Technology and nature: analysing Jonas and Heidegger through Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Abstract

This review will consider a film by Hayao Miyazaki which echoes some of the ideas of Martin Heidegger and Hans Jonas on our relationship with technology and nature. The manner in which this film represents and questions the theories put forth by these thinkers makes them accessible to children and adults alike. I will outline the ideas proposed in Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology (1977) and Jonas's Imperative of Responsibility (1984), drawing on similarities in their positions. The review will also discuss prior ethics, challenging-enframing, and the saving power, considering how they are represented in Miyazaki's art.