From Calculative Thinking towards Thoughtfulness

In his famous essay The Question Concerning Technology Martin Heidegger investigates what the essence of technology is. He finds that it is not something technological, but a way of revealing which he calls Enframing. In the mode of Enframing we are challenged to understand nature as a calculable structure comprised of functional units that can be exploited at any time, at any rate. As such we have lost sight of ourselves and of all other ways of being. In this thesis the implications of The Question Concerning Technology for the applied physicist, whose habitat it is to approach life and nature as a mathematical construct, are studied. Through a thorough analysis of The Question Concerning Technology, this thesis aims to be a starting point for a shift from merely calculative engineering towards thoughtful engineering.