Skip to main content
Book cover

International Conference on Intelligent Technologies and Applications

INTAP 2020: Intelligent Technologies and Applications pp 335–343Cite as

Translating Ethical Theory into Ethical Action: An Ethic of Responsibility Approach to Value-Oriented Design

Part of the Communications in Computer and Information Science book series (CCIS,volume 1382)

Abstract

Calls for ethics by and in design of new technologies are now commonplace in academic literature, private businesses such as Microsoft and Google, and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research projects. This emphasis on ethics is necessary owing to the ways in which new technologies are embedded in our every day practices, can radically affect these practices, and have the potential for transgressing or promoting important values. Despite this importance, there is a lack of clarity concerning how designers can translate ethical theories and ethical values into ethical action. In this paper, I canvass some of the most prominent ethical theories and explain their connection to action. Finding these wanting, I propose an ethic of responsibility as a first step in a more ethically sensitive approach to value-oriented design. This approach internalizes responsibility for ethical action into the actor, rather than seeking ethical characteristics in the external act or value. The reader should keep in mind that this is only the first step given constraints on time and space of this paper. The following step of identifying concrete design suggestions will follow in a subsequent article.

Keywords

  • Responsibility
  • Value-Oriented Design
  • Ethical Theory

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-71711-7_28
  • Chapter length: 9 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-71711-7
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For more on the role of moral intuitions in technology design, see Umbrello [27].

References

  1. Albrechtslund, A.: Ethics and technology design. Eth. Inf. Technol. 1(9), 63–72 (2007)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Alexander, L., Moore, M.: Deontological Ethics. In: Zalta, E. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/ethics-deontological/. Accessed 7 July 2020

  3. Anscombe, G.E.M.: Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy 33(124), 1–19 (1958)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Barkhuus, L.: The mismeasurement of privacy. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 367–376. ACM, New York (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Brey, P.: Values in technology and disclosive computer ethics. In: Floridi, L. (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, pp. 41–58. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2010)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  6. Cockton, G.: Getting there: six meta-principles and interaction design. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 2223–2232. ACM, New York (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Davis, J., Nathan, L.P.: Value sensitive design: applications, adaptations, and critiques. In: van den Hoven, J., Vermaas, P.E., van de Poel, I. (eds.) Handbook of Ethics, Values, and Technological Design, pp. 11–40. Springer, Dordrecht (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6970-0_3

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  8. Detweiler, C., Hindriks, K., Jonker, C.: Principles for value-sensitive agent-oriented software engineering. In: Weyns, D., Gleizes, M.-P. (eds.) AOSE 2010. LNCS, vol. 6788, pp. 1–16. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22636-6_1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Dworkin, G.: Theory, practice, and moral reasoning. In: Copp, D. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory, pp. 624–644. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fallman, D.: The new good: exploring the potential of philosophy of technology to contribute to human-computer interaction. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1051–1060 . ACM, New York (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Flanagan, M., Howe, D., Nissenbaum, H.: Values at play. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 751–760. ACM, New York (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Flanagan, M., Nissenbaum, H.: A game design methodology to incorporate social activist themes. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 181–190. ACM, New York (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Flanagan, M., Howe, D., Nissenbaum, H.: Embodying values in technology: theory and practice. In: Van Den Hoven, J., Weckert, J. (eds.) Information technology and moral philosophy, pp. 322–353. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2008)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. Friedman, B., Kahn, P.H., Jr., Borning, A.: Value sensitive design and information systems. In: Zhang, P., Galletta, D. (eds.) Human-computer interaction in management information systems: Foundations, pp. 348–372. Armonk, M.E. Sharpe (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gowans, C.: Innocence Lost: An Examination of Inescapable Wrongdoing. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Held, V.: Non-contractual society: a feminist view. Can. J. Philos. Supplementary 13, 111–137 (1987)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  17. Iverson, O., Halskov, K., Leong, T.W.: Rekindling values in participatory design. In: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference, pp. 91–100. ACM, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Knobel, C., Bowker, G.: Values in design. In: Communications of the ACM, vol 54, no 7, pp. 26–28. ACM, New York (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  19. May, L.: Social Responsibility. Midwest Studies in Philosophy XX. (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Meyers, D.: Self & Society und Personal Choice. Columbia Press, New York (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Palen, L., Dourish, P.: Unpacking privacy for a networked world. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 129–136. ACM, New York (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Rawls, J.: A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1971)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  23. Ruddick, S.: Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace. Beacon Press, Boston, MA (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Slote, M.: From Enlightenment to Receptivity: Rethinking Our Values. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  25. Weber, M.: Reprinted in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. In: Translated and edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Ulan Press, New York (1946/2012)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Whitbeck, C.: A different reality: feminist ontology. In: Gould, C. (ed.) Beyond Domination. Rowman & Allanheld, Totowa, N.J (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Umbrello, S.: The moral psychology of value sensitive design: the methodological issues of moral intuitions for responsible innovation. J. Responsible Innov. 5(2), 186–200 (2018)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trilateral Research, Waterford, Ireland

    Zachary J. Goldberg

Authors
  1. Zachary J. Goldberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zachary J. Goldberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NTNU, Gjøvik, Norway

    Assoc. Prof. Sule Yildirim Yayilgan

  2. The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan

    Prof. Imran Sarwar Bajwa

  3. University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

    Assoc. Prof. Filippo Sanfilippo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Goldberg, Z.J. (2021). Translating Ethical Theory into Ethical Action: An Ethic of Responsibility Approach to Value-Oriented Design. In: Yildirim Yayilgan, S., Bajwa, I.S., Sanfilippo, F. (eds) Intelligent Technologies and Applications. INTAP 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1382. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71711-7_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71711-7_28

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71710-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71711-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)