Volume 3,Issue 8
Posthuman Fatalism and the Reconstruction of Science and Technology Ethics Education
“Posthuman fatalism” describes an emerging social, cultural, and philosophical reality in which technological systems are no longer merely external tools, but have become internalized and autonomous environmental forces that profoundly shape or even determine human cognitive patterns, value judgments, and future evolutionary paths —subjecting human “free will” to an unprecedented crisis of dissolution. When confronting this fatalistic trend, science and technology ethics education falls into the dual dilemma of “radical acceptance” and “conservative prevention.” Critical reflection on current practices in science and technology ethics education reveals the ineffectiveness of the binary oppositional thinking framework. Based on this, future science and technology ethics education must transcend the simple “acceptance/prevention” dichotomy and shift toward a “critical navigation” model aimed at reconstructing “limited free will.” The core of this education is not to resist fate but to cultivate agency within “fate acceptance” — that is, by acknowledging technology’s enormous influence, to carve out a meaningful and dignified space for existence within the new reality of human-machine coexistence through in-depth self-awareness, interdisciplinary ethical speculation, and practical wisdom.
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