A1 Journal article (refereed)
Reconsidering Alterity of Ihde’s Garden : A Conceptual Critique (2025)


Penttilä, A., & Mertanen, M. (2025). Reconsidering Alterity of Ihde’s Garden : A Conceptual Critique. Human Studies, Early online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-024-09779-6


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editorsPenttilä, Anna; Mertanen, Mikko

Journal or seriesHuman Studies

ISSN0163-8548

eISSN1572-851X

Publication year2025

Publication date02/01/2025

VolumeEarly online

PublisherSpringer Nature

Publication countryNetherlands

Publication languageEnglish

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-024-09779-6

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessPartially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX)https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/99277


Abstract

Don Ihde’s postphenomenological theory of technological relations has proven its value for understanding the role material artifacts play in our lives. However influential it may be, some of his key concepts have remained ambiguous. In this paper, we analyze and critically evaluate how Ihde describes one of these concepts, namely, alterity relation (Alterity). Alterity describes how technologies appear to subjects as humanlike others, or, as Ihde calls them, quasi-others. We identify and discuss three key problems with Ihde’s account of Alterity, namely, objectness, focality, and continuum. We argue that an overarching issue is prevalent in his account of Alterity: a subtle and possibly unintended emphasis on the subject’s role in constituting technological otherness. This emphasis runs counter to the interrelational ontological foundations of postphenomenology. Moreover, it hinders postphenomenological research from fully addressing the ethical and moral dimensions of its framework. By clarifying these problems, we aim to provide a fruitful groundwork for further reconsiderations of the framework’s key concepts and for the improvement of postphenomenological investigations concerning the nature of artifacts: our multifaceted engagements with, in and through them.


Keywordsphenomenologyothernessunfamiliarityhuman-computer interactionphilosophy

Free keywordsalterity; otherness; postphenomenology; technological relations; philosophy of technology

Fields of science:


Contributing organizations


Ministry reportingYes

VIRTA submission year2025

Preliminary JUFO rating2


Last updated on 2025-25-01 at 20:06