“Alle Apparate abschalten.” Conceiving Love and Technology with Heidegger And Kittler

Robert A. Winkler

doi:10.22029/oc.2020.1176

Robert A. Winkler University of Salzburg, Austria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2020.1176

Keywords: Friedrich A. Kittler, love, technology, Martin Heidegger, popular culture studies

Abstract

This article explores Friedrich Kittler’s conception of the intersection of love with modern technology and illustrates the theoretical insights gained by considering Spike Jonze’s film Her (2013). I focus on the theoretical examination of Heidegger’s philosophy of technology in general and the concomitant notion of ‘enframing’ in particular to shed further light on Kittler’s reflection on love that pervades the latter’s entire oeuvre. The article then interrogates whether, and under what circumstances, modern technology might foster said ‘truth events’ by focusing on: first, love among human beings, second, love among technological beings, and, third, love between human beings and technological beings. Thereby, Spike Jonze’s critically acclaimed science-fiction drama Her, depicting a romantic relationship between a human being and a computer operating system, serves as a reference point in illustrating Kittler’s multifaceted conception of the nexus of love and modern technology.

Author Biography

Robert A. Winkler, University of Salzburg, Austria

Robert A. Winkler is a post-doctoral lecturer and researcher at the Institute for American Studies at Paris Lodron University of Salzburg. He has studied American Cultural and Literary History as well as Philosophy in Munich, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey. He defended his PhD thesis in June 2019, which is entitled “Generation Reagan Youth: Representing and Resisting White Neoliberal Forms of Life in the U.S. Hardcore Punk Scenes, 1979–1999.” The PhD project was funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and conducted at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Further research interests include cultural theory as well as continental philosophy. He has published with transcript, KULT_online and Punk & Post-Punk.