Theories and Methods for the Ethics of Technology

Sven Ove Hansson

Before we delve into the various approaches and research methods in the ethics of technology, it is useful to reflect on what we mean by the two key terms "ethics" and "technology." That is the subject of the next two sections. We will then turn to the relationship between the ethics of technology and the ethical theories that are taught in philosophy departments. Should the ethics of technology be conducted as an application of these theories, or should we choose some other way to systematize our investigations? Principlism and reflective equilibria are two of the main alternatives. The chapter closes with a discussion of the role of normative statements in the ethics of technology and the relationship between ethical analysis and ethical activism.

1. WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

Although the word "technology" is of ancient Greek origin, it did not become widely used in European languages until it began to be used in the early nineteenth century to denote knowledge about the skills and devices of craftspeople (Hansson 2015). For instance, in 1829 the American physician and scientist Jacob Bigelow (1787–1879) published a book titled Elements of Technology, in which he delineated the subject matter of technology as "the principles, processes, and nomenclatures of the more conspicuous arts, particularly those which involve applications of science" (Tulley 2008; Sebestik 1983). In a similar vein, the 1909 Webster's Second New International Dictionary characterized technology as "the science or systematic knowledge of industrial arts, especially of the more important manufactures, as spinning, weaving, metallurgy, etc." (Tulley 2008).

The more precise delineation of the word "technology" seems to have been influenced by the curricula of the new engineering educations that emerged in Europe in the early nineteenth century. Originally, these were schools for young craftsmen in the towns. Therefore, their education had its focus on the tools, machines, and work processes employed by this class of people. For the most part this excluded the tools, machines, and processes that were used by farmers and farm workers, women, and members of the "higher" professions such as pharmacists and surgeons. The usage of the word "technology" followed the same pattern. We still do not consider farming, fishing, cooking, cleaning, pharmacy, dentistry, or surgery as technological occupations, although they involve equally extensive and sophisticated use of tools and machines as many of the occupations so classified. And importantly, in discussions on the ethics of technology, these activities are usually not included (though perhaps they should).

In the nineteenth century, "technology" denoted systematic knowledge about tools and their use, just as "biology" denotes systematic knowledge about living creatures. However, this changed in the English language in the first half of the twentieth century. Increasingly often, "technology" referred to the actual tools, machines, and procedures, rather than to knowledge about them. The earliest example of this usage recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a text from 1898 about the coal-oil industry, according to which "a number of patents were granted for improvements in this technology, mainly for improved methods of distillation" (Peckham 1898, p. 119). Today this is the dominant meaning of the word in English. As Joost Mertens noted, "In English usage, 'technology' normally refers to instrumental practices or their rules and only exceptionally to the scientific description, explication or explanation of these practices" (Mertens 2002). In the second half of the twentieth century, this usage became increasingly common in other languages, such as French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages. (Several of these languages also have a shorter word such as the French technique and the German Technik that refers to the actual tools, machines, and practices.)

In more recent years, the meaning of "technology" has been expanded in a way that seems to have followed the development of curricula in engineering schools. With the introduction of computer and information technology, a wide range of programming and other software-related activities became recognized as technological. Similarly, following the development of biotechnology, many activities based on biological knowledge are now considered technological. However, there are still activities, such as farming and surgery, which we do not usually call technological although they have as much focus on the use of tools and machines as most of the areas that we call technological.

It is important to note that "technology" does not only refer to material objects such as tools, machines, buildings, and computers, but also to the social practices that are associated with these objects. For instance, aeronautical technology does not just cover the physical equipment used in air traffic. It also includes the skills, practices, and rules involved in the use of that equipment. The social embedding of the hardware is part and parcel of what we mean by technology. If we restrict our attention to the physical objects per se we cannot understand the impact they have in society — in particular not the ethical aspects of that impact.

2. THE BRANCHES OF ETHICS

In all probability, thoughts and discussions about what is morally right and wrong antedate written history by many thousands of years. In most of human history, religion was the major vehicle for a coherent account of morality, and for a large part of the world's population, it still is. But in academic contexts, the dominant approach to morality is that provided by a secular discipline, moral philosophy.

Moral philosophy has a strong emphasis on the search for comprehensive basic principles for morality. It is dominated by the idea that our moral thinking needs the support of a moral theory,...