Moral Responsibility in R&D Networks
Description
"The introduction of new technologies can be accompanied by risks and unforeseen side-effects, often with high impact. If no-one is responsible for addressing these risks and side-effects, the implementation of technologies might result in harmful consequences for society. It is therefore desirable that the prevention of these negative aspects of technology is already taken into account explicitly in Research and Development (R&D). However, even if most people would agree that the people working in R&D have a professional responsibility to address these issues, it is not clear who exactly should address it and how. Is it the responsibility of the fundamental or applied researchers working in the laboratory or should it be delegated to the technology producers at the end of the chain? One of the problems with professional responsibility is that people have different views on responsibility and the question under what conditions one is responsible. This may ultimately lead to gaps in the distribution of responsibilities because people may expect someone else to assume the remaining responsibilities. In my thesis, I discuss an alternative approach to distributing responsibilities. Rather than developing one substantive conception of the responsibility of professionals, a procedural approach for distributing responsibilities is developed. The idea behind this procedural approach is that people may agree on the procedure for distributing the responsibilities, even if they do not have the same substantive view on responsibility. The model is illustrated with a case study on a technological project concerning the development of an in-house monitoring system based on ambient technology."
The (annual) theme "The intertwining of ethics and technology" is presented by PhD students from the 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology". The lectures are aimed at engineers who are interested in reflections on the political and moral connotations of technology, among other things, and who want to give the speakers feedback from their own experiences. For further information, please e-mail w.loeve@ziggo.nl . From the 3TU.centre side, the programme is coordinated by Dr Claudia Basta. Website: http://www.ethicsandtechnology.eu/basta
Speaker(s)
Neelke Doorn MSc MA, obtained her two Master Degrees respectively in Civil Engineering at TUD and in Philosophy at Leiden University. As an engineer, Neelke Doorn has ten years of working experience in the field of coastal engineering, she spent four years at Radboud University in the Centre of Ethics and she did research on risk philosophy at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2010. She is a PhD student at the Philosophy Department of Delft University of Technology, where she is working on the project "Moral responsibility in R&D networks"
Location
Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 42505844 or via the e-mail address below