The Humanistic Meaning Of Science And Technology-on Marx’s Thought Of The Relationship Between Human And Science And Technology

Marx’s thoughts of the relations between human and science and technology arean important part of Marx’s philosophy of science and technology, which not only fullyembody Marx’s humanistic thoughts, but also exhibits man-centered perception. In fact,science and technology is the crystallization of human wisdom which they have beenslowly accumulating in practice for centuries. In this sense, it has the properties ofpursuing truth and respecting facts. Science and technology, which has been regardedas the power of exploring nature and changing society nowadays, is one enormousleverage for promoting social development and speeding historical pace. Therefore,Marx argues that science and technology is viewed as “one book which fully portendsthe essential strength of man”,“one powerful leverage of history”, and “the mostrevolutionary force in history. Science and technology not only creates the materialbase necessary for human being to step from the stage of “the independence of thepeople based on the dependence of the object” stage into that of “people’s freeall-round development”, but also provides a powerful spiritual support for thistransition.However, since human entered to the modern world, the growing alienationof science and technology has been spreading everywhere. Based on this phenomenon,Marx studies the issue of human existence, highly sums up the phenomenon of thealienation of the private ownership society, and deeply reveals that the root of thealienation of science and technology is the capitalistic application of it. Whenconfronted with the alienating phenomenon of science and technology, Marx carriesout seriously the humanistic criticism and comes to the conclusion that the slavery ofscience and technology is in essence that of man by man. The starting point of Marx’stheory is that he inquires science and technology from the perspective of human, focuson the relationship between science and technology and human survival anddevelopment, and shows his humanism. According to these above analyses, Marx’s thoughts of science and technology contains profound humanistic connotations. Andhis revealing the root of the alienation of science and technology provides the vitaltheoretical basis for us to investigate deeply, explore seriously and find out finally itscauses. Therefore, it is the necessary study for us to return to Marx and explore fully,comprehensively and systematically his thoughts of science and technology when itbecomes the mainstream way of our life. What is more, his ideas have a greatsignificance on promoting the comprehensive development, implementing thepeople-oriented concept of science and technology and carrying out the scientific view.Hence, the author divides this paper into five parts as follows:The first part is the introduction. In this part, the author illuminates the reasonsand the meanings of the paper selection, the given research results, the research idea,and the methods, etc. In combination with the practical situation of the alienation ofscience and technology, she analyzes the necessity of research on the relationshipbetween man and science and technology of Marx. And based on our predecessors’research results and its characteristics, she puts forward the basic research ideas, therelated research methods, the innovations and shortcomings of the papers.In the second part, the writer states in detail the relations between human andscience and technology: a pair of contradiction. Firstly, the part introduces the historyof the relations between them, to be exact, in ancient times, science and technologywas the existence of man; in the middle ages, science and technology the existence ofgod; during the Renaissance, science and technology full of human nature; and sincemodern times, science and technology has been alienated from human beings.Secondly, the essential relations contain two aspects: science and technology bringsbenefits to humans; it enslaves them. The former is the unity of the contradictionbetween man and science and technology, the latter is the contradictory relationshipbetween man and science and technology. On the one hand, by virtue of the fact thatscience and technology is made by the people and for the people, it will be beneficialfor us. on the other hand, if humans are enslaved by it, the alienation of science andtechnology will be inevitable. Because this phenomenon was in industrial society andas science and technology had been increasingly developed, it has been one mainsocial issue. Therefore, it is natural that Marx paid attention to the above alienation.That is, Marx investigated the relationship between man and science and technology.The third part is the true relationship between man and technology in Marx’s perspectives. On the one hand, Marx fully affirmed the role of science and technologyin the human civilization development, and then concluded that “science andtechnology is a reflection of people’s essential strength". In Marx’s era, the revolutionof science and technology was burgeoning. While the technical degree of productionwas only limited to individual departments, and were not penetrated into every field ofsocial production. Hence, its effect on production was one important factor thatpromoted social productivity, but not primary productivity. Although the phenomenonof alienation was not one main social problem, Marx revealed profoundly the negativeeffects of science and technology, and criticized them ruthlessly and sharply. In Marx’seyes, as the essential strength of human, science and technology turned into thealienated force in capitalist society and became one power enslaving humans. What ismore, science and technology became one part of the capital and one means of laborexploitation and of possessing surplus value. In this sense, as one part of capital,science and technology is opposite to labor force. In the capitalist system, scienceand technology inevitably lost itself as one human activity. Capitalists’ sole motivationis to obtain the surplus value and thus science and technology became one means ofpursuing it and lost its humanitarian prospects. Therefore, Marx systematicallyillustrated the issue of the alienation of science and technology. According to theseabove analyses, the author proposes the basic idea of the relationship between humanand science and technology:“Science is the science of man in nature”, that is to say, ithas the humanistic implications.In the fourth part, the writer reviews the modern evolution of Marx’s thought ofrelationship between man and science and technology. To be exact, humanisticmeanings and the profound criticism of the alienation have always been promoted andmainly present the following two ways: one is Western Marxist research on thealienation of science and technology; the other is the idea of science and technologyresearch under socialism with Chinese characteristics. The typical representative of theformer is Marcuse and Habermas, and that of the latter is Jiang Zemin.Based on these above thoughts, the author states in detail the modern evolution oftechnology thought.The fifth part is the unity of science and technology and human: knowledgeeconomy society and humanization of science and technology. Contemporary societyis an era of knowledge economy under way. Shall we return to the humanization from the alienation in this society? Shall we realize the humanization of science andtechnology in Marx’s eyes? Based on this new type of society, the author regards thethree stages of human development and the division of human civilization as thestarting point, and understand fully the thoughts of the relationship between humanand science and technology created by Marx.The conclusion is to face with reality and seek to transcend——ContemporaryChinese correct response to the trend of the humanization of science and technology.On the one hand, our china nowadays has been in the process of industrialization;on the other hand, our china is ushering in the dawning of the knowledge economysociety. The reality requires us to find out the path of discarding the alienation ofscience and technology, and thus highlight its humanistic meaning. In this part, theauthor points out that we Chinese should face with the alienation of science andtechnology and take the relative measures in order to explore the approach ofhumanization of science and technology. Although the contents are short, they are theresults of the author’s thinking out the reality by herself.