Phenomenological Approaches to Ethics and Information Technology Based on the publication at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Feb. 2005

Ethics in IT IT is changing are lives  What are the social and ethical implications of these changes  There are multiple ways to conceptualize and interpret this interrelationships

Ethics in IT Nature of IT  Ubiquitous  Dependency  Applied to complex problems Security, crime, poverty, etc  Synonymous to modernization and progressive movements Economic advantages Uneven distribution of access, use and benefits

Ethics in IT Views of IT:  What is good and what is not good need anyone tell us the difference.  Which is better the world with IT or the world without IT

Views of IT and Ethics IT as an Artifact or Tool  A tool available to achieve human objective and outcomes This assumes this tool (e.g…) operates in a uniform manner in different social settings  The question is does this tool behave similarly across social boundaries. E.g. Internet See Postman 1993

Views of IT and Ethics IT as a Socially Constructed Artifacts and Actors  IT is not an objective tool for achieving goals  IT is a an outcome of a complex and subtle social processes – i.e it is socially constructed  IT is used in many diverse and often unexpected ways – leading to many and diverse unintended consequences.  See Latour 1991

Views of IT and Ethics IT as an Ongoing Horizon of Meaning and Action  The Impact-view (artifact) and the constructive view are co-existing at the same time  E.g. A socially constructed problem like communication may seek a technological solution and vice versa

IT and Ethical Theories Impact View  The premises of this debate is that proper use of tool (IT tool) should lead to improvement. Lean organization Improved society Etc  Theory: Policy should be developed to achieve the intended goals Impact ethicists present arguments for justifying a particular balance over and against other possibilities

IT and Ethical Theories Politics of IT and Disclosure Ethics  Socially constructivists argue that IT, as a social construct, is already political and by its design, includes certain interest (people) and exclude others. Virtual banking, etc.  Ethics is already embedded in IT

IT and Ethical Theories IT Ethics and Human Ways of Being: Phenomenological Approach  Is concerned with the ways in which particular technologies “frame” us as we draw on them.  That is the on-going co-constitution that we should focus on if we are to understand the social and ethical implications of IT.

Phenomenology, Ethics and IT: Case Studies

Phenomenology, Ethics and IT: Summary Approach or view View of technology / society relationship Approach to ethical implications of technology Artifact / tool Technologies are tools that society draws upon to do certain things it would not otherwise be able to do. When tools become incorporated in practices it tends to have a more or less determinable impact on those practices. The task of ethics is to analyze the impact of technology on practices by applying existing or new moral theories to construct guidelines or policies that will ‘correct’ the injustices or infringements of rights caused by the implementation and use of the particular technology.

Phenomenology, Ethics and IT: Summary Approach or view View of technology / society relationship Approach to ethical implications of technology Social Constructi vist Technology and society co- construct each other from the start. There is an ongoing interplay between the social practices and the technological artifacts (both in its design and in its use). This ongoing interplay means that technological artifacts and human practices become embedded in a multiplicity of ways that are mostly not determinable in any significant way. The task of ethics if to be actively involved in disclosing the assumptions, values and interests being ‘built into’ the design, implementation and use of the technology. The task of ethics is not to prescribe policies or corrective action but to continue to open the ‘black box’ for scrutiny and ethical consideration and deliberation.

Phenomenology, Ethics and IT: Summary Approach or view View of technology / society relationship Approach to ethical implications of technology Phenomenologi cal Technology and society co- constitute each other. They are each other's condition of possibility to be. Technology is not the artifact alone it is also the technological attitude or disposition that made the artifact appear as meaningful and necessary in the first instance. However, once in existence artifacts and the disposition that made them meaningful also discloses the world beyond the mere presence of the artifacts. The task of ethics is to point back to the attitudes and moods that made particular technologies show up as meaningful and necessary. It seeks to interrogate these assumptions and attitudes so as to problematize our ongoing relationship with technology.

Other Ways to Study Ethics in IT