Abstract
A global information ethics that seeks to avoid imperialistic homogenization must conjoin shared norms while simultaneously preserving the irreducible differences between cultures and peoples. I argue that a global information ethics may fulfill these requirements by taking up an ethical pluralism – specifically Aristotle’s pros hen [“towards one”] or “focal” equivocals. These ethical pluralisms figure centrally in both classical and contemporary Western ethics: they further offer important connections with the major Eastern ethical tradition of Confucian thought. Both traditions understand ethical judgment to lead to and thus require ethical pluralism – i.e., an acceptance of more than one judgment regarding the interpretation and application of a shared ethical norm. Both traditions invoke notions of resonance and harmony to articulate pluralistic structures of connection alongside irreducible differences. Specific examples within Western computer and information ethics demonstrate these pluralisms in fact working in praxis. After reviewing further resonances and radical differences between Western and Eastern views, I then argue that emerging conceptions of privacy and data privacy protection laws in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand in fact constitute a robust, pros hen pluralism with Western conceptions. In both theory and in praxis, then, this pluralism thus fulfills the requirement for a global information ethics that holds shared norms alongside the irreducible differences between cultures and peoples.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ames R., Rosemont H. (1998). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. New York, Ballantine Books
Aquinas T. (1969). Summa Theologiae. Vol. 1: The Existence of God: Part One: Questions 1–13. Garden City, NY, Image Books
Aristotle, Metaphysics I–IX (Vol XVII, Aristotle in Twenty-Three Volumes). H. Tredennick, trans. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1968
Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Topica. H. Tredennick & E.␣S. Forster, trans. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1960
J. Bizer. Grundrechte im Netz: Von der freien Meinungsäußerung bis zum Recht auf Eigentum. In C.␣Schulzki-Haddouti (Hrsg.), Bürgerrechte im Netz, pp.␣21–29. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn. Available online: <http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/UZX6DW,,0,B%fcrgerrechte_im_Netz.html>, 2003
Boss J. (2005). Analyzing Moral Issues, 3rd ed. Boston, McGraw-Hill
Burrell D. (1973). Analogy and Philosophical Language. New Haven, Yale University Press
Capurro R. (2005). Privacy: An Intercultural Perspective. Ethics and Information Technology 7(1: March):37–47
Chan J. (2003). Confucian Attitudes Towards Ethical Pluralism. In R. Madsen, T.B. Strong (eds), The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World. Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 129–153
Y. Chen. Privacy in China. Unpublished Master’s thesis. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2005
Collste G. (2005). Is Religious Pluralism Possible?. In Collste G. (eds), Possibilities of Religious Pluralism. Linköping, Linköping University Electronic Press, pp. 48–61
R.T. De George. Business Ethics. 5th edition. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1999
Eickelman D.F. (2003). Islam and Ethical Pluralism. In Madsen R., Strong T.B. (eds), The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 161–180
R. Elberfeld. Resonanz als Grundmotiv ostasiatischer Ethik [Resonance as a Fundamental Motif of East Asian Ethics]. in R. Elberfeld and G. Wohlfart, editors, Komparative Ethik: Das gute Leben zwischen den Kulturen [Comparative Ethics: The Good Life between Cultures], pp. 131–141. Edition Chora, Cologne, 2002
D. Elgesem. What is Special About the Ethical Issues in Online Research? Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3): 195–203. Available online: <http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_elgesem.html>, 2002
C. Ess. Analogy in the Critical Works: Kant's Transcendental Philosophy as Analectical Thought. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, 1983
Ess C. (2003). The Cathedral or the Bazaar? The AoIR Document on Internet Research Ethics as an Exercise in Open Source Ethics. In Consolvo M. (eds), Internet Research Annual Volume 1: Selected Papers From the Association of Internet Researchers Conferences 2000–2002. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 95–103
Ess C. (2004a). Beyond contemptus mundi and Cartesian Dualism: Western Resurrection of the Bodysubject and (re)new(ed) Coherencies with Eastern Approaches to Life/Death. In Wohlfart G., Moeller H.-G. (eds), Philosophie des Todes: Death Philosophy East and West. Munich, Chora Verlag, pp. 15–36
Ess C. (2004b). Moral Imperatives for Life in an Intercultural Global Village. In Cavalier R. (eds), The Internet and Our Moral Lives. Albany, New York, State University of New York Press, pp. 161–193
C. Ess. Can the Local Reshape the Global? Ethical Imperatives for Humane Intercultural Communication Online. In J. Frühbauer, R. Capurro and T. Hausmanninger, editors, Localizing the Internet. Ethical Aspects in an Intercultural Perspective (Volume 4, ICIE Series), 2005a
C. Ess. What is Information Ethics? <http://www. drury.edu/ess/CAP04/cap04infoethics.html>, 2005b
Ess C. (2005c). “Lost in Translation”?: Intercultural Dialogues on Privacy and Information Ethics (Introduction to special issue on Privacy and Data Privacy Protection in Asia). Ethics and Information Technology 7(1: March): 1–6
C. Ess. Culture and Global Networks: Hope for a Global Ethics? In Jeroen van den Hoven and John Weckert, editors, Information Technology and Moral Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming
C. Ess and the AoIR ethics working group. Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the aoir ethics working committee. Available online: www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf
L. Floridi. Four Challenges for a Theory of Informational Privacy. In C. Ess and M. Thorseth, editors, Global Information Ethics: Cross-cultural Approaches to Emancipation, Privacy and Regulation, special issue of Ethics and Information Technology, forthcoming
Galston W.A. (2003). Liberal Egalitarian Attitudes Toward Ethical Pluralism. In Madsen R., Strong T.B. (eds), The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, pp. 25–41
Haldane J.H. (2003). Natural Law and Ethical Pluralism. In Madsen R., Strong T.B. (eds), The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World. Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 89–114
Hinman L. (1998). Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. Fort Worth, Harcourt, Brace
Hjarvard S. (2002). Mediated Encounters. An Essay on the Role of Communication Media in the Creation of Trust in the ‚Global Metropolis. In Gitte S., Thomas T. (eds), Global Encounters: Media and Cultural Transformation. Luton, University of Luton Press, pp. 69–84
S. Hongladarom. Analysis and Justification of Privacy from a Buddhist Perspective. In S. Hongladarom and C. Ess, editors, Information Technology Ethics: Cultural Perspectives. Idea Publishing, Hershey, PA, forthcoming
Johnson D. (2001). Computer Ethics. 3 rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall
W.T. Jones. A History of Western Philosophy, 2nd ed., Vol. I: The Classical Mind. Brace & World, New York, Harcourt, 1969
Kitiyadisai K. (2005). Privacy Rights and Protection: Foreign Values in Modern Thai Context. Ethics and Information Technology 7(1: March):17–26
Kymlicka W. (1995). Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford, Clarendon Press
Lin, Pei-Chun and Caroline Henkes. Privacy Research: Privacy Sense in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Unpublished MS: Universität Trier, 2004
Lü Yao-huai . Privacy and Data Privacy Issues in Contemporary China. Ethics and Information Technology, 7(1: March): 7–15, 2005
Madsen R., Strong T. (eds). (2003). The Many and the One: Religious and Secular Perspectives on Ethical Pluralism in the Modern World. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press
Nakada M., Takanori T. (2005). Japanese Conceptions of Privacy: An Intercultural Perspective. Ethics and Information Technology 7(1: March):27–36
NESH (National Committee for Research Ethics in the␣Social Sciences and the Humanities). Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences, Law and␣the␣Humanities. <http://www.etikkom.no/NESH/guidelines.htm>, 2001
Plato’s Republic. G.M.A. Grube, trans. Hackett, Indianapolis, 1974
Ramasoota P. (2001). Privacy: A Philosophical Sketch and a Search for a Thai Perception. MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities 4(2: September):89–107
Rawls J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press
Rawls J. (1993). Political Liberalism. New York, Columbia University Press
Reidenberg J.R. (2000). Resolving Conflicting International Data Privacy Rules in Cyberspace. Stanford Law Review 52:1315–1376
Stahl B.C. (2004). Responsible Management of Information Systems. Hershey, Pennsylvania, Idea Group Publishing
R. Tang. Approaches to Privacy – The Hong Kong Experience. <http://www.pco.org.hk/english/infocentre/speech_20020222.html>, 2002
Tu W.-M. (1999). Humanity as Embodied Love: Exploring Filial Piety as a Global Ethical Perspective. In Zlomislic M., Goicoechea D. (eds), Jen Agape Tao with Tu Wei-Ming. Binghampton, NY, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, pp. 28–37
H. Veatch. A Critique of Benedict. In J.R. Weinberg and K.E. Yandell, editors, Theory of Knowledge. Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, New York, 1971
J. Walther. Research Ethics in Internet-Enabled Research: Human Subjects Issues and Methodological Myopia. Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3). Available online: <http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_walther. html>, 2002
Warren K.J. (1990). The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism. Environmental Ethics 12(2: (Summer)):123–146
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ess, C. Ethical pluralism and global information ethics. Ethics Inf Technol 8, 215–226 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-9113-3
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-9113-3