Lecture: Duty Ethics

Lecture: Duty Ethics

Administrative information

Title Duty Ethics
Duration 60
Module A
Lesson Type Lecture
Focus Ethical - Ethics Fundamentals
Topic Duty Ethics

 

Keywords

Duty ethics, Kant

 

Learning Goals

  • Learner can assess choices on what subjects are ought to do.
  • Learner understands the concept of moral.
  • Learner has basic understanding of how those points relate to AI.

 

Expected Preparation

Learning Events to be Completed Before

None.

Obligatory for Students

None.

Optional for Students

  • Duty ethics - Kant: School of Life - Kant & Categorical Imperatives: Crash Course Philosophy#35.
  • Kranak, J. Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics. Chapter 6. Kantian Deontology. [1]
  • Gensler, H. J. (2017). Ethics: A contemporary introduction. Routledge. CH 7 Kant and GR, CH11 Nonconsequentialism (deontology)
  • Kantian ethics. Otfried Höffe. In Roger Crisp (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics. Oxford University Press (2013)

References and background for students:

None.

Recommended for Teachers

  • Ulgen, Ozlem. "Kantian ethics in the age of artificial intelligence and robotics." QIL 43 (2017): 59-83. [2]
  • Alexander, Larry, and Michael Moore "Deontological Ethics" on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 21 Nov. 2007, [3].
  • I. Kant “Critique of Practical Reason,” (1788) and “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” (1785)
  • P.W. Singer, "Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics Are Wrong", 2009. [4]

 

Lesson Materials

 

The materials of this learning event are available under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

 

Instructions for Teachers

Topics to Cover

  • Introduction: differences between different normative theories (5 min)
  • Duty ethics (35 min)
    • What is a "duty"? (5 min)
    • Kant and the role of human reason (10 min)
    • Maxims and imperatives - Example Code of Ethics and Professional practice (ACM/IEEE-CS) (15 min)
    • Critics of duty ethics, pros and cons (5 min)
  • Duty Ethics and AI (30 min)
    • Examples of dilemmas (10 min) [Digital discrimination (Social Network Bias) and Autonomous vehicles]
    • Trolley problem, different versions, with short discussion (10 min)
    • Isaac Asimov’s laws of Robotics (5 min)
    • Evaluating an action based on duty ethics (5 min)

Interactive moments

There are several interactive moments (e.g., short discussions) with students:

  • Values: Questions that might be asked are:
    • What values are particular important for you?
    • Which contradictions do you see regarding values, do you have examples in which these contradictions occur?
  • Duty ethics/obligations - Questions that might be asked are:
    • What are possible problems with duty ethics in practise?
    • Would you always do the right thing, even if it produces a bad result?
    • Can you provide examples of the uses of the categorical imperative in everyday life?
  • Duty ethics relation with AI: Questions that might be asked are:
    • Do you think we could use a deontological moral model to provide a moral frame for AI?
    • Do you believe the categorical imperative is applicable to AI?
    • Would you ride a driverless cars that swerve to save pedestrians even at the expense of passengers?

More information

Click here for an overview of all lesson plans of the master human centred AI

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Acknowledgements

The Human-Centered AI Masters programme was co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union Under Grant №CEF-TC-2020-1 Digital Skills 2020-EU-IA-0068.

The materials of this learning event are available under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

 

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