Bounded Responsibility and Bounded Ethics of Science and Technology
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Bounded Responsibility and Bounded Ethics of Science and Technology Gu¨nter Abel1 Received: 4 August 2020 / Accepted: 31 August 2020 / Published online: 16 September 2020 The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The leading question of this paper is: Where does the normativity of the ethics of science and technology come from? This is a challenging question given that the traditional reservoirs of convenience (like metaphysical universalism) are no longer at our disposal the way they used to be. The paper is divided into eight sections: (1) It is specified what challenges a non-foundationalist justification and normativity has to meet. (2) A three-dimensional conception of responsibility is developed based on the human triangular I–We–World relations. (3) The concepts of bounded responsibility and bounded ethics of science and technology are formulated. (4) The principle of reflective equilibrium is introduced as a principle of rationality, and it is shown how this principle generates rational and reasonable justifications in the ethics of science and technology. (5) Against this background, a reconception of internal and external responsibilities of science is given. (6) The type of responsibility demanded is exemplified by today’s climate research. (7) The paper argues for a hand-in-hand model of uncertainties in the sciences and for ethical obligations to preserve the conditions of human life on earth. The ethical argument is spelled out in terms of ethical care, preservation, and precaution. (8) Additionally, some arguments are developed to answer the question of why it is reasonable at all to preserve human life on earth. Keywords Normativity in ethics of science Bounded responsibility Bounded ethics Principle of reflective equilibrium Internal and external responsibilities Uncertainties in the sciences Climate research
& Gu¨nter Abel [email protected] 1
Institute of Philosophy, Technical University Berlin (TUB), Sekr. H 72; Room H 7150/51, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
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Axiomathes (2020) 30:597–616
1 What is at Stake? In what follows, what will be at stake is responsibility in science and technology. More precisely, what is at stake in these fields are, on the one hand, specific questions regarding e.g. the different types of responsibility in science and technology, the basic rules of proper scientific practice, or the validity of scientific standards. On the other hand, there is the more fundamental question of where the normativity of the ethics of science and technology comes from and how it functions. This Where-from-question can be completed by the two further questions of why we need an ethics of science and technology at all and what exactly it is for. These three W-questions are basal. They reach beyond the specific questions mentioned above. The challenge that the answers to these latter questions face can be emphasized as follows: Where does normativity come from when the classical and metaphysical reservoirs
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