Abstract
We increasingly rely on technological artefacts for supporting or replacing personal interactions. But such delegation is not always unproblematic: ever so often unexpected alterations in our relationships occur. More particularly: new technologies tend to destabilize established norms and values. What does this techno-moral change imply for the normative project that is responsible innovation? Is it possible to anticipate these alterations, at least to some extent? In this article we develop a heuristic matrix that identifies patterns and mechanisms of techno-moral change. We then present as a case study the ambient intelligence systems that are currently developed to coordinate the domestic lives of family members to explain how understanding these patterns and mechanisms can help to discuss future techno-moral change.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Or, in Dewey’s terminology: ‘reflective morality’.
- 2.
The project received funding from 2004 to 2008 for further development of the middleware.
- 3.
References
Boenink, M., T. Swierstra, and D. Stemerding. 2010. Anticipating the interaction between technology and morality: A scenario study of experimenting with humans in bionanotechnology. Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 4(2): 1–38.
Borgmann, A. 1984. Technology and the character of contemporary life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Brockman, J. (ed.). 2011. Is the internet changing the way you think? The net’s impact on our minds and future. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
De Vries, G. 1989. Ethische theorieën en de ontwikkeling van medische technologie. Kennis en Methode 13: 278–294.
de Waal, F. 2006. Primates and philosophers. How morality evolved. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Dewey, J. 1957. Human nature and conduct: An introduction to social psychology. New York: The Modern Library, Inc.
Gadamer, H.G. 2004 [1974]. Truth and Method. Trans. J. Weinsheimer and D.G. Marshall). London: Continuum.
Gezondheidsraad. 2002. De toekomst van onszelf. Den Haag: Gezondheidsraad. Available on-line: http://www.gr.nl/pdf.php?ID=517.
Gouinlock, J. 1994. The moral writings of John Dewey (Revised edition). Amherst: Prometheus.
Idhe, D. 1993. Postphenomenology. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Jonas, H. 1984. The imperative of responsibility: In search of an ethics for the technological age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Latour, B. 1992. Where are the missing masses? The sociology of the new mundane artefacts shaping technology, building society. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mol, A. 2008. The logic of care: Health and the problem of patient choice. New York: Routledge.
Ricoeur, P., and J.B. Thompson. 1981. Hermeneutics and the human sciences: Essays on language, action and interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stemerding, D., T. Swierstra, and M. Boenink. 2010. Exploring the dynamic mutual interaction of technology and morality in the field of genetic susceptibility testing: A scenario study. Futures 42: 1133–1145.
Swierstra, T. 1999. Moeten artefacten moreel gerehabiliteerd? Kennis en methode 23(4): 323–334.
Swierstra, T. 2002. Moral vocabularies and public debate: The cases of cloning and new reproductive technologies. In Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture, ed. T.E. Swierstra, J. Keulartz, J.M. Korthals, and M. Schermer, 223–240. Deventer: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Swierstra, T. 2010. Het huwelijk tussen techniek en moraal. In Moralicide. Mens, techniek en symbolische orde. (Jaarboek Civis Mundi i.s.m. Rathenau Instituut), ed. M. Huijer and M. Smits, 17–35. Rotterdam: Lemniscaat.
Swierstra, T., and A. Rip. 2007. Nano-ethics as NEST-ethics: Patterns of moral argumentation about new and emerging science and technology. Journal for Nanoethics 1(1): 3–20.
Swierstra, T., and K. Waelbers. 2010. Designing a good life: The matrix for the technological mediation of morality. Engineering Ethics 18(1): 157–172.
Swierstra, T., D. Stemerding, and M. Boenink. 2009. Exploring technologically induced moral change. The case of the obesity pill. In Evaluating new technologies, ed. P. Sollie and M. Düwell, 119–138. Dordrecht: Springer.
van Asselt, M., A. Faas, F. van der Molen, and S. Veenman. 2010. Uitzicht: toekomstverkenningen met beleid, Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Verbeek, P.-P. 2011. Moralizing technology. Understanding and designing the morality of things. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Waelbers, K. 2009. Technological delegation: Responsibility for the unintended. Journal for Science and Engineering Ethics 15: 51–68.
Waelbers, K. 2011. Doing good with technology: Taking responsibility for the social role of technologies. Dordrecht: Springer.
Waelbers, K., and A. Briggle. 2010. Technology, the good life, and liberalism: Some reflections on two principles of neutrality. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 14(3): 176–193.
Williams, B. 1985. Ethics and the limits of philosophy. London: Fontana Press/Collins.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Waelbers, K., Swierstra, T. (2014). The Family of the Future: How Technologies Can Lead to Moral Change. In: van den Hoven, J., Doorn, N., Swierstra, T., Koops, BJ., Romijn, H. (eds) Responsible Innovation 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8956-1_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8956-1_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8955-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8956-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)