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NEST-ethics in convergence : testing NEST-ethics in the debate on converging technologies for improving human performance

Niculescu-Dinca, V. (2009) NEST-ethics in convergence : testing NEST-ethics in the debate on converging technologies for improving human performance.

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Abstract:New and emerging science and technology are often accompanied by ethical challenges. This is because they upset established moral norms by bringing to surface issues which were not before open for discussion; the more radical the possibilities, the more intense the ethical deliberation. The train, the automobile, the computer, IVF, nuclear power, cloning and genetic engineering are only a set of technologies, which sparked ethical deliberation upon they emergence. However, it has been suggested (Swirstra&Rip, 2007) that the moral argumentation and the strategies used in such debates are not always as novel as the technology in question, that there are definitely certain arguments and patterns of moral argumentation reoccurring time and time again in ethical deliberations over new science and technology. For example, repeatedly the Promethean attitude is brought in support of a new technology, highlighting all the goods it can bring and the potential to improve our condition. It is many times answered with appeals to the Faustian bargain: The new technology may bring us certain benefits but at the end of the day we find ourselves in a lot messier situation. This in turn is answered with other arguments, remaining or not in the mythical register.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:08 philosophy
Programme:Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society MSc (60024)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/59321
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