Answer to Question #167266 in Philosophy for Vidal

Question

What can you say about Protocol Heidegger (Memorial Address)?

Answer 1

Heidegger explores two forms of thinking that he labels “calculative thinking” and “meditative thinking.” Calculative thought is the detached, rational type of thinking responsible for helping one solve an engineering problem while meditative thinking tells us why we should do or should not do a thing.

The thought here is, society would cease to function if it were not for calculative thinkers such as engineers and businesspeople. Yet culture would stagnate without the meditative thinking of philosophers and writers. He records that society relies heavily on both forms of thinking.

From the Memorial Address, “calculative thinking may someday come to be accepted and practiced as the only way of thinking” (Heidegger, "Memorial Address" 56). Since both meditative and calculative thinking are essential to a balanced, culturally and technologically vibrant society, the demise of meditative thought would be highly detrimental. As mentioned, some signs of this issue can be observed in the rise of online, instant communication, a quick, efficient, but stale form of conversing with others.