The Methodology of Moral Reasoning Nanoethics Lecture I

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The Methodology of Moral ReasoningNanoethics
Lecture I

• Roderick T. Long
• Auburn Dept. of Philosophy

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What will nanotechnology bring?

• A spectrum of views extreme predictions, modest
  predictions, and in between

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Extreme predictions the hype

• Immortality!
• Godlike powers!
• Nanobots inside us curing all diseases!
• The ability to build or remold anything,
  including ourselves, from the atomic level up!

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Extreme predictions the hype

• Or on the gloomier side out-of-control nanobots
  devouring the earth!

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Extreme predictions Drexler and Kurzweil
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Extreme predictions in ficiton
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More modest predictions

• Fancy nanoengineering wont work!
• 1. Too sticky
• 2. Brownian motion
• The most we can hope for may be .

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Modest predictions

• somewhat better soap.

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What will nanotechnology bring?

• Most nanoscientists think the truth lies
  somewhere in between
• which is pretty exciting!

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Even on a moderate view, nanotechnology raises
issues of ethics

• How should we balance public welfare and safety
  against academic freedom of researchers?
• How can we compare the weights of national
  security, corporate profit, public good,
  individual rights, environmental impact, and
  integrity of scientific enterprise?

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Even on a moderate view, nanotechnology raises
issues of ethics

• How should the benefits of, and/or the control
  over, nanotechnology be justly distributed?
• What are the ethical implications of altering
  human nature via nanotechnology?

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Thinking About Ethics

• Ethics is a branch of philosophy.
• What is philosophy?
• Subject matter questions about the ultimate
  nature of reality, knowledge, value
• Method dialectic reflective equilibration

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Three Main Branches of Philosophy

• Metaphysics nature of reality
• Epistemology nature of knowledge
• Axiology nature of value
• Branches of axiology ethics (moral value),
  aesthetics (artistic value)

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Philosophy

• - How different from religion?
• - How different from science?

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Example
• whats a 7-letter word for a large predator
  belonging to the cat family?

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Example
• whats a 7-letter word for a large predator
  belonging to the cat family?
• PANTHER? LEOPARD?
• CHEETAH? LIONESS?

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Whats a 7-letter word thats the name of a
  famous vampire?

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Whats a 7-letter word thats the name of a
  famous vampire?
• DRACULA

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• As in a crossword puzzle, so in dialectic,
  questions we can answer help us with questions we
  cant answer.
• Consistency.

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What Is Ethics?

• Subject-matter good and bad, right and wrong.
• Method reflective equilibration.
• (John Rawls, 1921-2002)

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Reflective Equilibration

• Achieving coherence among our beliefs
• Balancing general principles against particular
  cases
• Crossword puzzle method
• (Susan Haack, b. 1945)

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Reflective Equilibration

• Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE) called it dialectic

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Example from
• Platos dialogue
• Laches, featuring
• Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE)

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 1st definition standing firm in battle

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 1st definition standing firm in battle
• Problem too narrow

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 2nd definition willingness to face danger

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 2nd definition willingness to face danger
• Problem when foolish, not admirable, so not a
  virtue, so not courageous

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 3rd definition wise willingness to face danger

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Socrates vs. LachesWhat Is Courage?

• 3rd definition wise willingness to face danger
• Problem takes more courage to act without wisdom

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The Method of Philosophy Dialectic

• Laches is led to revise uncertain views about the
  definition of courage by appeal to other views.
• DIALECTIC!

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Utilitarianism The right action is whichever
  action produces the greatest total amount of
  social benefit (the greatest happiness of the
  greatest number)

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Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) John
Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• The Organ Donor Case (ODC)
• You can save five patients by killing one and
  redistributing his organs. Should you?

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Anti-Utilitarian argument
• If utilitarianism were true, then in the ODC we
  should kill.
• But surely it would be wrong to kill in the ODC.
• So utilitarianism is false.

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Utilitarian argument
• Its a mistake to assume that utilitarianism says
  to kill in ODC.
• Sometimes better to aim at goal indirectly.

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
• Experiments of fruit vs. experiments of light
• Also referees

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Utilitarian argument
• Likewise, a general policy of sacrificing few to
  many would make all of society nervous
• Make society better off by committing ourselves
  to a principle prohibiting such sacrifices

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Dialectic in ActionThe Debate Over
Utilitarianism

• Anti-Utilitarian argument
• - If commitment is absolute, utilitarianism has
  been abandoned
• - If commitment isnt absolute, problem isnt
  solved
• - In any case, gives right answer for wrong reason