Autonomous cars, drones, and electronic surveillance systems are examples of technologies that raise serious ethical issues. In this analytic investigation, Martin Peterson articulates and defends five moral principles for addressing ethical issues related to new and existing technologies: the cost-benefit principle, the precautionary principle, the sustainability principle, the autonomy principle, and the fairness principle. It is primarily the method developed by Peterson for articulating and analyzing the five principles that is novel. He argues that geometric concepts such as points, lines, and planes can be put to work for clarifying the structure and scope of these and other moral principles. This geometric account is based on the Aristotelian dictum that like cases should be treated alike, meaning that the degree of similarity between different cases can be represented as a distance in moral space. The more similar a pair of cases are from a moral point of view, the closer is their location in moral space. A case that lies closer in moral space to a paradigm case for some principle p than to any paradigm for any other principle should be analyzed by applying principle p. The book also presents empirical results from a series of experimental studies in which experts (philosophers) and laypeople (engineering students) have been asked to apply the geometric method to fifteen real-world cases. The empirical findings indicate that experts and laypeople do in fact apply geometrically construed moral principles in roughly, but not exactly, the manner advocates of the geometric method believe they ought to be applied.
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In this analytically oriented work, Peterson articulates and defends five moral principles for addressing ethical issues related to new and existing technologies: the cost-benefit principle, the precautionary principle, the sustainability principle, the autonomy principle, and the fairness principle.
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Preface Part 1: Foundations 1. Introduction 2. The Geometry of Applied Ethics 3. Experimental Data Part II: Five Principles 4. The Cost-Benefit Principle 5. The Precautionary Principle 6. The Sustainability Principle 7. The Autonomy Principle 8. The Fairness Principle Part III: Wrapping Up 9. Are Technological Artifacts Mere Tools? 10. Conclusion Appendix: Case Descriptions References
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Selling point: Peterson shows how geometric objects such as points, lines, and diagrams can be used for clarifying the scope and structure of moral principles. Selling point: Includes results from three large experimental studies, in which over 1,000 subjects have been asked to apply the geometric method. Selling point: An innovative, hybrid approach to an ethical understanding of technology
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Martin Peterson is Bovay Professor of History and Ethics of Professional Engineering in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Dimensions of Consequentialism (CUP 2013) and An Introduction to Decision Theory (CUP 2009).
Les mer
Selling point: Peterson shows how geometric objects such as points, lines, and diagrams can be used for clarifying the scope and structure of moral principles. Selling point: Includes results from three large experimental studies, in which over 1,000 subjects have been asked to apply the geometric method. Selling point: An innovative, hybrid approach to an ethical understanding of technology
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780190652265
Publisert
2017
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
499 gr
Høyde
155 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
25 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
264

Forfatter

Biographical note

Martin Peterson is Bovay Professor of History and Ethics of Professional Engineering in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Dimensions of Consequentialism (CUP 2013) and An Introduction to Decision Theory (CUP 2009).