On the Symbolic Dimension of Technology: A Phenomenological Approach

Phenomenological-hermeneutic approaches to the philosophy of technology explore the world-disclosing role of technical artifacts. These approaches often lack a deeper engagement with their symbolic dimension. This paper addresses that gap by asking how the symbolic dimension of technical artifacts can shape the ways in which we relate to and disclose the world. To this end, the paper distinguishes four distinct modes in which the symbolic dimension of technical artifacts can manifest itself in experience. As demonstrated through a range of examples, the symbolic dimension may present itself in ways that either a) conceal it, b) remain in the background, c) impose themselves upon us, or d) challenge us to engage in active interpretation. As the paper argues, each mode gives rise to a different stance toward the artifact, thereby shaping the way we understand both the artifact and the world more broadly. The approach is phenomenologically motivated, which means that the vocabulary developed here must always be understood from the perspective of a subject experiencing the artifact. To clarify what is distinctive about this perspective, the paper also contrasts it with alternative approaches, such as cultural hermeneutics, which likewise addresses the symbolic dimension of technology but does so by adopting a general interpretive-theoretical stance rather than beginning from the situated experience of the subject, as the phenomenological perspective does.