---
title: "Ethics of technology"
chunk: 15/16
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_technology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:22:11.653934+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Ensure that the components and relations within the technological system are explicitly understood by those in the design context.
Perform a TEA to identify relevant technical knowledge.
Optimize the technological system in order to meet stakeholders' and affected individuals' needs and interests.
Consult with representatives of stakeholder and affected groups in order to establish consensus on key design issues.
Both TEA and TED rely on systems theory, a perspective that conceptualizes society in terms of events and occurrences resulting from investigating system operations. Systems theory assumes that complex ideas can be studied as systems with common designs and properties which can be further explained using systems methodology. The field of technoethics regards technologies as self-producing systems that draw upon external resources and maintain themselves through knowledge creation; these systems, of which humans are a part, are constantly in flux as relations between technology, nature, and society change. TEA attempts to elicit the knowledge, goals, inputs, and outputs that comprise technological systems. Similarly, TED enables designers to recognize technology's complexity and power, to include facts and values in their designs, and to contextualize technology in terms of what it makes possible and what makes it possible.

== Organizational technoethics ==
Recent advances in technology and their ability to transmit vast amounts of information in a short amount of time has changed the way information is being shared amongst co-workers and managers throughout organizations across the globe. Starting in the 1980s with information and communications technologies (ICTs), organizations have seen an increase in the amount of technology that they rely on to communicate within and outside of the workplace. However, these implementations of technology in the workplace create various ethical concerns and in turn a need for further analysis of technology in organizations. As a result of this growing trend, a subsection of technoethics known as organizational technoethics has emerged to address these issues.

== Key scholarly contributions ==
Key scholarly contributions linking ethics, technology, and society can be found in a number of seminal works:

The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age (Hans Jonas, 1979).
 On Technology, Medicine and Ethics (Hans Jonas, 1985).
 The Real World of Technology (Franklin, 1990).
Thinking Ethics in Technology: Hennebach Lectures and Papers, 1995-1996 (Mitcham, 1997).
Technology and the Good Life (Higgs, Light & Strong, 2000).
Readings in the Philosophy of Technology (Kaplan, 2004).
Ethics and technology: Ethical issues in an age of information and communication technology (Tavani, 2004).
This resulting scholarly attention to ethical issues arising from technological transformations of work and life has helped given rise to a number of key areas (or branches) of technoethical inquiry under various research programs (i.e., computer ethics, engineering ethics, environmental technoethics, biotech ethics, nanoethics, educational technoethics, information and communication ethics, media ethics, and Internet ethics).

== See also ==
Algorithmic bias
Democratic transhumanism
Engineering ethics
Ethics of artificial intelligence
Information ethics
Information privacy
Organizational technoethics
Philosophy of technology
Robotic governance
Techno-progressivism
Technocriticism
Digital public goods

== References ==

Hans Jonas, The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age (1979).
Hans Jonas, On Technology, Medicine and Ethics (1985).
Melanie G. Snyders, CyberEthics and Internet Downloads: An Age by Age Guide to Teaching Children what they need to know (2005).

== Further reading ==

=== General ===
Hans Jonas (2003). "Toward a Philosophy of Technology" (PDF). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
Kristin Shrader-Frechette. (2003). "Technology and Ethics," in Philosophy of Technology:  The Technological Condition, Oxford:  Blackwell Publishing.
Eugene Mirman. (2009) "The Will To Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life." Harper Perennial.
Daniel A. Vallero. (2007) "Biomedical Ethics for Engineers: Ethics and Decision Making in Biomedical and Biosystem Engineering." Amsderdam: Academic Press.

=== Ethics, technology and engineering ===
Fleddermann, C.B. (2011). Engineering Ethics. Prentice Hall. 4th edition.
Harris, C.E., M.S. Pritchard, and M.J. Rabins (2008). Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Wadsworth Publishing, 4th edition.
Hauser-Katenberg, G., W.E. Katenberg, and D. Norris (2003). "Towards Emergent Ethical Action and the Culture of Engineering," Science and Engineering Ethics, 9, 377–387.
Huesemann M.H., and J.A. Huesemann (2011). Technofix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment, Chapter 14, "Critical Science and Social Responsibility", New Society Publishers.
Layton, E. (1986). The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Martin, M.W., and R. Schinzinger (2004). Ethics in Engineering. McGraw-Hill. 4th edition.
Peterson, M. (2017). The Ethics of Technology: A Geometric Analysis of Five Moral Principles. Oxford University Press.
Mitcham, C. (1984). Thinking through technology, the path between engineering and philosophy. Chicago:  The University of Chicago Press.
Van de Poel, I., and L. Royakkers (2011). Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

=== Education and technology ===
Marga, A. (2004). "University Reforms in Europe:  Some Ethical Considerations," Higher Education in Europe, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 432–820.

== External links ==
National Academies of Engineering's Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society
Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society
California Polytechnic State University's Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group
University of Notre Dame's Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values
Arizona State University's Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara University's Markkula for Applied Ethics
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Australia
Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
Case Western Reserve University's Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence
University of Delaware's Center for Science, Ethics, and Public Policy Archived 2013-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute
UNESCO - Ethics of Science and Technology
4TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology Archived 2012-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
Cyber Crime Archived 2018-12-22 at the Wayback Machine

=== Journals ===
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy
Philosophy and Technology
Ethics and Information Technology
Journal of Responsible Innovation
Technology in Society
Minds and Machines
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society