Practical Reason as a guardian for Ethics
In
this reflection, I try to discuss the categorical relations between the ‘practical
reason’ and ‘ethics’ in terms of our usage of digital technology in inquiry area.
The concept of ‘practical reason’ can be interesting and helpful category to
understand the relations between ethics and praxis. I think that “Homo sum, nihil humani a me alienum puto”
(I am a man, nothing that is human I consider foreign to me). This sentence is
very important for me to see myself on a mirror reflecting ‘third gaze’ towards
me. Human beings act with her practical reason which is framed and based on
actions that are socially, culturally and systematically bounded. The concept
is usually used to define the capacity of Human being in order to resolve, organize
and understand the question of what one is to do by our reflection and
interpretations. In this sense, it has
two main features which are its subject-matter and value-oriented.
With
our potentiality to resolve and understand our existences and reasoning in
inquiry and the usage of technology, the practical reason can be guardian for
our perception and practice of ethics. What I mean that we have to keep our
practical reason as reflective and interpretive domain for our all endeavor and
interest in order to take care of ethical concerns in inquiry. For example,
with, within and outside the inquiry practice, we have to keep our practical
reason as guardian for conducting our research. It is important that the
practical reason enables us to think of research as human practices which are
always open to be distorted and misused. I used one photo to represent what I
mean by using these term. Research can be regarded as plant and our practical
reason can be seen as our ethical concern that should keep it in the right way.
Do you believe or suggest then that technologies might 'distort' or potentially impact our practical reasoning (thereby are ethics)? If so, would this 'threat' be any greater than other threats in the research process?
ReplyDeleteLike every human practices, technology has a potentiality to distort and impact our practical reasoning. To escape and avoid this distortion, it is important that the individuals are aware of the critiques about it. I do not mean that technology injects any ideas and practice into our mind. I want to underline the distortion that can be made by economic system,capitalism, and dominant classes. For example, when I visited my relatives and friends in Turkey, I observed that using smart phones have been highly increased and their social media habits too. While using them, they share where they are, what they have bought, eaten etc. I thought that the public itself is able to advertise the places, goods and etc. This leads to manipulate the human needs and consumptions on behalf of economic relations. What they share is more than they thought. In this sense, we have be critical to support and embody the equality, fraternity, and liberty in communication practices and meaning.
ReplyDeleteTo make them, it is important for researchers/scholars to be aware of the negative sides of technological developments. I have a hope to make the world better place by using our words :-)