scholarly journals Information Technology and Democracy. Chances and Challenges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Czajkowski
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Social System ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Subsequent Chapter ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
The One

We live in the time of profound transformations commonly labelled with the word “globalization”. The rise of one ecological-technological-social system encompassing our whole planet is an important element of these processes. Solving big global problems demands knowledge of two complementary sorts: on the one hand – going “in depth”, on the other – going “in breadth”. The present paper assumes the second (in a sense: philosophical) perspective. It tries to analyze some relations between the development of technology (IT) and the development of democracy. The notion of democracy, its various forms and axiological reasons for it are considered first. In the subsequent chapter different consequences (both positive and negative) the IT development has for contemporary democracy are discussed. In the next chapter the evolutionary nature of the technological development is debated as well as the question of (democratic) control of this process. The development of Artificial General Intelligence is presented as a challenge for democracy

scholarly journals Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse)

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Chiodo
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Human Autonomy ◽  
The One

AbstractWe continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as well as upon the case of autonomous vehicles. Most interestingly, on the one hand, we have the notion of (human) “autonomy”, meaning that there is a “law” that is “self-given”, and, on the other hand, we have the notion of (technological) “automation”, meaning that there is something “offhand” that is “self-given”. Yet, we are experiencing a kind of twofold shift: on the one hand, the shift from defining technologies in terms of automation to defining technologies in terms of autonomy and, on the other hand, the shift from defining humans in terms of autonomy to defining humans in terms of automation. From a philosophical perspective, the shift may mean that we are trying to escape precisely from what autonomy founds, i.e. individual responsibility of humans that, in the Western culture, have been defined for millennia as rational and moral decision-makers, even when their decisions have been the toughest. More precisely, the shift may mean that we are using technologies, and in particular emerging algorithmic technologies, as scapegoats that bear responsibility for us by making decisions for us. Moreover, if we consider the kind of emerging algorithmic technologies that increasingly surround us, starting from autonomous vehicles, then we may argue that we also seem to create a kind of technological divine that, by being always with us through its immanent omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and inscrutability, can always be our technological scapegoat freeing us from the most unbearable burden of individual responsibility resulting from individual autonomy.

China's Universities since Tiananmen: A Critical Assessment

1993 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 291-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Hayhoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Western Influences ◽  
The One ◽  
Considerable Support ◽  
Scientific And Technological Development

China's present leadership sees universities as being of key importance for the country's economic development and for its relationship with Western countries. This is a kind of two-edged sword. On the one hand, considerable support and encouragement for scientific and technological development is provided, together with pressures for scientific findings to be applied to specific economic development needs. On the other, the reflective and theoretical social sciences and the humanities are being purged of Western influences in efforts to mobilize all resources against what is seen as the Western strategy of fostering “peaceful evolution” towards capitalism. The kinds of tension that arise out of this highly contradictory situation are severe.

scholarly journals Social Utopias and Engineering Design

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 570-583
Author(s):  
Waldemar Czajkowski
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Engineering Sciences ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
The One

AbstractA paradox of our time is identified: on the one hand – the development of one global system (ecological, technological and social), on the other hand – the still increasing “balkanization” of science. The dynamics of this systems is a source of well-known numerous global problems. Its possibly effective solution needs adequate knowledge about the system. For this reason, counteraction to “balkanization” of science is of great practical importance. And this counteraction should comprise not only development of “transboundary” sciences (such as biochemistry or social psychology) but also establishing and developing links between very distant disciplines. This text is intended as a contribution to linking social and engineering sciences. The notion of design plays the central role in this text. Its meaning in the engineering sciences. The notion of utopia has been chosen as a partial counterpart to the term of engineering design. This notion was defined using a concept of possible world – taken from modal logic. It encompasses two ideas: this of design and that of prediction, It is claimed that we need many utopias and that their plurality is of fundamental importance for protecting us against the threats of utopianism. The paper suggests that social utopias can play a heuristic role in engineering design (particularly in the initial phase of defining technological problems), and – on the other hand – that the theory of engineering design can be supportive for, badly needed, development of methodology of utopias creation.

“CULTURE” AND “CIVILIZATION”: ACTUAL MEANINGS

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-107
Author(s):  
NATALYA S. RESHETNIKOVA ◽  
◽  
EKATERINA V. GORLOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Values ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
The Other ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Ontological Category ◽  
Sociocultural Research ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Life

The article discusses the main approaches to understanding the designated terms in scientific thought in the second half of the XX - early XXI centuries. Within the framework of modern sociocultural research, on the one hand, national traditions are developing in defining the concepts of "culture" and "civilization", on the other, new connotations are being created. According to the authors of the article, the considered approaches to determining the meanings of the phenomena of culture and civilization are the most significant, revealing the essence of modern society. Culture appears as: an anthropological category, reflecting the creative activity of a person, as an ontological category, suggesting that outside of culture there is no meaningful and meaningful human being; as an axiological category representing a system for storing and transmitting spiritual experience, values and ideals. Civilization acts as a praxeological category that characterizes the level of social and technological development of society, which is characterized by alienation from natural life, the priority of social values over environmental ones, and the transformative-deforming nature of activity.

e-Democracy and Community Networks

2011 ◽  
pp. 249-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Gross
Keyword(s):  
Technological Progress ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Community Networks ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Electronic Democracy ◽  
The One

Political systems and technology are interdependent and influence each other. On the one hand, political systems and political leaders aim at influencing technological development and benefiting from technological progress; on the other, technological development has a considerable proportion of its own dynamics and potential to influence society and political systems. This chapter particularly focuses on electronic democracy and virtual communities and accordingly discusses recent ideas and plans of political leaders, derives requirements for technology, presents systems and prototypes, and reports cases demonstrating how and what technology is really used.

scholarly journals Realities

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-84
Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The One

This chapter highlights the collaboration between individuals in state institutions and the private sector during the 1840s in Bremen, Bavaria, Prussia, and Austria. Earlier expectations for the potential of telegraphy were confronted with the sobering reality of technological development. On the one hand, the efforts of the state, scientists, and railway companies were supported by the increasingly free circulation of technical knowledge between institutions, experts, and private citizens scattered across the German ‘landscape of innovation’. This circulation is illustrated by an examination of various technical periodicals, while the example of Werner Siemens, a Prussian lieutenant posted in Berlin, is used to illustrate the social connections which also often supported these exchanges of information. On the other hand, the period also witnessed an accentuation of the tensions between and within the private sector and the state, as the latter sought to establish its own interest in obtaining the technology. This combination of necessary collaboration and disagreement caused frustrations which, by 1847, threatened to stall the process of development.

scholarly journals SISTEM NILAI PELA SEBAGAI MODAL SOSIAL DALAM RANGKA PENGUATAN KEBANGSAAN PADA BASIS LOKAL DI MALUKU

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Max Maswekan
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Social System ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Potential Conflict ◽  
Value System ◽  
A Value ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

Indonesia is a pluralistic country (diverse) in terms of ethnicity, religion, culture, language and social system. This diversity is a blessing that is given as a potential wealth of the nation. On the one hand, this potential can be managed to strengthen nationality and people's welfare, but on the other hand, it can be a potential conflict that can weaken and even solve (disintegration) of nationalism if it is not managed properly. Indonesia has a variety of local wisdom as invaluable social capital. One of them is Pela in Maluku which has a value system that is capable of marching and strengthening (integration) nationalism. The Pela value system has at least four functions that are able to effectively integrate (social cohesion) and strengthen national potential at the local (regional) level, especially in Maluku.

scholarly journals The revitalization of Maqasid al-Mu‘amalat according to Abdullah bin Bayyah and Its implications on Islamic law

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. e104101421295
Author(s):  
Shofa Robbani ◽  
Abu Yasid ◽  
Sanuri Sanuri
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
World Economy ◽  
New World ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Human Need ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Scholars

The revitalization of Islamic law continues to experience renewal in welcoming the new world economy era that offers the influence of global cultural acculturation and advances in information technology on the one hand, and the rise of spiritualism and nationalism on the other. The study of economics is not new in the discourse of Islamic law, which is better known as mu'amalat. For a long time, the discourse on the objectives of the Sharia (maqasid al-shari‘ah) has become a non-negotiable need. The necessity of knowing it, the urgency of studying it, and the implications of Muslim scholars’ thoughts in navigating the ocean of Islamic law to arrive at the sea of ​​wisdom are strongly influenced by maqasid al-shari‘ah. This is based on the assumption that it is not enough just to know and examine in detail the textual texts which can result in a misunderstanding of the purposes and objectives of God and His Messenger in formulating Islamic law, but it is very necessary to study the values and objectives of the Sharia texts that were revealed. Thus, Ibn Bayyah tried to combine the study of maqasid al-shari'ah with mu'amalat based on the objectives of the transaction and the results of observation of reality. In his research results, he stated that the revitalization of objectives of wealth as a new basis of thought in the discourse of Islamic law would update the concept of the jurisprudence of transactions in its old face which was rigid, out of date, conservative, and less applicable. This is like the human need for wealth considered as a crucial thing that occupies the first position in objectives of wealth (maqasid al-mu'amalat).

scholarly journals Europeanisation of the Nordic Alcohol Monopoly Systems Collisions between Ideologies and Political Cultures1

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Trygve Ugland
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Cultures ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

The decisions of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in 1993 to participate in the EEA, implied that the EU had become a more significant political community for policies and institutions in the Nordic nation-states. By reference to the obligations of the EEA Treaty and the EC Treaty respectively, the established alcohol monopoly systems in these countries were challenged by the EU and subsequently transformed. This transformation represents a break with the identity, traditions and dynamics of the Nordic alcohol monopolies. An examination of two collisions between ideologies and political cultures associated with the Nordic countries on the one hand, and the EU on the other, increase the understanding of why and how this transformation occurred. This process illustrates how market considerations have gained ground over health aspects, and how policy-making to an increasing extent is characterised by less national and democratic control.

scholarly journals Transmission and transformation in higher education: Indigenisation, internationalisation and transculturality

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Horsthemke
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
The One ◽  
Educational Transmission

There have been various approaches to the transmission and transformation of systems, practices, knowledge and concepts in higher education in recent decades, chief among which are drives towards indigenisation, on the one hand, and towards internationalisation, on the other. After briefly discussing and dispensing with radical versions of these, theories that reject any claim to validity or legitimacy by the rival approach, this article examines more nuanced accounts that deserve appropriately serious consideration. Thus, in the former instance, there is an emphasis on the local that nonetheless acknowledges a debt to the global, whereas conversely the emphasis on the global is seen as compatible with an acknowledgement of diversity, difference and particularity. What is gained and what is lost in these various approaches to educational transmission and transformation? After reflecting, in this regard, on lessons from both Africa and Europe – in particular, on the debates in South Africa around Africanisation and decolonisation, and in Germany around global interdependence – I cautiously endorse the idea of ‘transculturality’ (as contrasted with ‘multiculturality’ and ‘interculturality’) as a promising philosophical perspective on transmission of knowledge and practices, and as conceptualising transformation of higher education. The role of philosophy, in particular, consists in part in counteracting the hegemony of both traditional and homogenising (‘colonising’) authority.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document