Actual issues of technological determinism concept in a mirror of cultural critic

Abstract

Purpose of the Article. The article reveals the fundamental approaches to clarifying the “technology” concept, which is common in cultural, art history, and philosophical literature on this topic. The level of scientific development of the concepts of “technophilia”, “technophobia”, “determinism” is investigated and the influence of technical progress on the formation of art and culture, in general, is clarified. The methodology is based on an integrated approach and relies on general scientific and specific scientific methods: analytical – for considering philosophical, art history, cultural studies literature on the research topic; historical – for tracing the evolution of technology penetration into cultural and artistic practice, conceptual – for analyzing the concept of “technology” and clarifying the main concepts considered. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first time the role of technology in the course of the cultural development of mankind through the prism of a deterministic concept is played. Conclusions. The technology is conditioned by social requirements and introduced for the further development of the cultural development of mankind. This means that the concepts of technological and social determinism, although they are fundamentally different, are reciprocal, inalienable positions. If technology is transformed, the result of the production process changes accordingly. Consequently, technology and culture are not neutral, when technology is applied, it becomes involved in social processes. Knowledge of how to create and improve technologies, as well as how to use them, is socially connected. Any production process that is technologically thought out and organized (in particular, in a mechanical and electronic way) requires less human effort to obtain the desired result than one that requires manual work.