When means become ends: technology producing values
When means become ends: technology producing values
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当手段成为目的：技术创造价值
DOI：
10.7577/seminar.2516
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发表时间：
2006
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
B. Hofmann
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
B. Hofmann
技术已经成为我们文化的象征，因此，我们受制于技术命令的主张是一种基本的文化批判：我们不控制技术，而是技术控制我们。另一种表述这一观点的方法是，声称技术是创造出来的，不能“被破坏”;我们只需要充分利用它。因此，有人认为，技术已经从仅仅是一种手段演变成了目的本身。本文通过分析技术与价值观之间的关系来探讨这一主张。这些例子源于医学和武器技术，因为它们澄清了这种关系。有人认为，技术与价值观有两种关系。技术既提出了关于价值的一般性问题，又因其功能而承载着价值。然而，尽管技术承载着价值，但它并不一定具有强制性。原因之一在于我们的责任。我们不可避免地对技术的各个方面负责，即开发，建设，生产，商业化，实施和使用。以技术的必要性来解释和捍卫我们在技术方面的决定，是对我们自己责任的不合理放弃。因此，本文试图通过发展技术价值论来强调我们的责任。
Technology has become the symbol of our culture. The claim that we are subject to a technological imperative is therefore a fundamental cultural critique: we do not control technology, rather technology controls us. An alternative way to formulate this is to claim that technology cannot be “made down” when it is made up; we just have to make the best of it. Accordingly, it has been argued that technology has evolved from being merely a means to becoming an end in itself. This article investigates this claim by analyzing the relationship between technology and values. The examples stem from the technologies of medicine and weapons because they clarify this relationship. It is argued that technology relates to values in two ways. Technology both raises general questions about values and it is value-laden due to its very function. However, although technology is value-laden, it does not necessarily give an imperative mandate. One reason for this lies in our responsibility. We are inevitably responsible for all aspects of technology, i.e. development, construction, production, commercialization, implementation, and use. Referring to a technological imperative to explain and defend our decisions with respect to technology constitutes an unjustified renunciation of our own responsibility. Hence, the article tries to underscore our responsibility by developing a technological axiology.