Videos by Vincent Blok
This video is based on the following article: Blok, V. "Earthing technology: global warmin and th... more This video is based on the following article: Blok, V. "Earthing technology: global warmin and the biomimitics of technology in the Anthropocene", published in Techne 21(2-3): 127-149 74 views
Paper presentation during SPT 2021
Abstract: Because climate change can be seen as the blind spo... more Paper presentation during SPT 2021
Abstract: Because climate change can be seen as the blind spot of contemporary philosophy of technology, while the destructive side effects of technological progress are no longer deniable, this article reflects on the role of technologies in the constitution of the (post)Anthropocene world. Our first hypothesis is that humanity is not the primary agent involved in world-production, but concrete technologies. Our second hypothesis is that technological inventions at an ontic level have an ontological impact and constitutes world. As we object to classical philosophers of technology like Ihde and Heidegger, we will sketch the progressive contribution of our conceptuality to understand the role of technology in the Anthropocene world. Our third hypothesis is that technology has emancipatory potential and in this respect, can inaugurate a post-Anthropocene World. We consider these three hypotheses to develop a philosophical account of the ontology of te 184 views
Based on: Blok, V., Gremmen, B. (2016) "Ecological Innovation: Biomimicry as a new way of thinkin... more Based on: Blok, V., Gremmen, B. (2016) "Ecological Innovation: Biomimicry as a new way of thinking and acting ecologically", Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29(2): 203-218 (https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10806-015-9596-1.pdf)
We critically reflect on the concept of biomimicry. On the
basis of an analysis of the concept of biomimicry in the literature and its philosophical origin, we distinguish between a strong and a weaker concept of biomimicry. The strength of the strong concept of biomimicry is that nature is seen as a
measure by which to judge the ethical rightness of our technological innovations, but its weakness is found in questionable presuppositions. These presuppositions are
addressed by the weaker concept of biomimicry, but at the price that it is no longer possible to distinguish between exploitative and ecological types of technological
innovations. 39 views
Books by Vincent Blok
Een nieuwe zin van het leven. De roman als wegwijzer in een kantelende wereld
Een nieuwe zin van het leven. De roman als wegwijzer in een kantelende wereld, 2024
Juist in tijden van dreigende catastrofes wijzen romans ons de weg. Ze slaan ons uit het lood zet... more Juist in tijden van dreigende catastrofes wijzen romans ons de weg. Ze slaan ons uit het lood zetten ons aan tot denken en handelen. Zo helpen ze ons op weg naar een nieuwe zin van het leven.
In dit essayistische boek bespreekt filosoof Vincent Blok meer dan tachtig moderne en hedendaagse romans. Hij leest die romans op zo'n manier dat ze een nieuw licht werpen op wat een zinvol leven vermag, en wat de rol is van kunst en literatuur daarin. De romans tonen ons het einde van de wereld waarvan we afscheid moeten nemen, en wijzen ons de weg naar nieuwe werelden.
November 2, 2023
I will start my inaugural address by outlining the main argument of my lecture. First, I will ide... more I will start my inaugural address by outlining the main argument of my lecture. First, I will identify the phenomenon that philosophers of technology research. This subject matter, in my view, consists not only of ethical issues that disruptive technologies raise but also of the disruption of the world in which we live and act by these technologies. I will illustrate this disruption by reflecting on the convergence of the physical and the virtual in the digital world, which is expected to change the way we live together. I propose that philosophers of technology should research new disruptive technologies and the digital world in which they are embedded in an integrated manner. Subsequently, I will ask how the emergence of digital technologies disrupts the world’s design in the digital age. My hypothesis is that technological innovations themselves constitute the World in a non-anthropocentric and non-determinist manner. To make my case, I will first draw attention to the difference between technology and innovation and propose a philosophy of innovation. This will enable me to consider how innovation processes have an economic, social-political and ontological impact on the world. Based on historical and contemporary examples, I will illustrate the redesign of the world in the digital age. This broader understanding of the impact of digital technologies will subsequently enable me to articulate some of the critical questions I have regarding digitalisation, and how the philosophical tradition can be made fruitful to critically reflect on the elision between the physical and the virtual in the digital age. This criticism informs my engagement with ethical questions in ethics of technology, ELSA (Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects) and Responsible Innovation. As a final step, I open a progressive perspective on the emancipatory potential of disruptive innovations to set the world free. In times of climate change, we are urgently in need of an emancipation of the World. We need to move beyond the classical opposition between technophobia and technophilia and look for innovations that can set the World free and contribute to a sustainable future. I will illustrate the emancipatory potential of disruptive technological innovations by considering the shift from human-centred technology to bio-centred technology in biomimetic design.
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriat... more adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
van wereld naar aarde. filosofische ecologie van een bedreigde planeet
In de filosofische traditie is de materiële aarde als thema altijd onderbelicht gebleven. Van Ari... more In de filosofische traditie is de materiële aarde als thema altijd onderbelicht gebleven. Van Aristoteles en Descartes tot Nietzsche en Heidegger blijkt de aarde altijd te zijn gedacht vanuit de vorm, vanuit het denken of vanuit de wereld. Hierdoor is de aarde als passief, inert of zelfs niet-bestaand beschouwd, maar niet vanuit zichzelf. In tijden van ecologische crisis en klimaatverandering is deze manier van denken niet langer toereikend. We moeten toe naar een nieuwe omgang met de aarde. Van wereld naar aarde biedt hiertoe een eerste aanzet.
Ecologische ontologie
Vincent Blok ontwikkelt een ecologische ontologie van de aarde in tijden van klimaatverandering. Hij gaat in tegen de filosofische traditie door zijn ontologie niet antropocentrisch, maar eco-centrisch te oriënteren. Vervolgens presenteert hij een speculatieve ecologie van de aarde als mogelijkheidsvoorwaarde voor de menselijke bewoning van de wereld. Zijn nieuwe perspectief op onze zorg voor de aarde biedt relevante inzichten voor de milieu- en techniekfilosofie.
The critique of management. towards a philosophy and ethics of business management
This book reflects on the nature of business management to contribute to the development of a phi... more This book reflects on the nature of business management to contribute to the development of a philosophy and ethics of management. It engages in conceptual engineering of management to delineate the phenomenon of management and, as a result, to open a new perspective on management beyond its self-evident conceptualization.
After questioning the self-evident concept of management, the author develops a philosophy of management with six dimensions of the nature of management: management as participation; management as resistance and responsive action; management as constitution of meaning; management as politico-economic governance; management as non-reductive stakeholder engagement; and management as epistemic insufficient entrepreneurship. These six dimensions of management are taken as points of departure to develop an integrated concept of business ethics, an individual competence for ethical business management, and a concept of ethical codes for corporate social responsible behavior. This new conception of philosophy of management and business ethics can guide future philosophical and empirical work on the nature of management.
The Critique of Management is an excellent resource for researchers, students, and professionals interested in philosophy of management, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility.
Heidegger’s Concept of Philosophical Method: Innovating Philosophy in the Age of Global Warming
Heidegger’s Concept of Philosophical Method: Innovating Philosophy in the Age of Global Warming, 2020
This book provides new interpretations of Heidegger’s philosophical method in light of 20th-centu... more This book provides new interpretations of Heidegger’s philosophical method in light of 20th-century postmodernism and 21st-century speculative realism. In doing so, it raises important questions about philosophical method in the age of global warming and climate change.
Vincent Blok addresses topics that have yet to be extensively discussed in Heidegger scholarship, including Heidegger’s method of questioning, the religious character of Heidegger’s philosophical method, and Heidegger’s conceptualization of philosophical method as explorative confrontation. He is also critical of Heidegger’s conceptuality and develops a post-Heideggerian concept of philosophical method, which provides a new perspective on the role of willing, poetry, and earth-interest in contemporary philosophy. This earth-interest turns out to be particularly important to consider and leads to critical reflections on Heidegger’s concept of Earth, the necessity of Earth-interest in contemporary philosophy, and a post-Heideggerian concept of the Earth.
Heidegger’s Concept of Philosophical Method will be of interest primarily to Heidegger scholars and graduate students, but its discussion of philosophical method and environmental philosophy will also appeal to scholars in other disciplines and areas of philosophy.
Ernst Jünger’s Philosophy of Technology. Heidegger and the Poetics of the Anthropocene (Vincent BLok, Routledge 2017)
This book examines the work of Ernst Jünger and its effect on the development of Martin Heidegger... more This book examines the work of Ernst Jünger and its effect on the development of Martin Heidegger’s influential philosophy of technology. Vincent Blok offers a unique treatment of Jünger’s philosophy and his conception of the age of technology, in which both world and man appear in terms of their functionality and efficiency. The primary objective of Jünger’s novels and essays is to make the transition from the totally mobilized world of the 20th century toward a world in which a new type of man represents the gestalt of the worker and is responsive to this new age. Blok proceeds to demonstrate Jünger’s influence on Heidegger’s analysis of the technological age in his later work, as well as Heidegger’s conceptions of will, work and gestalt at the beginning of the 1930s. At the same time, Blok evaluates Heidegger’s criticism of Jünger and provides a novel interpretation of the Jünger-Heidegger connection: that Jünger’s work in fact testifies to a transformation of our relationship to language and conceptualizes the future in terms of the Anthropocene. This book, which arrives alongside several new English-language translations of Jünger’s work, will interest scholars of 20th-century continental philosophy, Heidegger, and the history of philosophy of technology.
2 -Inhoudsopgave: Voorwoord EERSTE DEEL DE ONMOGELIJKHEID VAN DE FILOSOFISCHE PROPOSITIE IN HET M... more 2 -Inhoudsopgave: Voorwoord EERSTE DEEL DE ONMOGELIJKHEID VAN DE FILOSOFISCHE PROPOSITIE IN HET MACHINALE TIJDPERK Eerste hoofdstuk Wetenschappelijke confrontaties Inleiding § 1 Wetenschappelijke toetsbaarheid volgens Popper α) Het logisch inductieprobleem en de theoriegeladenheid van de waarneming als herkomst van het falsificationisme β) Het pragmatisch-Darwinistisch karakter van het falsificationisme γ) De ijdelheid van de hoop op een rationeel in plaats van pragmatisch karakter van het falsificationisme § 2 De wijze van spreken van Popper α) De universaliteit van de wetenschappelijke methode -de quaestio facti van de wetenschap en de quaestio juris van de filosofie β) De niet-falsifieerbaarheid maar rationele toetsbaarheid van de quaestio juris γ) De ijdelheid van de hoop op een filosofisch bijdrage aan het probleem van de kosmologie § 3 Het arbeidskarakter van de synthetisch a priori uitspraak α) De zin van de synthetisch a priori kennis van de wetenschap en de metafysica β) Intermezzo: het traditionele onderscheid tussen het ontisch en ontologisch onderzoek γ) De ontoetsbaarheid van de filosofische hypothese in de Kritik der reinen Vernunft en de keuze voor de filosofie Tweede hoofdstuk Filosofische confrontaties drs. V. Blok 14-08-04 proefschrift def.2.doc van de filosofie §12. De 'Überwindung' van het nihilisme als 'Verwindung' van de metafysica α) De omslag van 'Seyn' als macht naar 'Seyn' als het macht-loze β) De 'Verwindung der Metaphysik' in Zur Seinsfrage Vijfde hoofdstuk De eenzijdigheid van Zur Seinsfrage. Jüngers laatste woord Inleiding §13. Het dichterlijke van de gestalte Nawoord Bibliografie drs. V. Blok 14-08-04 proefschrift def.2.doc -5 -VOORWOORD Deze studie is gewijd aan het dichten van Jünger en het denken van Heidegger, omdat hierdoor de vraag kan worden gesteld naar het 'wezen' van het imperialisme. Bovendien kan in de confrontatie met dit dichten en denken een antwoord daarop worden voorbereid. Ik wil nu eerst de vraag naar het wezen van het imperialisme van een voorwoord voorzien en van daaruit de thematiek van de verschillende hoofdstukken van dit proefschrift introduceren.
Papers Philosophy by Vincent Blok
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Videos by Vincent Blok
Abstract: Because climate change can be seen as the blind spot of contemporary philosophy of technology, while the destructive side effects of technological progress are no longer deniable, this article reflects on the role of technologies in the constitution of the (post)Anthropocene world. Our first hypothesis is that humanity is not the primary agent involved in world-production, but concrete technologies. Our second hypothesis is that technological inventions at an ontic level have an ontological impact and constitutes world. As we object to classical philosophers of technology like Ihde and Heidegger, we will sketch the progressive contribution of our conceptuality to understand the role of technology in the Anthropocene world. Our third hypothesis is that technology has emancipatory potential and in this respect, can inaugurate a post-Anthropocene World. We consider these three hypotheses to develop a philosophical account of the ontology of te
We critically reflect on the concept of biomimicry. On the
basis of an analysis of the concept of biomimicry in the literature and its philosophical origin, we distinguish between a strong and a weaker concept of biomimicry. The strength of the strong concept of biomimicry is that nature is seen as a
measure by which to judge the ethical rightness of our technological innovations, but its weakness is found in questionable presuppositions. These presuppositions are
addressed by the weaker concept of biomimicry, but at the price that it is no longer possible to distinguish between exploitative and ecological types of technological
innovations.
Books by Vincent Blok
In dit essayistische boek bespreekt filosoof Vincent Blok meer dan tachtig moderne en hedendaagse romans. Hij leest die romans op zo'n manier dat ze een nieuw licht werpen op wat een zinvol leven vermag, en wat de rol is van kunst en literatuur daarin. De romans tonen ons het einde van de wereld waarvan we afscheid moeten nemen, en wijzen ons de weg naar nieuwe werelden.
Ecologische ontologie
Vincent Blok ontwikkelt een ecologische ontologie van de aarde in tijden van klimaatverandering. Hij gaat in tegen de filosofische traditie door zijn ontologie niet antropocentrisch, maar eco-centrisch te oriënteren. Vervolgens presenteert hij een speculatieve ecologie van de aarde als mogelijkheidsvoorwaarde voor de menselijke bewoning van de wereld. Zijn nieuwe perspectief op onze zorg voor de aarde biedt relevante inzichten voor de milieu- en techniekfilosofie.
After questioning the self-evident concept of management, the author develops a philosophy of management with six dimensions of the nature of management: management as participation; management as resistance and responsive action; management as constitution of meaning; management as politico-economic governance; management as non-reductive stakeholder engagement; and management as epistemic insufficient entrepreneurship. These six dimensions of management are taken as points of departure to develop an integrated concept of business ethics, an individual competence for ethical business management, and a concept of ethical codes for corporate social responsible behavior. This new conception of philosophy of management and business ethics can guide future philosophical and empirical work on the nature of management.
The Critique of Management is an excellent resource for researchers, students, and professionals interested in philosophy of management, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility.
Vincent Blok addresses topics that have yet to be extensively discussed in Heidegger scholarship, including Heidegger’s method of questioning, the religious character of Heidegger’s philosophical method, and Heidegger’s conceptualization of philosophical method as explorative confrontation. He is also critical of Heidegger’s conceptuality and develops a post-Heideggerian concept of philosophical method, which provides a new perspective on the role of willing, poetry, and earth-interest in contemporary philosophy. This earth-interest turns out to be particularly important to consider and leads to critical reflections on Heidegger’s concept of Earth, the necessity of Earth-interest in contemporary philosophy, and a post-Heideggerian concept of the Earth.
Heidegger’s Concept of Philosophical Method will be of interest primarily to Heidegger scholars and graduate students, but its discussion of philosophical method and environmental philosophy will also appeal to scholars in other disciplines and areas of philosophy.
Papers Philosophy by Vincent Blok