Borgmann’s Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life :: Philosophy Religion Essays

Borgmanns Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life The purpose of this cover is to demonstrate Borgmanns theory of focal things in application to Thai chi, as well as propose the opposition to it with an exercise machine as a device in the context of Borgmanns Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. In addition, I will try to argue that the resolution to the bifurcation amid things and devices is a specific kind of equilibrium.First, Tai Chi, the old Chinese art that is a culmination of martial art and a form of exercise for twain body and mind, fits into Borgmanns definition of a focal thing. He states that focal things are inconspicuous and humble, scattered and of yesterday, and they flourish at the margins of public attention, (199). Tai Chi is humble, in that its chief cerebrate is non self-defense, but a fortification of the bodys general well-being. It is inconspicuous because it is not something that people boast about, and it is not something which is as widely known of while at the same time being something which is practiced by many, in small groups, or in privacy, or at hours during which the technological world is quiet. Thus, it is also scattered, as it is practiced by people al lover the world, and in the most mundane of times and places. Tai Chi is of yesterday, as it is an art which has its origins hundreds of years ago, and only those who have come to a maturity of thought within them see the true value in it and have the patience to do it. The practice is not glamorized by the entertainment industry, and is not a high point of controversial debate. It is not in the focus of the media, and so it is at the margins of public attention.Also, Borgmann goes further to say that things neither equal nor deny technology, and that they attain a new splendor in todays technological context, (200). So too, the art of Tai Chi does not impose a new system of rules for technology to function under, and so does not rival it. It has no statement to the negativity of technology, in which it does not deny it.The practice attains a new splendor in todays technological context, in that it provides respite from a technologically stressful existence, and promotes ones well-being (200).