Issue40【0806G desperado小组】第六次作业by坐照

wangyu0920UID: 199396

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: 537          DATE: 2008-1-2 20:26:17

1.         有保留的反对。遵从兴趣研究或许更有动力，更容易成功，但学者更应该为整个社会做贡献
2.         跟随兴趣，人的研究会更积极，而其好奇心也是学者的重要品质，不同的个人兴趣会促进研究领域的扩展和进步
3.         但研究的目的应该是为更多的人服务。一方面，政府用纳税人的钱投资研究，期待能让更多的人获益。另一方面，学者应有更高的社会责任感，才能实现其个人价值和社会价值
4.         相反，如果大家都只考虑自己的兴趣，可能很多更迫切的问题得不到解决，所以应该把有限的资源投入到更值得做的事情上，即为更多人服务

The speaker recommends that scholars and researchers should pursue their individual interests rather than make contribution to the larger society. I tend to disagree. I concede that one could be more motivated when he or she focuses on what he or she interested in and therefore it is more easily to make progress. However, the speaker unnecessarily overstates the importance of unusual interests while ignoring the fact that researching does not only server for oneself and it would be more acceptable and valuable for researchers to make contribution to the larger society.

Admittedly, everyone should have the right to pursue their interests to satisfy themselves, including the researchers. Meanwhile, common sense tells us that people become positive and incline to make more efforts to inquiry when questions come to what they concern about. And curiosity is one of the most important qualities for scholars who wish to make profound research in a certain field of work. In addition, only do researchers have different interests and opinions that can the fields of study extend to border areas as well as keep promoting and developing.

However, the purpose of researching is to increase the well-being of our whole society and server for others rather than satisfy the scholars' own desires. On the one hand, the government provides researchers with the money come from taxpayers to support their study, expecting to gain some results that could benefit as many people as possible. Otherwise, it would be better to put the insufficient resources to other urgent needs, such as education, poverty and social security. On the other hand, making a contribution to the society would lend a hand to realize one's individual value as well as social value. A respectable scholar is the one who really cares about others and who willing to devote all the energies to server for the whole society. As Jacques Rousseau said, "We have physicists, geometers, chemists, astronomers in plenty; but no citizens." Actually, researchers are citizens essentially; he was calling for the researchers who are committed to public services. For example, a biologist has to take the ethic issues into account when his or her research involves genetic clones no matter how much he or she wants to clone human being. Looking back to the history, we will find that it was the social demands that promote the significant development of science and the researchers who won high appraisals all had made great contribution to the society.

To put it simply, if we place too much emphasis on the individual interests that all scholars only concern about  their own needs, then we would probably find that many urgent problems are set aside while some other trivial issues occupy too much people and money recourses. After all, the freedom of academic is not absolute. Time is limited, expense is not sufficient, and human resources are not enough, therefore scholars should put more attention the worthwhile things, which contribute to more people even the whole society.

To sum up, individual interests play an important role in discoveries and innovations. However, scholars and researchers should have more responsibilities for others, not only inquiring the unknown areas they interested in, but also making a contribution to the whole society.