Network behavior is a unique communicative behavior in the network society. Compared with the communication behavior in real society, network behavior has special meaning, and its particularity is as follows: First, the particularity of the environment. That is, in a virtual reality (also called virtual reality). This kind of virtual reality is realized through the network space composed of computer and remote communication technology. In this virtual space, there is everything virtual: not only virtual people, virtual society and virtual community, but also virtual global culture. Virtual environment produces virtual emotions, and then there is virtual ethics. Of course, this virtual thing is not nothingness, but just another way of existence; Virtual norms are not imaginary, but real constraints. The special environment and behavior of this "duality" determines that the ethical problems caused by this must have characteristics different from traditional ethics.
Second, the way of communication is special. That is, communication has the characteristics of "virtuality" and "digitalization". The communication in the network society takes symbols as the medium, which reduces the direct contact between people in reality, but simplifies it into man-machine communication and interpersonal network communication. At this time, human existence appears as a virtual "network person". This "anonymity" makes the range of communication between people infinitely expanded, but the risk of communication is greatly reduced, communication is more random and uncertain, and then the ethical conflict in communication is more obvious. Compared with before, the way of network communication is less constrained by morality and law. Traditional ethics has encountered unprecedented difficulties here. It can't directly judge whether the network communication mode conforms to the (traditional) moral norms, for example, it can't judge the legality of network attacks. This expressive traditional ethics does not conform to the communication reality of modern network society. Therefore, it is not only necessary but also urgent to establish an ethics suitable for the survival of modern networks.
Third, the moral norms followed by communication need to be solved urgently. The anonymity of the network also leads to randomness. Especially the infringement of intellectual property rights, copyright, privacy and other rights. It is undoubtedly against the law and moral spirit to publish and publish information resources at will and download other people's works without even considering authorization. In the absence of supervision power and means in the network, people can only rely on legal and moral propaganda, and can only rely on personal inner moral rules to restrain this phenomenon. Despite this, these measures have had little effect. As we have seen, when technical means take precedence over legal and moral consciousness, it is usually necessary to change norms or restrict the further development of technology. Obviously, the construction of network ethics is more positive than restricting the application of internet technology, so it is not groundless to put forward network ethics at this stage.
Undeniably, in the network society, the virtual communication behavior in the virtual society will certainly have a new impact on ancient ethics. If this problem is not solved, it will produce a huge moral contrast and cause many moral and social problems. Only by facing up to these problems can we truly understand the moral implication of network behavior and promote the growth of this discipline. All this shows that the establishment of network ethics with network behavior research as the main content has been put on the agenda.
Second, the research object and scope of network ethics
(A) the definition of network ethics
Network ethics is a brand-new subject with network morality as its research object and scope, that is, the theory about network morality. Network ethics is to discuss the relationship between people and the network, and the relationship between people in the network society (virtual society). In the network society, network morality mainly depends on the general concept of good and evil and personal inner beliefs as the standard of behavior. Determining its connotation and extension is related to the future and development of this subject.
(B) the research object and scope of network ethics
The object and scope of network ethics discussion involve virtual communities and virtual people living in them. The virtual society discussed here refers to a unique social phenomenon in the modern information society, that is, the virtual space formed by the computer network based on the Internet. But this space actually exists in modern society. It not only provides people with free information resources, greatly shortens the physical space distance between people, but also has a great impact on traditional culture and traditional morality. Therefore, all moral phenomena and conflicts in this virtual space belong to the scope of network ethics research.
(C) the status quo of network ethics
Compared with traditional ethics, network ethics can be summarized into three characteristics: new, applied and open system. First of all, it is a brand-new subject. With the popularity of the Internet, network life has become a part of modern life, which has caused a series of problems, produced new interpersonal relationships and moral relationships, and objectively laid the foundation for the establishment of this discipline. Secondly, it belongs to the category of applied ethics. According to the classification of ethics, it is neither descriptive nor meta-ethics. Its purpose is to establish moral norms on the modern Internet, so it belongs to applied ethics. Third, although a series of problems arising from the modern network society have new features, they have occurred in recent years after all, and various phenomena and their respective characteristics have not been fully exposed. With people's recognition of the Internet and serious consideration of the ethical issues arising from it, the content of network ethics will be gradually enriched and its main norms will be continuously improved. Therefore, to establish a network ethics that reflects the moral reality of the network society, we must adopt an open attitude and conduct objective, fair and scientific research. This is why this subject is an open system.
(D) Network ethics has the moral elements of general ethics.
From the perspective of pure ethics, network ethics has its unique moral elements, namely: a. Network moral consciousness. Compared with the moral consciousness of traditional ethics, the moral consciousness in the network society is obviously more indifferent, human nature tends to be more natural, communication is less affected by social factors, and all kinds of restrictions imposed by the real society are abandoned. In other words, once you enter the network, everything will be different, your thoughts will be released, you will be free, and people will strive to realize themselves and become themselves. It is characterized by self-discipline, demanding improvement, and highlighting the importance of personal cultivation and knowledge. B. network moral relations. This relationship is uncertain, simple and interactive. This is a new ethical issue raised by the network society. That is to say, people can have friendship, love, trust, help and so on without real communication. Of course, this relationship may last for a short time, but it should be admitted that this relationship is more direct and less utilitarian. It may overcome all kinds of relationships that people are forced to give up because of various pressures in the real society. C. network moral activities. These new moral activities have their own characteristics: uniqueness, diversity, randomness and purpose. Network provides a virtual space, and this new space has developed many new activities. Such as chatting, posting, email, uploading/downloading, cyber attacks and so on. And random communication has increased. In these activities, people's communication has a distinct purpose. For example, the increase of dating websites and the popularity of various chat tools. The instant messaging function and anonymity function provided by the network make it unnecessary for people to consider the influence of space distance and culture in communication activities. Therefore, activities are direct and arbitrary. All these provide rich materials for network ethics, and are also the foundation of network ethics.
To sum up, network ethics has the foundation to build a complete system. This paper attempts to start with the construction of its complete framework, discuss the related categories and significance, and finally try to establish a new discipline.
Third, the basic principles of network ethics.
(a) the first principle: the principle of resources * * *.
The resources on the network come from information. Include software, program source code, etc. Anyone who has used online search engines knows that the process of searching is the process of enjoying resources, and the result of searching is a large number of free resources. In the general process of web browsing, the enjoyment of resources is also reflected incisively and vividly As long as you surf the internet, you can get a lot of resources, which may be the biggest feature of the network society. From another perspective, the enjoyment of resources follows the "free principle". Of course, this kind of free is conventional, using the default value provided by the network. If it goes beyond the agreed scope, this principle will be challenged and restricted. But in any case, the principles of free search, free service and free information embodied in the network society are different from the principles of resource allocation in the commodity society. The latter embodies the principle of maximizing interests, while the former takes information maximization as the starting point. Therefore, enjoyment, as a unique resource of network society, should be the first principle of network ethics.
(2) The second principle: the principle of consistency.
The principle of unanimous consent emphasizes that network behavior should follow general morality and must be honest, fair and true. Especially those who communicate through the Internet. Both sides are generally idealized as people with the above advantages, so they are trustworthy. Obviously, as the premise and default value of network behavior, consistency exists in the minds of network people. Although this understanding is not objective, it does not prevent it from becoming the principle of network ethics, but it is also the goal pursued by network ethics. This is also the most controversial principle encountered by network ethics at present. Although people who communicate through the internet hope that what the other party describes is true, because of the lack of certain supervision mechanism and disciplinary measures, network people will still act according to their own understanding and wishes, rather than according to the rules that everyone usually hopes. This has added many variables to this principle and brought many problems. For example, using the Internet for fraud; Infringement and so on.
(3) The third principle: the principle of self-discipline.
Self-discipline is the purpose of morality. In the network society, because individuals have full freedom and lack of constraints, it is obviously unrealistic to reach an agreement or fully enjoy all resources. This requires everyone on the internet to follow consciousness and abide by general moral principles in order to achieve their goals. Therefore, the principle of self-discipline can be regarded as the ultimate moral appeal, and together with other principles, it constitutes the basic principle of network ethics. If the general network ethics also emphasizes this principle, then network ethics is nothing more than highlighting this feature. Another meaning of self-discipline is to follow the principle of minimum authorization. That is, only the resources that should be obtained in the network are obtained, and the resources that should not be obtained are not accessed or attempted to be obtained beyond the authority, otherwise the authorization will be cancelled. Therefore, self-discipline is the ultimate goal and ultimate concern of network ethics.
Fourthly, the basic categories and problems discussed in network ethics.
(A) the basic category of network ethics
virtues and vices
In network ethics, the concept of good and evil conforms to the general characteristics of traditional ethics. The issue of good and evil is the central issue of ethical research and the core of ethical category, so it is also the most important category that network ethics should study. However, in network ethics, the issue of good and evil has its own unique features, such as the unclear criteria for judging good and evil. According to Spinoza, the so-called good is "all happiness, and everything that can enhance happiness, especially anything that can satisfy wishes", while evil is "all pain, especially anything that can hinder wishes". This definition has great ambiguity. In the network society, acts such as infringement, piracy and hacking have undoubtedly brought great happiness and practical benefits to the actors, but their actions have brought material and spiritual harm to people's lives, which is obviously not good. According to Lenin, "goodness is understood as human practice = requirement (1) and external reality (2)". In other words, those behaviors used to maintain network security, maintain network norms, and provide network services are good. On the contrary, it is evil to use the convenience of the network to bring harm to the network society and the real society.
However, network behavior is a new social phenomenon after all. How to define the nature of network behavior and determine whether it is "moral" or "legal"; What is "immoral" or "illegal" needs a norm. It is not appropriate to deal with these behaviors with the existing norms in the real society, so it is necessary to formulate new network norms to define network behaviors. But there is no doubt that it is a beneficial attempt for modern people to fill this irregular vacuum through legal and moral education before the new norms are formed.
should
That is to standardize the content of network behavior and determine "should" and "should not". The category of "ying" belongs to traditional ethics, but it still has new value in network ethics. But "should" is more controversial here, so that people have to define the scope of "should" by formulating "should not". For example, the "Ten Commandments" stipulated by the American Society of Computer Ethics for computer ethics can be regarded as a typical norm trying to define the "should" scope of network ethics: (1) You should not use computers to hurt others; (2) You should not interfere with other people's computer work; (3) Don't pry into other people's files; (4) You don't need a computer to steal; (5) Do not use computer to commit perjury; (6) You should not use or copy unpaid software; (7) Do not use other people's computer resources without permission; (8) You should not steal other people's intellectual achievements; (9) You should consider the social consequences of your program; (10) You should use the computer carefully.
value
This is perhaps the most controversial category in network ethics. Whether a person's online behavior is valuable and appropriate, in other words, whether he can make a moral judgment on this behavior is almost inconclusive. However, this kind of behavior is completely evaluating others from the beginning. Although "the most important use of value category is praise", it is not too much to describe the value of network behavior with "different opinions" here. However, after all, network behavior has its particularity, that is, it follows certain value standards: it is recognized by everyone, at least by most people. This kind of behavior is valuable on the internet. Obviously, the consent of most people and whether the matter itself is correct are two different things, but at least it shows that the value followed by network ethics has its particularity in this respect.
Of course, determining the value of network behavior is to guide it. Although we can actively prevent network infringement by formulating norms, people's real purpose should be to guide a new type of moral tendency to determine valuable ideas and ideals, which is an inevitable moral destination in any society. Modern network ethics is no exception. For example, when discussing the general moral and professional code of conduct that its members should support, the American Computer Association stipulates: (1) make contributions to society and mankind; (2) avoid hurting others; (3) Honest and reliable; (4) Be fair and not take discriminatory actions; (5) Respect property rights, including copyrights and patents; (6) Respect intellectual property rights; (7) respect the privacy of others; (8) keep secrets. That is to distinguish the value of network behavior in the name of norms, so as to guide people to treat their own behavior on the network correctly and try to avoid behaviors that are worthless or even damage the value of others.
equality
It means free access to resources and services, which is a universal rule in the network society. As long as a person registers an ID (identity) and has his own password, he can "anonymously enter" the internet to swim, make friends, chat, give speeches, get information and so on. This facilitates people to communicate on an equal footing and makes communication more free and relaxed. This forms an egalitarianism to the greatest extent. Free information resources are also free from ethnic, racial and cultural restrictions (of course, there are certain restrictions, such as language, mainly English, which makes the network mainly exist in the educated groups). Furthermore, the interpersonal relationship in the network society is simply human-computer communication. Facing the cold screen, a person can completely put down all taboos and participate in the discussion on an equal footing, forming the reality that there is no forbidden zone in the network. In other words, the network gives people who enter the network society moral equality.
The "equal rights" given to people by the internet also contains another layer of meaning that is not easily perceived, that is, it helps to promote the discussion and process of direct participatory democracy. After all, the network is a force independent of traditional media, which relieves the public's right to know to some extent, and the principle of * * * sharing resources is objectively conducive to promoting fair phenomena in real society, such as the promotion of e-government. This is perhaps the most profound influence that the network society has brought to the network ethics.
loan
This kind of application focuses on e-commerce, which means that personal credit is gradually increasing. In the real society, the realization of credit is guaranteed by laws and other social norms, while in the network society, the applicable laws and regulations have not been established, and personal credit has become the only guarantee for online consumption. Although the network service provider requires the service provider to provide the basic ID number, address, telephone number and other realistic basis, and even must provide the credit account number, this does not mean that the personal credit in the network is fragile. On the contrary, the network is gradually cultivating personal credit. In fact, credit is established by entering online consumption.
Another application of credit is in online games. In some game settings, players can get higher score rewards by increasing personal credit, so as to gain an advantage in the game competition and even win. This is the contribution of online games to the establishment of personal credit in the network age.
service
This is a typical feature of the network society after the emergence of the consumer society. One of the meanings is that in the network society, consumption, like in the real society, is composed of one-to-one forms, that is, there are service providers and consumers. Here, the service is traditional and mechanical, and the network is just a medium. The second meaning refers to: web-service, that is, network service, which mainly refers to the intelligent service provided by the future network. For example, if a person types in the sentence "I want to travel to Tibet" on the Internet, a series of information such as the best season, climatic conditions, and the best tourist routes to Tibet will be provided on the Internet for the questioner's reference. So as to realize the intelligence and interactivity of human-computer interaction, which is the real meaning of network service.
criticize
It is indeed controversial to regard criticism as the basic category of network ethics. However, the criticism here has been alienated into criticism and generalized into moral judgment. It keeps asking, "Is this a good idea?" "Should I (we) do this?" The reason for this problem is that the network is a special space, the virtual environment produces a unique network language, and anonymity makes the truth blend into endless debates. In addition, the network has no strong restraint mechanism, managers and authority, and it has become a "free" space, which leads everyone to be the leader and evaluator of his own behavior, and anyone can decide the value of discussion by his own judgment. It leads to the abuse of criticism and the atrophy of real language, and the deep-seated cultural thinking is dismembered and replaced by seemingly endless quarrels. BBS is a typical example of this critical abuse. There, there are no rules and standards, criticism is always self-centered, and negation is everything.
Fifth, study the significance of network ethics.
It is of great significance to discuss the social, cultural and political problems caused by network behavior in the study of network ethics.
The first is social problems. Excessive attention to the network leads to the tendency of moral relativism and moral indifference in real society. The former means that people can refuse to take responsibility for anything in the network because of the virtual and unconstrained nature of the network, while the latter means that people are increasingly dependent on the network and alienated into network people, and their focus shifts to the communication in the virtual society, thus weakening their communication behavior in the real society. As the sum of social relations, people's sociality is its fundamental attribute, but the network society with computer as the medium leads to the decrease of people's direct communication activities, which inevitably leads to the indifference of group consciousness and interpersonal relationship. In addition, it has also caused the phenomenon of moral anomie, such as using the network to commit crimes, stealing other people's accounts, attacking other people's networks and computers and causing actual losses. These are all factors that cause social instability.
Secondly, cultural issues. There are two meanings here: the surface problem is manifested in the network language. The Internet has its own language. For example, the language format used in e-mail, communication network protocol, remote transmission protocol and so on. These protocols can be said to be very specific and accurate, and even have detailed provisions on the case of letters, the length of information, themes, electronic signatures and other details. In violation of these regulations, no information may be obtained or published. At the same time, these laws and regulations tend to be digital and symbolic. Its application conflicts with the language used in real society, which leads to the disintegration of modern language. The deep problem lies in cultural aggression. Namely, cultural colonialism. As the main language used in the modern Internet is English, it is beneficial for contemporary western culture to forcibly spread its political culture and values to the whole world through advanced media such as the Internet, making people who contact the Internet vulnerable to the hidden erosion of modern colonialism. The direct consequence of erosion is the conflict between culture and religion, which leads to a series of deep-seated social problems. Of course, this cultural conflict has also promoted the exchange and integration of various civilizations. Objectively speaking, this is of positive significance.
Not only that, but the network will also cause hidden political problems. Will change the existing social stratification to a certain extent. That is to say, the future society will be divided into groups that master and control information (knowers) and groups that do not possess information (unknowns); This will inevitably lead to a new kind of confrontation. This may be exactly what modern political science or sociology should pay attention to.
In China, the in-depth study of network ethics has put forward a new topic for the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. How to strengthen the construction of network morality and make it a part of socialist spiritual civilization is a brand-new field. The author believes that it is of great significance to study from the following three aspects for correctly regulating network morality and strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilization.
First of all, we should correctly treat the reality of the expansion of cultural positions. The network is called "the fourth media", which has an unparalleled brand-new mode of communication that traditional media does not have. How to occupy this new propaganda position and make full use of its characteristics of fast information transmission and large amount of information is very important for us to strengthen the construction of citizens' basic moral norms at present, and it is also a problem that must be studied in the current propaganda work.
Happily, in 200 1 year, China published the Outline for the Implementation of Civic Morality Construction, which established the outline of "patriotism and law-abiding, courtesy and honesty, unity and friendliness, diligence and self-improvement, and dedication", providing a guide for the construction of network morality and a clear idea for the construction of network socialist spiritual civilization. Therefore, it has important guiding significance.
Secondly, we should improve the traditional propaganda methods. Network is different from traditional media, and its biggest feature is independence. This function ensures that the network spreads information fairly. There are huge resources in the network, but the network information is mixed and varied. It is necessary to improve the traditional propaganda methods and means to conform to the characteristics of network communication, and then screen and optimize the information to achieve the purpose of moral education.
On this issue, we should adhere to the principle of "ruling the Internet by virtue" and "ruling the Internet by law" simultaneously, so as to achieve "grasping with both hands and being firm with both hands", strengthen network legislation, and use legal means to supervise and guide the Internet; At the same time, strengthen positive publicity and education, so that the majority of netizens can understand and use this new tool dialectically; Start the network civilization project, study the network culture as a systematic project, support various types of academic discussions, and strive to establish more objective network ethics norms.
Finally, it is necessary to study the role of network in promoting socialist democracy and legal system construction. Adhering to the principle of "keeping pace with the times" and correctly guiding the development direction of the network are necessary steps to standardize network ethics, ensure the orderly development of this emerging social phenomenon and serve the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. Only in this way can we further improve and develop China's socialist legal system and promote China's socialist democracy and legal system construction.
The ultimate goal of studying the ethical issues of network culture is to serve socialism and the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. Today, the Internet has become a new important position in ideological and political work. Only by attaching importance to it in thought and being rigorous, earnest, fair and objective in research can we correctly grasp this new communication tool and guide its healthy development.