Transcript Slide 1
Reflective Responsibility as an Approach to Information Ethics Bernd Carsten Stahl 2 Ethics and Morality • The German Approach – Deontology as the foundation of ethics – Morality as practice, ethics as theory – Reason as the basis of ethics – Representatives: Kant and Habermas • The French Approach – No final foundation (such as reason) – Duty is not the central idea – Ethics aims as the good life, moral rules enforces freedom – Representatives: Montaigne and Ricoeur 3 Responsibility • Social construct of ascription • Ascribes an object to a subject • Aims to promote the good life • Other relevant dimensions – Authority – Type (moral, role, legal,…) – Temporal dimension (ex ante; ex post) – Reflexive vs transitive ascription – Excuses / Exemptions 4 Problems of Responsibility • Conditions – Freedom – Causality – Power – Personal qualities • Subject – Individual / collective – Machines as subjects • Object – Uncertainty / risk / contingency – Side effects – Collective effects 5 Reflective Responsibility • Commonalities of responsibility – Openness (procedure and outcome) – Affinity to action (implies manifest results) – Consequentialism (good life; consequences count) • Reflective responsibility – Applies responsibility to itself: is the use of responsibility responsible; is it open, does it lead to action, promote the good life? – Requires a formal approach – Normative and factual claims are debated simultaneously – Overcomes the problems of responsibility ascriptions 6 Consequences of Reflective Responsibility • Theoretical consequences – Clarity of the notion – Pragmatism in ascriptions – Modesty of aims – Recognition of constructivist / constructionist nature – Acceptance of inevitability • Prudence / phronesis – Accommodates uncertainty – Mediates theory and practice; ethics and morality 7 Consequences of Reflective Responsibility • Realisability • Accountability • Institutions • Imputation – Discourse ethics – Stakeholder approach 8 Pros and Cons of Reflective Responsibility • Disadvantages – Practical realisability – Risk of failure – Unclear ethical evaluation of outcome of ascription • Advantages – Mediates ethics and morality – Facilitates normative and factual discussions – Realises inevitability of ascriptions and attempts to optimise them – Offers a formal, procedural, and realisable approach to info ethics 9 International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction www.ijthi.net 10