Heuristic Methods for Computer Ethics.

The domain of “procedural ethics” is the set of reflective and deliberative methods that maximize the reliability of moral judgment. While no general algorithmic method exists that will guarantee the validity of ethical deliberation, non-algorithmic “heuristic” methods can guide and inform the proce...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Metaphilosophy Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 339 - 366
Main Author: Maner, Walter
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Apr2002
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The domain of “procedural ethics” is the set of reflective and deliberative methods that maximize the reliability of moral judgment. While no general algorithmic method exists that will guarantee the validity of ethical deliberation, non-algorithmic “heuristic” methods can guide and inform the process, making it significantly more robust and dependable. This essay examines various representative heuristic procedures commonly recommended for use in applied ethics, maps them into a uniform set of twelve stages, identifies common faults, then shows how the resulting stage-by-stage decision-making model could be adapted for general use and for use in computer ethics.