Poverty and Mortality under the Dominance of Technology

Relying on Heidegger’s recently issued Black Notebooks, where the “shepherd of being” qua “mortal” is discussed as the “future man”, this paper tackles poverty and mortality, along with their mutual bond, in light of the tension established by Heidegger between Gestell and Ereignis, namely, between the global dominance of technology and the liberation of earth from the despotic dominion of human beings. First, light is cast upon the dominance of technology, which “distorts” the Ereignis of the world, which is yet to arrive, by holding back its very arrival. Second, the focus shifts to the philosophical meaning of poverty, which relies on mortality understood as radical dispossession. Since poverty is the essential feature of the “future man”, the “shepherd of being”, as well as the basis for a different take on our use of technological devices, the innermost link between poverty and technology is also addressed. Furthermore, the comparison with Pope Francis’s two recent encyclicals is established, in order to highlight the specific philosophical meaning conferred to poverty by Heidegger, especially with respect to our behavior toward technology.