scholarly journals 儒化中醫哲學與當代基因改造人性道德爭論

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-179
Author(s):  
Ping Cheung LO
Keyword(s):  
High Technology ◽  
Genetic Enhancement ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Modern Time ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Ming And Qing Dynasties ◽  
Philosophical Writings

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.當代世界其中一個重大道德爭議是，以基因科技改造人性應否進行。一些平常學術著作不討論這類問題的西方哲學家（如Habermas, Fukuyama, Sandel）也紛紛加入討論，可見這問題的劃時代重要性。本文希望透過整理及分析傳統中國思想來看這個道德爭議。直到今天，傳統中醫並不依賴高科技。其中一個原因是《黃帝內經》中的“人與天地相應”這基本看法。然而，醫治病人始終是一個人為行動，而非天地自然所為。如何在一個強調人配合天工的思維框架中為醫者的人工行為辯護，是明清時期不少醫學哲學所討論的議題。《黃帝內經》原與《周易》及《老子》皆有相通之處，到明清時期，由於儒醫的大量出現，及朱子理學的官學地位，很多儒化（理學化）的中醫哲學便冒現。透過“人補造化”、“人補天之缺陷”、“人補天功”、“人挽回天”等新瓶，承載《中庸》的人參贊天地化育的舊酒。本文會嘗試說明這個中醫哲學的天人觀，蘊涵支持基因科技的治療用途，但不蘊涵支持基因科技的優生用途。本文的用意並非要提供一個決定性或最終的論證，終極地反駁所有贊成基因改造人性的論證。本文所起的作用，只在提供一個非西方式的思考方法，以傳統儒化中醫哲學為資源，協助人類以多元文化角度思考當代重大道德爭議。Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), even in modern time, does not rely on high technology. This is partly due to TCM's worldview in which the oneness of human beings with nature is of paramount importance. But this non-reliance on high technology does not prevent TCM thinkers from recognizing that healing is still an artificial act. A philosophical justification for this artif iciality within the worldview of human-nature oneness is needed. Such philosophical justifications became more frequent in the Confucianized medicine manuals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1644, 1644-1911 C.E.). This paper surveys and analyzes these seldom-discussed medical-philosophical writings and attempts to articulate a representative Confucian philosophical justif ication for“ human intervention into nature” in the practice of TCM. Both the necessity and the moral limits of this intervention will be noted. I shall then argue that such a worldview of“ limited human intervention into nature” is significantly different from that of the modern West since Francis Bacon, which informs some contemporary Western enthusiastic advocates of the genetic enhancement of human beings. This model will then serve illustrating an Asian way of thinking about science, technology, and values which is very different from a predominant Western paradigm.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 368 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

scholarly journals 儒家生命倫理對基因改造的倫理辯護與批判

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Tao LIU
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Genetic Enhancement ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Playing God ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Confucian Thought ◽  
Moral Relationship ◽  
Traditional Understanding

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.本文在考察西方學者對基因改造倫理爭議的基礎上，發掘儒家生命倫理對基因改造倫理所具有的辯護與批判功能。筆者認為，孔子提出的仁愛思想和孟子提出的不傷害原則，可以為基因治療進行倫理辯護。《周易》、《中庸》、《荀子》等儒家經典提出的天道觀及其對天人關係的闡釋，可以為體細胞基因增強提供倫理辯護。儘管如此，儒家生命倫理卻難以對生殖細胞基因增強進行倫理辯護，基因改造在現實推行過程中會產生一系列複雜的新問題。基因改造的問題需要運用儒家倫理對其進行反思和批判，在此基礎上找出合乎儒家倫理精神訴求的解決之道。Many people feel that genetic engineering, particularly genetic enhancement, has disrupted the traditional understanding of the distinction between choice and chance and its ethical implications. Scholars in the West have strongly objected to scientists’ “playing God” on the grounds that genetic engineering devalues human beings and contravenes intrinsic ethical principles. What is the traditional Confucian view of genetic engineering? The author contends that certain aspects of Confucian thought support the idea of genetic engineering. For instance, Confucian scholars do not define human nature (renxing) as fixed, let alone biologically fixed. The Confucian understanding of human nature as processual offers an ethical foundation for arguments in favor of genetic enhancement: specifically, there is no reason to believe that we as humans cannot or should not exceed the limitations imposed by our biological nature.Among the possible applications of genetic enhancement are the radical extension of the human health-span, the eradication of disease, the elimination of unnecessary suffering, and the augmentation of humans’ intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. The author shows that although classical Confucianism does not directly address these modern scientific and technological issues, relevant arguments can be found within the Confucian tradition. For example, Xunzi’s account of humans’ “active relationship” (wei) with non-human nature suggests that conscious effort is required for human beings to build a moral relationship with the world. The author points out that the emphasis placed on “active participation” by Xunzi and other subsequent Confucians marks a departure from the Daoist commitment to passivity, as explicated by Zhuangzi. For Confucians, renxing is expressed through the human wei. It can thus be inferred that Confucianism does not reject the notion of genetic choice. However, the author also explains why Confucians may be cautious about or even critical of certain enhancement practices.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 737 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Research on VR-Based Experiment Space for Complex Electromagnetic Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 403-408 ◽  
pp. 2923-2926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Jun Zhang ◽  
Wang Sheng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Modeling Language ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Electromagnetic Environment ◽  
Virtual Reality Technology ◽  
Virtual Reality Modeling Language

Virtual Reality technology is a hot research field in simulation of complex electromagnetic and its practical environment in the condition of information and high technology war. The paper discussed the main framework of spatial electromagnetic environment computing and simulating, presented realizing method and key arithmetic designing based on Virtual Reality Modeling Language. The work is evidently valuable for quantitative examinations, evaluation, and analysis of complex electromagnetic environment function, diversification, and effect on human beings, electronic units.

In Defense of the ‘Human Prejudice’

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-38
Author(s):  
Tatiana Patrone
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Genetic Enhancement ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Relevant Fact ◽  
Species Membership

Those who favor genetic enhancement of human beings (‘trans-humanists’) tend to hold that there is nothing special about being human, if by ‘human’ people mean ‘being member of the species homo sapiens’. They reject the arguments of bio-conservatives as prejudicial toward the concept of humanity, and they argue that species-membership in general is morally irrelevant. In ‘The Human Prejudice’, Bernard Williams defends what he calls ‘humanism’ (and what others call ‘speciesism’) and argues that species-membership is a morally relevant fact about us. Williams’s argument has been criticized by many, and in this paper, the author, focuses on the most thorough attack by Julian Savulescu. They provide a diagnosis of why accounts such as his seem to be so misguided to trans-humanists (like Savulescu) and the author then defend Williams’s account. In short, the paper argues that there is nothing obviously wrong with being a speciesist.

scholarly journals When Did Agriculture Begin?

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-5
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human History ◽  
Wild Fruit ◽  
Scanning Electron

It has generally been considered that cereals (such as wheat, rice, and maize) were the first crops to be cultivated by human beings. But a new study that included scanning electron microscopy, by Mordechai Kislev, Anat Hartmann, and Ofer Bar-Yosef (micrographs by Yakov Langsam) provides strong evidence that figs were the first agricultural crop in human history.Kislev et al. recovered nine fig fruits (plus many nutlets called drupelets) from the ruins of a burned building near Jericho. The fire had carbonized the fruit which helped preserve the morphology of the specimens. The site was radiocarbon dated to 11,400 to 11,200 years ago. Microscopic analysis demonstrated that these specimens were of an edible fig that produces drupelets without embryos; that is, these fruits are sterile. Wild fertile figs have a symbiotic relationship with a wasp that plays an essential role in pollinating the fruit, but this fruit is inedible. In this study, no evidence of wasps or where a wasp could exit the fruit were found and these are features found in wild fruit. In other words, wild figs that can be pollinated and reproduce without human intervention are inedible, but edible figs require human intervention. The specimens examined in this study were of the latter variety.

scholarly journals FORMAÇÃO INTEGRAL: DESAFIO DA TEORIA PARA A PRÁTICA,DA PRÁTICA PARA ATEORIA

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Edivan Pereira de Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Practical Purpose ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Manual Labor ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The City

In this work, we propose to understand the possibilities of scope and practical purpose of the political-pedagogical project of IFRN, a federal educational institution located in the city of Natal. The research with a qualitative and quantitative approach has a descriptive nature, constitutes of a sample of 211 subjects, researched by the Technique of Natural Semantic Networks and by the Theory of Knowledge Representation. It seeks to find out if the constructionofknowledge,whichunderlietheintegraleducation,proposedbytheentity,aremade present in students enrolled in higher and technical courses,if the fundamentals and principles of integral formation are found in their representations of human beings, society, culture,science,technology,workandeducation.Accordingtothemethodologicalprocedures and its results, such representations have not been detected. It was not represented by students in the sample to overcome the duality of education: manual labor and laborintellectual.

scholarly journals 新冠疫情背景下的人類命運共同體探析

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Junxiang LIU ◽  
Qiang YUE ◽  
Xiaomu MA
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Continuous Progress ◽  
The Common ◽  
And Control ◽  
Health And Well Being

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract in English only.The COVID-19 pandemic requires people and political bodies to reflect on the abundant and complicated relationships between human beings, governments, and organizations. We hold that Prof. Sass emphasizes the urgency and necessity of the view that “life is interconnected.” With the continuous progress of globalization, mankind has become an interdependent community with a shared future. However, global cooperation and communication face numerous challenges due to the diversity of cultures, national conditions, and competing interests. The COVID-19 pandemic has driven individuals and political bodies to discuss effective measures and control the disaster together, which demands that a basic consensus be reached on how to manage the tension between individual freedom and interests and public health and well-being. Even more importantly, the pursuit of happiness is the common goal of mankind. Solidarity and mutual aid are required to create a stable, harmonious, healthy, and orderly community. Chinese traditional philosophy can contribute some wisdom and strategies to build similar but not identical bodies and societies. DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 8 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

scholarly journals 大疫當前: 訴諸儒家文明的倫理資源

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-107
Author(s):  
Ruiping FAN
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Confucian Virtue ◽  
Human Practices ◽  
Chinese Ethics ◽  
Political Decisions

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.本文論證對於新冠狀病毒疫情只做政治學論證是不夠的，還需要倫理學的反思，因為一個社會的倫理價值承諾才是對其現實政治的一種基礎性指導而不是相反。中華傳統文化的倫理精神同現代西方文化的倫理精神大異其趣。如果突出其不同特點的話，可以分別標識為儒家的天命美德倫理及其家庭主義與和諧主義的特點，針對現代的世俗原則倫理及其原則主義與自由主義的特點。東亞國家對於這次疫情的應對，至少在疫情明顯出現之後，總體上處理得較之西方國家更好，背後實有不同的倫理精神的反應和支撐。本文訴諸儒家美德倫理學的資源，宣導人類進行倫理學的範式轉向：我們需要和諧主義（而不是科學主義）的發展觀、美德主義（而不是原則主義）的決策觀、家庭主義（而不是契約主義）的天下觀。的確，不少人憂慮，這次疫情將會扭轉近些年的全球化發展趨勢，使國際社會進入互相敵對的、封閉的惡性競爭時代。儒家美德倫理學所攜帶的美德、和諧和和平的資訊，應該給予我們深遠的啟示。Why have some countries done better than others in dealing with the coronavirus crisis so far? One popular answer is in terms of politics: everything depends on state capacity, the level of political trust in society, and the quality of leadership. This paper suggests the need to go beyond politics and turn to ethics. If one does not delve into the ethical spirit and substance that underlie tangible political decisions and activities to combat the coronavirus pandemic in a state, one will fail to see the cultural momentum of the people’s responses in that state and miss the moral foundation of the social practices embedded within that state’s civilization in comparison with other civilizations. In particular, this paper argues that the spirit and substance of Chinese ethics differ from those of the contemporary mainstream Western ethics characteristic of secular principlism, which, although they possess important advantages and merits, suffer from a series of defects and failures, including untenable reductionism, a type of dogmatism, and even radicalism. In contrast, Confucian civilization provides the Chinese with a virtue ethics that is not principlism. It is rather an exposition of Confucian virtue (de), as a powerful but peaceful moral force, that is entrenched within the fundamental structures of the universe (as portrayed in the images of yin-yang, the eight trigrams, and the 64 hexagrams in the Classic of Change) and within the ritual activities of human beings (as described in the ceremonial and minute rituals in the three Confucian ritual classics) to shape the Confucian moral character. Confucian virtue principles and rules are implicit in such structures and the rituals to be formulated in connection with them, but they cannot be created through pure reason. They play their roles in human practices along with structures and rituals but can never exhaust their richness and profundity. The paper indicates that this virtue ethics contains a Confucian notion of harmonious freedom (that can counter scientific determinism) and a familist ethic (that can be adopted to check and balance runaway contractualism), which can be fruitfully used to direct political decisions and activities to combat the coronavirus pandemic and to accomplish peaceful and fruitful outcomes in society.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 9 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

scholarly journals Who shapes plant biotechnology in Germany? Joint analysis of the evolution of co-authors’ and co-inventors’ networks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariia Shkolnykova
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Plant Biotechnology ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Joint Analysis ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Innovative Environment ◽  
Mining Tools ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe interdependence of science and technology has been of high interest for researchers from different fields for several decades now. As they represent different means of knowledge output protection, patents and research articles generally have different reasons for creation and different audiences. However, some of the inventors may be interested in making an impact on the scientific community and vice versa. This interaction between technology space (patents) and science space (articles) is especially important for high-technology fields, where both research institutions and enterprises play important roles in the innovative environment. This paper investigates the interaction between science and technology in the case of German plant biotechnology. With the help of network analysis tools, the evolution and co-evolution of co-inventors’ and co-authors’ networks for the period 1995–2015 is explored. Finally, the topics of the patents and papers from the overlap were analyzed with the help of text mining tools in order to identify the differences of topics between science/technology and their overlap. As a result, sizable differences in nature and advancement are observed between the two network types. Although the overlap between these spheres of innovative activities increased over time, the role author-inventors played in the science or technology space varied.

CREATING A NEW SERVICE ON THE WEB

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 487-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIROSHI YAMAGUCHI ◽  
YUKIO HUSHINO ◽  
KENJI SUZUKI ◽  
CHITTOOR V. RAMAMOORTHY
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Feedback Systems ◽  
The Future ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Privacy Problem ◽  
The Web

Service functions are major component of every industry. The evolution of service functions have seen manually intensive tasks being replaced by a combination of mental and interactive tasks. As a part of this transformation, we have seen an increasing dependency on the high technology, actually information technology, mostly with computer-communications and the web. This high technology will finally replace the service functions by a combination of knowledge intensive, interactive and customer's individual tasks in the future. However, these knowledge intensive, interactive and customer's individual service functions could be enjoyable for the restricted person, due to the difficulties of the man (customers)-machine (PCs, web-server machines) interface and also the service providers are not able to obtain much more customer's individual and abstruse information for providing the customer's individual services, due to the customers' privacy problem. In this paper we focus on of knowledge intensive, interactive and customer's individual services in the future. We emphasize the importance of developing the mechanism of humanization for making these services enjoyable for anyone and the personalization for enjoyable the more individual services, and show some examples for these mechanisms in which humanization is realized by humanoid robots and personalization is realized by customers' privacy preserving scheme. We present a feedback system including the mechanism for humanization and personalization. By performing this feedback system, anyone who is not familiar to machines, can interact with machines like human-beings and can poll or report even though privacy related information anonymously to service providers. By periodically performing this feedback system, the customers' knowledge, information, suggestions and ideas can could be accumulated and the service providers could provide more individual services to customers, Once humanization and personalization mechanism are developed, by performing our feedback systems, we enhance customers' convenience and reduce the incidence of operation errors and thereby improve their productivity and quality of their life.

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