Power, Technology, and Human Nature

We instinctively think of ourselves as the masters and creators of technology, which serves as a tool for our own purposes. Those purposes become grander as technology develops, including the transformation of human nature and even the triumph over death. But we have also come to see the dangers technology poses to the human race, the way it can change us in ways we did not expect. This seminar will explore the nature of technology and power and the impact they have on human nature. We will read excerpts from the work of the twentieth-century German philosopher and theologian Romano Guardini and the American poet and essayist Wendell Berry.

The scheduled meetings will be on the following days, at the offices of The Morningside Institute from 3:00-4:30pm. Dinner will be provided and readings will be circulated beforehand. Please sign up for the mailing list to be notified when the readings are available.

This is the graduate student reading group for the Fall semester of 2019. For the undergraduate student reading group on the same topic, click here.

schedule

Friday, October 18

• Romano Guardini, The End of the Modern World, ch. 4

Friday, November 1

• Romano Guardini, Letters from Lake Como, chs. 1, 2, and 8.

Friday, November 15

• Romano Guardini, Letters from Lake Como, ch. 9.

Friday, November 22

• Wendell Barry, “Feminism, the Body, and the Machine”.