Building-Blocks for Ethical Assessments of Emerging Technologies

Abstract

In summarizing the main contributions of the book, this last chapter examines in what ways the approach discussed so far addresses the question, articulated in Chap. 1, of how to integrate normative sensitiveness in TA. It demonstrates in what way addressing the question of plausibility allows ethicists (as well as social scientists, bioethical committees, policy makers, technology developers, etc.) to address the normative questions that surround the issue of social desirability of emerging technologies with a broader set of visions wherein the material morality of artifacts, the worldviews of stakeholders and the dynamics of moral changes are spelled out. The chapter also considers the role of the “ethicist” in such processes and concludes by outlining some open questions for further research.

The subjects of our deliberation are such as seem to present us with alternative possibilities: about things that could not have been, and cannot now or in the future be, other than they are, nobody who takes them to be of this nature wastes his time in deliberation. (Aristotle- Rhetoric [1357a])

In order to avoid repetition, this conclusive chapter summarizes the main points of this book and offers final remarks, intentionally omitting references to the literature that has already been discussed in previous chapters. The reader interested in a discussion of the literature should consult Chaps. 1 and 2 of this book.