The Third Asia-Pacific Computing and Philosophy Conference November 2-4, 2007 Chulanlongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Intercultural Information Ethics: Foundations and Applications

Rafael Capurro Stuttgart Media University Germany

Overview

     Defining the Field Origins Recent Publications The Foundational Debate The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures   Special Issues Conclusion R. Capurro: IIE 3

Defining the Field

 IIE in a narrow sense: deals with the impact of ICT on different cultures as well as on how specific ethical ICT issues are understood from different cultural traditions R. Capurro: IIE 4

Defining the Field

 IIE in a broad sense: deals with ethical questions raised by other (than digital) information and communication media allowing a large historical cross-media comparative view.

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Defining the Field

  IIE explores these issues under descriptive and normative perspectives.

Comparative studies can be done at a concrete or ontic level or at the level of ontological or structural presuppositions.

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Origins

 The international debate: • UNESCO First International Congress on Ethical Legal, and Societal Aspects of Digital Information, Principality of Monaco 1997 (and subsequent conferences) • WSIS (Tunisia 2003, Geneva 2005) 7 R. Capurro: IIE

Origins

 The academic debate: • CATaC Conferences organized by Charles Ess and Fay Sudweeks since 1998 • ETHICOMP Conferences organized by Simon Rogerson since 1995 • CEPE conferences (since 1997) • ICIE Conference 2004: the first international conference addressing explicitly information ethics from an intercultural perspective • Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics: international conference 2005 R. Capurro: IIE 8

Recent Publications

  Soraj Hongladarom & Charles Ess (Eds.), „Information Technology Ethics Cultural Perspectives“ (2007) Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.), „Localizing the Internet: ethical aspects in intercultural perspective“ (2007) 9 R. Capurro: IIE

The Foundational Debate

 Charles Ess‘ „global information ethics“: • avoiding imperialistic homogenization which preserving the irreducible differences between cultures and people • Western Ethics and Confucian thought: „resonance“ and „harmony“ • „pros hen“ robust pluralism • Between irreducibility and complementarity 10 R. Capurro: IIE

The Foundational Debate

 Toru Nishigaki: • The Western idea of a „coherent self“ and the Buddhist questionning of this idea.

• The Western search for universal values and the „doing away of conventional or universal interpretations of the meanings of words“ in ZEN.

• Cognition as representation vs. „enactment“ of the history of actions of a subject in the world • Ethics as observer-dependent reflection on moral norms („fundamental informatics“).

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The Foundational Debate

 Terrell Ward Bynum: • „flourishing ethics“ • Basic principles: freedom, equality and benevolence, minimum infringement of freedom.

• Maximize the opportunities of all humans to exercise their autonomy.

• Different cultures „can provide a conductive context for human flourishing.“ 12 R. Capurro: IIE

The Foundational Debate

 Bernd Frohmann: • „A philosophical ethos seeks contingencies and singularities rather than universal determinants, which block the aim of getting“ „free of oneself.“ • Aim of IIE:careful situational analysis and critical appraisal on the way(s) computers control societies.

• Develop strategies to become „digitally imperceptible“.

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The Foundational Debate

 Rafael Capurro: • IIE between mono- and meta-cultural ethical claims: intertwining „thick“ and „thin“ ethical arguments (Michael Walzer) • „direct“ and „indirect speech“ in relation to information society • „hothen“ („from“) approach: the question of the source(s) of ethical norms, particularly the experience(s) of the facticity of the world and human existence 14 R. Capurro: IIE

The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures

 Asia and the Pacific: • Grodzinsky/Tavani: the danger of homogenization • Nakada: Japanese three-fold „life world“: „Seken“ (trad. values), „Ikai“ (source of evil) and „Shakai“ (Western values) with regard to ICT • Takenouchi: critique of „digital reductionism“ • Nath: diversity of digital governance R. Capurro: IIE 15

The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures

   Latin America and the Caribbean • Pimienta: new social movements based on the Internet • Figueroa: collective construction of identity in México: Africa • First Africa Information Ethics Conference (Pretoria, February 2007) Australia: • Van der Velden: aboriginal database 16 R. Capurro: IIE

Special Issues

        Privacy: • China: LÜ Yao-Huai • Thailand: Kitiyadisai, Hongladarom • Japan and the West: Nakada/Tamura Intellectual Property: Burk, Coy Online Communities: Sützl Governmentality: Elichirigoity Gender Issues: Schinzel Mobile Phones: Chokvasin Health Care: Stahl, Rogerson Digital Divide: Kvasny R. Capurro: IIE 17

Conclusion

   IIE is an emerging discipline.

The present debate shows a variety of foundational perspectives with a preference on the narrow view that focuses IIE on ICT.

Comparative studies with other media and epochs are not being considered so far.

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Conclusion

 A lot of cultures have not been analized.

  I plea for an enlargement of the historical and geographical scope of IIE.

The present debate emphazises the question of privacy but new issues are arising.

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Conclusion

  We should deepen the foundational debate on the sources of morality from an IIE perspective.

Ethics understood as the „problematization“ of morality (M. Foucault): this concerns the ontological or structural as well as the ontic or empirical level.

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Conclusion

  One important issue in this regard is the question of the universality of values vs. the locality of cultures and vice versa which is related to the problem of homogenization and hybridization (or „thermocline“) of information cultures and cultural approches to IE.

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Thanks for your attention!

Yong-Seak Oh (Korea): Drama No 3 2004-2005 (Video) http://hosting.zkm.de/thermoclines/stories/storyReader$38 R. Capurro: IIE 23