Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting

by Shannon Vallor

Overview

The 21st century offers a dizzying array of new technological developments: robots smart enough to take white collar jobs, social media tools that manage our most important relationships, ordinary objects that track, record, analyze and share every detail of our daily lives, and biomedical techniques with the potential to transform and enhance human minds and bodies to an unprecedented degree. Emerging technologies are reshaping our habits, practices, institutions, cultures and environments in increasingly rapid, complex and unpredictable ways that create profound risks and opportunities for human flourishing on a global scale. How can our future be protected in such challenging and uncertain conditions? How can we possibly improve the chances that the human family will not only live, but live well, into the 21st century and beyond? This book locates a key to that future in the distant past: specifically, in the philosophical traditions of virtue ethics developed by classical thinkers from Aristotle and Confucius to the Buddha. Each developed a way of seeking the good life that equips human beings with the moral and intellectual character to flourish even in the most unpredictable, complex and unstable situations--precisely where we find ourselves today. Through an examination of the many risks and opportunities presented by rapidly changing technosocial conditions, Vallor makes the case that if we are to have any real hope of securing a future worth wanting, then we will need more than just better technologies. We will also need better humans. Technology and the Virtues develops a practical framework for seeking that goal by means of the deliberate cultivation of technomoral virtues: specific skills and strengths of character, adapted to the unique challenges of 21st century life, that offer the human family our best chance of learning to live wisely and well with emerging technologies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190498535
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/18/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Shannon Vallor is the William J. Rewak, S.J. Professor in Philosophy at Santa Clara University, with a research and teaching focus on the philosophy of science and technology. She is President of the international Society for Philosophy and Technology, and recipient of the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics from the World Technology Network. Her current research examines the impact of emerging technologies on human moral character and virtues.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Envisioning the Good Life in the 21st Century and Beyond Part I: Foundations for a Technomoral Virtue Ethic Chapter One: Virtue Ethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Chapter Two: The Case for a Global Technomoral Virtue Ethic Part II: Cultivating the Technomoral Self: Classical Virtue Traditions as a Contemporary Guide Chapter Three: The Practice of Moral Self-Cultivation in Classical Virtue Traditions Chapter Four: Cultivating the Foundations of Technomoral Virtue Chapter Five: Completing the Circle with Technomoral Wisdom Chapter Six: Technomoral Wisdom for an Uncertain Future: 21st Century Virtues Part III: Meeting the Future with Technomoral Wisdom, Or How to Live Well with Emerging Technologies Chapter Seven: New Social Media and the Technomoral Virtues Chapter Eight: Surveillance and the Examined Life: Cultivating the Technomoral Self in a Panoptic World Chapter Nine: Robots at War and at Home: Preserving the Technomoral Virtues of Care and Courage Chapter Ten: Knowing What to Wish For: Technomoral Wisdom and Human Enhancement Technology Epilogue References

Editorial Reviews

"The book is an excellent contribution to moral philosophy, applied ethics and ethics of technology. In addition, I can imagine fruitful connections to other fields; e.g., to political philosophy and development economics, to discuss the roles of policies and institutions in enabling people to cultivate relevant virtues and extend relevant human capabilities, or to moral psychology or computer-human interaction, to empirically study the ways in which people may cultivate virtues in interaction with technologies." — Marc Steen, Journal of Moral Philosophy

"Vallor bursts virtue ethics into 21st century relevance with her technomoral analyses. This is a wonderfully written and engaging tour de force that leaves few technological stones unturned. You certainly don't need to be a philosopher to understand Vallor's persuasive account of how to lead the good life in a world littered with ever new techno-pitfalls. It is a must read for everyone involved in the creation and governance of new technology." — Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and of Public Engagement, University of Sheffield

"Shannon Vallor's book, which she appropriately previewed at a conference in China, is an insightful effort to think virtue from both Western and Eastern traditions and bring it to bear in the techno-lifeworld. It cannot help but challenge all of us who live in this world to think more deeply about who we are and what we are doing."— Carl Mitcham, Renmin University of China

"Technology and the Virtues is the first extended analysis of technology and ethics drawing on virtue theory. Vallor has made an extraordinary contribution to the philosophy of technology that will have long-lasting influence. The book has it all: current relevance, philosophical depth and rigor, sociotechnical understanding of technology, practical implications, and lucid and engaging prose."— Deborah G. Johnson, Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Chair of Applied Ethics, University of Virginia

"With insight, erudition, and dare I say wisdom, Shannon Vallor makes the classical virtue ethics of Confucius, Aristotle, and the Buddha a hot topic for this technological age. Creatively and convincingly she demonstrates that technomoral virtues are essential for navigating the contemporary landscape being shaped by social networks, robots, and biotechnologies." - Wendell Wallach, author of A Dangerous Master and Chair of the Technology and Ethics Study Group at Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

"How to live well with emerging technologies that will radically change our lives is one of the main issues of contemporary moral theory. The book Technology and the Virtues by Shannon Vallor is a welcomed attempt to answer this question...the book is very interesting, as it highlights a number of differences in a debate that, while being global, shows how different, culturally determined discourses can be developed." —Metascience

"Shannon Vallor makes a compelling argument for renewing the cultivation of the virtues in order to meet the challenges of our technological age...Vallor takes a comprehensive approach, addressing both theory and applications...The cumulative case is quite impressive. Vallor ranges over three widely diverse moral traditions from the ancient world, then connects their concerns with the intricacies of urgent contemporary problems...Students and scholars of both the virtues and technology will find a great deal to interest and stimulate them here. Moreover, Vallor's book captures the special blend of excitement and precariousness that is woven into our lives today by our use and reliance on constantly changing technology." — Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"Technology and the Virtues is a valuable contribution to both virtue theory and philosophy of technology; those working at the intersection of these fields will need to take Vallor's work into account. At the same time, the book would work well in the classroom. Vallor leads her reader from the basics of virtue theory, through key virtue ethical traditions and new technosocial virtues, to compelling discussions of the application of virtue ethics—and technosocial virtues—to emerging technologies…As a starting point for investigating the application of virtue theory to technology, one would be hard-pressed to find a better option than this ambitious volume." — Ethics

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