Science, society, technology and holistic modes of thought

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work involves a study of different conceptions of knowledge as are found in a mechanisticnaturalisticview of science, particularly from within Western intellectual culture, and how suchconceptions affect the ways we regard science and society in relation. It attempts to draw outsome implications for the limits of those conceptions when seen from a holistic stance, andpresents modes of thought more adequate to address and better understand human reality.In particular, technology and technology education remain indebted to Western and mechanisticnaturalisticassumptions about man and society. Suggestions are made as to how holistic modes ofthought might be used to make sense of technology as human practice, and how South Africantechnology education policy might be framed so as to be more in tune with human values.Chapter one reviews some of the historical sources of the mechanistic-naturalistic conception ofscience, particularly as an objective, universal, and rational process. It attempts to make explicitsome of the basic assumptions of such a view (both scientific and philosophical), to highlight itsgeneral influence in Western intellectual culture, and to point out the broad contradiction inthought it implies: namely, that the scientific view supposes a universe of purposeless matter,while to the human mind is attributed aim and intents.Chapter two maps out some of the social implications for the mechanistic-naturalistic stance,notably in how science and society are conceived to relate. It treats some contemporary opinionsin support of the view that science is largely extra-cultural in its processes, and analyzes thevarious social norms that make up the project of science. It addresses as well the view of sciencefirst as knowledge production, indebted to various social exchanges for its continued existence,and then as a matter of professional expertise for the solution of social problems.Chapter three attempts to offer holistic-like modes of thought that may serve to enrich an overlyenthusiastic adoption of a mechanistic world view and its assumptions about what constitutesreason. It highlights some current developments within science that call into question priornotions of mechanistic explanation. It presents as well two approaches to understanding, based onself-organizing systems and the view of man as a self-interpreting creature, that provide for aricher grasp of the human reality beyond the limits of an only mechanistic-naturalistic rendering.Chapter four analyzes technology as an instance of intelligence, seen from the world view of themachine. It provides an alternative depiction of technology viewed from the standpoint of selforganizationand interpretation. Both provide a handle on the meaningful human practice oftechnology. Technology education policy involves an analysis of outcomes from the technologylearning area, pointing out the ways in which they remain indebted to mechanistic-naturalisticconceptions. Ideas based on self-organizing systems and meaningful interpretation serve to framedifferently an approach to technology education that is more attentive to human values.The conclusion offers a set of holistic-like ideas and principles, used throughout the whole of thework, and which make up part of a general conception of holistic modes of thought.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University