Technology, Recommendation and Design: On Being a 'Paternalistic' Philosopher

Pak Hang Wong*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Philosophers have talked to each other about moral issues concerning technology, but few of them have talked about issues of technology and the good life, and even fewer have talked about technology and the good life with the public in the form of recommendation. In effect, recommendations for various technologies are often left to technologists and gurus. Given the potential benefits of informing the public on their impacts on the good life, however, this is a curious state of affairs. In the present paper, I will examine why philosophers are seemingly reluctant to offer recommendations to the public. While there are many reasons for philosophers to refrain from offering recommendations, I shall focus on a specific normative reason. More specifically, it appears that, according to a particular definition, offering recommendations can be viewed as paternalistic, and therefore is prima facie wrong to do so. I will provide an argument to show that the worry about paternalism is unfounded, because a form of paternalism engendered by technology is inevitable. Given the inevitability of paternalism, I note that philosophers should accept the duty to offer recommendations to the public. I will then briefly turn to design ethics, which has reconceptualised the role of philosophers and, in my mind, fitted well with the inevitability of paternalism. Finally, I shall argue that design ethics has to be supplemented by the practice of recommendation if it is to sustain its objective.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)27-42
    Number of pages16
    JournalScience and Engineering Ethics
    Volume19
    Issue number1
    Early online date29 Jun 2011
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2013

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Issues, ethics and legal aspects
    • Health(social science)
    • Health Policy
    • Management of Technology and Innovation

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Design ethics
    • Good life
    • Paternalism
    • Recommendation
    • Role of philosopher

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