Refutation Of "Marx’s Theory Of Technological Determinism"

Technology has profoundly changed human production and life,and promoted the progress of human society.In the process of criticizing capitalism,Marx also inspected technology and formed Marx’s technology thought.For a long time,scholars at home and abroad have many differences and misunderstandings in the study of Marx’s technological thought,among which the typical one is to interpret Marx’s technological thought as "technological determinism".Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to refute the "Marxist theory of technological determinism" in order to accurately grasp Marx’s technological thought,and even to fully and systematically understand Marx’s thought."Technology determinism" originated from the Enlightenment period in Europe,formed in modern times,and gradually formed with the development of science and technology and the expansion of technological rationality,a systematic theoretical thought."Technology determinism" holds that the existence and development of technology is the prerequisite for the existence and development of all other things.It is independent of human factors and plays a decisive role in the development of human beings and society,and the independence(or autonomy)of technology is the basis for technology to determine its status."Technology determinism" embodies the relationship between technology and human and society.As a decisive condition,technology is bound to be independent of human beings and not subject to human constraints and control.Once this situation is formed,it will lead to a series of problems: lead to people’s blind worship of technology,lead to technology alienation,lead to the monism of cultural values and the standardization of social life,lead to the shrinkage of people’s emotional world."Marx’s technology determinism" is a wrong understanding of Marx’s technology thought.It is the result of many factors.First,"Marx’s technology determinism" belongs to "technology determinism" in essence;second,Marx’s technology thought is rich and scattered,and there will be different discussions in different periods.Some scholars interpret Marx’s technology thought out of context;third,when Marx discusses some major historical events,he praises technology for many times,resulting in some people’s mistakes Marx’s technology thought is understood as "technology determinism".Although Marx affirmed that technology promotes the development of human society,he could not classify Marx’s technology thought as "Marx’s technology determinism".First of all,Marx’s investigation of technology is carried out in the whole human society.Marx’s attitude of praising technology is actually to see the role of technology in promoting human development,focusing on people and human society.Secondly,the tenet of Marxism is human’s freedom and all-round development,and human’s problem is the core and basic problem of Marxism."Marxist technology determinism" puts technology above human beings,which is the negation of the tenet of Marxism.Thirdly,Marx examined technology and its influence in the real economic life of capitalism.Marx keenly saw that there was capital power behind technology,and the development of technology was the development of capital.Therefore,the recognition of "Marx’s technology determinism" is the recognition that capital plays a leading role in social development,which is contrary to Marx’s criticism of capital logic.Finally,the criticism of technology is an important part of the critical thought of Western Marxist scholars.It can be seen that the proof basis of "Marxist technological determinism" cannot be established.Under the challenge of "Marx’s technology determinism",it is very urgent to interpret Marx’s technology thought correctly and defend the tenet of Marx’s humanism.Marx believed that technology belongs to human nature,and the development of technology should serve the development of people and society.Technology is not the decisive force for the replacement of social forms,nor for the happiness and all-round development of human beings.Technology must be combined with human beings.Only under the operation of human beings,can it play a role in the development of human beings and society in the real social life.Therefore,it is the starting point and foothold of Marx’s technical thought to adhere to the reality of human beings.In real life,to eliminate the influence of "technology determinism" and technology alienation,we should carry forward the spirit of humanism,limit the expansion of instrumental rationality;face up to the positive and negative effects of technology,establish a benign interaction mechanism of technology and ethics;truly realize the technology to promote the freedom and all-round development of human beings.