Alle Publikationen
2018
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(2018) : Embedding Ethics in the Design of Culturally Competent Socially Assistive Robots: 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): Madrid: 10/1/2018 - 10/5/2018: Madrid, Spain: IEEE, S. 1996-2001
Abstract: Research focusing on the development of socially assistive robots (SARs) for the care of older adults has grown in recent years, prompting a great deal of ethical analysis and reflection on the future of SARs in caring roles. Much of this ethical thinking, however, has taken place far from the settings where technological innovation is practiced. Different frameworks have been proposed to bridge this gap and enable researchers to handle the ethical dimension of technology from within the design and development process, including Value Sensitive Design (VSD). VSD has been defined as a “theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process”. Inspired in part by VSD, we have developed a process geared towards embedding ethics at the core of CARESSES, an international multidisciplinary project that aims to design the first culturally competent SAR for the care of older adults. Here we describe that process, which included extracting key ethical concepts from relevant ethical guidelines and applying those concepts to scenarios that describe how the CARESSES robot will interact with individuals belonging to different cultures. This approach highlights the ethical implications of the robot's behavior early in the design process, thus enabling researchers to identify and engage with ethical problems proactively.
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(2018): Grundfragen der Maschinenethik. 2., durchgesehene Auflage. Ditzingen: Reclam
Abstract: Maschinen werden immer selbständiger, autonomer, intelligenter. Ihr Vormarsch ist kaum mehr zu stoppen. Dabei geraten sie in Situationen, die moralische Entscheidungen verlangen. Doch können Maschinen überhaupt moralisch handeln, sind sie moralische Akteure – und dürfen sie das? Mit diesen und ähnlichen Fragen beschäftigt sich der völlig neue Ansatz der Maschinenethik. Catrin Misselhorn erläutert die Grundlagen dieser neuen Disziplin an der Schnittstelle von Philosophie, Informatik und Robotik sachkundig und verständlich, etwa am Beispiel von autonomen Waffensystemen, Pflegerobotern und autonomem Fahren: das grundlegende Buch für die neue Disziplin.
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(2018): Voluntary Simplicity Strongly Backed by All Three Main Normative-Ethical Traditions. In: Ethical Perspectives 25 (1), S. 87-116
Abstract: We examine the growing ‘Voluntary Simplicity’ (VS) movement from the perspectives of Utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, and Virtue Ethics. We argue that, from each of these three diverse perspectives, there is a compelling argument to the conclusion that citizens of the ‘developed’ world ought to embrace such simplicity in their own lives, and to facilitate its greater adoption societally and globally. We conclude by asking why it is that this compelling conclusion has not already been more widely found and acted upon. In reflecting on this question we outline some arguments for why a culture of voluntary simplicity may be needed to drive political and macroeconomic change.
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(2018): Menschen reagieren emotional auf Roboter. In: Report Psychologie 43 (10). Online verfügbar unter HTTP://sfx.hbz-nrw.de/sfx_bie?genre=article&isbn=&issn=03449602&title=Report%20Psychologie&volume=43&issue=10&date=20180101&atitle=Menschen%20reagieren%20emotional%20auf%20Roboter&aulast=Schaffmann%2C%20Christa&spage=420&sid=EBSCO%3APSYNDEX%3A%20Literature%20and%20Audiovisual%20Media%20with%20PSYNDEX%20Tests&pid=
Abstract: Kurz informiert wird über Forschungsbefunde, die zeigen, dass Personen auf Roboter, die eigene Gefühle aussprechen, mit einem Sozialverhalten reagieren, dass dem Umgang mit Menschen ähnelt. So passten sie sich den geäußerten Wünschen an, entwickelten Emotionen gegenüber dem Roboter, empfanden ihm gegenüber Empathie, halfen ihm häufiger und sprachen ihm menschliche Eigenschaften zu.
Keywords: Ethik, Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion -
(2018): The use of care robots in aged care: A systematic review of argument-based ethics literature. In: Archives of gerontology and geriatrics 74, S. 15-25. DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2017.08.014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2017.08.014 Abstract: BACKGROUND As care robots become more commonplace in aged-care settings, the ethical debate on their use becomes increasingly important. Our objective was to examine the ethical arguments and underlying concepts used in the ethical debate on care robot use in aged care. METHODS We conducted a systematic literature search for argument-based ethics publications focusing on care robot use in aged-care practices. We used an innovative methodology that consisted of three steps: (a) identifying conceptual-ethical questions, (b) conducting a literature search, and (c) identifying, describing and analyzing the ethical arguments in connection with the conceptual-ethical questions. RESULTS Twenty-eight appropriate publications were identified. All were published between 2002 and 2016. Four primary ethical approaches were distinguished: (a) a deontological, (b) a principlist, (c) an objective-list, and (d) a care-ethical. All approaches were equally represented across the articles, and all used similar concepts that grounded their diverse ethical arguments. A small group of publications could not be linked to an ethical approach. CONCLUSIONS All included publications presented a strong ethical rationale based on fully elaborated normative arguments. Although the reviewed studies used similar grounding concepts, the studies' arguments were very diverse and sometimes diametrically opposed. Our analysis shows how one envisions care robot use in aged-care settings is influenced by how one views the traditional boundaries of the ethical landscape in aged care. We suggest that an ethical analysis of care robot use employs "democratic spaces," in which all stakeholders in aged care, especially care recipients, have a voice in the ethical debate.
2017
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(2017): Kant, Oppression, and the Possibility of Nonculpable Failures to Respect Oneself. In: The Southern Journal of Philosophy 55 (3), S. 285-305. DOI: 10.1111/sjp.12242
Abstract: I argue that Kant's ethical framework cannot countenance a certain kind of failure to respect oneself that can occur within oppressive social contexts. Kant's assumption that any person, qua rational being, has guaranteed epistemic access to the moral law as the standard of good action and the capacity to act upon this standard makes autonomy an achievement within the individual agent's power, but this is contrary to a feminist understanding of autonomy as a relational achievement that can be thwarted by the systematic attack on autonomy that occurs within oppressive social conditions. Insofar as Kant's negative duty of self-respect is unable to accommodate the ways immersion in oppressive social environments can warp an individual's understanding of what she is owed and capable of as a moral agent, it perpetuates the cruelty of unjust social systems in the guise of respecting individual autonomy. I conclude by considering Carol Hay's argument that those who are oppressed have an obligation to themselves to resist their own oppression, in order to explore how this limitation in how Kant conceives of the duty to respect the self may reach expression in contemporary ethical theory inspired by Kant.
Keywords: agency, Autonomie, Diskriminierung, Disziplin, Ethik, feminism, Feminismus, Gender, Handlungsmacht, Hay, Kant, Macht, Modelle/Theorien, Moral, moral agents, moralische Gesetze, moralisches Wissen, Moralphilosophie, oppressive social systems, Philosophie, Respekt, social systems, ethics, Three main normative ethic perspectives Kant, Utilitarismus virtue ethics, Unterdrückungssysteme -
(2017): The Rawlsian Critique of Utilitarianism. A Luhmannian Interpretation. In: Journal of Business Ethics 142 (1), S. 25-35. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2786-y
Abstract: The present paper builds on the Rawlsian critique of utilitarianism in order to identify the moral implications of Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory. While Luhmann aptly discerned the pervasive problems of the precarious system-environment relations throughout the modern society, he took moral communication to be person-centered and thus ill-equipped to deal with these problems. At the same time, the Rawlsian possibility of sacrificing fundamental liberties for the sake of economic gains not only exemplifies the Luhmannian precariousness of the relations of the economic system to its societal environment, but also shows this precariousness to be a moral problem. Thus, from the systems-theoretic perspective, the Rawlsian idea of justice denotes the moral dimension of the capacity of the societal environment to carry the economic system. More generally, the proposed complementarity between Rawls and Luhmann allows to see the precariousness of system-environment relations, for any type of social system, as a moral problem. Two implications follow. First, the morally problematic manifestations of the precarious system-environment relations are not limited to the Rawlsian case of the discrimination of the least advantaged groups but rather include a broad range of social costs and damaging effects of business on society and nature. Second, and related, the proposed systems-theoretic perspective explicates the moral value of sustainability of the economic as well as other social systems in their environment, societal and ecological alike.
Keywords: BUSINESS, business ethics, ethics, CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP, Disziplin, Economic system, Ethik, Gesellschaftsprofit, John Rawls, Justice, Kosten-Nutzen, Luhmann, Moral, moralische Dimension, Moralphilosophie, Morals, Moraltheorie, Niklas Luhmann, Philosophie, Rawls, SOCIAL COSTS, social systems, Societal environment, SYSTEMS, Utilitarianism, Utilitarismus 2016
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(2016): Use of the Social Cognitive Theory to Frame University Students’ Perceptions of Cheating. In: Journal of Academic Ethics 14 (1), S. 49-69. DOI: 10.1007/s10805-015-9252-4
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions related to ethics and cheating among a representative sample of primarily female undergraduate students, compared to trends reported in the literature. Focus groups were organized to discuss nine scripted questions. Transcripts and audiotapes were analyzed and four main themes emerged: demographics of those who cheat, students' perceptions of cheating, the role of technology in cheating, and consequences of cheating, including students' attitudes and behaviors related to reporting cheating incidents. Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) served as the theoretical framework to understand students' varying perceptions of and justification for cheating, as well as the dynamics of honor code violations, via group discussion. Viewpoints on cheating were regularly discussed and contradictory views were identified related to frequency and justification for cheating. Utilizing the constant comparative method, students mentioned time limitations, and pressure from peers, parents, and professors as reasons to cheat. They also discussed pressures to achieve high grades for acceptance into graduate programs. Students were also reluctant to report their classmates for cheating incidents. Repeated and comprehensive education on ethical behavior is warranted.
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(2016): A Time-Lagged Study of the Relationship Between Big Five Personality and Ethical Ideology. In: Ethics & Behavior 26 (6), S. 488-506. DOI: 10.1080/10508422.2015.1055493
Abstract: Our objective is to examine the effects of Big Five personality traits on ethical ideologies using a time-lagged design of 406 employees of higher education institutions in Pakistan. Based on low/high idealism versus relativism, we investigate the conceptual linkage between each of the personality traits and moral philosophy. The results illustrate that extraversion and openness to experience believed on subjectivism moral philosophy, agreeableness believed on situationism, and neuroticism believed on absolutism moral philosophies. In addition, contentiousness believed on exceptionism moral philosophy. Furthermore, managerial implications and future research directions are suggested.
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(2016): Ethische Herausforderungen zum Einsatz sozial-assistiver Roboter bei älteren Menschen. In: Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie 49 (4), S. 303-307. DOI: 10.1007/s00391-016-1066-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-016-1066-5 Abstract: Socially assistive robots are increasingly discussed as solutions in care and domestic use for the support of senior adults; however, this raises ethical questions which hitherto have not been considered or were not predictable. The most important questions are those of privacy and data protection, safety and responsibility as well as involvement of vulnerable persons and deception. Consequently, the ethical principles of nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy and fairness should be transposed to robotics. Clear answers and solutions are not yet available for every ethical challenge in robotics; however, the development of ethical guidelines for deployment of robots and research in the field of social service robots (SSR) are essential steps in order to embed ethics into dealing with socially assistive robots. This article provides some practical suggestions on this issue from a robotics project.
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(2016): A love story: For ’Buddy System’ research in the academy. In: Gender, Place & Culture 23 (12), S. 1689-1700
Abstract: This article makes a case for a 'buddy system' approach to research and scholarship, or a kind of 'caring with' our colleagues, as feminist praxis and as an intentional, politicized response to the neoliberalization of the academy. Through autoethnographic writing on our travels together into farmed animal auction yards, we explain the buddy system as a mode of caring, solidarity, and love that differs from collaborative research, focused as it is on caring for and about our colleagues and their research even (or especially) when we have no direct stakes in the research being conducted. We contribute to three feminist conversations with this approach: feminist care ethics in geography; emotional geographies; and critical perspectives on the neoliberalization of the academy. We advocate the buddy system as an extension of feminist care ethics, enriching how feminists think about 'doing' research. We draw on feminist geographies of emotion and our own emotions (grief especially) experienced while witnessing processes of nonhuman animal commodification to politicize the act of researching and to develop a more caring way of inhabiting the academy. This is particularly important, we argue, in the context of deepening neoliberal logics that turn the academy into a place where care and love become radical acts of resistance and transformation.
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(2016): ON DECORUM. FROM THE CLASSICS TO POSTMODERNITY. In: QUAESTIO IURIS 9 (3)
Abstract: Considering that the observance of decorum is important to assure good human relationships, especially in the public sphere, and, also, that episodes of breach of decorum are recurrent in Brazilian public life, I propose to recover this classical concept, since its re-evaluation is opportune and urgent. I present therefore a historical revision of the concept of decorum starting from the classics and find that, although this concept has undergone changes, its fundamental aspect, the intimate connection with ethics, has been maintained until the present day. Evidence that this classical concept still survives is the existence, in many countries, of “codes of ethics and decorum” of legislative, judicial and other organs. I find, however, that this concept is sensitive to culture, which is proven in the contrastive analysis of a sample of episodes of the violation of decorum by judges of the American Supreme Court and of the Brazilian Supreme Court. I found that, although violations of Americans are less severe than Brazilians, the reactions of the media and American citizens are much more energetic, because decorum for the Americans is a value that they hold dear, while in Brazil it is a dead letter, lacking be ressurected. I also present some reflections on the arrogance of those who hold power, an attitude to which I attribute the cause of many occurrences of the breach of decorum nowadays.
Keywords: Brasilien, Breach of decorum, decorum, Decorum in der Öffentlichkeit, Ethik, Fehlverhalten, Gericht, Grenzen, Grenzüberschreitung, Judikative, Kommunikation, Kultur, Kulturvergleich, Macht, Medien, Medienwirksamkeit, Öffentliche, diskursive Aushandlung von Anstand, Öffentlicher Diskurs, Rechtswissenschaft, Rhetorik, Richter, Soziale Angemessenheit, Umgangsformen, USA, Werte -
(2016): Principles, Virtues, or Detachment?. Some Appreciative Reflections on Karen Stohr’s On Manners. In: Dao 15 (2), S. 227-239. DOI: 10.1007/s11712-016-9489-7
Abstract: Karen Stohr’s book On Manners argues persuasively that rules of etiquette, though conventional, play an essential moral role, because they “serve as vehicles through which we express important moral values like respect and consideration for the needs, ideas, and opinions of others” (Stohr 2012: 3–4). Stohr frequently invokes Kantian concepts and principles in order to make her point. In Part 2 of this essay, I shall argue that the significance of etiquette is better understood using a virtue ethics framework, like that of Confucianism, rather than the language of Kantianism. Within the Chinese tradition, Daoists have frequently been critics of Confucian ritualism. Consequently, in Part 3, I shall consider some possible Daoist critiques of Stohr’s work.
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(2016): The Bright Line of Ethical Agency. In: Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 20 (3), S. 240-257. DOI: 10.5840/techne2016102858
Abstract: In his article The Nature, Importance, and Difficulty of Machine Ethics, James H. Moor distinguishes two lines of argument for those who wish to draw a “bright line” between full ethical agents, such as human beings, and “weaker” ethical agents, such as machines whose actions have significant moral ramifications. The first line of argument is that only full ethical agents are agents at all. The second is that no machine could have the presumed features necessary for ethical agency. This paper shows why Moor is mistaken in his refutation of the first line of argument; it also makes a positive case that “weaker” ethical agents are not agents at all. This positive case, however, allows Moor’s rejection of the second line of argument to stand: allowing that there could be moral machines, but that these machines would have to be full moral agents and not merely something that models moral behavior or can be used in morally charged ways.
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(2016) : Reflections on the Design Challenges Prompted by Affect-Aware Socially Assistive Robots In: Tkalčič, Marko; Carolis, Berardina de; Gemmis, Marco de; Odić, Ante; Košir, Andrej (Hg.): Emotions and personality in personalized services: Models, evaluation and applications, 100: Cham: Springer (Human-Computer Interaction Series), S. 377-395
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31413-6_18 Abstract: The rising interest in socially assistive robotics is, at least in part, stemmed by the aging population around the world. A lot of research and interest has gone into insuring the safety of these robots. However, little has been done to consider the necessary role of emotion in these robots and the potential ethical implications of having affect-aware socially assistive robots. In this chapter we address some of the considerations that need to be taken into account in the research and development of robots assisting a vulnerable population. We use two fictional scenarios involving a robot assisting a person with Parkinson's disease to discuss five ethical issues relevant to affect-aware socially assistive robots. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Keywords: Ethik, Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion 2015
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(2015): Implicit Contextual Integrity in Online Social Networks. In: Information Sciences 325, S. 48-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2015.07.013
Abstract: Many real incidents demonstrate that users of Online Social Networks need mechanisms that help them manage their interactions by increasing the awareness of the different contexts that coexist in Online Social Networks and preventing them from exchanging inappropriate information in those contexts or disseminating sensitive information from some contexts to others. Contextual integrity is a privacy theory that conceptualises the appropriateness of information sharing based on the contexts in which this information is to be shared. Computational models of Contextual Integrity assume the existence of well-defined contexts, in which individuals enact pre-defined roles and information sharing is governed by an explicit set of norms. However, contexts in Online Social Networks are known to be implicit, unknown a priori and ever changing; users relationships are constantly evolving; and the information sharing norms are implicit. This makes current Contextual Integrity models not suitable for Online Social Networks. In this paper, we propose the first computational model of Implicit Contextual Integrity, presenting an information model for Implicit Contextual Integrity as well as a so-called Information Assistant Agent that uses the information model to learn implicit contexts, relationships and the information sharing norms in order to help users avoid inappropriate information exchanges and undesired information disseminations. Through an experimental evaluation, we validate the properties of the model proposed. In particular, Information Assistant Agents are shown to: (i) infer the information sharing norms even if a small proportion of the users follow the norms and in presence of malicious users; (ii) help reduce the exchange of inappropriate information and the dissemination of sensitive information with only a partial view of the system and the information received and sent by their users; and (iii) minimise the burden to the users in terms of raising unnecessary alerts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: computational model, contextual integrity, Contextual Integrity Theory, Daten, Datenschutz, Datenschutz & Privatssphäre, Disziplin, doppelter Treffer, Ethik, Favoriten, Im (wissenschaftlichen) Diskurs, incident of social interaction, Informations- & Kommunikationstechnik, Kontext, Medienwissenschaft, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Modelle/Theorien, Philosophie, Privacy and data, privacy theorie, Realtechnik, Reflexionen über MTR, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Netzwerke, Technik, Technikphilosophie -
(2015) : Sacrifice One For the Good of Many? In: Adams, Julie A.; Smart, William; Mutlu, Bilge; Takayama, Leila (Hg.): HRI'15: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction: March 2-5, 2015, Portland, OR, USA: [New York]: ACM, Associaton for Computing Machinery, S. 117-124
Abstract: Moral norms play an essential role in regulating human interaction. With the growing sophistication and proliferation of robots, it is important to understand how ordinary people apply moral norms to robot agents and make moral judgments about their behavior. We report the first comparison of people's moral judgments (of permissibility, wrongness, and blame) about human and robot agents. Two online experiments (total N = 316) found that robots, compared with human agents, were more strongly expected to take an action that sacrifices one person for the good of many (a “utilitarian” choice), and they were blamed more than their human counterparts when they did not make that choice. Though the utilitarian sacrifice was generally seen as permissible for human agents, they were blamed more for choosing this option than for doing nothing. These results provide a first step toward a new field of Moral HRI , which is well placed to help guide the design of social robots.
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(2015): Empathy for artificial agents (PSYNDEXshort). In: International Journal of Social Robotics 7 (1). Online verfügbar unter HTTP://sfx.hbz-nrw.de/sfx_bie?genre=article&isbn=&issn=18754791&title=International%20Journal%20of%20Social%20Robotics&volume=7&issue=1&date=20150101&atitle=Empathy%20for%20artificial%20agents%20%28PSYNDEXshort%29&aulast=Stephan%2C%20Achim&spage=111&sid=EBSCO%3APSYNDEX%3A%20Literature%20and%20Audiovisual%20Media%20with%20PSYNDEX%20Tests&pid=
Abstract: The paper has three goals. First, it introduces into different notions of empathy and related capacities such as emotional contagion, affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and sympathy. Second, it presents a case in point of an intelligent tutoring system, Affective AutoTutor, whose affect-sensitive behavior seems to further and enhance the outcome of its interactions with its students. Affective AutoTutor appears to behave empathically within a well defined learning environment. Third, attention is directed towards the requirements to be met by artificial empathizers to be judged as empathizers tout court by their social interactants, even when acting in unspecified social situations. To be a convincing empathizer, the artificial agent would not only need to grasp the emotional states of its interaction partners and understand their situation with respect to an adequate world model, but also communicate its own affective states. Eventually, an artificial empathizer should be ready to react appropriately to its interaction partner's reciprocal empathy.
Keywords: Ethik, Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion -
(2015): Dynamic Interactions of Agency in Leadership (DIAL). An Integrative Framework for Analysing Agency in Sustainability Leadership. In: Journal of Business Ethics 126 (4), S. 649-662. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1977-7
Abstract: This article investigates agency as a way of being and acting in sustainability leadership. Our primary aim is to enhance understanding of agentic strategies that facilitate transcending systemic complexities in sustainability leadership. We make a distinction in our analytical approach by drawing from Emirbayer and Mische's (Am J Sociol 103:41, 1998) conceptualisation of agency as 'an interactive process of reflexive transformation and relational pragmatics, a temporally embedded process of social engagement, informed by the past, oriented towards the future and enacted in the present' (p. 963). We add ontological sources of agency to these dynamics which interact with habit, imagination, judgement and learning in the transformation of social systems. This approach underpins our model 'Dynamic Interactions of Agency in Leadership' (DIAL), an integrative framework for analysing agency in sustainability leadership. We examine the efficacy of our framework in higher education initiatives in which sustainability aspirations, aims and actions are envisioned, articulated and mobilised. We conclude by offering further avenues of research in sustainability leadership designed to advance this burgeoning field and contribute to bridging the gap between sustainability challenges and our abilities to solve them.
2014
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(2014): Kritik von Lebensformen. 1. Aufl., Orig.-Ausg. Berlin: SuhrkampKeywords: Anerkennung, Criticism (Philosophy), Disziplin, Ethik, Favoriten, Honneth und aktuelle Kritische Theorie, Kritik, Kultur- und Geisteswissenschaften / Philosophie, Lebensform, Modelle/Theorien, Moralkritik, Normen, Philosophie, Philosophische Anthropologie, Philosophy, Politik, Politische Ethik, social sciences, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Normen, Sozialphilosophie, Spielregeltheoretische Ansätze, Spielregeltheoretische Anstätze
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(2014) : Principles for the future development of artificial agents: 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering: 23 - 24 May 2014, Chicago, IL, USA: 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science, and Technology (ETHICS): Chicago, IL, USA: 5/23/2014 - 5/24/2014. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering; IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science and Technology; Ethics: Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, S. 1-3
Abstract: A survey of popular, technical and scholarly literature suggests that autonomous artificial agents will populate the future. Although some visions may seem fanciful, autonomous artificial agents are being designed, built, and deployed in a wide range of sectors. The specter of future artificial agents - with more learning capacity and more autonomy - raises important questions about responsibility. Can anyone (any humans) be responsible for the behavior of entities that learn as they go and operate autonomously? This paper takes as its starting place that humans are and always should be held responsible for the behavior of machines, even machines that learn and operate autonomously. In order to prevent evolution to a future in which no humans are thought to be responsible for the behavior of artificial agents, four principles are proposed, principles that should be kept in mind as artificial agents are developed.
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(2014) : Moral competence in social robots: 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering: 23 - 24 May 2014, Chicago, IL, USA: 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science, and Technology (ETHICS): Chicago, IL, USA: 5/23/2014 - 5/24/2014. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering; IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science and Technology; Ethics: Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, S. 1-6
Abstract: We propose that any robots that collaborate with, look after, or help humans-in short, social robots-must have moral competence. But what does moral competence consist of? We offer a framework for moral competence that attempts to be comprehensive in capturing capacities that make humans morally competent and that therefore represent candidates for a morally competent robot. We posit that human moral competence consists of four broad components: (1) A system of norms and the language and concepts needed to communicate about these norms; (2) moral cognition and affect; (3) moral decision making and action; and (4) moral communication. We sketch what we know and don't know about these four elements of moral competence in humans and, for each component, ask how we could equip an artificial agent with these capacities.
2013
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(2013): Ethical Considerations Regarding the Use of Social Robots in the Fourth Age. In: GeroPsych 26 (2), S. 121-133. DOI: 10.1024/1662-9647/a000088
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1024/1662-9647/a000088 Abstract: The debate about the use of robots in the care of older adults has often been dominated by either overly optimistic visions (coming particularly from Japan), in which robots are seamlessly incorporated into society thereby enhancing quality of life for everyone; or by extremely pessimistic scenarios that paint such a future as horrifying. The authors reject this dichotomy and argue for a more differentiated ethical evaluation of the possibilities and risks involved with the use of social robots. In a critical discussion surrounding the capabilities approach to the ethical evaluation of quality of life, an ethical framework is developed that is more appropriate to the situation of the oldest old. The authors urge employment of a context-dependent approach to the ethical evaluation of new technologies in the care and therapy of older adults, and using the example of the robotic seal Paro, they show how this can be accomplished in a sensible and practical way.
Keywords: Ethik, Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion -
(2013): The moral behavior of ethics professors. Relationships among self-reported behavior, expressed normative attitude, and directly observed behavior. In: Philosophical Psychology 27 (3), S. 293-327. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2012.727135
Abstract: Do philosophy professors specializing in ethics behave, on average, any morally better than do other professors? If not, do they at least behave more consistently with their expressed values? These questions have never been systematically studied. We examine the self-reported moral attitudes and moral behavior of 198 ethics professors, 208 non-ethicist philosophers, and 167 professors in departments other than philosophy on eight moral issues: academic society membership, voting, staying in touch with one's mother, vegetarianism, organ and blood donation, responsiveness to student emails, charitable giving, and honesty in responding to survey questionnaires. On some issues, we also had direct behavioral measures that we could compare with the self-reports. Ethicists expressed somewhat more stringent normative attitudes on some issues, such as vegetarianism and charitable donation. However, on no issue did ethicists show unequivocally better behavior than the two comparison groups. Our findings on attitude-behavior consistency were mixed: ethicists showed the strongest relationship between behavior and expressed moral attitude regarding voting but the weakest regarding charitable donation. We discuss implications for several models of the relationship between philosophical reflection and real-world moral behavior.
Keywords: Applied Ethics, Attitude-Behavior Consistency, Charity, Ethics, Experimental Philosophy, Moral Behavior, Moral Psychology, Vegetarianism, Voting, Ethik Professoren, Ethik, Ethische Überzeugungen, Fehlverhalten, moralische Dimension, Moralphilosophie, Performative Kraft von wertender Überzeugung?, Philosophical Psychology, Stehlen, Werte 2012
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(2012) : Do people hold a humanoid robot morally accountable for the harm it causes? In: Yanco, Holly: Proceedings of the seventh annual ACMIEEE international conference on Human-Robot Interaction: the seventh annual ACM/IEEE international conference: Boston, Massachusetts, USA: 3/5/2012 - 3/8/2012. ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction; ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence: New York, NY: ACM
Abstract: Robots will increasingly take on roles in our social lives where they can cause humans harm. When robots do so, will people hold robots morally accountable? To investigate this question, 40 undergraduate students individually engaged in a 15-minute interaction with ATR's humanoid robot, Robovie. The interaction culminated in a situation where Robovie incorrectly assessed the participant's performance in a game, and prevented the participant from winning a $20 prize. Each participant was then interviewed in a 50-minute session. Results showed that all of the participants engaged socially with Robovie, and many of them conceptualized Robovie as having mental/emotional and social attributes. Sixty-five percent of the participants attributed some level of moral accountability to Robovie. Statistically, participants held Robovie less accountable than they would a human, but more accountable than they would a vending machine. Results are discussed in terms of the New Ontological Category Hypothesis and robotic warfare.