Utilitarianism Of Human-Robot Ethics In Robotic Series By Issac Asimov

As the father of science fiction,Issac Asimov is a fruitful writer.His works have scientific characteristics as well as humanistic features.His works concern the threats to humanity posed by scientific progress,and he depicts a problematic Utopian world.Nowadays,the researches on Asimov's works are various,and mostly center on his Foundation Series.Since the Artificial Intelligence booms,robotic ethics emerges as a common interest in interdisciplinary studies.Robot Series by Asimov were created from the 1950s to the 1980s.According to Bian Yulin's "Asimov 's Works in China," it is believed that the Robot Series include:Caves of Steel(1954),The Naked Sun(1957),The Robots of Dawn(1983),Robots of Empire(1985),The Complete Robots(1982).Asimov's Robotic Series pioneer the human-robot ethics by setting "Three Laws of Robotics" and further adding "The Zeroth Law of Robotics."By studying Asimov's life and writing career,he is found to be greatly influenced by Technicism which stresses the practical effect.Secondly,psychology boomed in his time.Freud exerted his influence on Asimov,leading Asimov to be concerned about the non-rationality in human nature.Thirdly,Asimov's time witnessed New Wave Movement and Cyber-Punk,and the newly-emerged philosophy like Existentialism,Deconstruction made Asimov's writings more cynical and his reflection on human's fate became more profound.It is at this time that he added an extra law called "The Zeroth Law" to "Three Laws of Robotics," that is,robot should put the interests of the majority of human beings into priority.All of these factors affect his creations.After reading Asimov's works,there are some points echoing the ideas put forward by John Stuart Mill.Firstly,Mill in his masterwork Utilitarianism advocates that Happiness Maximization is the highest standard to evaluate happiness;higher pleasure means that interest of the majority can be satisfied.Secondly,Mill suggests the combination of Freedom Theory and Utilitarianism.He believes although the principle of determining "right" or "wrong"is certain due to the social custom,academic education and religious belief,people will make different decisions due to his own subjective judgment,so he asserts reasonability of free will.Thirdly,he integrates the Justice Theory with Utilitarianism.In terms of justice,he insists that justice and equality lay the premise of utility.Therefore,this thesis aims to probe into Asimov's view on human-robot ethics from perspective of utilitarianism.The major research method employed in this dissertation is Ethica1 Literary Criticism put by Nie Zhenzhao.According to Nie,Ethical Literary Criticism,as a methodology,underlines the social responsibility of literature and literary criticism,emphasizes the enlightenment function of literature,stresses the importance of explaining literature in the shoes of historical ethical context,thus an analysis on the roles of ethical factors in developing the story plot and on the character's fate is reached.The end of employing the ethical criticism to explain or evaluate the ethical selections of various characters in literature is to get the ethical enlightenment and ethical warning to the present.Up to now,this theory is rarely employed in the literary studies of the human-robot ethics,thus the extension of this theory into science fiction,and into the future context,is where the originality of this thesis lies.The reason why few scholars employ this criticism in science fiction exists in the difficulty to extend the ethical context to the future world,for that Ethical Literary Criticism emphasizes dating back to the past history rather than the unpredictable future.To analyze the ethical issues better,this discussion refers to the relevant concept defined by Nie including "ethical taboo," "ethical selection," "ethical dilemma," "ethical value" and "Sphinx factor."In the "Introduction," the background of Asimov's times and the social attitude towards science progress is presented.To illustrate Asimov's view on human-robot ethics better,the relevant theory of Utilitarianism put by Mill is also briefly introduced,and his three principles("equality is justice","all life with free will enjoy the right to make ethical selection","Happiness Maximization"(Mill))are stressed and elaborated,and in the following chapters text evidences in Asimov's Robot Series would prove the three ideas of Utilitarianism one by one.Besides,the relevant conceptions like science fiction and ethics are discussed about.Moreover,the literature review and significance of this thesis are also included.In the first chapter "The Signs of Subversion to Human-Robot Ethical Taboo,"signs of robots to subvert human's absolute domination in Asimov's works are mentioned,which echoes "equality and justice serve as the premise of utility" noted by Mill.In this chapter,concerning "ethical taboo" raised by Nie,three aspects regarding equality are discussed:1.Robots evolve from the speechless to the free talker;2.in many works,robots are the subjects of gazing;3.in most works,robots break through the monitoring by men and win their own autonomy.The second chapter "The logic Basis for Subversion to Human-Robot Ethical Taboo" explores the paradox of "Three Laws of Robotics." Mill advocates that the premise to judge ethical values lies in the internal standards which include sentience and free will,but the main flaw of these laws is that it blesses the robots with free-will but deprives them of their freedom to make decisions.Such a paradox is analyzed from three points:1.There is a great discrepancy between human language and machine language;2.Logical flaw of "Three Laws of Robotics" leads the robots to think;3."Ethical selection"(Nie)is never a simple issue,human would be influenced by "Sphinx factor"(Nie)and robot by "Frankenstein factor."In the third chapter "The Significance for Subversion to Human-Robot Ethical Taboo," the human-robot ethical value under Utilitarianism is discussed.To satisfy the principle of Happiness Maximization,Carbon-Iron civilizations should co-exist harmoniously,and the crucial way to realize the greatest happiness is to balance the interests,and the topic discussed in this chapter echoes "ethical value" proposed by Nie.Asimov highlights the balance in three domains:1.Politically,a balance should be stricken between government power and individual will;2.Scientifically,a balance should be settled between scientific rationality and natural humanity;3.Culturally,a balance is also needed between unity and diversity,both of which are important for the progress of Carbon-Iron civilization.In the part of "Conclusion," the main points of this thesis are illustrated as a conclusion,and the originality and deficiency are mentioned.Moreover,the prospect of this research is predicted.