The Machine Question
ISBN 0262017431 | |
The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics is a
Content
The book is spread across three chapters, with the first two chapters focusing on an overall review of the history of philosophy and its discussion of moral agency, moral rights, human rights, and animal rights and the third chapter focusing on what defines "thingness" and why machines have been excluded from moral and ethical consideration due to a misuse of the patient/agent binary.[2]
The first chapter, titled Moral Agency, breaks down the history of said agency based on what it included and excluded in various parts of history. Gunkel also raises the conflict between discussing the morality of humans toward objects and the theory of the
The second chapter, titled Moral Patiency, focuses on the patient end of the topic and discusses the expansion of the fields of
The third chapter, titled Thinking Otherwise, proposes a combination of
Critical reception
A review in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews by Colin Allen criticized some of Gunkel's methodology and the indecisiveness of his ultimate answer to the machine question, but also acknowledged that the book "succeeded in connecting the ethics of robots and AI to a much broader ethical discussion than has been represented in the literature on machine ethics to date".[8] Blay Whitby, in a review for AISB Quarterly, lauded The Machine Question for its "clear exposition" and wide range of references to other works, concluding that the book is "essential reading for philosophers interested in AI, robot ethics, or animal ethics".[9] In a twin review of The Machine Question and Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robots by Patrick Lin, Keith Abney, and George A. Bekey, Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology reviewer Jeff Shaw called Gunkel's book a good introduction to the "complex field of robot ethics" and that both books are "highly recommended to both the general reader as well as to experts in the field of robotics, philosophy, and ethics."[10]
In a 2017 paper for Ethics and Information Technology, Katharyn Hogan investigated whether the machine question presented by Gunkel in the book is any different from the longstanding animal question. She concludes that the real question that is revealed from this discussion is whether humans deserve any moral preference over artificial life in the first place.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "NCA Comm365: Celebrating 100 Years of Communication Research" (PDF). Natcom.org. National Communication Association. 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- ^ S2CID 29059564.
- ^ . Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ S2CID 146890431.
- .
- . Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- S2CID 14156663.
- ^ Allen, Colin (February 13, 2013). "The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- ^ Whitby, Blay (March 2014). "Book review: The Machine Question: Critical perspectives on AI, robots, and ethics (Gunkel, 2012)" (PDF). AISB Quarterly. 138: 23–24. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- . Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- S2CID 7920821. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
External links
- The Machine Question, Official website
- The Machine Question on the MIT Press, publisher website