Computer technology, subliminal enticement, and the collectivisation of ethics

Abstract

For a significant part, computer ethics is an ethics for computer professionals. As such, it belongs to the more general category of expert ethics. Due to growing social complexity and interconnectedness in general, and in the realm of science, technology and expertise in particular, the effort needed to identify ethical choices has risen equally. Rather than being immediately identifiable as such, ethical choices often take the form of subliminal enticement. Classical approaches, like deontology, teleology or virtue ethics fail to capture this, because they are not sufficiently equipped, to deal with change and with the possibility of self-deception. For an up to date professional ethics, a broader reflexivity is needed that includes reflection on the social processes in which actors are embedded. Ethics then can be conceived as a form of collective quality control. One of the analytical tools that can be used for this purpose is argumentation analysis. Other tools can be adapted from the systems sciences. Subliminal enticement bares some resemblance to Habermas' colonisation of the life world, but stripped of some of its more problematic connotations.