First Japanese-Chinese Symposium on Intercultural Information Ethics University of Tsukuba Japan October 5-6, 2009

Intercultural Information Ethics in Asia Rafael Capurro Steinbeis Transfer Institute – Information Ethics Germany Last update: July 13, 2009

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 3 Overview Defining the Field Origins Recent Publications The Foundational Debate Special Issues Future Agenda

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 4 Defining the Field Defining the Field IIE in a narrow sense: deals with the impact of ICT on different cultures as well as on how specific ethical ICT issues are understood from different cultural traditions

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 5 Defining the Field IIE in a broad sense: deals with ethical questions raised by other (than digital) information and communication media allowing a large historical cross-media comparative view.

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 6 Defining the Field IIE explores these issues under descriptive and normative perspectives. Comparative studies can be done at a concrete or ontic level or at the level of ontological or structural presuppositions.

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 7 Origins The international debate: –UNESCO First International Congress on Ethical Legal, and Societal Aspects of Digital Information, Principality of Monaco 1997 (and subsequent conferences) –WSIS (Tunisia 2003, Geneva 2005)

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 8 Origins The academic debate: –CATaC Conferences organized by Charles Ess and Fay Sudweeks since 1998 –ETHICOMP Conferences organized by Simon Rogerson since 1995 –CEPE conferences (since 1997) –ICIE Conference 2004: the first international conference addressing explicitly information ethics from an intercultural perspective –Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics: international conference 2005

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 9 Recent Publications Soraj Hongladarom & Charles Ess (Eds.), „Information Technology Ethics Cultural Perspectives“ (2007) Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.), „Localizing the Internet: ethical aspects in intercultural perspective“ (2007)

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 10 The Foundational Debate Charles Ess‘ „global information ethics“: –avoiding imperialistic homogenization which preserving the irreducible differences between cultures and people –Western Ethics and Confucian thought: „resonance“ and „harmony“ –„pros hen“ robust pluralism –Between irreducibility and complementarity

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 11 The Foundational Debate Toru Nishigaki: –The Western idea of a „coherent self“ and the Buddhist questionning of this idea. –The Western search for universal values and the „doing away of conventional or universal interpretations of the meanings of words“ in ZEN. –Cognition as representation vs. „enactment“ of the history of actions of a subject in the world –Ethics as observer-dependent reflection on moral norms („fundamental informatics“).

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 12 The Foundational Debate Bernd Frohmann: –„A philosophical ethos seeks contingencies and singularities rather than universal determinants, which block the aim of getting“ „free of oneself.“ –Aim of IIE: careful situational analysis and critical appraisal on the way(s) computers control societies. –Develop strategies to become „digitally imperceptible“.

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 13 The Foundational Debate Rafael Capurro: –IIE between mono- and meta-cultural ethical claims: intertwinning „thick“ and „thin“ ethical arguments (Michael Walzer) –„direct“ and „indirect speech“ in relation to information society –„hothen“ („from“) approach: the question of the source(s) of ethical norms, particularly the experience(s) of the facticity of the world and human existence

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 14 Special Issues Cultural Diversity Human Rights Education Data protection (safety and security) Socio-economic development Political Participation

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 15 Future Agenda Which are the most relevant IIE issues in China and Japan today? What kind of methodology could be used for common IIE studies?

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 16 Future Agenda What kind of historical studies in IIE could be done particulary with regard to classical authors? What kind of comparative IIE studies between different epochs in China and Japan could be done?

R. Capurro: IIE in Asia 17 Future Agenda How can common research in IIE in Asia be organized? Internet Portal (in Chinese/Japanese/English) Workshops and Congresses Journal of Asia IIE Common research projects Cooperation with other IE organizations