George Smith argues that modern humanity suffers from a late-stage, pre-fatal addiction to scientific-technological thinking. Like most pre-fatal addictions, this one will most likely result in one of three ways: misery, extinction, or human transformation. The question remains, wherein lies the third way?
According to Smith, mankind's chronic and as yet undiagnosed sickness originates in early Western metaphysics and has long been thoroughly globalized. It explains unstoppable extractionism and its relentlessly increasing by-product, carbon dioxide. It also explains today's ever-increasing rate of species extinction and the increasingly likely collapse of the biosphere. Citing climate change tolerance and denial as symptomatic of pre-fatal addiction, Smith turns his analysis to Heidegger's "question concerning technology" and shows that even Heidegger had become "hooked" on scientific-technological thinking. Surrendering to his disease, Heidegger "steps back" into "meditative thought." This in turn opens Heidegger to an East-West mode of scientific-poetic consciousness, the thinking of artist-philosophers such as Laozi, Hölderlin, and Rachel Carson. For Heidegger, this way of thinking lays the path to mankind's transformative emancipation from an otherwise inescapable catastrophe.
The book will be of interest to scholars of the arts and culture, histories of consciousness, and climate studies.
Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license
| ISBN: | 9781032564128 |
| Publication date: | 22nd June 2026 |
| Author: | George Smith |
| Publisher: | Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 178 pages |
| Series: | Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies |
| Genres: |
History of art Phenomenology and Existentialism Philosophy: aesthetics Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts Christianity The arts: general topics |
George Smith argues that modern humanity suffers from a late-stage, pre-fatal addiction to scientific-technological thinking. Like most pre-fatal addictions, this one will most likely result in one of three ways: misery, extinction, or human transformation. The question remains, wherein lies the third way?
According to Smith, mankind's chronic and as yet undiagnosed sickness originates in early Western metaphysics and has long been thoroughly globalized. It explains unstoppable extractionism and its relentlessly increasing by-product, carbon dioxide. It also explains today's ever-increasing rate of species extinction and the increasingly likely collapse of the biosphere. Citing climate change tolerance and denial as symptomatic of pre-fatal addiction, Smith turns his analysis to Heidegger's "question concerning technology" and shows that even Heidegger had become "hooked" on scientific-technological thinking. Surrendering to his disease, Heidegger "steps back" into "meditative thought." This in turn opens Heidegger to an East-West mode of scientific-poetic consciousness, the thinking of artist-philosophers such as Laozi, Hölderlin, and Rachel Carson. For Heidegger, this way of thinking lays the path to mankind's transformative emancipation from an otherwise inescapable catastrophe.
The book will be of interest to scholars of the arts and culture, histories of consciousness, and climate studies.
Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license
The Artist-Philosopher in the Age of Addiction features in the following genres: History of art, Phenomenology and Existentialism, Philosophy: aesthetics, Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts, Christianity, The arts: general topics
The Artist-Philosopher in the Age of Addiction is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Artist-Philosopher in the Age of Addiction was written by George Smith and published by Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis
The Artist-Philosopher in the Age of Addiction has 178 pages
Yes it is part of Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies series
£43.19