The Ethics of Technology, Teaching
Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson's Homepage
Essay Questions
- What is the impact of new technologies on our conception of moral agents and their responsibilities?
- How is the changing nature of new technologies affecting our moral values?
- How is the merging of artificial and natural agents challenging our ideas of what counts as a source of moral actions?
- What sort of different ontological approaches to the ethics of technology can be developed from perspectives independent of western philosophical approaches?
- What ethical roles are new agents, from the sub-human = artificial, to the super-human collectives such as organisations, playing in the information society?
- Do we need better ethics for Emerging Technologies (e.g., nanotechnology, genetic technology, and neural technology)? Why?
- Do aspects of the global information society make ethical pluralism attractive?
- Expound Floridi's notion of the "infosphere", and suggest an ethical perspective for "inforgs".
What is the impact of new technologies on our conception of moral agents and their responsibilities?
Readings:
- Allen, C. et. al. (2000): A Prolegomena to any Future Artificial Moral Agent, Journal of Experimental and Artificial Intelligence, 12: 251-61.
- Russell, B. (1955): Human Society in Ethics and Politics, Simon Schuster.
- Drexler, E. K. (1992): Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, Oxford University Press.
- Floridi, L., and Saunders, J. (2004): On the Morality of Artificial Agents, Minds and Machines, 143: 349-79.
- Heidegger, M. (1977): The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, W. Lovitt (trans.): Harper and Row.
- Bynum, T. W. and Moor, J. H. (Eds.) (1998): The Digital Phoenix: How Computers are Changing Philosophy, Blackwell.
How is the changing nature of new technologies affecting our moral values?
Readings:
- Donath, J. S. (1999): Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, in M. A. Smith and P. Kollock (eds): Communities in Cyberspace, 29-59, Routledge.
- Haraway, D. (1991): Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, Free Assiciation Books, London.
- Brey, P. (2000): Method in Computer Ethics: Towards a Multi-Level Interdisciplinary Approach, Ethics and Information Technology, 2(2): 125-29.
- Bynum, T. W. (2005): The Impact of the "Automatic Age" on Our Moral Lives, in R. Cavelier (ed.): The Impact of the Internet on our Moral Lives, 11-25, State University of New York Press.
How is the merging of artificial and natural agents challenging our ideas of what counts as a source of moral actions?
Readings:
- Danielson, P. (1992): Artificial Morality: Virtuous Robots for Virtuous Games, Routledge.
- Gips, J. (1995): Towards an Ethical Robot, K. Ford, C. Glymour, and P. Hayes (eds.): Android Epistemology, 243-52, MIT Press.
- Floridi, L, and Saunders, J. (2004): On the Morality of Artificial Agents, Minds and Machines, 14.3: 349-79.
- Moor, J. H. (2001): The Future of Computer Ethics: You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!, Ethics and Information Technology, 3(2): 89-91.
What sort of different ontological approaches to the ethics of technology can be developed from perspectives independent of western philosophical approaches?
Readings:
- Capurro, R. (2005): Privacy: An Intercultural Perspective, Ethics and Information Technology, 7(1): 37-47.
- Ess, C. (2004): Moral Imperatives for Life in an Intercultural Global Village, in R. Cavalier (ed.): The Internet and our Moral Lives, 161-93, State University of New York Press.
- Nakada, M. and Takanori, T. (2005): Japanese conceptions of Privacy: An Intercultural Perspective, Ethics and Information Technology, 7(1), 27-36.
- Gewith, A. (1994): Is Cultural Pluralism Relevant to Moral Knowledge?, in E. F. Paul et. al, (eds.): Cultural Pluralism and Moral Knowledge, 22-43, Cambridge University Press.
What ethical roles are new agents, from the sub-human = artificial, to the super-human collectives such as organisations, playing in the information society?
Readings:
- Allen, C. et. al. (2006): Artificial Morality: Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Hybrid Approaches, Ethics and Information Technology, 7(3), 149-35.
- Bechtel, W. (1985): Attributing Responsibility to Computer Systems, Metaphilosophy, 16(4), 296-305.
- Floridi, L., and Saunders, J. (2004): On the Morality of Artificial Agents, Minds and Machines, 14, 349-379.
- Velasquez, M. (1991): Why Corporations are Not Morally Responsible for Anything They Do, in L. May and S. Hoffman (eds.): Collective Responsibility: Five Decades of Debate in Theoretical and Applied Ethics, 111-31, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
- Johnson, D. G., and Powers, T. M. (2006): Computers as Surrogate Agents, in J. van den Hoven, and J. Weckert (eds.), Moral Philosophy and Information Technology, Cambridge University Press.
Do we need better ethics for Emerging Technologies (e.g., nanotechnology, genetic technology, and neural technology)? Why?
Readings:
- Horner, D. S. (2006): Anticipating Ethical Challenges: Is There a Coming Era of Nonotechnology, Ethics and Information Technology, 7, 127-38.
- Clarke, S. (2006): Future Technologies, Dystopic Futures and the Precautionary Principle, Ethics and Information Technology, 7, 121-26.
- European Group on Ethics, Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body. http://europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics/docs/cp20en.pdf, 2005.
- Lyon, D. (1994): The Electronic Eye: The Rise of the Surveillance Society, University of Minnesota Press.
- Moor, J. H., and Weckert, J. (2004): Nanoethics: Assessing the Nonoscale from an Ethical Point of View, in D. Baird et. al. (eds.): Discovering the Nanoscale, 301-10, IOS Press, Amsterdam.
Do aspects of the global information society make ethical pluralism attractive?
Readings:
- Ess, C. (2006): Ethical Pluralism and Global Information Ethics, Ethics and Information Technology, 8, 215-26. (and references therein)
- Hiruta, K. (2006): What Pluralism, Why Pluralism, and How? A Response to Charles Ess, Ethics and Information Technology, 8, 227-36. (and references therein)
Expound Floridi's notion of the "infosphere", and suggest an ethical perspective for "inforgs".
Readings:
- Floridi, L. (2007): A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives, The Information Society, 23.1, 59-64. Online at: http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/
Contact details
email seb: sequoiah {at} gmail.com
email inky: inkythewhiteboardmarker {at} gmail.com
inky's twitter: @inkymarkerpen
