New Directions in Understanding Ethics and Technology

理解伦理和技术的新方向

• 批准号: 0220748
• 负责人: Deborah Johnson
• 金额: $ 21.56万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0220748&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: New; Directions; Understanding; Ethics; Technology

This endeavor examines the implications of recent work in Science and Technology Studies (STS) for understanding the connection between ethics and technology. It involves integration of insights from two fields of research that have significantly evolved in the last two decades: Social studies of technology; andApplied and practical ethics related to technology.STS theories of technology provide a rich foundation for understanding the connection between ethics and technology insofar as they reveal the intimate connections between technology and society, and especially the social shaping of technology. STS scholars have rejected the idea that technologies simply appear and then have social impacts. They now favor more complex, co-creation models of technology and society. However, many ethicists continue to use a model of technology arriving intact and then having impacts, i.e., threatening particular social values or raising ethical issues. When the seamless connection between technology and society is better understood, many new and promising directions for research on ethics and technology become apparent. This project aims to develop, articulate, illustrate, and disseminate a theoretical account (or accounts) of the connection between ethics and technology, an account that incorporates and builds on STS social shaping/co-creation theories. The major task of the project will be to draw out the implications of STS theory for ethics. Three directions will serve as starting places for this endeavor. STS theory suggests that technology should be understood to be not just material objects but material objects together with social institutions, social practices, and human relationships. In this view, ethical and value issues may be present at any point in the life cycle of a technology, from design, to manufacture, to marketing and distribution, to adoption and use. Second, a good deal of STS literature addresses the values embodied in the design of material objects and this has enormous implications for understanding the possibility of moral values being 'in' material objects. Third, understanding the connection between ethics and technology opens up the possibility of better understanding the role of human agency in technology-mediated activities and consequently the accountability of humans for such activities. The project is philosophical and theoretical in nature, not empirical. While the research to be done will draw on empirical studies of technology, the methodology of the project is conceptual, thematic, and analytical. The investigator is a philosopher who has worked both in STS and in the field of applied/ practical ethics, especially ethical issues in computer technology. Two post-doctoral research associates, one post-doc with a background in STS and one with a background in ethics are involved. Each will be trained to understand the other field so that both can assist in the development of the theoretical account and work on an individual project.

这一奋进探讨了科学技术研究（STS）最近的工作，了解伦理和技术之间的联系的影响。它涉及整合过去二十年来发生重大发展的两个研究领域的见解：技术的社会研究;以及与技术相关的应用和实践伦理学。技术的STS理论为理解伦理与技术之间的联系提供了丰富的基础，因为它们揭示了技术与社会之间的密切联系，尤其是技术的社会塑造。STS学者拒绝接受技术只是出现，然后产生社会影响的想法。 他们现在喜欢更复杂的技术和社会的共同创造模式。 然而，许多伦理学家继续使用一种模型，即技术完好无损地到达，然后产生影响，威胁到特定的社会价值观或引发伦理问题。当技术与社会之间的无缝连接被更好地理解时，许多新的和有前途的伦理和技术研究方向变得明显。该项目旨在开发，阐明，说明和传播伦理与技术之间的联系的理论帐户（或帐户），该帐户包含并建立在STS社会塑造/共同创造理论的基础上。该项目的主要任务将是引出STS理论对伦理学的影响。 三个方向将作为这一奋进的起点。STS理论认为，技术不应该被理解为仅仅是物质对象，而是与社会制度、社会实践和人类关系一起的物质对象。从这一观点来看，道德和价值问题可能出现在技术生命周期的任何一点上，从设计到制造，到营销和分销，再到采用和使用。第二，大量的STS文献论述了在物质对象的设计中体现的价值，这对理解道德价值“在”物质对象中的可能性有着巨大的影响。第三，理解伦理和技术之间的联系，开辟了更好地理解人类机构在技术中介活动中的作用的可能性，因此，人类对这些活动的责任。该项目是哲学和理论的性质，而不是经验。虽然要进行的研究将借鉴技术的实证研究，但该项目的方法是概念性的、主题性的和分析性的。研究者是一位哲学家，他在STS和应用/实践伦理学领域都有工作，特别是计算机技术中的伦理问题。两名博士后研究助理，一名博士后与STS的背景和一个在伦理学的背景。 每个人都将接受培训，以了解其他领域，以便双方都可以协助理论帐户的发展和个人项目的工作。