Research On The Internalist Approach Of The Realization Of Ethics Of Technology

The internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology is proposed as a new approach different from traditional practices of ethics of technology,which is based on the definition of 'Realization of Ethics of Technology',the division of philosophy of technology in the engineering tradition and the humanist tradition,and the opposition in ethics of technology between the externalist approach and the internalist approach.According to the relationship dimension and virtue dimension of ethics of technology,the realization of ethics of technology can be defined as the realization of the ought-to-be relationship between human and technology in practice,and the actualization of ethical potential of agents in ethics of technology in action.Besides,according to the main elements of an 'approach'.the basic features of the internalist approach of realization of ethics of technology can be concluded as the internal ethical purpose,the hybrid ethical agents and the inter-embedded implementation mechanism.Thus,the internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology means taking technological practices and artifacts into the realization of ethics of technology from a hybrid perspective,highlighting the moral agency of human and technological artifacts as the hybrid ethical agent through the mechanism of technological mediation and that of ethical accompaniment,and finally ensuring the implementation of the ought-to-be relationship between human and technology.The internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology is based on the historical origins,the realistic foundation,the theoretical germination and the opportunities in the current era.As for the historical origins,the internalist approach can be traced back to the optimistic attitude towards the relationship between technology and ethics in technological utopianism in western culture,and the exploration of moral education function of technology in the Chinese traditional thoughts of 'the combination of Tao and Technology'.As for the realistic foundation.the internalist approach is based on the ethical appeal in modern technological practices,the practical dimension of ethics of technology,and the decline of the externalist approach of ethics of technology.As for the theoretical germination,it appears as the theory of ethical stipulation of technology,which includes the coordination of Dao and Technology and ethical process stipulation of technology.As for the opportunities in the current era,the internalist approach can benefit from the the intersection of many fields in philosophy of technology,including the integration of Engineering tradition and humanistic tradition,and the intersection of empirical turn and ethical turn.From the perspective of logical development,the internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology is founded,first of all,on its solid theoretical base.The mediation theory outlines the overall picture of the interaction of human and technology in micro-,meso-and macro-level,which provides an analysis framework of technological mediation mechanism on ethics,but also threatens the dualist framework and human's subjectivity in traditional ethics of technology.Meanwhile,by studying the relation between micro-power and subject,Foucault's ethics of self construction provides 'technologies of the self for the reconstruction of human's ethical subjectivity in technological mediation.And Jonas's ethics of responsibility provides the ideas on the allocation and implementation of responsibility among various agents in the internalist approach.Secondly,the theoretical possibility of internalist approach also lies on its internalist ethical purpose:it pursues the eigentlichkeit state of human's being-with-technology in the relationship dimension of ethics;meanwhile,it highlights to be responsible as a virtue of ethical agents to actualize their moral potential by undertaking their responsibility in their own way.Thirdly,in view of the practice orientation of ethics of technology,the theoretical possibility of the internalist approach is based on the hybrid ethical agents.From the perspective of relationism,the ethical agents include the operational moral agent from mundane technological artifacts,the functional moral agent from artificial intelligence and the ethical moral agent from human.These three types of ethical agents play their moral potentials in their own way,and realize the eigentlichkeit state of "being-with-others" of relationship between human and technology by undertaking their responsibilities.From the perspective of the realization mechanism,the inter-embedded mechanism of technology and ethics contributes to the practical feasibility of the implementation of the internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology.As for the embedded mechanism of technology to ethics,it can be regarded as the participation of technological artifacts into ethics and morality by technological mediations.According to the different moral levels,the participation of technology in ethics can be divided into three aspects:individual morality,group morality and social morality.In the individual level,technologies can take part in the process from individual's making moral judgments,moral decisions to taking moral action by technological mediations.In the group level,technologies contribute to the realization of group morality by participating in achieving moral consensus and taking moral action in group.In the social level,technological mediations appear mainly as the participation of technologies in moral concept and practice in the whole society.In terms of the accompaniment of ethics of technology,it is generally embodied in the governance and responsibility of human beings as ethical moral agent for the development of technology.According to the development process of a certain technology,the embedded mechanism of ethics is mainly carried out in four stages.The first stage is the ethical embededment in the process of technology design,which is to moralizing technological products through the'anticipation-assessing-designing' model by designers.The second stage is the ethical assessment in the process of technology test,which is carried out mainly by the ethical assessment committee.The ethical assessment in this stage aims to modify and improve the technology development plan through predicting and recognizing of technological ethics effect,analyzing and clarifying of ethical issues,and providing solutions to those problems.The third stage is the ethical adjustment in process of technology popularization,which is leaded by government.In this stage,the integration of technical products and social value system is realized smoothly through the three ways of institutional adjustment,public opinion adjustment and education adjustment.The forth stage is the ethical construction in use situation.In this stage,users confirm their role as an ethical moral agent by taking their responsibilities to the other,the world,technologies and themselves actively,which also provides practical supports for the realization of ethics potential of technologies.According to all the analysis above,it can be concluded that there are two superiorities of the internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology,which is beyond the traditional practices of ethics of technology.The one is for the enhancement of life realm of individuals.With the fundamental characteristic of 'internalism of ethics to technology',the internalist approach can not only promote the transformation of the realm of life from the real state to the ought-to-be state,but also facilitate the realization of the highest level of life realm-'the realm of universe'.The another is for the technology development of the social level.By analyzing and constructing the inter-embeddedment mechanism of technology and ethics,the internalist approach helps to realize the intervention of ethical factors to the whole process of technology development in the three levels of power dimension,knowledge dimension and time dimension,so as to dispel the Collingridge's Dilemma.In view of the superiority of the internalist approach,it is necessary to apply it in the practice of ethics of technology in China,and establish a technology-ethics system that is in line with the Chinese context and the Chinese problems,so as to promote the sustainable development of emerging technology in China.Meanwhile,in order to better play the superiorities of the internalist approach of the realization of ethics of technology in practice,it is necessary to study the theoretical problems and localization issues of the internalist approach further.