Technology and the virtues : a philosophical guide to a future worth wanting

329 Pages·2016·2.168 MB·English

by  Vallor, Shannon

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Technology and the Virtues
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TECHNOLOGY
AND THE VIRTUES
A Philosophical Guide
to a Future Worth Wanting
SHANNON VALLOR
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vallor, Shannon, author.
Title: Technology and the virtues : a philosophical guide
to a future worth wanting / Shannon Vallor.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016004301 | ISBN 9780190498511 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190498528 (ebook (updf)) | ISBN 9780190498535 (ebook (epub)) |
ISBN 9780190498542 (online content)
Subjects: LCSH: Technology—Moral and ethical aspects. | Virtues.
Classification: LCC BJ59 .V34 2016 | DDC 179/.9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016004301
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Envisioning the Good Life in the 21st Century and Beyond  1
PART I: Foundations for a Technomoral Virtue Ethic
1. Virtue Ethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing  17
1.1. The Contemporary Renewal of Virtue Ethics 20
1.2. Virtue Ethics and Philosophy of Technology 23
2. The Case for a Global Technomoral Virtue Ethic  35
2.1. Classical Virtue Traditions: Aristotelian, Confucian,
and Buddhist Ethics 36
2.2. The Shared Commitments of Virtue Traditions 42
2.3. The Need for a Global Technomoral Virtue Ethic 49
PART II: Cultivating the Technomoral Self: Classical Virtue
Traditions as a Contemporary Guide
3. The Practice of Moral Self- Cultivation in Classical Virtue Traditions  61
3.1. Learning from Other Virtue Traditions 61
3.2. Cultivating the Technomoral Self 63
3.3. Moral Habituation 66
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4. Cultivating the Foundations of Technomoral Virtue  76
4.1. Relational Understanding 76
4.2. Reflective Self- Examination 84
4.3. Intentional Self- Direction of Moral Development 91
5. Completing the Circle with Technomoral Wisdom  99
5.1. Moral Attention 99
5.2. Prudential Judgment 105
5.3. Appropriate Extension of Moral Concern 110
6. Technomoral Wisdom for an Uncertain Future: 21st Century Virtues  118
6.1. A Taxonomy of Technomoral Virtues 119
6.2. Honesty: Respecting Truth 120
6.3. Self- Control: Becoming the Author of Our Desires 123
6.4. Humility: Knowing What We Do Not Know 125
6.5. Justice: Upholding Rightness 127
6.6. Courage: Intelligent Fear and Hope 129
6.7. Empathy: Compassionate Concern for Others 132
6.8. Care: Loving Service to Others 138
6.9. Civility: Making Common Cause 140
6.10. Flexibility: Skillful Adaptation to Change 145
6.11. Perspective: Holding on to the Moral Whole 149
6.12 Magnanimity: Moral Leadership and Nobility of Spirit 151
6.13 Technomoral Wisdom: Unifying the Technomoral Virtues 154
PART III: Meeting the Future with Technomoral Wisdom, Or How
To Live Well with Emerging Technologies
7. New Social Media and the Technomoral Virtues  159
7.1. New Social Media and the Good Life 159
7.2. New Social Media and the Virtue of Self- Control 165
7.3. Media Multitasking, Moral Attention, and the Cultivation
of Empathy 170
7.4. New Social Media and Virtuous Self- Regard: Humility,
Honesty, and Perspective 174
7.5. New Social Media, Civic Virtue, and the Spiral of Silence 176
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Contents vii
7.6. Technomoral Wisdom and Leadership in a New Media
Age: Looking Forward 185
8. Surveillance and the Examined Life: Cultivating the Technomoral
Self in a Panoptic World  188
8.1. Virtue in the Panopticon: Challenging the New Cult of
Transparency 188
8.2. Technologies of the Examined Life 195
8.3. ‘Smart’ Surveillance and the Quantified Self 198
8.4. Surveillance and Moral ‘Nudges’ 202
8.5. Flourishing with Emerging Surveillance Technologies 204
9. Robots at War and at Home: Preserving the Technomoral Virtues
of Care and Courage  208
9.1. Robot Ethics as Virtue Ethics 209
9.2. Autonomous Military Robots: Courage and Hope for the
Human Future 211
9.3. ‘Killer Robots’ and Technomoral Courage: The ‘Troubles
We Do Not Avoid’ 215
9.4. Carebots and the Ethical Self 218
9.5. Technomoral Care in Relations of Human Dependence 220
10. Knowing What to Wish For: Technomoral Wisdom and Human
Enhancement Technology  230
10.1. Competing Visions of Human (or Posthuman) Flourishing 231
10.2. Technomoral Humility, Wisdom, and the Argument
from Hubris 237
10.3. Technomoral Virtue and Contemporary Life: A Crisis
of Moral Wishing 246
Epilogue  250
Notes  255
References  281
Index  299
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Acknowledgements
this work is indebted to far too many persons and organizations to count,
or name.
I am deeply grateful to the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and others at
Santa Clara University who provided financial support for earlier phases of this
project. I owe an immense debt to the participants in the 2007 workshop at the
University of Twente, Netherlands on “The Good Life in a Technological Age,”
where this project was born; in particular I wish to thank Charles Ess for his en-
couragement, intellectual engagement, and inspiration then and ever since. This
book is about humanity’s need for more people with the exemplary moral char-
acter and practical wisdom to help us navigate the uncertain and rapidly shifting
technological and social terrain ahead; in Charles, at least, we have one.
I also thank the Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves Foundation for funding of early
research for the book. That research was assisted by the remarkable hospitality
and intellectual generosity of Philip. J. Ivanhoe and his family and colleagues,
who welcomed me to Hong Kong in 2010 and helped to deepen my understand-
ing of the Confucian virtue tradition.
The ideas in this book, at least the worthwhile ones, owe their mature shape
to the fellowship of my peers in the field of philosophy and ethics of emerging
technologies, with whom I have enjoyed countless stimulating conversations, ar-
guments, and whiskies. Though I should thank many more, I am especially in-
debted to Don Howard, Patrick Lin, Evan Selinger, and John Sullins for their
invaluable contributions to my thinking and their enduring friendship.
To my editor Lucy Randall and others at OUP, thank you for bringing this
work into the light and making it better every step of the way.
Thanks to my grandfather Howard, who taught me at a very early age to love
science, truth, argument, and by example, virtue; to my parents Kathleen and
William Bainbridge for their boundless support, love, and patience; and finally,
to Dan, the deepest well of goodness, brilliance, and love that I have ever known.