Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-07T13:48:48.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Computer Systems

Moral Entities but Not Moral Agents

from PART III - ISSUES CONCERNING MACHINE ETHICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

By
Deborah G. Johnson
Edited by
Michael Anderson  and
Susan Leigh Anderson
Michael Anderson
Affiliation:
University of Hartford, Connecticut
Susan Leigh Anderson
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Get access

Summary

Introduction

In this paper i will argue that computer systems are moral entities but not, alone, moral agents. In making this argument I will navigate through a complex set of issues much debated by scholars of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and computer ethics. My claim is that those who argue for the moral agency (or potential moral agency) of computers are right in recognizing the moral importance of computers, but they go wrong in viewing computer systems as independent, autonomous moral agents. Computer systems have meaning and significance only in relation to human beings; they are components in socio-technical systems. What computer systems are and what they do is intertwined with the social practices and systems of meaning of human beings. Those who argue for the moral agency (or potential moral agency) of computer systems also go wrong insofar as they overemphasize the distinctiveness of computers. Computer systems are distinctive, but they are a distinctive form of technology and have a good deal in common with other types of technology.

On the other hand, those who claim that computer systems are not (and can never be) moral agents also go wrong when they claim that computer systems are outside the domain of morality. To suppose that morality applies only to the human beings who use computer systems is a mistake.

Type
Chapter
Information
Machine Ethics , pp. 168 - 183
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allenby, B. R., “Engineering Ethics for an Anthropogenic Planet.” Emerging Technologies and Ethical Issues in Engineering (Washington D.C.: National Academies Press, 2004), pp. 7–28.Google Scholar
Aristotle, , Nicomachean Ethics. Translation from Irwin, Terence, Indianapolis, Hackett, 1985.Google Scholar
Bijker, W. E., “Sociohistorical Technology Studies.” In Jasanoff, S., Markle, G. E., Petersen, J. C., and Pinch, T. (Eds.), Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, London, Sage, 1994, pp. 229–256.Google Scholar
Bynum, T. W.andMoor, J.H., (Eds.), The Digital Phoenix: How Computers are Changing Philosophy. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 1998.
Fetzer, J. H., Computers and Cognition: Why Minds Are Not Machines. Kluwer Academic Press, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Floridi, L. and Sanders, J., “On the morality of artificial agents.” Minds and Machines, 14 3 (2004): 349–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heidegger, M., The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Translated and with an Introduction by Lovitt, W.. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.Google Scholar
Hughes, T. P., “Technological Momentum.” In Marx, L. and Smith, M. R. (Eds.), Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. G. and Powers, T.M., “Computers as Surrogate Agents.” In Moral Philosophy and Information Technology edited by Hoven, J. and Weckert, J.. Cambridge University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Law, J., “Technology and Heterogeneous Engineering: The Case of Portuguese Expansion.” In Bijker, W.E., Hughes, T. P., and Pinch, T. (Eds.), The Social Construction of Technological Systems. Cambridge, MIT Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Pitt, J., Thinking About Technology: Foundations of the Philosophy of Technology. Originally published by Seven Bridges Press, New York, 2000.Google Scholar
Stahl, B. C., “Information, Ethics, and Computers: The Problem of Autonomous Moral Agents.” Minds and Machines 14 (2004): 67–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×