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The Moral Consideration of Artificial Entities: A Literature Review.

Ethicists, policy-makers, and the general public have questioned whether artificial entities such as robots warrant rights or other forms of moral consideration. There is little synthesis of the research on this topic so far. We identify 294 relevant research or discussion items in our literature re...

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Published in:Science & Engineering Ethics Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 1 - 96
Main Authors: Harris, Jamie, Anthis, Jacy Reese
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Aug2021
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: The Moral Consideration of Artificial Entities: A Literature Review.
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          Harris, Jamie
          Anthis, Jacy Reese
        affil:
          Sentience Institute, New York, USA
          Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, 60637, Chicago, IL, USA
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      keyword:
        Artificial intelligence
        Ethics
        Moral consideration
        Philosophy of technology
        Rights
        Robots
      ab: Ethicists, policy-makers, and the general public have questioned whether artificial entities such as robots warrant rights or other forms of moral consideration. There is little synthesis of the research on this topic so far. We identify 294 relevant research or discussion items in our literature review of this topic. There is widespread agreement among scholars that some artificial entities could warrant moral consideration in the future, if not also the present. The reasoning varies, such as concern for the effects on artificial entities and concern for the effects on human society. Beyond the conventional consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethicist ethical frameworks, some scholars encourage “information ethics” and “social-relational” approaches, though there are opportunities for more in-depth ethical research on the nuances of moral consideration of artificial entities. There is limited relevant empirical data collection, primarily in a few psychological studies on current moral and social attitudes of humans towards robots and other artificial entities. This suggests an important gap for psychological, sociological, economic, and organizational research on how artificial entities will be integrated into society and the factors that will determine how the interests of artificial entities are considered.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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          year: 2021
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