Ethics of technology at the frontier of uncertainty
a gewirthian perspective
pp. 191-205
in: Paul Sollie, Marcus Düwell (eds), Evaluating new technologies, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
Complexity and uncertainty are central to technological innovations. Many emerging complex technologies are developed under conditions of uncertainty. This brings to the fore the question of how we should deal with risky and uncertain technology developments that are potentially detrimental and harmful to human beings and the environment. It is argued that uncertainty gives rise to three fundamental questions with regard to ethical theory, namely its justification, its practicability, and, as a sub-question, how it deals with complex, uncertain cases that thwart practical moral reasoning due to a resultant lack of knowledge. Any ethics of technology should be able to formulate answers to these questions if it is to be regarded as adequate. This article purports to provide an answer to these questions by investigating Gewirth's supreme moral principle—the Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC)—that requires every agent to act in accordance with its own and its recipients' generic rights to freedom and well-being.