The Ethics of Technology

Our daily lives are affected by new technologies at an ever increasing rate. It is becoming more and more important to assess future technologies from an ethical point of view, and to do this before they are introduced on a massive scale. Such assessments require systematic use of many different kinds of knowledge.

In this important new book, an international team of leading experts in the field provides the first comprehensive treatment of the methods available for ethical assessments of technologies and their social introduction. The book explores how information from empirical research can be used in ethical analyses of technology and includes chapters showing how ethical analysis can shed light on topics such as privacy, risk, sustainability, dual use, gender issues, justice, international technology transfer, and the responsibility of engineers. It provides an invaluable resource for students in the philosophy and ethics of technology, science and technology studies, applied ethics, bioethics, business ethics and the ethics of computing.

Sven Ove Hansson is Professor of the Philosophy of Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. He is a past president of the Society for Philosophy and Technology. His many publications includeThe Ethics of Risk (2013),Social and Ethical Aspects of Radiation Risk Management (2013, co-edited with Deborah Oughton),Norms in Technology (2013, co-edited with Marc J. de Vries and Anthonie W.M. Meijers),David Makinson on Classical Methods for Non-Classical Problems (2014), andThe Role of Technology in Science: PhilosophicalPerspectives(forthcoming).

Preface / Preview / 1. Introduction: Theories and methods for the ethics of technologySven Ove Hansson/Part I Perspectives/ 2. Ethics of sustainability an analytical approachChristine Rösch/3. International technology transferAnthony I. Akubue /4. Technology and distributive justiceSven Ove Hansson/5. Phenomenological approaches to technological ethicsRobert Rosenberger /6. Profession as a lens for studying technologyMichael Davis /Part II Tools /7. Case study methodologiesGertrude Hirsch Hadorn/ 8. Ethical toolsPayam Moula and Per Sandin / 9. Responsibility analysisJessica Nihlén Fahlquist/ 10. Privacy analysis privacy impact assessmentStefan Strauß / 11. Ethical risk analysisSven Ove HanssonPart III Emerging technologies/ 12. Ethics of emerging technologiesPhilip Brey /13. Designing differently: Toward a methodology for an ethics of feminist technology designDiane Michelfelder, Galit Wellner, and Heather Wiltse/ 14. Value-sensitive design and responsible research and innovationJudith Simon /Part IV Ethical reflections
15. The ethics of doing ethics of technologySven Ove Hansson / List of contributors /Index