本帖最后由 melodyfeather 于 2009-8-5 18:22 编辑
88. Technologies not only influence but also determine social customs and ethics
Our lives have been changed by the development of technologies significantly, however, considering the spiritual world is independent of the material world, even though relationship exists, needs effort fixed on mental lives rather than towards merely science or technology.
It's true that technologies might determine the facilities citizens could utilize and then influence the way of life ultimately. After all, the style of life is limited by the contemporary conditions, which impacts on the customs and even ethics ultimately. For example, the skills in cooking of Chinese, which might be famous for the tastes of the course produced by them, are different from the west in the methods and even ideas: Chinese use more methods of boiling or frying, instead of basing or roasting which are rather popular in the west. The differences might derive from the tools the ancient citizens could use: Chinese begun to use iron pans and pottery used for cooking much earlier than the west. So the ways of cooking, part of lifestyle and customs, could be determine by the contemporary technologies.
However, though limited by the technologies, the customs and ethics are usually independent of the technologies, and take more time too change than fields of industry and science, thus usually determined by the past rather than the technologies. This could also take the methods for cooking of the west as illustration: even the industry had been much improved thus the iron pans were no longer in short, citizens were associated to their ways of cooking and even attained a wonderful system of dining, even though in the views of Chinese roasting and baking are not as health as boiling.
What's more, technologies are, in the fact, playing a role of tool or scope aimed at material world, a significant conversion calls for philosophic thinking rather than an improvement in industry. It's known that Japan has been one of the most developed countries in whether economics or technologies, as a result of imitation of the west style. However, part of the ideas and ethics of the society still remain the traditional ones, such as the discrimination of sexes: married women are more expected to keep engaged in domestic working rather than working outside the home. With the level of technologies peers to the west, the status of female stays incomparable with western women's, even the status of ones of China where the level of technologies is much lower than Japan.
In conclusion, though technologies could impact the social customs and ethics, it could not determine the contemporary ones.
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发表于 2009-8-4 13:00:38
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