How Do Technological Artefacts Embody Moral Values?

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Technology
• Moral Anthropology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Traditional views suggest technology embeds values via designer intentions and functional properties.
• These views render embedded values epistemically opaque and static, hindering value evolution.
• Existing philosophical accounts struggle to explain how technological values change over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel framework, the Affordance Account of Value Embedding, addressing limitations of prior theories.
• To reconceptualize how artifacts embody values, moving beyond designer intent.
• To explore the practical implications for designing value-conscious technologies.

Main Methods:

• Critique of existing philosophical accounts of value embedding in technology.
• Development of the Affordance Account, conceptualizing affordances as response-dependent properties.
• Interdisciplinary approach integrating moral anthropology and philosophy of technology.

Main Results:

• Artefacts possess affordances, influencing user actions based on intrinsic and extrinsic properties.
• These affordances are response-dependent, linking artifact properties to user responses and values.
• The Affordance Account provides an epistemically clearer and dynamic model for understanding embedded values.

Conclusions:

• Artefacts embody values through their affordances, demonstrating they are not value-neutral.
• The Affordance Account offers a robust alternative for understanding and designing value-laden technologies.
• This framework has significant implications for ethical technology design and development.