Chapter: Moral Methodology and Information Technology

Quote:

The ubiquitous combination of coupled databases, data mining, and sensor technology may start to cast doubt on the usefulness of our notion of “privacy.” Ethical analysis and reflection, therefore, is not simply business as usual. We need to give computers and software their place in our moral world. We need to look at the effects they have on people, how they constrain and enable us, how they change our experiences, and how they shape our thinking. This is how we proceeded in the case of the car, the television, the atom bomb, and this is how we will proceed in the case of ubiquitous brain scanning and use of carbon nanotubes, of artificial agents, and the applications of advanced robotics. The commonalities in the moral questions pertaining to these topics are more important than the differences between them.

What I expect to learn:

To learn more about moral methodology

Review:                    

Moral methodology is hard to define one by one but it will eventually result to a more broad discussion on how it can be related to information technology. Let us first think of ways how to surely define morality because once that is done, then it is all a matter of time before you figure out and relate why information technology has something to do with it. As mentioned in the quotation, there are a lot of concepts that we need to understand about piracy and other zealous actions towards information technology and as technology continue to grow not only in a single part of the world but universally affect us, more and more ways are determined to prevent moral contradictions against information technology. I don’t really think people have objections regarding information technology because of the unbelievable changes it promoted for us to utilize. The properties of IT may require us to revisit traditional conceptualizations and conceptions of privacy, responsibility, property; but they do not require a new way of moral thinking or a radically new moral methodology, which is radically different from other fields of technology and engineering ethics

What I learned:

·         Applied Ethics

·         Generalism

·         Particularism

·         Reflective Equilibrium

·         The design turn in applied ethics

·         Value sensitive design

·         PACS

·         Sinks

·         Real-time Emergency Medicine

·         Other conceptions on method in computer ethics

Integrative Questions:            

1.    What is applied ethics?

2.    What is generalism?

3.    Whst ia particularism?

4.    Explain the concept of reflective equilibrium.

5.    Define PACS.