The problem of reality (Technique) and truth in Jacques Ellul

When we go into Jacques Ellul's world of thought, we see that, on the one hand, he considers technique as a system that determines everything and captivates human existence, on the other hand, he presents it to us as with a closed conception that will enable the liberation of existence. The main issue of this thesis is an examination of the possibilities of combining these two thoughts. Because if we consider only the first or second thought, we find ourselves in worlds that are very different from one another. If we consider the two thoughts together, we witness a cycle. Therefore, it can be said: These two thoughts are always in motion at Ellul's works and there is a transition from one to the other. Thus, this thesis was written in three chapters: We brought image and technique together by dividing the first chapter in two part, thus we constructed the realm of reality and then attempted to reveal how they affect people. This section also became the domain of necessity. We examined the sphere of truth in the third chapter. We discussed the liminality as an intermediate space between these two chapters in the second chapter. In this chapter, the possibility of separating from reality and integrating with the truth has been investigated. Human does not solely consist of necessity or Freedom. Ellul constantly tries to combine the necessity and Freedom in his work. From this point, we attempted to combine two of these them together and provided a basis to transition of Freedom based on awareness of danger, hope and faith. We discussed the relationship between truth and Freedom, and the construction of Freedom through language in the third chapter that is sectioned as area of truth. From an Elulian perspective, we discovered the source of the word's relationship with Freedom: We investigated the word's vitality; its invitation to discover oneself and others; the word as an intermediary of humans in speaking to other people and God, and of God to human; and the word's existence. In this cycle, we investigated why we couldn't hear the word, and when the word is not heard, it will return to the field of necessity. Keywords: Ellul, Technique, Image, Reality, Truth, Word