Moral luck and computer ethics: Gauguin in cyberspace
Ethics and Information Technology (forthcoming)
| Abstract | I argue that the problem of ‘moral luck’ is an unjustly neglected topic within Computer Ethics. This is unfortunate given that the very nature of computer technology, its ‘logical malleability’, leads to ever greater levels of complexity, unreliability and uncertainty. The ever widening contexts of application in turn lead to greater scope for the operation of chance and the phenomenon of moral luck. Moral luck bears down most heavily on notions of professional responsibility, the identification and attribution of responsibility. It is immunity from luck that conventionally marks out moral value from other kinds of values such as instrumental, technical, and use value. The paper describes the nature of moral luck and its erosion of the scope of responsibility and agency. Moral luck poses a challenge to the kinds of theoretical approaches often deployed in Computer Ethics when analyzing moral questions arising from the design and implementation of information and communication technologies. The paper considers the impact on consequentialism; virtue ethics; and duty ethics. In addressing cases of moral luck within Computer Ethics, I argue that it is important to recognise the ways in which different types of moral systems are vulnerable, or resistant, to moral luck. Different resolutions are possible depending on the moral framework adopted. Equally, resolution of cases will depend on fundamental moral assumptions. The problem of moral luck in Computer Ethics should prompt us to new ways of looking at risk, accountability and responsibility | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesChengping Zhang (2010). Moral Luck in Thomas Hardy's Fiction. Philosophy and Literature 34 (1):pp. 82-94.
Duncan Pritchard (2007). Duncan Pritchard, Epistemic Luck. Theoria 73 (2):173-178.
Nafsika Athanassoulis (2005). Morality, Moral Luck, and Responsibility: Fortune's Web. Palgrave Macmillan.
Andrew Latus (2000). Moral and Epistemic Luck. Journal of Philosophical Research 25:149-172.
Nafsika Athanassoulis (2005). Common-Sense Virtue Ethics and Moral Luck. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 8 (3):265 - 276.
Duncan Pritchard (2006). Moral and Epistemic Luck. Metaphilosophy 37 (1):1–25.
Anders Schinkel (2009). The Problem of Moral Luck: An Argument Against its Epistemic Reduction. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 12 (3):267 - 277.
David Enoch (2010). Moral Luck and the Law. Philosophy Compass 5 (1):42-54.
Jeffrey Whitman (2008). Moral Luck and the Professions. Business and Professional Ethics Journal 27 (1/4):35-54.
Christopher Michaelson (2008). Moral Luck and Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 83 (4):773 - 787.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-07-26Total downloads23 ( #53,940 of 549,754 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #25,807 of 549,754 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
