Ethics and technology assessment

Sven Ove Hansson

Chapter 25 in Handbook of Technology Assessment, 2024, pp 249-258 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter investigates three major perspectives on the multifaceted relationship between ethics and technology assessment. The first perspective is the use of ethical analysis as a tool in technology assessment. A case is made for the importance of including ethics in technology assessment, and three ethical tools are introduced that can be used for that purpose: ethical checklists, ethical matrices and ethical risk analysis. The second perspective is the use of technology assessment as a tool in area-specific (‘applied’) ethics. Unfortunately, ethical analysis of emerging technologies has often been impeded by a focus on unrealistic scenarios with little practical relevance. Ethicists have much to learn from technology assessment with its focus on reasonably plausible future developments. The third perspective is the ethical problems that arise in the performance of technology assessments. Prominent such problems are the choice of topics for technology assessment, conflicts of interest and scientific integrity.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Innovations and Technology; Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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