Ethical pluralism and global information ethics

Ethics and Information Technology 8 (4):215-226 (2006)
  Copy   BIBTEX

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.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A universal model for the normative evaluation of internet information.Edward H. Spence - 2009 - Ethics and Information Technology 11 (4):243-253.
Ethics in global business and in a plural society.Ana Marta González - 2003 - Journal of Business Ethics 44 (1):23 - 36.
Information ethics: an environmental approach to the digital divide.Luciano Floridi - 2002 - Philosophy in the Contemporary World 9 (1):39–45.
The ethics of information transparency.Matteo Turilli & Luciano Floridi - 2009 - Ethics and Information Technology 11 (2):105-112.
Privacy and data privacy issues in contemporary china.Lü Yao-Huai - 2005 - Ethics and Information Technology 7 (1):7-15.
Digitalization and global ethics.Zonghao Bao & Kun Xiang - 2006 - Ethics and Information Technology 8 (1):41-47.
Just consequentialism and computing.James H. Moor - 1999 - Ethics and Information Technology 1 (1):61-65.
What pluralism, why pluralism, and how? A response to Charles Ess.Kei Hiruta - 2006 - Ethics and Information Technology 8 (4):227-236.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
116 (#142,448)

6 months
6 (#202,901)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?