Download Ethics & Nanotechnology Summer Bridge Program XXVI

The Methodology of
Moral Reasoning
Nanoethics Lecture I
Roderick T. Long
Auburn Dept. of Philosophy
What will nanotechnology bring?
A spectrum of views:
extreme predictions,
modest predictions,
and in between
Extreme predictions: the hype
Immortality!
Godlike powers!
Nanobots inside us curing
all diseases!
The ability to build or
remold anything,
including ourselves, from
the atomic level up!
Extreme predictions: the hype
Or on the
gloomier
side – outof-control
nanobots
devouring
the earth!
Extreme predictions:
Drexler and Kurzweil
Extreme predictions in ficiton
More modest predictions
Fancy nanoengineering
won’t work!
1. Too sticky
2. Brownian motion
The most we can hope for
may be ….
Modest predictions
somewhat better soap.
What will nanotechnology bring?
Most nanoscientists
think the truth lies
somewhere in
between …
which is pretty exciting!
Even on a moderate view,
nanotechnology raises issues of ethics
How should we balance public welfare and
safety against academic freedom of
researchers?
How can we compare the weights of national
security, corporate profit, public good,
individual rights, environmental impact, and
integrity of scientific enterprise?
Even on a moderate view,
nanotechnology raises issues of ethics
How should the benefits of, and/or the
control over, nanotechnology be justly
distributed?
What are the ethical implications of altering
human nature via nanotechnology?
Thinking About Ethics
Ethics is a branch of philosophy.
What is philosophy?
Subject matter: questions about the
ultimate nature of reality, knowledge,
& value
Method: dialectic = reflective
equilibration
Three Main Branches
of Philosophy
Metaphysics: nature of reality
Epistemology: nature of knowledge
Axiology: nature of value
Branches of axiology: ethics (moral
value), aesthetics (artistic value)
Philosophy
- How different from religion?
- How different from science?
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
Example:
what’s a 7-letter word for a large
predator belonging to the cat family?
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
Example:
what’s a 7-letter word for a large
predator belonging to the cat family?
PANTHER? LEOPARD?
CHEETAH? LIONESS?
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
What’s a 7-letter word that’s the name
of a famous vampire?
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
What’s a 7-letter word that’s the name
of a famous vampire?
DRACULA
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
As in a crossword puzzle, so in
dialectic, questions we can
answer help us with questions
we can’t answer.
Consistency.
What Is Ethics?
Subject-matter: good and
bad, right and wrong.
Method: reflective
equilibration.
(John Rawls, 1921-2002)
Reflective Equilibration
Achieving coherence among
our beliefs
Balancing general principles
against particular cases
Crossword puzzle method
(Susan Haack, b. 1945)
Reflective Equilibration
Socrates (c. 470-399
BCE) called it dialectic
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
Example from
Plato’s dialogue
Laches, featuring
Socrates (c. 470-399
BCE)
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
st
1
definition: standing
firm in battle
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
st
1
definition: standing
firm in battle
Problem: too narrow
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
nd
2
definition: willingness
to face danger
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
2nd definition: willingness to
face danger
Problem: when foolish, not
admirable, so not a virtue,
so not courageous
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
rd
3
definition: wise
willingness to face
danger
Socrates vs. Laches:
What Is Courage?
3rd definition: wise
willingness to face danger
Problem: takes more
courage to act without
wisdom
The Method of Philosophy:
Dialectic
Laches is led to revise
uncertain views about the
definition of courage by appeal
to other views.
DIALECTIC!
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism: The right action
is whichever action produces
the greatest total amount of
social benefit (“the greatest
happiness of the greatest
number”)
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
The Organ Donor Case (ODC):
You can save five patients by
killing one and redistributing
his organs. Should you?
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Anti-Utilitarian argument:
If utilitarianism were true, then in
the ODC we should kill.
But surely it would be wrong to kill
in the ODC.
So utilitarianism is false.
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Utilitarian argument:
It’s a mistake to assume that
utilitarianism says to kill in
ODC.
Sometimes better to aim at goal
indirectly.
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Francis Bacon
(1561-1626):
Experiments of
fruit vs.
experiments of
light
Also: referees
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Utilitarian argument:
Likewise, a general policy of sacrificing
few to many would make all of
society nervous
Make society better off by committing
ourselves to a principle prohibiting
such sacrifices
Dialectic in Action:
The Debate Over Utilitarianism
Anti-Utilitarian argument:
- If commitment is absolute,
utilitarianism has been abandoned
- If commitment isn’t absolute, problem
isn’t solved
- In any case, gives right answer for
wrong reason