PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN THE XX AND XXI CENTURIES AS A RESPONSEONTO THE CHALLENGES OF WARAND EXIT TO ANEW CIVILIZATION

Abstract

Reflections on technology has been always in the focus of scientists. These reflections were various, and it led to the significant differentiation of the forms of technology comprehension. Those differences concern, first of all, the ontological and epistemological concepts of technology, because they “indicate” changes in the value orientations of culture and, together with it, in civilization and all humanity. Today, society is faced with challenges global by their nature, when questions about military equipment, about military-technical changes, revolutions have become relevant and “ruthless”. Also, the question is how much humanity has become a hostage to those technical discoveries and inventions that can completely overturn the ontology and vital characteristics of humanity. The authors emphasize that philosophy has always tried to consider technology in its unity with socio-cultural issues. The question of the future type of civilization does not cause any doubt: it is built at the expense of technical assets. But reflections on technology in its military dimension have specificity and open up new horizons in comprehension of technology and the technical, that led again to the require of the philosophical understanding of such an essential phenomenon for humankind as technology.

The issue of a balanced approach to the technology together with an answer that should become the powerful force to restrains the destructive elements of the research subject is in the authors’ focus. In the transitional period between the 20th and 21st centuries the philosophy of technology focuses on the problem of ideas, due to which the methodological lines of research of technology and everything technical should be built. There is no doubt that technology, especially its military models, is becoming more and more terrible, anti-human. The only thing that can change such negative elements of progress is the crucial importance of the human spirit. It is the human spirit that must be transformed into a force to provide control over technology, especially military. At the same time the implementation of the power of the spirit in current situation must become the fundamentals in initiation or creation of any methodological line in philosophical reflections on technology.