How technology shapes our experience : Blaustein on mediated phenomena

english

2025

volume 34, issue 134/135

aesthetic experiences   embodiment   quasispace   technological artefacts

Inštitut Nove revije - Zavod za humanistiko
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The article aims to interpret Blaustein’s phenomenology of aesthetic experiences from the perspective of the philosophy of technology. In order to do this, I sketch some parallels between today’s inquiries into the nature of technology and Blaustein’s accounts of experiences of the cinemagoer or the phenomenon of listening to the radio. The study is divided into 5 sections. In section 1, I explore the question of why the framework of the philosophy of technology can be useful in reading Blaustein’s writings. Section 2 presents Blaustein’s two main research strategies, while analyzing the phenomenon of technology, i.e., the humanistic and phenomenological methods. Moreover, the question of the compatibility of both approaches is examined. Next, in section 3, different phenomena from the field of the aesthetics of media are analyzed, in order to show to what extent technology mediates one’s conscious experiences. Section 4 turns toward the question of the body and environment in technologically determined experiences. Finally, in section 5, the main elements of Blaustein’s philosophy of technology are examined.

22.01.2026