Designing in Ethics

Description

Many of our interactions in the twenty-first century - both good and bad - take place by means of institutions, technology, and artefacts. We inhabit a world of implements, instruments, devices, systems, gadgets, and infrastructures. Technology is not only something that we make, but is also something that in many ways makes us. The discipline of ethics must take this constitutive feature of institutions and technology into account; thus, ethics must in turn be embedded in our institutions and technology. The contributors to this book argue that the methodology of 'designing in ethics' - addressing and resolving the issues raised by technology through the use of appropriate technological design - is the way to achieve this integration. They apply their original methodology to a wide range of institutions and technologies, using case studies from the fields of healthcare, media and security. Their volume will be important for philosophical practitioners and theorists alike.

Jeroen van den Hoven is University Professor of Ethics and Technology at Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands. He is editor-in-chief of Ethics and Information Technology and founder of the Dutch Research Council's Program on Responsible Innovation. Seumas Miller is Professor of Philosophy at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands, and the University of Oxford. His publications include The Moral Foundations of Social Institutions (Cambridge, 2010) and Institutional Corruption (Cambridge, 2017). Thomas Pogge is Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University, Connecticut, and Director of the Global Justice Program. He also holds positions at King's College London and Universitetet i Oslo.

'In sum, Designing in Ethics proves to be a solid primer to the history of, and necessity for, a design approach to applied ethics, one that is accessible to both graduate students and seasoned scholars in the field. The use of case studies by all chapter authors makes the applied ethics case for design in itself. The exponential advance in technology development and its increasing harmonization with human society make this collection particularly timely and its endorsement unproblematic.' Steven Umbrello, Prometheus