Abstract
We are currently experiencing a fourth industrial revolution. In this paper, the great opportunities and challenges of change through digital technologies are presented. These ethical risks and benefits are classified and highlighted in the historical and economic ethical discourse. On this basis, the authors define a business ethics for digital technology, companies and markets. The aim of this chapter is to bridge the gap between the ethics of digitalization and business ethics that has not been made before. The main message of the chapter is that digital technologies need good ethical rules to experience social acceptance. People would benefit from the new technologies and experience ethical improvements. The fact that these changes will mainly be driven by companies makes business ethics a central discipline in the discussion of ethical challenges of digital change.
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Notes
- 1.
For an overview of passed US bills, see http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/wiki/index.php/Automated_Driving:_Legislative_and_Regulatory_Action.
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Lütge, C. (2022). Business Ethics for the Digital Era. In: Lütge, C., Uhl, M., Kriebitz, A., Max, R. (eds) Business Ethics and Digitization. Wirtschaftsethik in der globalisierten Welt. J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64094-4_1
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