The Moral Status of Technical Artefacts

The Moral Status of Technical Artefacts: An Introduction

Overview of the Discourse on Moral Status of Technology

• Historical Context

  • The question of morally assessing technology and its influence on human beings has a long history.

  • Traditional ethical thinking viewed technical artifacts as morally neutral passive instruments.

  • Prometheus: Portrays technology (fire) positively, as a precious gift.

  • Icarus: Portrays technology (wings) negatively, leading to hubris and recklessness when flying too high or falling too low.

  • Bacon's House of Salomon: Extols the positive impact of science and technology on human life.

  • Butler's Erewhon: Depicts inhabitants outlawing machines due to negative effects.

  • Chang Tsi's Story (quoted by Heisenberg): An old gardener refuses a draw-well, arguing that using machines develops a "machine heart" which loses simplicity and is incompatible with truth. This highlights a fundamental negative attitude not based on specific goals or risks, but on technology's inherent corrupting influence on the user's spirit.

• Recent Developments (Late 20^{th} and early 21^{st} centuries)

  • A shift in the debate: from whether technology's impact is good or bad, to whether technical artifacts themselves can be considered moral agents or embody moral values.

  • Challenging Traditional Ethics: Traditional ethics limits moral assessment to agents and their acts, excluding objects. Attributing moral status to artifacts is seen as a category mistake (e.g., calling a speed bump morally good or a gun morally bad).

  • Revolutionary Pretensions: The attribution of moral agency to technology, if accepted, represents a significant shift, moving the source of morality beyond humans (following the Enlightenment's shift from God to humans). This