And Lead Us (Not) into Persuasion...? Persuasive Technology and the Ethics of Communication.

The paper develops ethical guidelines for the development and usage of persuasive technologies (PT) that can be derived from applying discourse ethics to this type of technologies. The application of discourse ethics is of particular interest for PT, since 'persuasion' refers to an act of communicat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Science & Engineering Ethics Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 633 - 651
Autor principal: Spahn, Andreas
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Dec2012
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The paper develops ethical guidelines for the development and usage of persuasive technologies (PT) that can be derived from applying discourse ethics to this type of technologies. The application of discourse ethics is of particular interest for PT, since 'persuasion' refers to an act of communication that might be interpreted as holding the middle between 'manipulation' and 'convincing'. One can distinguish two elements of discourse ethics that prove fruitful when applied to PT: the analysis of the inherent normativity of acts of communication ('speech acts') and the Habermasian distinction between 'communicative' and 'strategic rationality' and their broader societal interpretation. This essay investigates what consequences can be drawn if one applies these two elements of discourse ethics to PT.