فصلنامه نوآوری‌های آموزشی (Jun 2021)

Investigating the theory of morality of things and technology agency and its implications in education

  • Roohollāh Mozaffaripour

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22034/jei.2021.243622.1591
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 2
pp. 119 – 138

Abstract

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The main purpose of this research was to study the theory of morality of things and technology agency based on the ideas of Paul Peter Verbeek and its implications in education. So, the inference method was used. First, the ideas of Verbeek have been examined and then its educational implications have been discussed. Based on the mediation theory in post-phenomenology, Verbeek believes that the two components of morality, i.e., intentionality and freedom which are required for moral action, are distributed between human and artifacts, that is, the artifacts are part of human's wills as well as the freedom of human. In his view, human has independence, but his independence is not complete. He mentions, among other things, persuasive technologies and Ambient intelligence as to how they motivate humans to make specific decisions and do specific actions. Human agency is combined with artifacts and technologies. According to the results of this research, the hybrid agency and ethical and influential role of technologies must also be considered in planning and decision making in education. The technological foundations of education must also be taken into consideration. Ethical education in the technological society needs to be reconsidered and rethought. The responsibility of designing instructional technologies would be much more important, so that instructional technologies could act as educational technologies. Given the role of persuasive technologies in shaping human behavior, these technologies could be used in shaping the behavior and habits of children and adolescents. And some parts of education could be left to the artifacts.

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