Paper short abstract:

The mythic-symbolic roots of Ernst Jünger’s interpretation of technology is mainly based on the Titan Prometheus, but also refers to the Giant Antaios. The comparison of these two myths leads to relevant theoretical conclusions, which involve the question of technology in the current age.

Paper long abstract:

Ernst Jünger’s seminal reflections on the question of technology has to be contextualized in a complex philosophical debate, which went through the whole Nineteenth Century, especially in the Konservative Revolution context. Jünger’s analysis of the problem of technology is nevertheless structured with a constant reference to myths and symbols.The anthropological Faustian dimension which Jünger has depicted as the key to understand mankind in the new century ("the Gestalt of the Worker"), is connected to the figure of Prometheus. This image, which is well known by jüngerian scholars, is worth considering also in the context of religious studies in order to understand the deep symbolical reasons why Jünger has chosen this image, which appears in all of his most relevant writings as the main lens through which to understand his age.

It is also to be pointed out that Jünger’s hermeneutical approach offers a rich analysis of the Greek myth of Titans, with the comprehension of the different spiritual patterns, which allows to distinguish, among the others, Prometheus from the giant Antaios. The latter is a fruitful symbol in order to propose a relation between the richness of the symbolic and metaphysical dimension and the evolution of the historical process, which will lead men to a new relation with technologies.

Although “the essence of technology is by no means anything technological” (Heidegger), and thus technology can’t be reduced to a mere instrument, it is possible to argue, as recently understood by the Chinese philosopher Yuk Hui, that technology can acquire a different essence in relation to the culture where it is manifested. Jünger’s understanding that Western modern technology represents a mythical archetype – Prometheus –, but that new technological archetypes can rise, could offer an interesting standpoint in order to reflect on the problem of technology in the current postmodern era.