Recognize How Individuals Form Societies and How Individuals Are Transformed by Societies

The information superhighway that we know today gives more focus on computer hardware, software,
and systems in terms of contribution to society as the basic tools enabling fast and efficient transfer of
information. Before, personal computers were mainly used for word processing. Nowadays, the
emergence of portable computers enables many people to transact business anywhere.

Researchers suggested, however, that Facebook and other social media might lead to depression. Most
of the time, we post our smiling faces, favorite foods, and perfect vacation. We look at idealized versions
of our online friends leaving us feeling less attractive and less secure about our own status. We tend to
compare how many "likes" our posts generated. Due to the comparisons, we become more dissatisfied.
Therefore, studies indicate that our social networking sites may disconnect users rather than connect
people (Garcia 2014).

If Soren Kierkegaard is correct, rather than being ourselves, we tend to conform to an image or idea
associated with being a certain type of person. For example, if we create the people we want to be or
the ideal versions of ourselves in our Facebook profiles, then we conform to a pattern. To the extent
that we do see others and ourselves with generalizations; not recognizing existing individuals. For
Kierkegaard, we are reduced to mediocrity. Our modern age remains an era of increasing dullness,
conformity, and lack of genuine individuals (Soccio 2007).

Life was much simpler before. One begins to comprehend how technology evolved. From medieval
crafts to the Industrial Revolution that was dominated by factors such as revolutionary discoveries in
natural sciences, detection, and extraction of energy resources, invention of mechanical devices,
availability of investment capital, improved, means of transportation, communication, and growing
interest taken by scientific and commercial circles in technology and engineering.

Philosophically, our totality, wholeness, or "complete life," relies on our social relations. Aristotle said
that friends are two bodies with one soul. Mutual sharing, acceptance, and sincerity that Carol
encouraged are akin with the outlooks of Karol Wojtyla's We-You/l-You and Martin Buber's I- thou
relations.

For Buber, the human person attains fulfillment in the realm of the interpersonal, in meeting the
other, through a genuine dialog. For Wojtyla, through participation, we share in the humanness of
others. Aristotle, Buber, and Wojtyla stress that the concreteness of our experiences and existence is
directly linked to our experience with others. Thus, if one has meaningful relationships, aside from
enjoying one's blessings, then, as Aristotle concurs, he is truly the one who may rightly be termed
happy.

7.2 Compare Different Forms of Societies and Individualities (Agrarian, Industrial, and Virtual)
A. Medieval Period (500-1500 CE)

Some historians say that the Middle Ages began in AD 476 when the barbarian Odoacer overthrew
Emperor Romulus Augustulus, ending the Western Roman Empire; still others say about AD 500 or even
later. Historians say that the Middle Ages ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, with the
discovery of America in 1492; or with the beginning of the Reformation in 1517.

German barbarians sacked and pillaged the declining Western Roman Empire. The invaders, however,
lacked the knowledge and skills to carry on Roman achievements in art, literature, and engineering in
effect, high Developed systems of Roman law and government period is forms of the barbarians. Thus,
the early Medieval Period is sometimes referred to as the Dark Ages (Solomon & Higgins 1996).

It was nonetheless a time of preparation, like working afield before planting seeds. For instance, to the
Romans, the State had been more important than the individual. From the barbarians' Ideal of personal
rights grew their respect for women, the "government by the people," and the crude but representative
law courts where kings and chiefs were elected tribal councils (which also served as court of laws).

In the reign of Clovis, Christianity began to lift Europe from the Dan Ages. Many barbarians had
become Christians earlier though mostly hold the Arian belief, a doctrine that holds the conviction that
the Son of God is finite and created by God the Father and, thus, condemned as heresy by the Church.
Christianity's influence widened when the great Charlemagne became King of the Franks who founded
schools in monasteries and churches for both the poor and nobility.

The way of life in the Middle Ages is called feudalism, which comes from medieval Latin feudum,
meaning property or "possession." Peasants about nine-tenths of them, are farmers or village laborers.
All peasants men, women, and children worked to support their lord. Many peasants built their villages
of huts near the castles of their lords for protection in exchange of their services.

Besides labor, peasants had to pay taxes to their lord, in money or produce. In addition, they had to give
a tithe to the Church for instance every tenth egg, wheat, etc. Famines were frequent. Plagues cut down
the livestock. Floods, frosts, and droughts destroyed the crops. Burst of warfare ravaged the countryside
as the lords burned each other's fields and harvests.

However, with the growth of commerce and towns, feudalism as a system of government began to pass.
As changes in business, government and social customs steadily shaped a new life in Europe, rising
interest in artistic and intellectual achievements reached a peak in the Renaissance revival of classical
learning. An interest in beauty and culture was reborn in the 14th and 15th centuries, leadership in art
and literature returned to Western Europe.

Amid the turmoil of the Middle Ages, one institution stood for the common good-the Roman Catholic
Church. Many historians say that its spirit and its work comprised the "great civilizing influence of the
Middle Ages." By the 13th century, the Church was the strongest single influence in Europe. Everyone
except the Arabs, Jews, and the people in the Byzantine Empire belonged to the Church and felt its
authority (Ramos 2010).
The Middle Ages employed pedagogical methods that caused the intercommunication between the
various intellectual centers and the unity of scientific language. In ail the schools. philosophy was taught
in the Latin language. Philosophical works were written in Latin. Down to the end of the 12th century,
the seven liberal arts trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, and music) formed the basis of intellectual culture in all scientific cultures.

There is another consideration that we must mention; the practically unlimited trust in reason's powers
of illumination is based, first and foremost, on faith. To quote St. Anselm: I do not seek insight of
reason in order to believe. I believe in order to gain insight. Indeed. I also believe this: that I should
never be able to attain insight if I did not believe. Both faith and reason (fides and ratio) were
conjoined within the forthright, unbending personality of Anselm. Anselm, far from deferring to
mystery, tries to pave the way for clearer understanding, to the stronger argument.

In the early Middle Ages the dichotomy between faith and reason had not yet taken place. Anselm's
line of argument rests upon the fact that the nature of the existence of God is different in principle
from the nature of all other existences, such as that of the island or of the hundred tales. We cannot
make exact analogies between God and any other phenomenon. for to exist actually belongs to the
essence of God (Johnston 2006).

B. MODERN PERIOD (1500-1800)

In particular, the title "modern philosophy" is an attack on and a rejection of the Middle Ages that
occupied the preceding thousand years (Solomon & Higgins 1996). It is an attack on the church that
ruled those ages and dictated its ideas. It is an attack on the very notion of authority itself, which was,
as we have been, very much at issue during the centuries preceding.

The modern period is generally said to begin around 1500. Less than a decade before the arbitrary date
Christopher Columbus had landed his ships in the "new world," altering not only the geography but the
politics of the world forever. Only a decade after, Martin Luther would tack 95 theses.

Human Being is the Most Interesting in Nature During the Modern Period

Leadership in art and literature reached a peak in the Renaissance period. The result is the revival of
ancient philosophy and European philosophers turning from supernatural to natural or rational
explanations of the world. The Vitruvian man had been one of the most famous icons of this period. As
God's most perfect creation, harmonic proportions were also believed to govern humanity's form.
Leonardo da Vinci illustrated Vitruvius' principle that a well-built human with hands and feet
extended fits perfectly into a circle and a square.

Experimentation, observation and application of mathematics in the natural sciences set standards for
philosophic inquiry. Discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton influenced the thinking of
philosophers. Nonetheless, we should not overemphasize the triumphs. of modern science in the history
of modern philosophy (Johnston 2006), There is no denying that the advances in science during the
15th to 18th centuries inspired Descartes, Hobbes, Bacon, and others. Yet, there are other influences
on the growth of philosophy.

Among them were the widespread use of money and the consequent spread of commercialism and
growth of great cities. The bloody and cruelest years of continuous religious war from 16th to 17th
century required the need for a new kind of social philosophy. Whatever the modern philosophy was
supposed to be or do, and whatever it might have to do with science, it had first to say something about
the terrible. state of the world and the seemingly interminable religious quarrelling, intolerance, and
disorder. Modern philosophy itself divides readily into periods; such division takes into account only
those movements and traditions that are widespread and lasting.

A mechanism (Johnston 2006) Human emotions, even the iftiest they delighted in explaining by very
simple and fundamental natural pessions in these days of the 17th century far is out of place, you may
even doubt if you will Descartes, a representative thinker of the century begins his reflection by
doubting everything. As for the method of escaping from doubt, which consists in the use of reason and
in the study of the facts of experience, nothing else serves. For philosophy in this age of the 17th
century, the supernatural has only a secondary interest, if it has any interest at all.

The 18th century has its defining movement, too. The characteristic tendencies of the period are such
that it is frequently called the Age of Empiricism.

John Locke, Hume, and Berkeley were the main exponents of this general point of view.

The second age of modern philosophy furried curiously back to the study of the wondrous inner world
of humanity's soul. To deify nature is not enough. Human being is part of nature's most interesting in
nature, and he is not yet daified. He may be a part of the most paradoxical mechanism, or he may not
stil if he be a mechanism, he is that most mechanism of things, a knowing mechanism. His knowledge
itself, what it is, how it comes about, whence he gets it, how it grows, what it is he gets it, how it grows.
what it signifies, how it can be defended against skepticien, what it implies, both as to moral truth and
as to theoretical truth these problems are foremost in the interests of the second period of modern
thought.

Near the end of the century, Immanuel Kant, whose philosophy is generally known as critical idealism,
brought up his philosophic thoughts with the more general problem of knowledge. He thought that
humanity's nature is the real creator of humanity's world It is not the external world, as such, that is the
deepest fruth for us at all; it is the inner structure of the human spirit that merely expresses itself in the
visible nature about us. Herewith begins the third period of modern philosophy.

Also, during this period, the consequences of Copernican revolution were many: Galileo, convinced of
the correctness of this new way of seeing the world, invented the telescope.. From then on, the
development of modern astronomy was assured (Johnston 2006). However, it is not these
consequences that are of greatest interest here. Rather, it is the attitude of mind that is evident, and the
effect that it must have upon thinking in general.
This Copernican innovation may not be so impressive, but considered in its setting, its significance is
great. As one of a number of steps in the same general direction, it represents a questioning attitude
toward the activities of nature, and a spirit of rebellion against things accepted solely on the basis of
authority and tradition. It represents a search for new standards of truth and acceptance, and the
beginnings of a science that is to stand unaided upon the foundations of its own.

The effect is almost inevitable: this critical, searching, rebellious spirit which crops out in the scientific
mind is bound to have its counterpart in the philosophic one. The new development in science, though
exhibits open-mindedness, does not cease to be dogmatic in its way. It is critical of the old, sure of itself
as the old had ever been. The conviction that the truth is attained if reality lays bare, that the old is
wrong while the new is right, seems to characterize all the innovators of science at this time. It was
responsible for their troubles, for difficulties (ie., hindered publications), and in some cases, for
imprisonment and death. However, it may have been responsible, too, for progress they made and the
success they had.

Copernicus stands as an example of a science in the throes of revolution, critical and yet self-assured
and dogmatic, opening up new visions of the world of nature, and leaving the thinking world in general
to assimilate these changes and make of them the best it can. By the beginning of the modern age, the
rapid growth of the increasingly cosmopolitan cities of Europe, with their global reach, their extensive
colonies and their national and international rivalries, required a new kind of philosophy, intensely self-
questioning but arrogant as well (Solomon & Higgins 1996).

Enthusiasm for the new science ushered in a deep-seated philosophical trend, whose adherents stressed
the importance of universally compelling science for philosophy. This attitude in Descartes and in all
others who have taken it implied the expectation that the new scientific philosophy would soon gain
acceptance as the universally valid truth, and each of these philosophers consequently prided himself on
being the cornerstone and founder of the true scientific philosophy. Here was the starting point for the
rationalistic intolerance that is so widespread in the modern world: the dogmatic presumptuousness of
reason made for an attitude of self- assurance (Johnston 2006).

C. GLOBALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS

INTRODUCTION TO GLOBALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Globalization is not a one-way process, but comprises the multilateral interactions among global
systems, local practices, transnational trends, and personal lifestyles. Globalization, in the sense of
adoption and acceptance of some standards in the various aspects of life, had its embryonic beginnings
in the West in the fifteenth century as an accompaniment to the new ideas of the Renaissance and then
the Enlightenment.
The introduction of new inventions in science eventually led to the industrial revolution in the
eighteenth century, and since then, Western society has taken off on a journey through the endless
world of science to bring society into the developed conditions that can be seen today.

THE IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Initially, the word "industry" and the period in which its use changes is the period that we call the
Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is a movement in which machines changed people's
way of life as well as their methods of manufacture. Industry, before this period, was a name for
particular human attributes: skill, assiduity, perseverance, and diligence.

The use of the term still survives. Industrious, usually attributed to person is joined in the nineteenth
century by industrial, which describes the rapid growth of these institutions is seen as creating new
system, which the 1830s is called industrialism. The Industrial Revolution came gradually in a short
span of time.

The relatively sudden change in humanity's way of life deserves to be called a revolution.

The Industrial Revolution grew more powerful each year due to new inventions and manufacturing
processes that added to the efficiency of machines.

In part, this is the acknowledgment of a series of very important technical changes and of their
transforming effects on methods of production.

It is also, however, an acknowledgment of the effect of these changes on society as a whole which is
similarly transformed (Germain 2000).

Significant changes that brought about the Industrial Revolution were (Germain 2000):

• the invention of machines in lieu of doing the work of hand tools;

• the use of steam, and other kinds of power vis-à-vis the muscles of human beings and of animals;

• the embracing of factory system.

The abstract thought of mathematicians, coupled with the development of ingenious electronic
technology, created not only a new industry, but also a catalyst to help quicken the tempo and reshape
the structure of industrial society.

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN GLOBALIZATION

Countless generations of technological achievements have been compressed into little more than half a
century. Great jet airliners and space trips to the moon hardly seem to belong in the same millennium.
The importance of media communication in such a society is paramount, and the computer as a tireless
process of energy is a vital link. In the nineteenth century, the dream of automatically powered
machines had become a reality.
Approximately 100 years passed between Babbage's conception and the development of the first fully
automatic computer. The uses of electronic computers in these systems have begun to amplify the
computer age to the point where new types of industrial and social phenomena may be appearing.

Everywhere, the computer is assuming an increasingly central place in scientific research and data
processing is becoming all-important. The Google's current mission is to fulfill a search engine that is
Artificial Intelligence complete or one that is smarter than people (Carr 2009). Artificial Intelligence
(AI) is a branch of computer science or "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an
intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its
chances of success.

John McCarthy coined the term in 1955, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent
machines." Messages and data can travel in a big office through the use of local and wide area network.

The emergence of notebooks or portable computers enables business and learning to occur in an
airplane or anywhere. Further, software programs can be used to make connections among online
databases.

Sophisticated algorithms can be identified with precision by just analyzing two databases that could
successfully point out 60 percent of the users who mentioned the music (Carr 2009). Using data-mining
algorithms, identities of users can be discovered having serious repercussions for the users. As
technology is exploited, it becomes easier for those already wealthy to maintain their advantage.

In contrast, those who lack the advantage may be less successful in shaping a new global landscape
more favorable to their purpose. Technology most certainly leads to globalization but in the emerging
global society, economy, and culture, does not encompass all equally (Ramos 2003).

Explain How Human Relations Are Transformed by Social System

Change As a Condition of Modern Life

As industry changed, social and political conditions transformed. Europeit farmers and artisans flocked
to the manufacturing centers and became industrial workers. Cities grew quickly as the percentage of
farmers in the population declined. Change from domestic industry to the factory system meant a lot of
interdependence to the worker.

The home laborer could work whenever he pleased although the need for money drove him to toll for
long hours; he could vary the monotony of his task. When an individual becomes a factory employee he
has to work long hours, leaving his little farm, and live near the factory, oftes in a crowded district
(Heidegger 1997).
The revolutionary change in our way of life in modern times, which lar several centuries was confined
principally to the Western people, has in our lifetime come to affect all of humanity. For the first time in
history, a universal pattern of modernity is emerging from the wide diversity of traditional values and
institutions, and peoples of all nations are confronted with the challenge of defining their attitudes
toward fundamental changes that are worldwide in scope.

A. New Knowledge

B. Policy Making

C. Economic Sphere

D. Social Realm

E. Technology

F. On (Women's) Friendship

A. New Knowledge

"Know thyself" is the main idea of Socrates of good living. Socrates lived around 469 BC in Greece. His
saying, "Knowledge is virtue; ignorance is vice" is a summation of what he wants to teach about how
human beings should live a good life. Ignorance, as opposite of knowledge, is the source of evil.
Humanity commits evil because people do not know any better.

The origins of the modern age may be seen in the phenomenal growth of knowledge that can be
traced to the revival of Greek science. At first slowly, and with a rapid quickening of pace after the
fifteenth century, humanity has met with increasing success in understanding the secrets of nature and
applying this new knowledge to human affairs. In the twentieth century, this expansion has been so
rapid that local knowledge no longer remains purely local and accepted systems of knowledge in
specialized fields have been overturned within a single generation. This process of intellectual growth is
continuing without any slackening of pace, and changes in our understanding in the years ahead may
well be greater than those that we have seen in our own lifetime (Nve & Welch 2013).

B. Policy Making

Plato's Republic is a renowned philosophical work that stands out among his dialogues due to its
exploration of justice, governance, and the ideal state. It seeks to define justice by examining the
broader context of the state, positioning itself as an ethical treatise. The text discusses the
interconnection between government and education, and its insights have influenced fields such as
eugenics and pedagogy, particularly through its examination of poetics and aesthetics. Additionally,
Plato's concept of the "Idea of Good" elevates the Republic to a significant work in metaphysics,
showcasing the many facets of his philosophical genius.
The primary aim of Plato's Republic is to define "justice." To explore this concept, Plato categorizes
citizens into three classes:

 (1) common people (artisans)

 (2) soldiers (warriors)
 (3) guardians (rulers)

Only the guardians hold political power, and their numbers are significantly smaller than those of the
other classes. Initially, guardians are selected by the legislator, but succession typically occurs through
heredity. However, exceptional individuals from the lower classes may rise to the guardian class, while
unsatisfactory offspring of guardians may be demoted.

The application of new knowledge has led to greater integration in policy making, both in private and
public sectors. In the private realm, systems such as transportation, communication, business, and
education have become larger and more centralized, often operating on a national and global scale. In
the public sphere, governments are taking on roles previously held by smaller entities like provinces and
families, exerting a level of control over individuals that exceeds that of past tyrannies. As societal
complexities increase, the legal system has expanded to encompass nearly all human activities, fostering
closer relationships between individuals and the state and resulting in a more intricate social
organization.

C. Economic Sphere

The effects of new knowledge have been partially noticeable in the economic sphere. Technical
improvements have made possible a mechanization of labor that has resulted in mass production, the
rapid growth in per capita productivity, and an increasing division of labor. A greater quantity of goods
has been produced during the past century in the entire preceding period of human history. The
contrast today between the level of living in relatively modern centuries and that in traditional societies
is very marked, indeed. Economic changes will be further discussed in its direct correlation to the social
realm (Ramos 2003: Nye & Welch 2013).

D. Social Realms

The social realm has undergone significant changes due to modernization and globalization,
transitioning from traditional, rigid societies to more dynamic, interdependent ones. Historically,
traditional societies were characterized by isolated peasants with little contact with central authorities,
leading to stagnant ways of life. Modernization has brought about urbanization, increased literacy,
improved health, and a shift in social structures, where individual achievement becomes more
important than inherited status.

Globalization, particularly from the late 20th century, has intensified this interconnectedness, creating
a world where societies are influenced by one another, leading to new forms of international
relations, such as diplomacy and international law. While modernization holds promise for improving
human welfare, it has also led to the destruction of traditional lifestyles, the rise of mass societies,
and significant challenges, including population explosions and the erosion of rural and family life.

The spread of industrialization has resulted in a global consciousness characterized by uniform

lifestyles, especially among young people who share similar tastes in entertainment and culture,
facilitated by technology. However, this global integration is accompanied by conflicts and tensions, as
nationalisms and regionalisms often counteract the push for unity. Issues like terrorism highlight the
complexities of this interconnected world, where local conflicts can have far- reaching implications. The
social realm is thus marked by both the promise of unity and the challenges of division and conflict.

Ε. Technology

The more society is influenced by technology, the more we need to consider the social, ethical and
technological, and scientific aspects of each decision and choice (Germain 2000). This will require the
capability to consider and evaluate the standards employed in the choice and implementation of
scientific research and technological development in relation to the aspirations of the people.

Science has greatly influenced the picture we have of human existence and what is essential to
humanity. Therefore, the difficulty to the period of rapid change challenges us to discover more about
what is fundamental to our existence. Heidegger's call for meditative thinking or philosophical
reflection has a very important role in this connection.

Modern people also cannot isolate themselves and live without technology. More and more cases
show that technology has encroached upon all matters that in the past were considered to be the right
of God in His creation. Exact science and technology had functioned as the "savior" with the power to
set us free. They have saved and liberated human beings from ignorance, underdevelopment, and
poverty. Although the facts may show a different tendency of how the gap between the rich and the
poor has grown bigger, science and technology have become the most distinctive symbol of human
autonomy.

Human beings have separated themselves from their cosmic relation and other realities. On the other hand,
modernization seems to be dominated by a materialistic truth as opposed to a non-materialistic one. In the
present era, humanity does not live according to the natural cycles regulated by natural rhythms anymore
(Germain 2000). Instead, it is governed by a "second nature" that is an artificial environment characterized
by the results of technology.

Has sacrificed humanity and world together, leading to their destruction. At present, science and technology
is not a single phenomenon. On the other hand, they have become an ideology. In particular, technology
cannot be taken to mean only products such as machinery, electronics, or other public consumer goods. It is
also the knowledge and consciousness.

F. On (Women's) Friendship

Women's friendship has a unique quality that may only exist between women. There's sexual attraction
between a man and a woman (eros), which is another completely different thing. Perhaps, only another
woman can really feel in her guts what it means to be a woman, according to Joy Carol (2006) in her book,
The Fabric of Friendship. Women's friendships are special. Girls, and later women, can discuss with each
other anything or everything-whether dreams, fears, children, boyfriends, or dying. There is a quality of
friendship.

• True Friends

True friendships allow each other to be completely themselves.Acceptance and love give women the
courage to try new experience and stretch their wings. Our female friends are extremely important to our
emotional and physical health. Carol cites that that strong female relationships lead to happiness and
healthier lives; while recovery from distress or sufferings becomes easier. On the other hand, people with
less or no friends at all tend to smoke, become overweight, and not exercise.

• Miss "Not Always Sweet"

However, women's envy, competition, recrimination, and miscommunication can cause problems to their
friendship. Carol cited the often negative portrayal of a best friend: betrayer. In a certain study, women
initially deny their attitude toward other women, such as subjecting them to disrespect. Women had been
considered the inferior gender by cultures and societies that, for Carol, without being aware of it, women
may have negative attitudes toward themselves and other women.

• A Tribute to Our First Friend: Our Mothers

The bravest battle that ever was fought:

Shall I tell you where and when?

On the maps of the world you will find it not:

It was fought by the mothers of men.

Mothers customarily carry the moral obligations of providing safe environment for their daughters.
However, mothers are human beings with their own insecurities that will have profound effect on their
daughter.

GOOD LUCK!!!