Two New Philosophical Problems for Robo-Ethics

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe two new philosophical problems for robo-ethics. When one considers the kinds of philosophical problems that arise in the emerging field of robo-ethics, one typically thinks of issues that concern agency, autonomy, rights, consciousness, warfare/military applications, employment and work, the impact for elder-care, and many others. All of these philosophical problems are well known. However, this paper describes two new philosophical problems for robo-ethics that have not been previously addressed in the literature. The author’s view is that if these philosophical problems are not solved, some aspects of robo-ethics research and development will be challenged.

Keywords

• robo-ethics
• robo-agents
• moral reasoning
• computational models of moral reasoning
• functionalism
• reliability
• Saul Kripke