• Journal of architectural history
• /
• v.11 no.4 s.32
• /
• pp.7-19
• /
• 2002

If we compare socio-cultural aspects of the two historical periods known as 'pre-modern' 'modern,' it would seem that the Aristotelian understanding of technology has difficulty explaining techno-cultural phenomenon of modern society. The problems are first that the discourse of scientific technology in the modern period has proceeded without a metaphysical base, and second that nothing in present culture regulates the limitations of scientific technology. The clear distinction between means and ends in the traditional approach is no longer valid in the jumble of interrelationships. Such complexity forces us to acknowledge that means and ends are relative and interchangeable, and that neither has a clear moral superiority over the other. Technology in modern society is no more a neutral means. The products of science do not always exist to serve human ends. In modem architecture and urban design, both its productive and destructive tendencies leave man and his society in an endless confusion of complexity and opposition. These problems of technology still result in unsolved question today. On this point, the discussion another currently prevalent attitude to technology, especially Heideggerian thinking in the below could give a somewhat clearer answer to the problem of modem architecture and technology, although it also comprises limited contemplation in itself.