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11Paul Dumouchel and Luisa Damiano. Living with Robots. Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017. 280 pp (review)Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences 6 (2): 211. 2019.
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61Philosophy and Computing: Essays in epistemology, philosophy of mind, logic, and ethics (edited book)Springer. 2017.This book features papers from CEPE-IACAP 2015, a joint international conference focused on the philosophy of computing. Inside, readers will discover essays that explore current issues in epistemology, philosophy of mind, logic, and philosophy of science from the lens of computation. Coverage also examines applied issues related to ethical, social, and political interest. The contributors first explore how computation has changed philosophical inquiry. Computers are now capable of joining human…Read more
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Introduction: Intersecting Traditions in the Philosophy of ComputingIn Thomas M. Powers (ed.), Philosophy and Computing: Essays in epistemology, philosophy of mind, logic, and ethics, Springer. 2017.
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Formalism in Kant's EthicsDissertation, The University of Texas at Austin. 1994.This project has two connected goals: to analyze formal and non-formal aspects of Kant's ethics and thereby to offer a new understanding of his contributions to ethical theory. Philosophers generally have viewed Kant's ethical theory as the paradigm for formalism in ethics, exemplified in his universalizability test for maxims. Most of the criticisms of Kant turn on this standard interpretation. The formalist interpretation of Kant is neither entirely accurate nor charitable, given his ambivalen…Read more
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PrefaceIn Jinfen Yan & David E. Schrader (eds.), Creating a Global Dialogue on Value Inquiry: Papers From the Xxii Congress of Philosophy (Rethinking Philosophy Today), Edwin Mellen Press. 2009.
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1Incremental Machine EthicsIEEE Robotics and Automation 18 (1): 51-58. 2011.Approaches to programming ethical behavior for computer systems face challenges that are both technical and philosophical in nature. In response, an incrementalist account of machine ethics is developed: a successive adaptation of programmed constraints to new, morally relevant abilities in computers. This approach allows progress under conditions of limited knowledge in both ethics and computer systems engineering and suggests reasons that we can circumvent broader philosophical questions about…Read more
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24The Integrity of Body: Kantian Moral Constraints on the Physical SelfPhilosophy and Medicine 60 (3): 209-232. 1999.The moral permissibility of organ transplantation is taken for granted by most biomedical ethicists and practitioners. Of contemporary concern is not whether, but by what arrangements, we ought to allow organ transplantation. Should we institute markets for organs, thereby increasing their availability and saving many lives? Should organs be sold to the highest bidder? Should we allow the post mortem taking of organs without prior consent? Among moral theorists, the Kantians are suspected of be…Read more
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3Prospects for a Kantian machineIEEE Intelligent Systems 21 (4): 46-51. 2006.This paper is reprinted in the book Machine Ethics, eds. M. Anderson and S. Anderson, Cambridge University Press, 2011
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53Computers as surrogate agentsIn M. J. van den Joven & J. Weckert (eds.), Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University Press. pp. 251. 2008.
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Environmental holism and nanotechnologyIn F. Allhoff & P. Lin (eds.), Nanotechnology & Society: Current and Emerging Ethical Issues, Springer. 2008.
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The legacy of Kantian rationalism for social theoryIn P. Tm & Kamolnick Powers & T. M. Powers & P. Kamolnick (eds.), From Kant to Weber: Freedom and Culture in Classical German Social Theory, . 1999.
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117Real wrongs in virtual communitiesEthics and Information Technology 5 (4): 191-198. 2003.Beginning with the well-knowncyber-rape in LambdaMOO, I argue that it ispossible to have real moral wrongs in virtualcommunities. I then generalize the account toshow how it applies to interactions in gamingand discussion communities. My account issupported by a view of moral realism thatacknowledges entities like intentions andcausal properties of actions. Austin's speechact theory is used to show that real people canact in virtual communities in ways that bothestablish practices and moral expe…Read more
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1Deontological Machine EthicsIn M. Anderson, S. L. Anderson & C. Armen (eds.), Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Fall Symposium Technical Report, . 2005.Rule-based ethical theories like Kant's appear to be promising for machine ethics because of the computational structure of their judgments. On one formalist interpretation of Kant's categorical imperative, for instance, a machine could place prospective actions into the traditional deontic categories (forbidden, permissible, obligatory) by a simple consistency test on the maxim of action. We might enhance this test by adding a declarative set of subsidiary maxims and other "buttressing" rules. …Read more
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7From Kant to Weber: Freedom and Culture in Classical German Social Theory (edited book)Krieger. 1999.This collection of essays came from an NEH Summer Seminar in 1995 at the University of Chicago.
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189On the Moral Agency of ComputersTopoi 32 (2): 227-236. 2013.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)…Read more
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149Computer systems and responsibility: A normative look at technological complexityEthics and Information Technology 7 (2): 99-107. 2005.In this paper, we focus attention on the role of computer system complexity in ascribing responsibility. We begin by introducing the notion of technological moral action (TMA). TMA is carried out by the combination of a computer system user, a system designer (developers, programmers, and testers), and a computer system (hardware and software). We discuss three sometimes overlapping types of responsibility: causal responsibility, moral responsibility, and role responsibility. Our analysis is inf…Read more
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11Ideas, expressions, universals, and particulars: Metaphysics in the realm of software copyright lawIn H. Tavani & R. Spinello (eds.), Intellectual Property Rights in a Networked World, Idea Group. 2004.in Intellectual Property Rights in a Networked World, eds. H. Tavani and R. Spinello, 2004.
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1Responsibility in Software Engineering: Uncovering an Ethical ModelIn and J. Alvaro de Assis T. W. Bynum I. Alvarez (ed.), Proceedings of the Sixth International ETHICOMP Conference, . 2002.
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11One way to view the puzzle of machine ethics is to consider howIn M. Anderson S. Anderson (ed.), Machine Ethics, Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 464. 2011.
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17Book Review: Emerging Pervasive Information and Communication Technologies (PICT) (review)Journal of Philosophy, Science and Law 14 1-5. 2014.
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4Ethics and technology: a program for future researchIn M. Winston and R. Edelbach (ed.), Society, Ethics, and Technology, 4th edition, . 2009.This chapter is reprinted from our lead essay in the Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, ed. C. Mitcham, Gale, 2005
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Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Computing and Information |
Normative Ethics |
Ethics |