This is Technology Ethics by Sven Nyholm & Steven D. Hales

Author:Sven Nyholm & Steven D. Hales [Sven Nyholm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119755579
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Published: 2023-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

6.3 Responsibility Gaps: General Background

6.24 Why might it be thought that technologies could create gaps in responsibility? To understand this, it is a good idea to first reflect on general ideas that many people have about what makes people responsible for things. Again, we will consider both positive responsibility and negative responsibility. That is, why do we sometimes think that people deserve praise for their achievements? And why do we sometimes think that people deserve blame or other forms of criticisms for bad things they do or bad outcomes that have come about?

6.25 Of course, as with many things, there are different theories about these matters. We will not be able to consider all of them here. Instead, we will focus on theories that seem especially relevant in this context. Let us first consider positive responsibility in the backward‐looking sense. In other words, there is something good that has happened, and somebody deserves credit for it.

6.26 One useful theory that one can look at here is the philosopher Gwen Bradford's theory of what makes something count as an achievement. Another useful theory is Hannah Maslen and her colleagues' theory of praiseworthiness. It seems appropriate to marry these two accounts together since achievements are, in essence, a positive manifestation of responsibility. Putting together these theories, we get something along the following lines.

6.27 Whenever we are assessing the value of somebody's achievements, the following four variables make sense to keep in mind:

The value of the output produced: the better some output is, the more it makes sense to think of it as being an achievement worthy of praise.

The nature of the contribution of the person(s) under consideration: the more significantly somebody has contributed to the production of some output—and the less it is a matter of luck that the output was produced—the more it makes sense to view it as an achievement worthy of praise.

The cost of the commitment on behalf of the person(s): typically, the more effort, time, attention, and stress had to be exerted, the more it makes sense to view something as an achievement worthy of praise.

The voluntariness of the commitment and efforts of the person(s): the more it is the case that one has voluntarily determined to pursue some outcome, the more it makes sense to view it is an achievement worthy of praise.

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