The Technological Mediation of Morality - A Post-Phenomenological Approach to Moral Subjectivity and Moral Objectivity

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the moral relevance of technological artifacts and its possible role in ethical theory, by taking the postphenomenological approach that has developed around the work of Don Ihde into the domain of ethics. By elaborating a postphenomenological analysis of the mediating role of ultrasound in moral decisions about abortion, the article argues that technologies embody morality, and help to constitute moral subjectivity. This technological mediation of the moral subject is subsequently addressed in terms of Michel Foucault’s ethical position, in which ethics is about actively co–shaping one’s moral subjectivity. Integrating Foucauldian ethics and postphenomenology, the article argues that the technologicalmediation ofmoral subjectivity should be at the heart of an ethical approach that takes the moral dimensions of technology seriously.
Original languageUndefined
Number of pages26
Publication statusPublished - 2007
EventWorkshop Moral Agency and Technical Artifacts, NIAS - The Hague, the Netherlands
Duration: 10 May 200712 May 2007

Workshop

WorkshopWorkshop Moral Agency and Technical Artifacts, NIAS
Period10/05/0712/05/07
Other10-12 May 2007

Keywords

  • IR-61025

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