The Critique of Technology in 20th Century Philosophy and Dystopias

The purpose of the present study is to make a parallel analysis of half a century of technology criticism from the point of view of a special genre of literature, the dystopia, as well as from the point of view of technology critical philosophy. We regard here the genre dystopia as the vehicle for literary technology criticism, as a collection of texts written by non-philosophers regarding the negative tendencies in technological development. In the demonstration of the critique of technology in 20th century philosophical theories, this paper concentrates on the works of Oswald Spengler, Walter Benjamin, the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer, Adorno and Marcuse) and Martin Heidegger. The analysis is not exhaustive of all sources, but reviews a sufficient body to draw valid conclusions.