Technology and Empire: Perspectives on North America

by George Parkin Grant

George Grant - philosopher, conservative, Canadian nationalist - was one of Canada's most significant thinkers and the author of Lament for a Nation. In Technology and Empire, Grant reflects on the extent to which technology has shaped our modern culture.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Technology, Nonfiction, Canada, Sociology, History

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

George Parkin Grant was a Canadian philosopher, professor, and political commentator. He is best known for his Canadian nationalism, political conservatism, and his views on technology, pacifism and Christian faith. He is often seen as one of Canada's most original thinkers.

Academically, his writings express a complex meditation on the great books, and confrontation with the great thinkers, of Western Civilization. His influences include the "ancients" such as Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as "moderns" like Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Leo Strauss, James Doull, Simone Weil, and Jacques Ellul.

Although he is considered the main theoretician of Red Toryism, he expressed dislike of the term when applied to his deeper philosophical interests, which he saw as his primary work as a thinker. Recent research on Grant uncovers his debt to a neo-Hegelian idealist tradition, Canadian idealism, that had a major influence on many Canadian scholars and Canadian political culture more broadly.

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

luv grant simple as

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this is my second Grant in as many days. A bunch of essays dealing with North American read Canadian empire and technology or progress towards the good. This one was much easier for me to follow and understand. Mainly, due to the fact that I have done history and philosophy of science. That study was done twenty years after George Grant had written about modernity and Vietnam.

He had not yet had the time to talk to the pomo crowd and I wonder what he would have made of it?

I still have some troubles with his statements of good needing God and of the current (1969)

--
Darn internet went down and I lost some verbiage. Something about overhearing a drunk conversation at a bar. Anyway, I'm off to bed.

[Yuri Hooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short book, though not an easy read. Still, an important, and prescient (and largely forgotten) perspective from the preeminent Canadian political philosopher of the mid-20th century (published in 1969). Very helpful to understand the modern world: how we have gotten where we are (a dystopian technocratic state that Grant calls "homogenous and universal"), how the universities were co-opted (or repurposed themselves) to service that state, how Canada squandered her birthright to play a unique role on the world stage as a moral authority holding her big brother to account. This is a perspective every Canadian -- especially true Conservatives (not the political variety) need to reacquaint themselves with and contemplate. I will be rereading this alot in the coming years.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. I read this because "the Brads" were trilling and lahhing about this book. I basically enjoyed it and will return to some of the essays. But as with so many technnology-reticent books, they never get down to "so what do we do now then...."
This was written a long while ago, so maybe I am being unfair.

Great essay on University Curriculum though: the move form liberal arts and training the man, to creating technical experts.

[Teghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grant is a good writer, but his views always seem outdated to me. Granted the essays in this book were written in the 60s, so that is inevitable. My issue with Grant is that his view of the world comes from an old-school white-upper-class-male perspective.

Still an important and thought-provoking read.

[W. Littlejohn]

Read one essay for class. This man is as brilliant and eloquent a critic of modernity as can be found, and his thoughts on technology are deeply insightful and provocative. I'm hoping to go back and read the rest, but so far I haven't had the chance.

[applesaucevictim · Rating 4 out of 5]

dated references but still very relevant particularly the first and second essays: “in defence of north america” and “religion and the state”