From Technological Determinism To Technological Limitation

Technological determinism is not only a theory of how technology affects society in the philosophy of technology,but also an influential social trend of thought that technology can directly affect the law of development of all things.In the theory of ecological civilization,technological determinism usually has two different standpoints: technological optimism and technological pessimism.The former holds that the construction of ecological civilization needs to continue to follow the thinking of technological determinism in the period of industrial civilization,that the ecological environment problems can be solved by technological means alone,and that there is no need to intervene too much in the development of technology;the latter holds that science and technology are the root cause of the ecological environment problems,and even the progress of science and technology can not completely solve the ecological environment problems.Although the ecological civilization standpoint of technological optimism and technological pessimism seems to be completely opposite,their essence is to regard technology as the most important cause affecting the ecological environment,while ignoring other causes of ecological environment problems.Both of them regard science and technology as the decisive force to protect or destroy the ecological environment.On this basis,they construct different theories of ecological civilization: repair theory and Transcendence theory.The patching theory holds that ecological civilization is the continuation of industrial civilization.It only needs to add the dimension of ecology on the basis of industrial civilization.Technological development is still the core content of the construction of ecological civilization.The theory of transcendence holds that ecological civilization is a complete transcendence of industrial civilization and a brand-new civilization,so we should abandon the dependence on technology.Both theories of ecological civilization have one-sidedness in theory,which will lead to various adverse reactions in practice,which is not conducive to the current construction of ecological civilization.Therefore,on the basis of a comprehensive review and analysis of technological determinism,this paper proposes that a new technological theory should be constructed to truly meet the needs of the current construction of ecological civilization.Technology finiteness theory means that not only the scenarios of technology application and implementation are limited,but also the problems that can be solved by technology are limited.At the same time,technological development can not replace the development of morality and rule of law;it can not replace the natural environment on which human beings have been living for a long time,that is,artificial nature can not ban natural nature.The proposition of technology finite theory answers the question "How should the construction of ecological civilization treat the development of technology?" This important theoretical and practical issue has a guiding role.This paper studies the technology determinism from the perspective of ecological civilization by using the methods of literature research and interdisciplinary research.The main research contents include: First,to explore the connotation and development of technology,to clarify that technology determinism can be divided into two forms: technology optimism and technology pessimism according to different emphasis on the dual value of technology,and to point out two kinds of technology determinism.There is an intrinsic relationship with the theory of ecological civilization.Secondly,from the perspective of ecological civilization,the influence of technological pessimism is discussed,and the main viewpoints of technological pessimism theory of ecological civilization are introduced.It holds that science and technology have directly caused damage to the ecological environment,and emphasizes the negative role of technology in the construction of ecological civilization.Thirdly,the influence of technological optimism is discussed from the perspective of ecological civilization,and the main viewpoints of technological optimism theory of ecological civilization are introduced.It holds that the remedial measures of ecological environment problems in the history of science and technology emphasize the positive role of technology in the construction of ecological civilization.Fourthly,it is pointed out that the theory of technological finiteness is a transcendence of technological determinism.The construction of ecological civilization needs to avoid the misunderstanding of technological determinism and break the dualistic opposition between technology and human nature,technology and environment.At the same time,the construction of ecological civilization should base itself on the view of technological finiteness and play the role of technology correctly.Fifthly,it clarifies that the theory of technological finiteness is of great significance for the construction of ecological civilization to make up for the lack of ecological value in theory and to correctly locate the role of science and technology in practice.