【Flyer杀G】小组-7.20 Issue40, by Sean

柏拉图的世界UID: 2581296

TOPIC: ISSUE40 - "Scholars and researchers should not be concerned with whether their work makes a contribution to the larger society. It is more important that they pursue their individual interests, however unusual or idiosyncratic those interests may seem."
WORDS: 522
TIME: 00:44:49
DATE: 2010/7/21 17:22:25

Scholars and researchers are members of our society, deploying our social resources to promote their own studies, and thus they should take responsibility of the society. Based on such a radical principle, more integrity should be lent to them, for respects to them and better improvement of our society.

Throughout thousands year of development, academic research has been transformed from secret individual conducts of precursors in Medieval to today's complex systems, including universities, institutions and other forms of organizations. Meanwhile hey are enjoying societal resources visibly and invisibly. Every year, our governments vest remarkable number of funds to support them, equipping them with advanced instrumentals as well as convenience in deploying labors. They also obtain reputation and respects from populace, because people respect them to be more intelligent with higher moral levels, which brings them intangible advantages when they partake social activities. Hence, scholars and researchers ought to bear in mind that they should create benefits for the society.

Besides the above reason as kind of exchanging, the obligation for them to pursue welfare for others originates from some fundamental nature of their profession. They are usually well-educated ones, therefore they are supposed to be more accountable for others' living. This is reflected as a critical factor in our educational strategies, in that many schools emphasize not only knowledge and skills but also moral standards and virtues while shaping students to be prospectively capable agents.

Besides, some scholars once numerated several basic disciplines as an academician, including altruism and sharing of knowledge. Because academic research is quite different from other dominions of human activities, in which they make efforts to reveal and exploit those basic elements in the world we are equally sharing, like natural principles, routine of human society, mechanism of mankind's organism and spirit. In short, academic research is inherently an endeavor for all human beings, as well as other parts of the world we are living in. At this point, persons devoted in academic research should keep committed to those fundamental principles, sharing their outgrowth and working for widespread well-being. On the contrary, even a virtual scenario would frighten us badly, where scholars and researchers who possess tremendous power from science put their achievements into use of creations that can effortlessly destroy our modern society, like mass-killing weapons, lethal viruses.

Only when bearing those above in mind can scholars and researchers promote their studies at their disposal. And such credit from society is very helpful for academicians. If they are concentrating on topics they are really interested in, one can be convinced that they will spare on efforts. In view of that they are experts in their area and they usually are of more wisdom, providing them relevantly unstrained choices to decide where our societal resources should be distributed can actually bring us more benefits. That is because they can often identify potentially critical aspects in the development of our society while we ordinary people fail to realize.

To conclude, individual interests can never outweigh scholars and researchers responsibility for welfare of the society as a whole. Holding this belief, academicians and other members of society can come to be companions, sharing enough mutual credit, for the common purpose to change the world better.