to techne”. We can understand the word “techne” from the modern words from which it is derived. For instance, “technique” refers to an activity or a skill of a craftsman. We also find this word used in reference to arts, for instance “writing technique” or “painting technique”.
Understanding it in this way, we see that techne is something which brings forth, since a technique is always aimed at bringing forth something, ie “poiesis”.
Techne is also linked to the word “episteme”. We widely understand it through the sense of “epistemic knowledge”, and so understand it as referring to “knowing”. Heidegger says “They mean to be entirely at home in something, to understand and be expert in it”, and so techne also refers to the mastery of a thing.
Heidegger then says “Such knowing provides an opening up. As an opening up it is a revealing”. What is meant here is that when, say, a table-maker knows a table, this knowing of what a table is and what it consists provides an opening up of other objects as potentially being a table (eg. a pile of wood). As an opening up (when the table-maker makes use of the wood to make a table), it is a revealing (of the wood as a table).
So what is techne in this case? Well, it is a mode of revealing. What does it reveal? It reveals what nature does not already bring forth via physis. Thus, it reveals things which are not revealed by nature. For instance, nature could not bring forth an axe, but techne could.
Thus Techne is a mode of revealing only available to humans. Techne reveals things by first collecting and gathering the Eidos (Form/Aspect) of the thing, the Hyle (matter/materials), and the Telos (Accomplished state, end), of a thing, and then through this gathering determines how it is to be constructed. Thus, what decides Techne, or the technique to be used lies not in the manipulation of data, material quantities, methods, etc., but rather it is the Telos, or what is to be revealed. Thus it is as revealing (the Telos), that techne brings forth, and not manufacturing.
The Essence of Modern Technology (p. 14 - 17)
Upon examining modern technology, we will see that it is quite different from the past. Where in the past it was about gathering things and bringing them into their accomplished state (telos), now it is about manipulating things to achieve certain results.
So what is it that makes Modern Technology different? The first hint is in how it implements modern physics. What is Modern Physics? It is an exact science, where models of the physical world are understood as calculable, and can be simulated through calculation.
So what is modern technology? It is a revealing. In what sense is it a revealing? It reveals what things are through how it manifests. In the past, techne would result in the bringing forth, a revealing, of the telos (accomplished state) of a thing. That would be the telos of techne. But what is the revealing that is present in modern technology?
The revealing here, according to Heidegger, is that of a challenging forth. Things are no longer things in that they are regarded as objects in their accomplished states (telos). Rather, things are now seen as something to be challenged, challenged to yield energy for the purpose of storage, such that it may be used.
How is this different from old windmills and other such devices of the past? The old windmill simply stores whatever is given to it by the wind, but it does not force the wind to give it energy. The same cannot be said for modern technology, where, according to Heidegger, “a tract of land is challenged into the putting out of coal and ore. The earth now reveals itself as a coal mining district, the soil as a mineral deposit”. The individual standing of objects, to modern technology, is reduced to simply energy and potential yield.
What happens in modern technology is that it regards nature as a source in which energies can be retrieved, and its aim is to expedite the process of retrieving.
So to what end is this retrieving of energy done? Not towards an accomplished state (telos), but to furthering another end, for instance “maximum yield at the minimum expense”. It is retrieved not because it has been ordered, but simply to be stockpiled and ready to deliver.
What is the result of this revealing? Heidegger gives the example of the Rhine, which is now simply “an object on call for inspection by a tour group ordered there by the vacation industry”.
Thus, modern technology’s revealing is characterised by setting upon (regarding) things as things to be challenged (to yield energy/material) and stored. This process has no end, as whatever is revealed in this process (energy, yield, etc) is then used for the purpose of regulating itself, such that it may continue on endlessly (eg. for profit). Thus, the securing of things, and its subsequent regulation, are the chief characteristics of this revealing.
What are objects now, in this mode of revealing? Here, it can be seen that in this revealing, whatever is secured is kept in that way (ordered to stand by, to be immediately at hand), so that it may be later put to use. Thus, since now objects are now simply things which stand by, waiting to be ordered, it is simply standing-reserve.
So why are things now, in modern technology, revealed as standing reserve? This is because all objects are now simply things waiting to be ordered, to serve some purpose. They are no longer objects to us, in the sense that they have their own accomplished state (telos) as what they are. They are merely cogs to be thrown about and used for some other purpose/process.
Thus, the essence of modern technology, is precisely this challenging revealing, that sees everything as a standing-reserve.
Who is responsible for the essence of modern technology being how it is? (p. 17 - 18)
The answer here, is, of course, man. Because man is the one that is revealing things in this way. But does man have control over revealing? The answer is no.
Man has no control over how things reveal themselves. This can be understood from simply examining how things appear to us. A tree always appears to us as a tree. A table always appears to us as a table, and perhaps a chair. But what these things are revealed to us as, that we have no control - it simply is revealed as what it is when we see it. Thus man has no control over the unconcealment, or the revealing of things.
Since that is the case, then the only reason why the revealing prevalent in modern technology can occur, is because Man has already been challenged (i.e had himself revealed) in this way. Where he/she challenges himself/herself to do things and accomplish certain tasks. Thus, the primary reason why things are seen as standing reserve, is because Man, first and foremost, regarded himself as standing reserve. The term “human resources” is precisely the manifestation of this understanding.
And so, since Man continues to drive technology forward, it is Man that perpetuates this ordering revealing, and since Man has no control over revealing, it is no wonder that this way of revealing is perpetuated.
How does Revealing occur, in this ordering revealing? (p. 17 - 18)
When Man pays attention, he sees things being revealed to him. Thus, man has no control over revealing, just like how we cannot control what appears before our eyes, and what sounds enter our ears.
When Man regards nature as that which is in his mind, then he is challenged to regard nature as an object of research, because nature is revealed to him as such. And so, all things are reduced to standing reserve, as to him all objects are now simply things he can call upon for his own ends. 
So what is it that perpetuates this ordering revealing? It is the continuous challenge that modern technology poses to man, in that Man is challenged to order the things around him as a standing reserve. Not much is needed to see that this is indeed the case - The constant monetisation and quantisation of all things, such as services, work, intangibles such as art - are all clear and apparent to us in this day and age.
So what do we call this gathering, which challenges man to order things as standing-reserve? Heidegger uses the term Ge-stell, or “Enframing” to do so.
Enframing (p. 19 - 21)
The word “Ge-stell” is split into 2 components. “Ge” which means to gather, in the sense where the terms “Gebirg” and “Gemuit” is used. Gebirg means mountain chain, where Ge is the gathering of Birg (i.e mountains). Gemuit refers to a disposition, which is the gathering of the ways in which we feel and act. Thus, Heidegger uses Ge-stell to describe this ordering revealing, as it is the gathering of man to frame things as standing reserve.
In ordinary use, “Gestell” refers to frame, in the sense of a bookrack, which is a frame that can contain books, in the case of a bookrack. It is also the name for “skeleton”, in the sense that it is the frame that supports the body.
So what is Enframing, precisely? It is the bringing together of everything that sets upon (appears to) Man, and when appearing to Man in this way, challenges him to regard things as a standing-reserve.
So why is the essence of modern technology this Gestell, this Enframing? This is because in modern technology, this Enframing is the way of revealing that holds the most sway, and is most prevalent. To understand why this is the most prevalent, we must go back to modern technology which thinks of employing an exact physical science to use.
When Man thinks of employing an exact physical science to use, he already regards nature as something which is calculable and quantifiable. In what sense? In a mechanistic and deterministic manner. The world, rather than being a world, is now reduced to an object that can be scrutinised, analysed, and understood quantifiably. In this quantification of things, the objects themselves are reduced to quantifiable numbers - for instance, workers are reduced to their productivity, businesses and markets are reduced to numbers. In this reductive view, where everything is seen through the perspective that everything is quantifiable, things cannot help but reveal themselves as such. We only need to look at the customer reviews given to restaurants and food to understand this. What does it mean to give Chicken Rice Stall A a 9/10? And another Indian Food Stall an 8/10? We understand that there is no basis for comparison for different flavors of food, and yet we give fixed numbers to them all the same, as if they can be directly compared. Thus, even though there is no meaning that can be derived from these numbers, besides each person’s own personal preferences, when we set out trying to quantify the quality of the food by each restaurant, the food cannot help but reveal themselves in the form of numbers.
Understanding it in this way, we can now see why Heidegger says that “physics, indeed already as pure theory, sets nature up to exhibit itself as a coherence of forces calculable in advance, it therefore orders its experiments precisely for the purpose of asking whether and how nature reports itself when set up in this way”. The reason why nature appears to us as this calculable object, is because it is revealed to us in this way when we see things with the lens of science.
The Origin of Modern Physics (p. 22 - 24)
Modern Physics, in understanding the world in this way, makes clear that Enframing is the essence of modern technology, precisely in that it regards the world with this lens. Yet, how it has come to this, is not clear.
Since even the essence of technology has concealed itself so well - in that for a long time we see technology as merely a tool, a neutral thing - then it is also clear that things, when they are gathered and appear to us in certain ways, at the same time conceal how it was gathered (i.e the manner in which things are revealed). The way in which this revealing occurs is concealed to us. Heidegger says “That which is earlier with regard to the arising that holds sway becomes manifest to us men only later”, which tells us that after being caught in a certain way of revealing, it is only some time later that we see what exactly this way of revealing is.
Thus, since the essence of modern technology is Enframing, although modern technology came about later than modern physics, the essence of modern technology - this Enframing, Gestell - must have preceded modern physics, since it is only through the lens of Enframing that things are seen as standing reserve.
The Character of Causality in Modern Technology (p. 22 - 24)
Since everything is reduced to be standing reserve, where objects are no longer things in their telos, or accomplished state, and the aim of any work is no longer to bring things to their telos (accomplished state), thus the character causality of modern technology is very much different from that of the four modes of occasioning.
Now, instead, in seeing things as a standing reserve, it simply challenges things to report themselves in a certain way. We can see this in our development of models to optimise business practices. The company operations are reduced to numbers, which are then organised and checked to see if they fit a particular model. If it does not fit the numbers are reorganised or placed into a different model. This model then measures the numbers given to it in a certain way, which then reports certain findings on what can be done to optimise the business practices.
Thus, there is no longer the occasioning that brings about a certain revealing, because things are already forcefully revealed as standing reserve. There is no longer the causa efficiens - where the person gathers together the Final Cause, Material Cause, and Formal Cause to bring about the final product - as no gathering takes place in lieu of how things are simply being manipulated to report themselves.
Reporting themselves in this way, modern technology, in requiring this application of an exact physical science, deceives people into thinking that it is an applied physical science. The character of causality now is simply that of a reporting (of data and statistics).
So what is Man’s relation to Enframing? (p. 24)
Since Enframing is a way of revealing, and is already prevalent, then Man is already caught in it, insofar as the real is consistently revealed as a standing reserve. Since it is a type of revealing, Man does not decide whether things are to be revealed in this way, but it simply is already revealed in this way. Thus, Man’s relationship with Enframing is that he is caught in it.
So when Man is caught in this Enframing, where things appear to us as standing reserve, Thus man’s relation to it is as the one who is at the centre, the one to which things are revealed in this way. Thus, while Man has no control over Enframing, it is through Man that Enframing manifests.
Therefore, since Man is at the centre, then Man is in the position to question as to what relationship he has with things, for in this process of questioning, he can discover to what extent he is challenged forth by Enframing, and to what extent he is not. In this process of reflection, will come the possibility of things being revealed in a way different from Enframing.

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Contents

Techne (p. 13)

The Essence of Modern Technology (p. 14 - 17)

Who is responsible for the essence of modern technology being how it is? (p. 17 - 18)

How does Revealing occur, in this ordering revealing? (p. 17 - 18)

Enframing (p. 19 - 21)

The Origin of Modern Physics (p. 22 - 24)

The Character of Causality in Modern Technology (p. 22 - 24)

So what is Man’s relation to Enframing? (p. 24)