Thinking Machines and the Crisis of Modern Reason

Abstract

The advent of computers and “telematic” networks — paradigms of the wave of modernization we are witnessing at the close of the century — has renewed questions concerning the possibilities and risks associated with technology. The basic question is whether these fin de siecle technologies — as could be argued on the basis of the classical diagnosis of critical theory — are mere elements in the infinite repertory of ruses of a modern rationality that has now become merely instrumental or whether, on the contrary, such a characterization has become too narrow. In the second instance, it might be necessary to move toward a wider concept of rationality, perhaps along lines suggested by Habermas’s “communicative rationality.” In setting limits to the realm of instrumental rationality, such a concept could facilitate both its criticism and its containment and, moreover, enable the recognition of certain non-instrumental aspects that may be present in the same technological practices. Even more radically, we might come to recognize a global overcoming of modern rationalism, paradoxically emerging from the heart of its most overwhelming success, contemporary high technology.