Philosophical perspectives on technology in Chinese Society

•Chinese culture exhibits a generally positive attitude toward technics and technology.•Philosophy in China is more practically oriented than in the West.•Technology and engineering in China emphasize civilian over military interests.•No break exists in China between traditional and modern attitudes toward technology.

In developing countries today, social attitudes toward technology exhibit a more positive appreciation than is often the case in the developed world. Technology is seen as fundamentally good because of its ability simultaneously to reduce the burden of human labor and to increase productivity. In developing countries, many of the unintended negative side effects of technological development are not yet apparent or sufficiently threatening. At the same time, this positive appreciation is in dialectical relationship with a cultural past and traditional suspicion about technics. A brief case study of the emergence of philosophical perspectives on technology in China can serve to illustrate these points. The argument will begin with some general observations about education and philosophical attitudes toward technology in Chinese culture. It will continue with discussions of philosophy and technics in ancient China and of philosophy and technology in modern China. A conclusion offers some general reflections.