Can Robots Make us Better Humans?
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Can Robots Make us Better Humans? Virtuous Robotics and the Good Life with Artificial Agents Massimiliano L. Cappuccio1
· Eduardo B. Sandoval2 · Omar Mubin3 · Mohammad Obaid4 · Mari Velonaki2
Accepted: 14 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This position paper proposes a novel approach to the ethical design of social robots. We coin the term “Virtuous Robotics” to describe Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) designed to help humans reach a higher level of moral development. Our approach contrasts with mainstream approaches to robot design inspired by the other normative theories, Consequentialism and Deontology. In the paper we theoretically justify our proposal, illustrating how the Virtuous Robotics approach allows us to discriminate between positive and negative applications of robotics systems, of which we provide examples. From an ethical perspective, our proposal is theoretically robust because it is based on the assistive role played by the robot rather than the robot’s moral agency. From a designer’s perspective, Virtuous Robotics is technically feasible because it transfers the cognitive burden of HRI from the robot to the user, bypassing the need for complex decision-making abilities. From the user’s perspective, it is concretely advantageous, because it envisions a realistic way to make robots morally desirable in our lives, as supports for personal betterment and fulfilment. Keywords Virtuous Robotics · Virtue Ethics · Self-improvement · Deontology · Consequentialism · Human–Robot interaction · Recognition theory · Character formation · Machine Ethics · Aristotle
1 Introduction What approach should we use to design and use social robots in an ethical way? In this position paper, we intend to offer
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Massimiliano L. Cappuccio [email protected] Eduardo B. Sandoval [email protected] Omar Mubin [email protected] Mohammad Obaid [email protected] Mari Velonaki [email protected]
1
School of Engineering and IT, University of New South Wales Canberra, Canberra, Australia
2
School of Art and Design, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
3
Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
4
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
an original take on this question presenting a new approach to the application of machine ethics in social robotics that we call “Virtuous Robotics”. The Virtuous Robotics approach to Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) is both morally desirable, because cogently derived from legitimate ethical principles, and technically sound, because feasible, convenient, and in some ways more adequate for implementation than the other approaches typically considered by robot ethicists. Virtuous Robotics differs from the major approaches in machine ethics both in theory and practice. In theory, because our approach is not rooted in the principles of the mainstream theories of normative ethics, i.e., Consequentialism and Deontology, but on Virtue Ethics, a philosophical tradition that focuses on c
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