Technology Ethics

Question 1

What is the technology-blindness of traditional ethics?

Answer 1

Traditional ethics has an image of the human being as an autonomous subject (who can use science and technology to achieve their aims). This is a humanistic, anthropocentric view. Moral theory concerns how our people’s actions are related to other rational autonomous beings (=people). This excludes the moral role of material objects, that and how technologies order societies and the potential moral significance of “non-humans” as “others”.

Question 2

What is the view of determinism on technology?

Answer 2

Technology just develops as it does. “If I can’t stop these developments, I don’t think anyone else can”.

Jacques Ellul (& Theodor Adorno + Max
Horkheimer): Technological determinism:
development of technology is autonomous
steering force: optimal efficiency

Question 3

Where does the determinist view of technology lead to?

Answer 3

Either a doom scenario or a salvation scenario

Question 4

What is the view of non-determinism on technology?

Answer 4

There are two versions of non-determinism: light and not-so-light.
Light: “We can influence the way technology develops”
Not-so-light: “We are in complete control of the way technology develops”

Question 5

Where does technology ethics deal with?

Answer 5

• (the moral aspects of) the relationship between humans and technology
• technological worlds, technological futures
• moral questions specific to the technological age
• new emerging technologies = new emerging principles

Question 6

What is the view of instrumentalism on technology?

Answer 6

Technology isn’t good or bad, it is in the hands of the people. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” would be a typical instrumentalist quote.

Question 7

What is the view of substantivism on technology?

Answer 7

Technology structures our lives and cultures. Technology steers our view of the world. Science and technology are not neutral at all. Technology opens up a restricted window on the world
- technology largely determines how we perceive and appreciate reality

Martin Heidegger:
• infiltration of technology in all sectors of society
• other social domains lose ability to assign meaning

Question 8

What is an artifact?

Answer 8

Artifacts are all things made by humans

Question 9

What is the view of interactivism on technology?

Answer 9

technology interacts with our lives and
cultures. Interactivists stress the moral relevance of technologies. They emphasize that these technologies that surround us and that are at least in part decisive for how we look at the world and how we interact with each other, what we value and how we live up to our values. This increases the complexity of moral problems

Question 10

Why is instrumentalism probrematic?

Answer 10

P1: Technologies have a function
P2: To have a function, means to
(help) achieve a goal
P3: Goals imply values
C: Technologies are value-laden

Question 11

What is old-school technological determinism?

Answer 11

Karl Marx:
The material and economic structure of production in society [“base”] by and large determines the social, political, institutional and cultural structure of that society [“superstructure”].
Technology forms a major factor in the “base.”
Hence, technology co-determines society’s social, political, institutional and cultural structure.

Question 12

Do artifacts have socio-cultural effects?

Answer 12

Yes. Cultural values and ideas of the designer are

imprinted in the artifact these inscriptions prescribe how you should behave.

Question 13

What are scripts?

Answer 13

Cultural values and ideas of the designer imprinted in the artifact. These inscriptions prescribe how you should behave. Scripts are not rigid, they might be changed by future users. E.g. webcam used as a mirror

Question 14

What were the societal implications of the introduction of the birth control pill?

Answer 14

• The birth control pill is associated with the separation of sex from reproduction
• Pill allowed “unpunished” experimentation (“sex is for recreation, IVF is for procreation”)
• Sexual emancipation of women and homosexuals
• Birth regulation mentality (“unplanned” has come to mean “unwanted”)

Question 15

What is the impact of technology on ethics?

Answer 15

• we are living in a technological culture
• technology extends in space and time
• the moral action is unclear, sometimes invisible
• technological artifacts have moral significance and consequences

Question 16

What is the pragmatist view on technology ethics?

Answer 16

• Focus is on how to recognize and trace moral problems in the first place
• More than on how to reach and justify normative judgments about technology
• The process of dealing with these problems is considered (at least) equally important as its outcome
• It takes into account:
• The moral significance of artifacts
• The aspect of change
• The need for new ways of understanding moral problems

Question 17

What is a dramatic rehearsal?

Answer 17

‘“dramatic rehearsal,” the imagining of a plurality of possible futures and the ways that lead to their realization. This involves thick descriptions of complex scenarios, of various competing possible lines of action and courses of conduct.’

Question 18

How do pragmatist technology ethics deal with value conflicts in pluralistic societies?

Answer 18

Dealing with value conflicts in pluralistic
societies:
‘Pragmatists aim to develop different tools of “conflict management” to enhance mutual respect and to promote the ideal of equal coexistence. One method to make persistent conflicts manageable is breaking up dualisms and relativizing rigid dichotomies. This can be done through gradualization: thinking in terms of degrees instead of boundaries.’

Question 19

What is the reflective equilibrium?

Answer 19

A tool to make a morally justifiable decision. All three components must be clarified and balanced. The three components are:

• Moral intuition
• Morally relevant facts
• Moral principles

Question 20

What happens when morally relevant principles aren’t considered in the reflective equilibrium?

Answer 20

PUB-TALK:

Pure emotions and all kinds of stories, random “facts”, hearsay references…

Question 21

What happens when morally relevant facts aren’t considered in the reflective equilibrium?

Answer 21

Not realistic, (too) hypothetical, fictive

Question 22

What happens when moral intuition isn’t considered in the reflective equilibrium?

Answer 22

traditional, juridical

Question 23

What type of arguments weigh heavier in the reflective equilibrium?

Answer 23

Rule of thumb:
deontological arguments weigh heavier than consequentialist arguments (defending individuals’ rights vs. accounting for group interests)