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The Influence of Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Simone Weil on George Grant's Changing Understanding of Technology

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The Influence of Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Simone Weil on George Grant's Changing Understanding of Technology GEORGE GRANT'S CHANGING UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY THE INFLUENCE OF JACQUES ELLUL, MARTIN HEIDEGGER AND SIMONE WEIL ON GEORGE GRANT'S CHANGING UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY By DAYTON ANDREW MUNCASTER, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School ofGraduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment ofthe Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University Copyright by Andrew Muncaster, January 2008 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2008) McMaster University (Religious Studies) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Influence of Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger and Simone Weil on George Grant's Changing Understanding of Technology. AUTHOR: Andrew Muncaster, B.A., M.A. (Wilfrid Laurier University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Zdravko Planinc NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 211 11 Abstract The dissertation considers the influence of Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger, and Simone Weil on Grant's understanding of technology. Chapters One and Two analyze Ellul's influence on Grant, while Chapter Three examines Heidegger's influence on Grant's understanding of technology. Chapter Four examines the consequences of Grant's ambiguous evaluation of Ellul and Heidegger. Grant's unwillingness to entirely accept either account of technology leads to a tension in which aspects of Ellul 's account of technology are held simultaneously with elements of Heidegger's account. As a way to overcome the tension between these explanations, Grant becomes open to gnostic elements in Weil's theology, which manifest themselves in radical dualism and esoteric wisdom. The purpose of the dissertation is to clarify the significance of Ellul for Grant's thought. Scholars often overlook the extent of Ellul's contribution for Grant's account of technology, particularly in Grant's refinement of concepts such as technological necessity and his critique of liberal ideology. Furthermore, the dissertation seeks to reveal the pliability of Grant's account of technology, which is closely linked to Grant's theological, philosophical, and political judgments. The dissertation suggests that Grant's understanding of technology leads Grant to espouse gnostic elements from Weil's theology (such as radical dualism and esoteric wisdom) as a palliative to the arid technological necessity and moral inarticulacy of technological civilization. The dissertation challenges the scholarly orthodoxy that exists in the interpretation of Grant's work. Through a fresh reading of primary and secondary sources, the dissertation advocates an alternative approach to understanding Grant's thought. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is dedicated to my parents, Wanda Ann Muncaster and Frederick David Muncaster, for their love and support. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Zdravko Planinc, for his patience and guidance in this project. Special thanks are also due to Dr. Travis Kroeker and Dr. Louis Greenspan for their helpful comments. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................ l CHAPTER ONE Grant's Encounter with the Thought ofJacques Ellul .................................... 14 i) Grant's Early Understanding of Technology..................................... 14 ii) Ellul's Influence on Grant's Understanding of Technology................... 33 CHAPTER TWO Jacques Ellul's Continuing Influence on Grant's Understanding ofTechnology.... 60 i) Ellul's Influence on Grant's Technology and Empire ......................... 60 ii) Scholarly Understanding ofEllul's Influence on Grant....................... 76 iii) Ellul's Continuing Influence on Grant's Understanding ofTechnology... 83 CHAPTER THREE Martin Heidegger's Influence on Grant's Understanding ofTechnology............. 107 CHAPTER FOUR The Significance ofSimone Weil for Grant's Understanding of Technology........ 146 CONCLUSION................................................................................ 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................201 v PhD Thesis - A. Muncaster McMaster - Religious Studies INTRODUCTION: The dissertation will examine the influence of Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger, and Simone Weil, on George Grant's understanding of technology. The dissertation will investigate how the conflicting accounts of technology constructed by Ellul and Heidegger can be understood as a catalyst for Grant's openness to gnostic influences in Weil' s thought. The dissertation will argue that Grant's dissatisfaction with the concept of technological necessity in Ellul, and with Heidegger's account of human freedom, is a pivotal factor in Grant's openness to gnosticism. Examination of the scholarship in the field of Grant studies reveals that a discemable orthodoxy has arisen in the areas of classification and exegesis. Scholarship on Grant interprets Grant's work through the orthodox lens, thus approaching the subject from a limited and incomplete perspective. Some scholars approach Grant's work from the assumption that his primary goal is to reconcile ancient truths with modem science (Lee, 1998). Other scholars suggest that Grant's thought can be understood as a futile attempt to defend Plato and the Gospels against the onslaughts of modem secular thought (Emberley, 1992; Davis, 1994). By contrast, the dissertation offers a fresh interpretation of Grant's account oftechnology, and its implications for his theology. Scholars are aware that Ellul's thought played a seminal role in Grant's understanding of technology, but many consider Ellul's influence on Grant to be limited to a perceptive, but theoretically weak, sociological analysis of technology in the modem context (Davis, 1994; Angus, 1987). Most scholars seem to accept Frank Flynn's 1 PhD Thesis - A. Muncaster McMaster - Religious Studies division of Grant's thought into three stages, in which Ellul's influence is largely relegated to Grant's middle, penultimate period. 1 Flynn asserts that, "[a]s he had taken Hegel as his guide during his first phase, so now [Grant] found in Jacques Ellul...intimations of the darkness that comes with the co-penetration of North American continentalism and technological mastery'' (Schmidt: 1974, 198). Thus, Ellul's thought is understood as an intermediary stage situated between Grant's Hegelian view of technology and Grant's encounter with the thought ofNietzsche and Heidegger. Ellul's account of technology is more significant for Grant's thought than most scholars suppose. Indeed, echoes of Ellul's analysis of technology and political philosophy survive throughout Grant's later writings. For example, Ellul's definition of technology as "the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity" (Ellul: 1969, xxxiii) remains vitally important for Grant. Ellul's definition of technology as efficiency is an integral aspect of Grant's criticism of technology throughout his writings, from Grant's articulation of intimations of "deprival" in Technology and Empire (1969) to his discussion of the university curriculum in Technology and Justice (1986). Furthermore, Ellul' s influence on Grant is manifested in his appropriation of Ellul' s characterization of modem technology, originally outlined by Ellul in The Technological Society (Ellul: 1969). 2 According to Ellul, the autonomy, universalism and monism of modem 1 A similar version of this division of Grant's thought into various stages can be found in Joan O'Donovan, George Grant and the Twilight ofJustice (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984). 2 Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society, tr. John Wilkinson, (New York: Seabury, 1969). Cf.: 79-147. 2 PhD Thesis - A. Muncaster McMaster - Religious Studies technology have separated humanity from "natural necessity" in favour of "technical necessity" (Ellul: 1969, 146). Technical necessity underlies the modem quest for absolute efficiency in all aspects of life. Grant eventually distances himself from Ellul's thought because of the theological assumptions inherent in Ellul's brand of Calvinist Christianity. Grant considers Ellul 's inability to perceive the relationship between the legacy of Western Christianity and the rise of the technological civilization to be problematic. However, Grant does not reject Ellul's definition and characterization of technology, as indicated by several of Grant's post-1969 lecture notes and public comments. Arthur Davis, in George Grant and the Subversion ofModernity (1996),3 asserts that Grant's work is primarily influenced by Grant's encounter with Heidegger. Davis suggests that Grant drifts away from the influence of Ellul when he begins to critically engage Heidegger's account of technology. According to Davis, "[Grant] had decided that Heidegger understood modem technological science in relation to the decline of religion and morality in a way that another of his formative thinkers, Jacques Ellul, though a Christian, did not" (Davis: 1996, 143). Davis asserts that Grant's major contribution as a philosopher is to direct younger thinkers toward the task of thinking Platonic and modem thought together. Davis states that "Grant did not take us into a way of thinking that combines Heidegger and Plato. But he did insist that the job had to be 3 Arthur Davis, ed., George Grant and the Subversion ofModernity: Art, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, and Education, (Toronto: University ofToronto Press, 1996). 3 PhD Thesis - A. Muncaster McMaster - Religious Studies tackled, and he drew our attention to the failure of others to complete it." (Davis:
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