David Tabachnick's The Great Reversal

Rules and catalysts have become ubiquitous, diminishing or even eradicating opportunities for the exercise of discretion, which is fundamental to the advancement of good judgment as well as personal satisfaction. Modern philosophy and culture has shifted away from phronesis, practical judgment, in favor of techne, technical rationality. The fundamental threat that technology imposes on us is linked to our inability to think and act “outside the box.” David Tabachnick, a professor in the department of Political Science, Philosophy and Economics at Nipissing University, attempts to find and enforce limits on technology in his book, The Great Reversal, by exploring “the possibility of the return of good judgment to limit the role of technology

Prudence rightly orders action because it is the insight into the world of human affairs, which allows us to relate facts to generalized principles. Conversely, the goods of human affairs cannot be ordered in ways that the scientific method can order inert objects. Modern society is saturated with the consolations of techne, a virtue that administers technical rationality. In other words, techne equips us with the “know how” which enables one to perform surgery, throw a baseball, or learn a new language. We have encouraged the all-inclusive allure of techne for the sake of a delusional fantasy in which through technology, we will finally be able to overcome the greatest obstacles which we face. What makes these technologies so hazardous is the fact that they are so “global in their effect and so discreet, becoming less and less conspicuous to both the user and those around them” (Tabachnick 118). Thus, techne should only be reserved for prosaic exercises being that the problems that vex human society cannot endure any single set of rules or

Technology has already illustrated that it can corrupt us, for instance the ease of access to information. What reason do I have to learn the material if I can always look it up? With this in mind, Tabachnick’s last two chapters survey various responses to the limitations which we possess, that ceases our ability to grasp the need for attention and habit formation that characterizes the “phronesis revival.” For instance, Tabachnick’s focuses on the chief challenge that threatens any effort to revive phronesis in a technological age: “We have handed over our decision-making process to a range of technical experts specialists, and managers and have thus left few if any sources for relearning the practice of the virtue. He asserts that “technical innovation must be directed by the higher virtues such as those associated with family, community, education, politics, and philosophy”; and “technical production has to be preceded by the ethical mastery or self-discipline of the passions” (Tabachnick 116). In other words, a society that puts a priority on family, education, community, and law will be provided with a foundation to make good decisions about how to live a good life. Consequently, Aristotle argues that contemporary society is missing “this foundation of education and role models” (Tabachnick 115). Above