F1620 The Ethics of Technological Society
Schönherr-Mann Hans-Martin
In the nineteen seventies discussion began to get underway about a changing ethical horizon which the increasing development of the technological world was producing. It was one aspect of a new general interest in ethics after more than 150 years of preferring to investigate violence rather than morals: Hegel, Marx, Carl Schmitt. On the one hand ideologies could no longer hide their inadequacies; on the other an increasing number of problem from the technological world seemed also to need ethical and moral answers. For example, for a lot of thinkers the ecological crisis cannot solved only by technological methods. It also requires self-discipline. So Hans Jonas wrote in 1979 the first works of ecological ethics, notably ‘The Imperative of Responsibility’ – a new concept owing much to Max Weber – which has since dominated ethical discussions about the technological society. Genetics, for example, offers a lot of opportunities to solve fundamental human problems in medicine and agriculture. But conversely this development is accompanied by a lot of risks requiring ethical answers, or a prior ethical stance on the part of the scientists developing these technologies. The technological world of computing and the internet has completely changed daily life not stopping short of sexual relations. For a lot of people it opens up hopes for a more democratic world, in which many more people than before can participate in political action. But on the other hand, the American secret service NSA shows that the warnings of Orwell are not obsolete, that people can be controlled much better by the WWW. All these developments need an ethical answer on the individual side and from the political sphere.
The course shall give information about the technological challenge and shall give an introduction into the ethics of the technological world. Naturally it is necessary to have also a look on the history of ethics and technologies.
Teaching Methods: Discourse, Statement, Lecture of the students, Reading an Analysing Texts in the Seminar together, Discussion
Evaluation
Reading