Topoi 32 (2):227-236 (2013)
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Abstract |
Can computer systems ever be considered moral agents? This paper considers two factors that are explored in the recent philosophical literature. First, there are the important domains in which computers are allowed to act, made possible by their greater functional capacities. Second, there is the claim that these functional capacities appear to embody relevant human abilities, such as autonomy and responsibility. I argue that neither the first (Domain-Function) factor nor the second (Simulacrum) factor gets at the central issue in the case for computer moral agency: whether they can have the kinds of intentional states that cause their decisions and actions. I give an account that builds on traditional action theory and allows us to conceive of computers as genuine moral agents in virtue of their own causally efficacious intentional states. These states can cause harm or benefit to moral patients, but do not depend on computer consciousness or intelligence
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Keywords | Moral agency Computer ethics Machine ethics |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11245-012-9149-4 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Mind Doesn’T Work That Way: The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology.Jerry A. Fodor - 2000 - MIT Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
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The Artificial View: Toward a Non-Anthropocentric Account of Moral Patiency.Fabio Tollon - 2020 - Ethics and Information Technology 23 (2):147-155.
Is the Machine Question the Same Question as the Animal Question?Katharyn Hogan - 2017 - Ethics and Information Technology 19 (1):29-38.
A Moral Analysis of Intelligent Decision-Support Systems in Diagnostics Through the Lens of Luciano Floridi’s Information Ethics.Dmytro Mykhailov - 2021 - Human Affairs 31 (2):149-164.
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
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