Formation and development of technological culture. Technology as a cultural phenomenon Formation and development of technological culture

Science is one of the defining features modern culture and perhaps its most dynamic component. Today it is impossible to discuss social, cultural, anthropological problems without taking into account the development of scientific thought. None of the largest philosophical concepts of the 20th century. I couldn’t ignore the phenomenon of science, I couldn’t help but express my attitude to science as a whole and to the worldview problems that it poses. What is science? What is the main social role of science? Are there boundaries? scientific knowledge and knowledge in general? What is the place of science-based rationality in the system of other ways of relating to the world? Is extra-scientific knowledge possible, what is its status and prospects? Is it possible to scientifically answer the fundamental questions of the worldview: how did the Universe arise, how did life appear, how did man originate, what place does the phenomenon of man occupy in the universal cosmic evolution?

Discussion of all these and many other ideological and philosophical issues accompanied the formation and development of modern science and was a necessary form of awareness of the characteristics of both science itself and the civilization within which the scientific attitude to the world became possible. Today these questions are in a new and very acute form. This is primarily due to the situation in which modern civilization finds itself. On the one hand, unprecedented prospects for science and technology based on it have emerged. Modern society enters the information stage of development, the rationalization of all social life becomes not only possible, but also vitally necessary. On the other hand, the limits of the development of civilization of a one-sided technological type have been revealed: both in connection with the global environmental crisis, and as a consequence of the revealed impossibility of total control of social processes.

IN recent years attention to these issues in our country has noticeably decreased. It seems that one of the main reasons for this is the general sharp decline in the prestige of scientific knowledge in our society, the catastrophe that Russian science has been experiencing in recent years. Meanwhile, it is absolutely clear that without developed science Russia has no future as a civilized country.

The objective of the work is to characterize science as an element of technological culture. Consider specific features, logic and methods of scientific knowledge.

The term technology appeared in the 18th century, although since the emergence of human society, people have used various technologies to ensure their livelihoods. The rapid development of world social production in the second half of the 20th century and beginning of XXI V. was due, in particular, to the emergence of new technologies, including high technologies. The term “technology” began to be applied not only to the description of material transformations, but also energy, information and social ones. No one is surprised by such concepts as “social technologies” and “educational technologies”. From modern positions, technology appears as a spider about the transformation of materials (substances), energy, information according to a plan and in the interests of man. In scientific terms, it is considered as a type of cognitive activity, focused on the development of objective, systematically organized knowledge about the transformative function of man, about the goals, paths, stages, means, limitations, about the evolution and consequences of productive activity, improvement trends, as well as about methods all optimizations. Technology serves as an instrumental means of providing technology, and the technosphere accumulates a set of technical means for converting materials, energy and information. All technologies are implemented using material means (equipment tools), but they differ in the objects of transformation, and they can be divided into material, energy and information technologies, the latter including social and pedagogical.

Throughout its history, humanity has experienced two technological revolutions associated with radical changes in production technologies - the agricultural (agricultural, Neolithic (10 thousand years BC), which was characterized by the creation of farming and cattle breeding technologies, and the industrial (industrial - XVIII -XIX centuries), culminating in the emergence of conveyor production technologies (A. Tofler).

The term technology has a number of meanings: it is used in industry, science, art and other areas of human activity. Obviously, technology means the intellectual processing of technically significant qualities and abilities. In essence, it is a cultural concept associated with human thinking and activity. It determines the place of man in nature, the scope of his possible intervention in natural processes.

Technological culture is the fourth universal culture. It determines the worldview and self-understanding of modern man. Moreover, by universal cultures we understand systems of epistemic principles characteristic of a certain era and certain levels of development of scientific knowledge and technical means.

The first universal culture, individual features of which were restored during the study of archaeological finds and written evidence, was a mythological culture. It is inherent in all natural civilizations of antiquity. People of this culture explained natural phenomena based on data from direct observations. In their lives they used functionally adapted natural products and materials.

The episteme of such a culture boiled down to the idea of certain hidden “secret” forces inherent in all objects of the surrounding world and determining their existence. These forces, according to the ideas of the ancients, determined the sequence of everything that happened; they gave meaning to everything in the world—the cosmos. With this approach, existence itself is Fate. People, like everything else, turn out to be only elements of a comprehensive harmony.

The second universal culture - cosmological - flourished during the period of average natural civilization. Its episteme boiled down to the fact that in every phenomenon the action of the forces of nature is manifested in accordance with their inherent laws. Individual elements, components of a being form natural organisms, and sets of natural organisms, in turn, form the balance of the natural order, the same “harmony” of mythological culture.

The episteme of the third anthropological culture is characteristic of a developed natural civilization. According to this culture, all phenomena and patterns of the surrounding world are accessible to human understanding. Experience allows us to reveal the systemic essence of disparate facts and phenomena.

The qualities of such systems correspond to the qualities of their constituent elements. The planned organization of life turns out to be quite possible, its goal is the same mechanical balance that in other cultures acted as “harmony” or “order of things.”

Man - a researcher, systematizer and creator of new things - drew strength from his own strength and confidence. The world of man gradually became the center of his attention, the sphere of his achievements. New ideas about the relationship to nature, new means of knowledge arose, which were no longer simply intermediaries between thought and nature.

Active human intervention in natural processes began. This is how the development of the fourth universal culture proceeded.

There are two points to consider here. The first is that human intervention in the course of natural processes is taking on an unprecedentedly wide scale, becoming permanent and, if we keep in mind the results, irreversible. The second is the habitat of humanity - the Earth ceases to be an inexhaustible source of various resources, a kind of “cornucopia”; The consumer attitude towards the world, rooted in the consciousness of the “king of nature,” is increasingly becoming the cause of a disorder in the natural balance, which can ultimately lead to its final disruption.

From the second half of the 20th century. humanity is experiencing a third technological revolution, when the transition from industrial to technological society takes place. The emergence of new technologies in industry and agriculture contributed to a sharp increase in global social production (7 times from 1950 to 1990). This growth continues to this day. The creation of computers led to the emergence of the information world and high technology. The volume of information used by the population has increased sharply. The information revolution of recent decades, which has turned the world into a single information space, has become one of the most profound revolutions in the entire history of mankind. The industrial society of assembly line production and blue collar workers is being replaced by a post-industrial society of white collar workers. Due to the widespread use of information and telecommunication technologies and their rapid change, the main condition for the development of modern production is working with new information and creative solutions to constantly emerging production problems. It is interesting to trace the change in the distribution of labor in the developed countries of the world in the 20th - early 21st centuries. If in the USA in 1900 20% of workers worked in the sphere of material production, 44% in agriculture and 30% in services, then in 1994 3.1% of workers worked in agriculture, 15% in industry, ( 5%, and in the services and information technology sector - 81%. According to 2008 data, 2.2% of employed people worked in US agriculture, 13.2% in the mining and manufacturing industries, and 84 in the services and information sectors. 6% In some areas of the USA (New York, San Francisco, Boston), the latter figure reached 92%. Western Europe and Japan it varies from 71 to 78%. In Russia in 1995, the number of commas in the service and information sector exceeded 50%. In the literature, this change in the distribution of labor is called deindustrialization. In 1995, in the United States in health care, scientific research, services and the production of intangible scientific products and software produced almost 43% of GDP. The most profitable areas are the areas of high technology and information. According to forecasts, by 2010 the share of people employed in the field of information and telecommunication technologies in developed countries will be at least 50% of the total number of employees, and factories will remain from 5 to 10% of the population. The main means of existence becomes the processing of information in one form or another.

In the 21st century The vast majority of the population work in the service sector, including education and health care, and in the field of information, science and culture. Even on farms and in industry, more workers will be engaged in processing information than in cultivating the land and working on production lines. An example is the US auto industry, where more people are involved in sales, insurance, advertising, design and safety than actually assembling cars. However, the transition to the information world does not detract from the importance of material production, including manual labor, in the life support of society. Our world remains material, but information plays an ever-increasing role in it.

The leaders of world development are countries that are able to improve the quality of education of the population, general culture, technological discipline of production and, of course, science - the main creative force of post-industrial society. This is evidenced by the experience of the USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. It is in the secondary school that the foundations of the humanitarian, natural science, and technological culture of youth are laid; it is they who determine the intellectual potential of the country - not the elite, but the mass of people with a fairly high and versatile education, the level of which determines the success of solving global problems of an environmental, energy, information and social nature. The quality of high-tech products produced depends on the technological culture of the population.

The modern understanding of progress is changing towards spiritual and cultural factors, which means deepening the uniqueness of a person, expanding his spirituality. From this position, human change in progress allows us to talk about the need to develop the technological culture of society and each individual member of it. Therefore, technological culture can be designated as a current paradigm of modern and future education.

A feature of technological culture as new culture, emerging around us, is a new attitude towards the world around us, based on scientific knowledge, creative attitude, and the transformative nature of activity. Its influence on the development of every member of society is so great that it necessitates the need to train and educate young people on a qualitatively new basis, to provide new, innovative approaches to education aimed at solving the problems of the technological environment.

At the end of the 20th century, when a new technological society (“knowledge society”) began to take shape, technological knowledge and skills became the most important value and a factor in economic transformation. Nowadays, technological culture has become an indicator of literacy.

Today, the concept of culture covers all aspects of human activity and society. Therefore, they distinguish between political, economic, legal, moral, environmental, artistic, professional and other types of culture. A fundamental component of general culture is technological culture.

Technological culture is the culture of a modern technologically saturated society. This is a new attitude towards the world around us, based on the transformation and improvement, as well as the improvement of the human environment. Technological culture, being one of the types of universal culture, influences all aspects of human life and society. It forms a technological worldview, which is based on a system of technological views on nature, society and man. An integral part of it is technological thinking, associated with the individual’s general reflection of the scientific and technological environment and the mental ability for transformative activity.

Manifestation of various human qualities, capable of transforming environment, to improve the world around us - this is the set of cultures that are embodied in the concept of “technological culture”. From the perspective of modern concepts of the development of human society, in the field of view of which are the rational abilities of man, his creative approach to everything that surrounds him, his creative self-expression, the concept of “technological culture” personifies a new layer of culture, indicating a high level of abilities and scientific knowledge in the implementation by a person of any technological process or project in both the social and industrial spheres of activity.

Currently, the technological stage of the development of society is designed to establish the priority of the method over the result of the activity. Therefore, society needs to take a comprehensive approach to choosing methods (including material and intellectual means) of its activities from a mass of alternative options and to assessing its results. The main goal of people’s activities is to ensure that technological capabilities serve people, that is, to change the social, economic and cultural life of our society in such a way that it stimulates human development.

2. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Scientific knowledge is a system of knowledge about the laws of nature, society, and thinking. Scientific knowledge forms the basis of the scientific picture of the world and reflects the laws of its development.

Scientific knowledge:

- is the result of comprehension of reality and the cognitive basis of human activity;

- socially conditioned; And

- has varying degrees of reliability.

Scientific information about things merges with information about others' opinions about those things. In a broad sense, both obtaining information about things and obtaining information about the opinions of others about these things can be called information activity. It is as ancient as science itself. In order to successfully fulfill his main social role (which is the production of new knowledge), the scientist must be informed about what was known before him. Otherwise, he may find himself in the position of discovering already established truths.

The question of the structure of scientific knowledge deserves special consideration. It is necessary to distinguish three levels: empirical, theoretical, philosophical foundations.

At the empirical level of scientific knowledge, as a result of direct contact with reality, scientists obtain knowledge about certain events, identify the properties of objects or processes that interest them, record relationships, and establish empirical patterns.

To clarify the specifics of theoretical knowledge, it is important to emphasize that the theory is built with an explicit focus on explaining objective reality, but it directly describes not the surrounding reality, but ideal objects, which, unlike real objects, are characterized not by an infinite, but by a well-defined number of properties. For example, such ideal objects as material points, which mechanics deals with, have a very small number of properties, namely, mass and the ability to be in space and time. The ideal object is constructed in such a way that it is completely intellectually controlled.

The theoretical level of scientific knowledge is divided into two parts: fundamental theories, in which the scientist deals with the most abstract ideal objects, and theories that describe a specific area of reality on the basis of fundamental theories.

The power of theory lies in the fact that it can develop as if on its own, without direct contact with reality. Since in theory we are dealing with an intellectually controlled object, the theoretical object can, in principle, be described in any detail and obtain as far-reaching consequences from the initial concepts as desired. If the initial abstractions are true, then the consequences from them will be true.

In addition to the empirical and theoretical, one more level can be distinguished in the structure of scientific knowledge, containing general ideas about reality and the process of cognition - the level of philosophical prerequisites, philosophical foundations.

For example, the famous discussion between Bohr and Einstein on the problems of quantum mechanics was essentially conducted precisely at the level of the philosophical foundations of science, since it was discussed how to relate the apparatus of quantum mechanics to the world around us. Einstein believed that the probabilistic nature of predictions in quantum mechanics is due to the fact that quantum mechanics is incomplete, since reality is completely deterministic. And Bohr believed that quantum mechanics is complete and reflects a fundamentally irreducible probability characteristic of the microworld.

Certain ideas of a philosophical nature are woven into the fabric of scientific knowledge and embodied in theories.

Theory turns from an apparatus for describing and predicting empirical data into knowledge when all its concepts receive an ontological and epistemological interpretation.

Sometimes the philosophical foundations of science clearly manifest themselves and become the subject of heated discussions (for example, in quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, the theory of evolution, genetics, etc.).

At the same time, there are many theories in science that do not cause controversy regarding their philosophical foundations, since they are based on philosophical concepts that are close to generally accepted ones.

It should be noted that not only theoretical, but also empirical knowledge is associated with certain philosophical concepts.

At the empirical level of knowledge, there is a certain set of general ideas about the world (about causality, stability of events, etc.). These ideas are perceived as obvious and are not the subject of special research. Nevertheless, they exist, and sooner or later they change at the empirical level.

The empirical and theoretical levels of scientific knowledge are organically interconnected. The theoretical level does not exist on its own, but is based on data from the empirical level. But what is essential is that empirical knowledge is inseparable from theoretical concepts; it is necessarily immersed in a certain theoretical context.

British sociologist 3. Bauman names three types of such differences. Firstly, scientific knowledge is organized differently; it is subject to strict requirements and rules. These requirements include the following:

a) certainty of the categorical apparatus;

b) developed and tested methods of cognition;

c) supporting theoretical generalizations with real facts;

d) openness of the scientific concept for discussion and critical reflection. Ordinary knowledge is more free, it is devoid of rigid frameworks, it does not claim the right of “responsible statements” characteristic of scientists as a special status group in society, from which competent conclusions are expected.

Secondly, scientific knowledge always presupposes a wider field of collecting material for generalizations and judgments. Ordinary knowledge develops in a more limited information space. In everyday life, we very rarely try (if at all) to rise above the level of our everyday interests, to expand the horizon of our experience, therefore ordinary knowledge is always fragmentary, it captures only individual events, episodes of the political process; scientific, on the contrary, claims to be broad in generalization and comprehensive in its analysis.

Thirdly, scientific knowledge differs in the way it explains political events. In science, an explanation should be as depersonalized as possible, i.e. justification and interpretation are carried out on the basis of identifying many factors and interdependencies. Knowledge based on common sense is characterized by an explanation of certain events and the actions of politicians based on previously established ideas and beliefs. A person usually attributes to political figures those intentions that are known to him from previous experience.

Thus, scientific knowledge about politics is more complex and comprehensive. It requires the researcher to have special skills in working with observable phenomena, mastery of the appropriate categorical apparatus, the ability to use special methodological tools for knowledge of the sphere of political relations and interactions, the ability to analytically comprehend relationships, dependencies and model complex political processes. Scientific knowledge of politics is a system of theories, concepts that explain and describe politics, as well as a set of methods that allow us to deepen and expand our understanding of politics.

Let us note, firstly, the following points in the changing image of science today:

a) of course, putting forward fundamentally new ideas in science remains the task of relatively few of the most prominent scientists who manage to look beyond the “horizons” of knowledge, and often significantly expand them. But nevertheless, for scientific knowledge in general, collective forms of activity, carried out, as philosophers put it, by “scientific communities,” are becoming more and more characteristic. Science is increasingly becoming not just a system of abstract knowledge about the world, but also one of the manifestations of human activity, which has taken the form of a special social institution. The study of the social aspects of the natural, social, and technical sciences in connection with the problem of scientific creativity is an interesting, and still largely open problem;

b) methods based on new technologies are increasingly penetrating into modern science, and on the other hand, new mathematical methods that seriously change the previous methodology of scientific knowledge; therefore, philosophical adjustments are required in this regard. A fundamentally new research method was, for example, a computational experiment, which has now received the most widespread. What is its cognitive role in science? What are the specific features of this method? How does it influence the organization of science? All this is of great interest;

c) the sphere of scientific knowledge is rapidly expanding, including previously inaccessible objects both in the microworld, including the finest mechanisms of living things, and on a macroscopic scale. But it is no less important that modern science has moved on to the study of objects of a fundamentally new type - highly complex, self-organizing systems. One of these objects is the biosphere. But the Universe can also be considered, in a certain sense, as such a system;

d) one more characteristic feature modern science is that it has moved on to a comprehensive study of man using the methods of different sciences. The unification of the foundations of these methods is unthinkable without philosophy;

e) significant changes are occurring in the system of scientific knowledge. It is becoming more and more complex, the knowledge of different sciences intersects, mutually fertilizing each other in solving key problems of modern science. It is of interest to build models of the dynamics of scientific knowledge, identify the main factors influencing its growth, and clarify the role of philosophy in the progress of knowledge in various fields of study of the world and man. All this is also serious problems, the solution of which is unthinkable without philosophy.

Secondly, the analysis of the phenomenon of science should be carried out taking into account the enormous role it plays in modern world. Science influences all aspects of life, both of society as a whole and of individuals. The achievements of modern science are refracted in one way or another in all spheres of culture. Science provides unprecedented technological progress, creating conditions for improving the level and quality of life. It also acts as a socio-political factor: a state that has developed science and, on the basis of this, creates advanced technologies, ensures itself greater weight in the international community.

Thirdly, some dangers associated with the possible use of the achievements of modern science were quickly discovered. For example, modern biology studies the subtle mechanisms of heredity, and physiology has penetrated so deeply into the structure of the brain that it turns out to be possible to effectively influence human consciousness and behavior. Today, quite significant negative consequences of the uncontrolled spread of advanced technologies have become obvious, which indirectly even creates a threat to the very survival of humanity. Such threats manifest themselves, for example, in some global problems - resource depletion, environmental pollution, the threat of genetic degeneration of humanity, etc.

The named moments, which characterize a sharp increase in the impact of science on technology, society and nature, force us to analyze not only the cognitive side of scientific research, as was the case before, but also the “human” dimension of science.

From our point of view, it now seems very important to conduct a detailed analysis of all the noted aspects of the phenomenon of science as a whole, that is, in the unity of its cognitive and human aspects. The fact is that the changes currently taking place in the image and status of science are causing its growing separation from everyday consciousness. As compensation, we have a “lush” flourishing of all kinds of pseudosciences, more understandable to the ordinary consciousness, but having absolutely nothing to do with science. IN modern conditions pseudoscience acquires such power in the minds of certain sections of people (including sometimes scientists) that it begins to pose a danger to the healthy development of science itself. That is why a deep analysis of the foundations of the scientific method, its differences from the methods of reasoning used by pseudoscience, is necessary.

Further, there is an urgent need to continue studying science in relation to
progress modern technology and changing it social role. Many of those who do not at all refuse to use the achievements of science in their daily lives portray scientific and technological progress as a kind of “monster” that suppresses and enslaves people, that is, as an unconditional “evil.” Now, as if from a cornucopia, accusations are pouring in against not only scientific and technological progress, but also science itself, which are considered to have broken with “human goals.” And although in this case the criticism largely misses the mark - science is accused of “sins” of which it is not so much itself that is guilty, but the system of institutions within which it operates and develops - critics of science are right about one thing: in an era When it was clearly discovered that the development of science can lead to socially negative consequences, the scientist’s orientation towards obtaining objectively true knowledge, being an absolutely necessary stimulus for his activity, is nevertheless not sufficient. The question of the social responsibility of a scientist for the possible use of his discoveries as the most important ethical norm is becoming increasingly relevant. scientific activity. This range of problems also requires constant attention.

3. DIFFERENTIATION AND INTEGRATION OF SCIENCES

The development of science is characterized by the dialectical interaction of two opposing processes - differentiation (separation of new scientific disciplines) and integration (synthesis of knowledge, unification of a number of sciences - most often into disciplines located at their “junction”). At some stages of the development of science, differentiation predominates (especially during the period of the emergence of science as a whole and individual sciences), at others - their integration, this is typical for modern science.

The process of differentiation, spin-off of sciences, transformation of individual “rudiments” of scientific knowledge into independent (private) sciences and the intrascientific “branching” of the latter into scientific disciplines began already at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period, the previously unified knowledge (philosophy) bifurcates into two main “trunks” - philosophy itself and science as an integral system of knowledge, spiritual education and a social institution. In turn, philosophy begins to be divided into a number of philosophical sciences (ontology, epistemology, ethics, dialectics, etc.), science as a whole is divided into separate private sciences (and within them into scientific disciplines), among which the classical (Newtonian) becomes the leader ) mechanics, closely related to mathematics since its inception.

In the subsequent period, the process of differentiation of sciences continued to intensify. It was caused both by the needs of social production and by the internal needs of the development of scientific knowledge. The consequence of this process was the emergence and rapid development of border, “butt” sciences.

As soon as biologists delved into the study of living things so deeply that they understood the enormous importance of chemical processes and transformations in cells, tissues, and organisms, an intensive study of these processes began, the accumulation of results, which led to the emergence of a new science - biochemistry. In the same way, the need to study physical processes in a living organism led to the interaction of biology and physics and the emergence of a frontier science - biophysics. Physical chemistry, chemical physics, geochemistry, etc. arose in a similar way. Scientific disciplines are also emerging that are at the intersection of three sciences, such as biogeochemistry. The founder of biogeochemistry, V.I. Vernadsky, considered it a complex scientific discipline, since it is closely and entirely connected with one specific earthly shell - the biosphere and with its biological processes in their chemical (atomic) manifestation. The “field of reference” of biogeochemistry is determined both by the geological manifestations of life and by the biochemical processes within organisms, the living population of the planet.

The differentiation of sciences is a natural consequence of the rapid increase and complexity of knowledge. It inevitably leads to specialization and division of scientific labor. The latter have both positive aspects (the possibility of in-depth study of phenomena, increased productivity of scientists) and negative ones (especially “loss of connection of the whole”, narrowing of horizons - sometimes to the point of “professional cretinism”). Touching on this side of the problem, A. Einstein noted that in the course of the development of science, “the activities of individual researchers inevitably become concentrated in an increasingly limited area of universal knowledge. This specialization, what is even worse, leads to the fact that a single general understanding of all science, without which the true depth of the research spirit is necessarily diminished, is increasingly difficult to keep up with the development of science...; it threatens to rob the researcher of his broad perspective, reducing him to the level of a craftsman." 1

Simultaneously with the process of differentiation, there is also a process of integration - unification, interpenetration, synthesis of sciences and scientific disciplines, combining them (and their methods) into a single whole, erasing the boundaries between them. This is especially characteristic of modern science, where today such synthetic, general scientific fields of scientific knowledge as cybernetics, synergetics, etc. are rapidly developing, and such integrative pictures of the world as natural science, general science, and philosophy are being built (for philosophy also performs an integrative function in scientific knowledge).

The trend of “merging sciences”, which has become a pattern modern stage their development and manifestation of the paradigm of integrity, was clearly captured by V.I. Vernadsky. A great new phenomenon of scientific thought of the 20th century. he believed that “for the first time, all the currents of human spiritual creativity that have hitherto flowed in little dependence on each other, and sometimes quite independently, are merging into a single whole. The turning point in the scientific understanding of the Cosmos thus coincides with the simultaneously occurring profound change in the human sciences. On the one hand, these sciences merge with the sciences of nature, on the other, their object completely changes” 1. The integration of sciences convincingly and with increasing force proves the unity of nature. It is possible because such unity objectively exists.

Thus, the development of science is a dialectical process in which differentiation is accompanied by integration, interpenetration and unification into a single whole of the most diverse areas of scientific knowledge of the world, and the interaction of various methods and ideas.

IN modern science The unification of sciences to solve major problems and global problems posed by practical needs is becoming increasingly widespread. For example, the complex problem of space exploration required the combined efforts of scientists from various specialties. The solution to a very pressing environmental problem today is impossible without close interaction between the natural and human sciences, without a synthesis of the ideas and methods they develop.

One of the general laws of the historical development of science is the dialectical unity of differentiation and integration of science. The formation of new scientific directions, individual sciences is combined with the erasing of sharp lines separating various branches of science, with the formation of integrating branches of science (cybernetics, systems theory, computer science, synergetics, etc.), mutual exchange of methods, principles, concepts, etc. Science in general is becoming more complex unified system with a rich internal division, where the qualitative originality of each specific science is preserved. Thus, it is not the confrontation of different “cultures in science”, but their close unity, interaction, and interpenetration that is a natural tendency of modern scientific knowledge.

CONCLUSION

One of the old mottos is: “knowledge is power.” Science makes man powerful over the forces of nature. With the help of natural science, man exercises his dominance over the forces of nature, develops material production, and improves social relations. Only through knowledge of the laws of nature can a person change and adapt natural things and processes so that they satisfy his needs.

Natural science is both a product of civilization and a condition for its development. With the help of science, man develops material production, improves social relations, educates and educates new generations of people, and heals his body. The progress of natural science and technology significantly changes the way of life and human well-being, and improves the living conditions of people.

Natural science is one of the most important engines of social progress. As the most important factor in material production, natural science acts as a powerful revolutionary force. Great scientific discoveries (and technical inventions closely related to them) have always had a colossal (and sometimes completely unexpected) impact on destinies human history. Such discoveries were, for example, discoveries in the 17th century. the laws of mechanics, which made it possible to create all the machine technology of civilization; discovery in the 19th century. electromagnetic field and the creation of electrical engineering, radio engineering, and then radio electronics; the creation in the twentieth century of the theory of the atomic nucleus, and after it the discovery of means of releasing nuclear energy; discovery in the middle of the twentieth century. molecular biology of the nature of heredity (DNA structure) and the subsequent possibilities of genetic engineering to control heredity; etc. Most of modern material civilization would be impossible without the participation in its creation of scientific theories, scientific and design developments, technologies predicted by science, etc.

In the modern world, science evokes not only admiration and admiration among people, but also fear. You can often hear that science brings people not only benefits, but also the greatest misfortunes. Atmospheric pollution, disasters at nuclear power plants, increased background radioactivity as a result of nuclear weapons testing, the “ozone hole” over the planet, a sharp reduction in plant and animal species - people tend to explain all these and other environmental problems by the very fact of the existence of science. But the point is not in science, but in whose hands it is, what social interests behind it, what public and government structures guide its development.

The growth of global problems of mankind increases the responsibility of scientists for the destinies of mankind. The question of the historical destinies and role of science in its relation to man and the prospects for his development has never been so acutely discussed as at the present time, in the context of a growing global crisis of civilization. The old problem of the humanistic content of cognitive activity (the so-called “Rousseau’s problem”) has acquired a new concrete historical expression: can a person (and if so, to what extent) count on science in solving the global problems of our time? Is science capable of helping humanity get rid of the evil that modern civilization brings with it through the technologization of people's lifestyles?

Science is a social institution, and it is closely connected with the development of the entire society. The complexity and inconsistency of the modern situation is that science is, of course, involved in the generation of global, and, above all, environmental problems of civilization (not in itself, but as a part of society dependent on other structures); and at the same time, without science, without its further development, the solution to all these problems is in principle impossible. And this means that the role of science in the history of mankind is constantly increasing. And therefore, any belittling of the role of science and natural science is extremely dangerous at the present time; it disarms humanity in the face of the growing global problems of our time. And such belittlement, unfortunately, sometimes occurs; it is represented by certain attitudes and trends in the system of spiritual culture.

Science is a component of spiritual culture, and therefore the processes that occur throughout the entire cultural system are reflected in science in one form or another.
THE PHENOMENON OF ARTISTIC CULTURE AND FACTORS AFFECTING ITS DEVELOPMENTFEATURES OF THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF RUSSIAN YOUTH

Introduction

1. Technology as a cultural phenomenon

1.1 Formation and development of technological culture

1.2Features of technological culture

2. The world of technology in the space of culture

2.1World of technology

2.2 Subject and performance technique

2.3Technology and culture

2.4 Functions of technology

2.5Image of technology in culture

2.6 Inconsistency of technical progress

3. Features of scientific knowledge

3.1Scientific activities

3.2 Sociocultural guidelines of science. Truth and benefit

3.3Autonomy and social control

3.4Neutralism and social responsibility

3.5 Society’s attitude towards science. Image of science

4. Origin and development of engineering culture

4.2 Functional structure of engineering

4.2.1Design

4.2.2 Invention

4.2.3 Design

4.3Sphere of modern engineering

4.4Engineering of the future

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

The topic of the essay is “Technological culture” in the discipline “Cultural studies”.

The purpose of the work is to become familiar with the concept of technological culture, namely:

Technology;

The world of technology in the space of culture;

Features of scientific knowledge;

The origin and development of engineering culture.

1. Technology as a cultural phenomenon

Human life is subject, on the one hand, to biological laws, and on the other, to the conditions of his existence in the sociocultural world. In animals, the goals of life activity are set “by nature” and come down to satisfying vital (life) needs for self-preservation, procreation, etc. The “technology” of their life activity - its mechanisms and methods - is basically determined genetically, and only to a greater or lesser extent at least varies depending on the individual experience of the individual. In humans, above the biological, vital needs, a whole pyramid of social and spiritual needs, determined by the culture of society, is built on top.

The concept of technology is used in the literature in different meanings. By technology they may mean: a set of rules for a specific production process (“underwater welding technology”); organization of any type or branch of production, including all the conditions - means, methods, procedures - for its implementation (“conveyor technology”, “mechanical engineering technology”); forms and methods of using technology; application of scientific knowledge in the organization of practical activities; a scientific description of any activity, its processes, means and methods. Understanding technology as the organizational side of any human activity, I use this concept in the modern, most general sense.

1.1 Formation and development of technological culture

Technological culture took its first steps in the form of myth and magic.

Further development technological culture went in two directions. On the one hand, the volume of knowledge and skills grew, which led to their separation from mythology and magic.

On the other hand, the “material”, objective inventory of technological culture expanded and improved.

Technical knowledge for a long time - right up to the Renaissance - was mainly of a purely practical nature. Gradually, in this knowledge, information about the properties of materials and devices used in work, and about the phenomena occurring in the functioning of technical devices began to occupy more and more space. Thus, the beginnings of technical science gradually emerged.

But in parallel with the development of technology and special technical knowledge, another process took place in the history of culture: the development of philosophical thinking.

In modern times, both streams of knowledge - technical knowledge developed in practical activity and theoretical science matured in the bosom of philosophy - came closer and intertwined with each other. As a result, science in its modern understanding was born.

The increasing complexity of the technology of production processes, the transformation of science into the theoretical basis of production, the need to rely on scientific knowledge in the design, construction, manufacture and operation of equipment - all this has brought the figure of the engineer to a prominent place in society.

So, technological culture consists of three main components - technology, science and engineering.

It is hardly possible in our time to consider the view that high culture is compatible with ignorance in the field of “exact” sciences and technological culture in general justified. The existence of technological culture as a special “niche” of cultural space is a fact that cannot be ignored. Especially in our era, when technology, engineering and science play such an important role in the life of mankind.

1.2 Features of technological culture

1. Spiritual and social culture are focused on the “value” axis; they are united by the fact that they are aimed at creating values and ideals. Technological culture is not concerned with the “value dimension” of activity.

2. From the above, another feature of technological culture follows: it is mainly utilitarian in nature.

3. In relation to spiritual and social culture, it plays a subordinate, service role.

4. Technological culture turns out to be a universal and indispensable condition for any cultural activity.

5. In the course of history it evolves from mysticism to rationality.

2. The world of technology in the space of culture

2.1 World of technology

In modern scientific literature, the concept of technology has begun to be given an extremely general meaning: technology is understood as any means and methods of activity that are invented by people to achieve any goal. Technology is always an artifact, that is, something artificially created, invented, made by man.

2.2 Subject and performing techniques

Artifacts of two kinds belong to the world of technology. Firstly, this is material, or objective, technology: various tools, machines, apparatus and other material means of human activity. Secondly, this is a performing technique, that is, a set of methods, techniques of activity, and the skill of performing actions. It is a technique of knowledge and skills, fixed in the human psyche, “inside” his body.

The natural world is a kingdom of blind, elemental forces. The world of technology is the kingdom of the mind. Everything in it is calculated, foreseen, planned in advance (although, of course, miscalculations and unforeseen phenomena are possible).

Technology arises thanks to a person who, with its help, solves the problems of his life. But man is also formed and developed thanks to the creation of technology.

Thus, the hand is the “mother” of all hand tools, the model that is copied in them. The tongs and vice are designed in the image of a grasping hand. The fist turned into a hammer, the index finger with a sharp nail into a drill. The ten fingers of the hand were “projected” into the decimal number system. The camera is like an eye, and the musical organ is like a chest with lungs from which air comes out through the larynx. The network of communications - roads, railways, steamship lines, through which goods necessary for the existence of humanity are distributed throughout the world - performs the same functions as the circulatory system of the body. A computer works like the human brain; microelectronics, having tried all sorts of materials, finally chose silicon as the most suitable for integrated circuits - not realizing that biological evolution had long before made silicon the starting material of organic bodies.

Based on the fact that technology is used to obtain, store, move, transform matter, energy and information, they differ accordingly:

1) materials processing technology (in mining, metallurgy, chemical production, mechanical engineering, light industry, agriculture, etc.),

2) energy technology (in heat, hydro, electric and nuclear energy, transport, heating, refrigeration, etc.),

3) information technology (control and measuring, demonstration, computer, radio, audio and film equipment, etc.).

According to functional characteristics, one can distinguish:

1) manual equipment that requires physical effort from a person,

2) mechanisms whose work replaces human physical labor,

3) automatic machines - self-controlled devices that partially or completely free a person from mental work to perform control functions.

Depending on the field of work in which the equipment is used, it is divided into:

1) industrial,

2) agricultural,

3) construction,

4) printing,

5) transport,

7) management,

9) medical

10) sports,

11) educational,

12) scientific.

2.3 Technology and culture

On the one hand, technology is generated by culture and constantly receives incentives for development from the cultural space. Firstly, culture determines the goals for which people turn to technology, apply and improve it, and therefore influences the choice of directions for the development of technology. Secondly, culture stores and accumulates the knowledge necessary to create and improve technology. Thirdly, culture determines people’s attitude towards technology, the nature and ways of its use by people.

On the other hand, technology is a force that actively influences the entire cultural space. Firstly, it forms the cultural environment of human habitation - that artificial, artifactual “second nature” in which people live and which is the “material body” of culture. Secondly, it is a means of applying the achievements of culture (mainly science) to the solution of material and practical problems public life, i.e. the way culture responds to “ social order"from society. Thirdly, it creates cultural tools - means and methods of activity in the field of culture, that is, information-semiotic activity. Fourthly, it acts as a cultural code - as one of the most important sign systems of culture, carrying a huge amount of social information!

The word "technology" comes from the Greek "techne" - art, skill, skill and "logos" - teaching, science. It is obvious that the “logos of technology” is a cultural concept associated with creative thinking and transformative human activity. It determines the place of man in nature and society, the scope of his intervention in natural processes.

Technological culture - fourth universal culture. It determines the worldview and self-understanding of modern man. This culture originated in the depths of anthropological culture. Man - a researcher, systematizer and creator of new things - drew strength from his own strength and confidence. The world of man gradually became the center of his attention, the sphere of his achievements. New ideas about the relationship to nature, new means of knowledge arose, which were no longer simply intermediaries between thought and nature. Active human intervention in natural processes began. Thus began the development of technological culture.

When characterizing this culture, two points must be taken into account. Firstly, human intervention in the course of natural processes is becoming permanent, taking on an unprecedentedly wide scale and irreversible consequences (reversal of river flows, land reclamation and irrigation, space exploration, etc.). Secondly, the human habitat - the Earth - ceases to be an inexhaustible source of various resources, a kind of “cornucopia”. The consumer attitude towards the world, rooted in the consciousness of the “king of nature,” is increasingly becoming the cause of a disorder in the natural balance, and ultimately it can lead to its final disruption.

In a technological culture, a person realizes himself not as the “king of nature,” but as the ruler of all things. What was previously inaccessible to the human mind gradually becomes more and more clear. The idea of the temporary nature of the concept of the inaccessible, of the presence of not yet known phenomena and laws that will be discovered over time is affirmed.

Supported by modern technological means (including biotechnological ones), human activity diffuses in the sphere of action of the yet undiscovered laws of nature.

Man turned out to be able to force nature to manifest the action of some of its potentially existing laws. Now he lives in conditions of an open instrumental civilization, being aware of this. He created technological “organisms” - systems of interdependent components, the actions of which are aimed at achieving the goals set by their creator.

The power and range of modern technological tools - computers, industrial robots, controlled biotechnological reactions or nuclear reactors - are not comparable to their predecessors. On the one hand, they improve people’s lives, and on the other, they increase a person’s responsibility for their actions.

The technological concept of reality assumes the functioning of integrated systems, rather than combinations of random components or factors. The key concepts for understanding the essence of processes and phenomena in this case are the concepts of “biosphere”, “technosphere”, “noosphere”, “technological environment” and “ecosystem”. Modern reality is understood as a relational network created by man, within and beyond natural limitations, based on teleological reasoning, functional planning and rational implementation of what was planned. At the same time, everything that exists appears to be the result of purposeful construction, rather than limited growth.

Technical and technological design brings to life the planned functioning of such organisms, which can be considered as a serial, constantly repeating part of the system. The created means-systems function initially rationally and expediently

The desire for systematization inherent in technological thinking gives system-forming principles decisive importance. Modern man is convinced that similar principles can be found in the functioning of the entire surrounding world and that without them no system can exist. In this case, technological thinking turns to ideal structures, leaning towards a certain pre-established “normality” of processes and phenomena.

Technological culture faces an open civilization. If in previous universal cultures any ontology was based on bringing everything to a common denominator, now it is based on the awareness of the ability to overcome established boundaries.

Technology, on the one hand, is science, and on the other hand, practical human activity.

Previously, technology was understood as a set of processes, rules, skills used in the manufacture of any type of product in the field of industrial activity. Even earlier, D.I. Mendeleev gave a simpler and more accessible definition. He saw it as “finding ways to produce something useful from waste, useless”.

Both of these definitions are incomplete. M.B. Pavlova defines technology as “... a multidimensional concept that combines essential human characteristics - object, knowledge, process and will (motivations, needs, intentions, values). These elements are in a complex interaction, the result of which is the material world, created by man (from a spaceship to a sandwich)". Today we can talk about universal technology. Moreover, it is inherent not only in human activity, but also in natural processes (technology of growth and development of living organisms, technology of soil erosion, etc.).

So basically technological culture lies transformative activity of a person, in which his knowledge, skills and creative abilities are manifested, because Man is now able to influence natural processes.

Transformative activity today penetrates into all spheres of human life and activity - from industry and agriculture to medicine and pedagogy, leisure and management.

Technological culture can be considered in social (broad) and personal (narrow) terms:

In social (broad) terms, technological culture is the level of development of society based on the expedient and effective transformative activities of people, the totality of achieved technologies in material and spiritual production;

In a personal (narrow) sense, technological culture is the level of a person’s mastery of modern ways of knowing and transforming himself and the world around him.

Technological culture is one of the fundamental components of general culture. Therefore, it expresses the achieved level of development of the transformative activity of man and society as a whole.

Technological culture, being one of the universal cultures, influences all aspects of human life and society. It forms a certain (technological) view of nature, technology, society and man and manifests itself in a technological worldview.

Technological culture has epistemological consequences and leaves its mark on the way and nature of human thinking. It defines the goals and objectives of education for the younger generation, aimed at equipping young people with the knowledge and skills of transformative activities and nurturing the necessary personal qualities.

In the context of increasing human intervention in the development of natural and social processes, the main questions of ethics take on new meanings, and the process of formation of technoethics is underway.

In technological culture, aesthetics plays an important role, which contributes to the development of a person’s aesthetic attitude to the process and results of transformative activity.

An integral expression of the level of technological culture is the totality of achieved technologies of material and spiritual production, including the technological environment and methods of transformative activity.

Graphically, the structure of technological culture can be represented as follows.

Thus, in a generalized form under technological culture should be understood the level of development of human transformative activity, expressed in the totality of achieved technologies of material and spiritual production and allowing him to effectively participate in modern technological processes on the basis of harmonious interaction with nature, society and the technological environment, i.e. comfort of the triad: nature - society - technosphere.

Technological culture is the basis and most important indicator of the level of development of society and production, incl. material and spiritual well-being of a person.

Introduction

The topic of the essay is “Technological culture” in the discipline “Cultural studies”.

The purpose of the work is to become familiar with the concept of technological culture, namely:

Technology;

The world of technology in the space of culture;

Features of scientific knowledge;

The origin and development of engineering culture.

Technology as a cultural phenomenon

Human life is subject, on the one hand, to biological laws, and on the other, to the conditions of his existence in the sociocultural world. In animals, the goals of life activity are set “by nature” and come down to satisfying vital (life) needs for self-preservation, procreation, etc. The “technology” of their life activity - its mechanisms and methods - is basically determined genetically, and only in more or less modified depending on the individual experience of the individual. In humans, above the biological, vital needs, a whole pyramid of social and spiritual needs, determined by the culture of society, is built on top.

Formation and development of technological culture

Technological culture took its first steps in the form of myth and magic.

The further development of technological culture went in two directions. On the one hand, the volume of knowledge and skills grew, which led to their separation from mythology and magic.

On the other hand, the “material”, objective inventory of technological culture expanded and improved.

For a long time, until the Renaissance, technical knowledge was mainly of a purely practical nature. Gradually, in this knowledge, information about the properties of materials and devices used in work, and about the phenomena occurring in the functioning of technical devices began to occupy more and more space. Thus, the beginnings of technical science gradually emerged.

But in parallel with the development of technology and special technical knowledge, another process took place in the history of culture: the development of philosophical thinking.

In modern times, both streams of knowledge—technical knowledge developed in practical activity and theoretical science matured in the bosom of philosophy—came closer and intertwined with each other. As a result, science in its modern understanding was born.

So, technological culture consists of three main components - technology, science and engineering.

Features of technological culture

2. From the above, another feature of technological culture follows: it is mainly utilitarian in nature.

3. In relation to spiritual and social culture, it plays a subordinate, service role.

4. Technological culture turns out to be a universal and indispensable condition for any cultural activity.

5. In the course of history it evolves from mysticism to rationality.

Technology as a cultural phenomenon

The essence and content of technological culture

The expedient organization of human activity involves the selection of the necessary means and methods of action, planning and execution of a certain sequence of operations. This organizational side of human activity forms its technology.

The technology of human activity, unlike the activity of animals, is not given to man “by nature”, but is a cultural phenomenon. The niche it occupies in the cultural space is the area of technological culture.

Technological culture includes knowledge and regulations with the help of which human activity is carried out. This is its semantic, informative, content side. But, as in all areas of culture, it also has a material side - symbolic material in which its meanings are encoded and objectified.

As elsewhere in culture, the most important place here is occupied by verbal language - the most powerful sign system used by people. But in technological culture, a greater role than in other areas of culture is played by non-verbal forms of information coding, especially - functional signs, i.e. objects and processes included in human activity and carrying information about it (see Chapter 2, §3). Technological information does not always find expression in words: people often cannot convey in words the secrets of their craft, and their methods of action, skills, and knowledge remain imprinted only in the acts of activity themselves, in tools, tools, and mechanisms. Technology carries within itself the knowledge with the help of which it was created, but in order to verbalize, put into words this knowledge, you need to consider the machine as a “text” and be able to “translate” the meaning of this “metal text” into human language.

Technological culture took its first steps in the form of myth and magic. Magic technology– witchcraft rituals of calling rain, ensuring good luck in hunting, saving from evil spirits, etc. - relied on knowledge expressed in mythological ideas about the world. The ancient “magical” technological culture was expressed mostly in skills, its subject, material and technical basis was very narrow, and its “theoretical justification” was reduced to myths. The main role in the content of ancient technological culture was played by its regulatory (largely magical) component, while the cognitive (basically mythological) component was still underdeveloped and unreliable; the symbolic material in which technological information and skills were embodied and transmitted was, first of all, the actions of people, and the things they made - tools, household items, amulets, etc. - were used as sources of technological information to a lesser extent. Apparently primitive people transferred technological knowledge to each other more often through demonstration, demonstration of actions, rather than through verbal explanations.

The further development of technological culture went in two directions.

On the one hand, the volume grew knowledge and skills, which led to their separation from mythology and magic. This was accompanied by the division of labor and the emergence of professions. Professional knowledge and skills of artisans, builders, artists, doctors, etc. the ancient Greeks called the word " techne", which literally meant "knowledge, skill, mastery." In this original meaning, the word “technique” is still used in Russian and other languages (“negotiation technique”, “violin playing technique”)

On the other hand, it expanded and improved subject inventory technological culture. New and more efficient types of tools were created, various devices and mechanisms were invented. The word “technology” began to be used to designate these material means of activity.

For a long time - right up to the Renaissance - technical knowledge was mainly purely practical character and boiled down to rules, which must be adhered to when performing work. But gradually, in this knowledge, more and more space began to be occupied by information about the properties of materials and devices, used in work, about phenomena occurring in the process of production activities and the functioning of technical devices. Technical knowledge began to be transmitted not only through demonstration and oral instructions from the master to his students, but also in writing, incl. in books. Thus, the beginnings gradually emerged technical science. However, this was only scattered information and recommendations. Properties, phenomena, processes described, but almost nothing were not explained theoretically: There were no theories on the basis of which such an explanation could be given.

In modern times, technical knowledge developed in practical activity comes closer to theoretical science matured in the bosom of philosophy. As a result, science in its modern understanding was born. Astronomy, physics, mechanics, chemistry, and biology have acquired scientific instruments that make it possible to carry out precise observations and complex experiments. Speculative natural science concepts began to acquire the “flesh and blood” of experimental facts and turn into theories substantiated by practice. And technical knowledge began to rely on mathematics and natural sciences, theoretically generalizing the accumulated experience on this basis. This led to the fact that they began to take shape in technical science, which over a couple of centuries turned into one of the most powerful branches of the tree of science.

Since the beginning of modern times, the sociocultural role of science has changed. Having separated from philosophy, science is moving closer to practice. Not only technical science, but also natural science and mathematics are gradually becoming increasingly oriented towards solving utilitarian problems - mainly industrial and military.

After the industrial revolution, which gave in the 18th century. impetus for the development of a large machine industry; technology is increasingly merging with science and by the twentieth century. is thoroughly imbued with it and becomes “scientific” in origin. The time when an illiterate “craftsman” could create wonderful technical discoveries is irrevocably a thing of the past. The increasing complexity of the technology of production processes, the transformation of science into the theoretical basis of production, the need to rely on scientific knowledge when designing, constructing, manufacturing and operating equipment - all this has brought the figure to a prominent place in society engineer.

Engineering is a special type of activity that lies at the junction science And technology. This is an “intermediate” area connecting technology and science, where science is applied to solve technical problems, and technology is created and used with the help of science.

So, technological culture consists of three main components - technology, science and engineering. Technology represents the material “body” of technological culture, science is its intellectual “soul,” and engineering is its active, volitional principle, subordinating the “body” to the “soul.” These components of technological culture can be represented schematically in the form of “layers” located in cultural space parallel to the “cognitive-regulatory” plane (see Fig. 9.1).