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The Ethics of Information
Luciano Floridi develops an original ethical framework for dealing with the new challenges posed by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). ICTs have profoundly changed many aspects of life, including the nature of entertainment, work, communication, education, health care, industrial production and business, social relations, and conflicts. They have had a radical and widespread impact on our moral lives and on contemporary ethical debates. Privacy, ownership, freedom of speech, responsibility, technological determinism, the digital divide, and pornography online are only some of the pressing issues that characterise the ethical discourse in the information society. They are the subject of Information Ethics (IE), the new philosophical area of research that investigates the ethical impact of ICTs on human life and society.
Since the seventies, IE has been a standard topic in many curricula. In recent years, there has been a flourishing of new university courses, international conferences, workshops, professional organizations, specialized periodicals and research centres. However, investigations have so far been largely influenced by professional and technical approaches, addressing mainly legal, social, cultural and technological problems. This book is the first philosophical monograph entirely and exclusively dedicated to it.
Floridi lays down, for the first time, the conceptual foundations for IE. He does so systematically, by pursuing three goals:
a) a metatheoretical goal: it describes what IE is, its problems, approaches and methods;
b) an introductory goal: it helps the reader to gain a better grasp of the complex and multifarious nature of the various concepts and phenomena related to computer ethics;
c) an analytic goal: it answers several key theoretical questions of great philosophical interest, arising from the investigation of the ethical implications of ICTs.
Although entirely independent of The Philosophy of Information (OUP, 2011), Floridi's previous book, The Ethics of Information complements it as new work on the foundations of the philosophy of information.
Since the seventies, IE has been a standard topic in many curricula. In recent years, there has been a flourishing of new university courses, international conferences, workshops, professional organizations, specialized periodicals and research centres. However, investigations have so far been largely influenced by professional and technical approaches, addressing mainly legal, social, cultural and technological problems. This book is the first philosophical monograph entirely and exclusively dedicated to it.
Floridi lays down, for the first time, the conceptual foundations for IE. He does so systematically, by pursuing three goals:
a) a metatheoretical goal: it describes what IE is, its problems, approaches and methods;
b) an introductory goal: it helps the reader to gain a better grasp of the complex and multifarious nature of the various concepts and phenomena related to computer ethics;
c) an analytic goal: it answers several key theoretical questions of great philosophical interest, arising from the investigation of the ethical implications of ICTs.
Although entirely independent of The Philosophy of Information (OUP, 2011), Floridi's previous book, The Ethics of Information complements it as new work on the foundations of the philosophy of information.
- GenresPhilosophyTechnology
380 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
9 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Luciano Floridi
63 books142 followersLuciano Floridi is currently Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute, Governing Body Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, Senior Member of the Faculty of Philosophy, Research Associate and Fellow in Information Policy at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
Floridi is best known for his work on two areas of philosophical research: the philosophy of information and information ethics.
Between 2008 and 2013, he held the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics at the University of Hertfordshire. He was the founder and director of the IEG, an interdepartmental research group on the philosophy of information at the University of Oxford, and of the GPI, the research Group in Philosophy of Information at the University of Hertfordshire. He was the founder and director of the SWIF, the Italian e-journal of philosophy (1995–2008).
Floridi is best known for his work on two areas of philosophical research: the philosophy of information and information ethics.
Between 2008 and 2013, he held the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics at the University of Hertfordshire. He was the founder and director of the IEG, an interdepartmental research group on the philosophy of information at the University of Oxford, and of the GPI, the research Group in Philosophy of Information at the University of Hertfordshire. He was the founder and director of the SWIF, the Italian e-journal of philosophy (1995–2008).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 22, 2014
If 'Philosophy of Information' provides the ground clearance, then Ethics of Information builds the edifice on top. The author's toolkit is refreshingly eclectic - poesis (that I took to be a whacked out hippy notion) makes an enjoyable cameo. The occasionally turgid style does not impede the reader's progress too much; the breadth of interest reassures the reader that some variety lies up ahead. Although cautionary about the secret life of information, technology remains domesticated within a human projection, not-so-fearsome in the most up-to-date bestiaries. At the end though, his cri d'armes convinces .. well, i was convinced. Bravo!
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October 13, 2022wow
December 17, 2015
A necessidade de considerar uma ética para a informação e, em especial, a informação digital, motiva este livro que desenvolve o tema de forma aprofundada e bem estruturada.
Eis um título que vale a pena ler, sobre o tema da ética da informação e das questões morais, ainda mais que num tempo de grandes desafios para a privacidade e para o uso de informação em contexto inovadores.
Adicionalmente, o livro possui uma referência a um artigo meu sobre o conceito de presença, publicado numa conferência internacional, em 2003.
Giro, :-)
Eis um título que vale a pena ler, sobre o tema da ética da informação e das questões morais, ainda mais que num tempo de grandes desafios para a privacidade e para o uso de informação em contexto inovadores.
Adicionalmente, o livro possui uma referência a um artigo meu sobre o conceito de presença, publicado numa conferência internacional, em 2003.
Giro, :-)
September 5, 2018
Luciano Floridi is a leading philosopher of ethics in the digital age. This book lays out in easily digestible form many of the issues of the digital age.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews