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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
Robot Ethics
A guide to the ethical questions that arise from our use of industrial robots, robot companions, self-driving cars, and other robotic devices.
Does a robot have moral agency? Can it be held responsible for its actions? Do humans owe robots anything? Will robots take our jobs? These are some of the ethical and moral quandaries that we should address now, as robots and other intelligent devices become more widely used and more technically sophisticated. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, philosopher Mark Coeckelbergh does just that. He considers a variety of robotics technologies and applications--from robotic companions to military drones--and identifies the ethical implications of their use. Questions of robot ethics, he argues, are not just about robots but, crucially and importantly, are about humans as well.
Coeckelbergh examines industrial robots and their potential to take over tasks from humans; "social" robots and possible risks to privacy; and robots in health care and their effect on quality of care. He considers whether a machine can be moral, or have morality built in; how we ascribe moral status; and if machines should be allowed to make decisions about life and death. When we discuss robot ethics from a philosophical angle, Coeckelbergh argues, robots can function as mirrors for reflecting on the human. Robot ethics is more than applied ethics; it is a way of doing philosophy.
Does a robot have moral agency? Can it be held responsible for its actions? Do humans owe robots anything? Will robots take our jobs? These are some of the ethical and moral quandaries that we should address now, as robots and other intelligent devices become more widely used and more technically sophisticated. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, philosopher Mark Coeckelbergh does just that. He considers a variety of robotics technologies and applications--from robotic companions to military drones--and identifies the ethical implications of their use. Questions of robot ethics, he argues, are not just about robots but, crucially and importantly, are about humans as well.
Coeckelbergh examines industrial robots and their potential to take over tasks from humans; "social" robots and possible risks to privacy; and robots in health care and their effect on quality of care. He considers whether a machine can be moral, or have morality built in; how we ascribe moral status; and if machines should be allowed to make decisions about life and death. When we discuss robot ethics from a philosophical angle, Coeckelbergh argues, robots can function as mirrors for reflecting on the human. Robot ethics is more than applied ethics; it is a way of doing philosophy.
272 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2022
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190 people want to read
About the author
Mark Coeckelbergh
36 books33 followersMark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna. He is the author of New Romantic Cyborgs: Romanticism, Information Technology, and the End of the Machine, AI Ethics (both published by the MIT Press), Introduction to Philosophy of Technology, and other books.
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June 6, 2024Read this for a lecture at university. It was held by the author himself, Professor Coeckelbergh and basically functioned as a commentary on the book.
The book itself does what it promises: it gives an introduction to robot ethics. It is written in a very accessible way so it can also be read by people who are new to ethics or philosophy in general. One should be aware however, when considering to give this book a read that it only offers questions. When you expect to be given answers on topics such as self-driving cars or killerdrones you won't be getting them here (nor probably anywhere else).
The book itself does what it promises: it gives an introduction to robot ethics. It is written in a very accessible way so it can also be read by people who are new to ethics or philosophy in general. One should be aware however, when considering to give this book a read that it only offers questions. When you expect to be given answers on topics such as self-driving cars or killerdrones you won't be getting them here (nor probably anywhere else).
January 20, 2023
chapter 6 was really interesting thinking about if or why we should be kind to nonhuman things. reads a little like a textbook because it was somewhat written as one
October 12, 2023
Surface level introductory.
November 3, 2025
Short, concrete and well-thought out. Clear that this one comes from a specialist in the field.
July 3, 2023
This little book was a decent primer for those who haven't considered the challenges that robotics poses for human ethical systems. How can we integrate our increasingly sophisticated machines into our moral understandings?
The contemporary challenge, as we get perilously close to Turing compliant AI systems? That's less the focus, although variant ethical understandings of synthetic sentience are considered in the last chapter. Drones, caregiving bots, industrial robots, and the like all raise ethical questions about social impacts, but those impacts have been present since the industrial age began. The transhuman/posthuman dilemma...which is the precipice we teeter upon...isn't dealt with in quite as much depth, which is a pity.
The book is, as other reviewers note, prone to asking question after question, rather than presenting variant moral/ethical frameworks and their potential application. Given my predilections, I'd have been interested in seeing a teensy bit more on religion and machine ethics. If you're looking at the normative frameworks that shape understandings of the good, focusing on academic ethicists and neglecting the applied ethics of the supermajority of humanity seems a bit of an oversight. Not a bad text for a 200-300 level undergrad class, though.
The contemporary challenge, as we get perilously close to Turing compliant AI systems? That's less the focus, although variant ethical understandings of synthetic sentience are considered in the last chapter. Drones, caregiving bots, industrial robots, and the like all raise ethical questions about social impacts, but those impacts have been present since the industrial age began. The transhuman/posthuman dilemma...which is the precipice we teeter upon...isn't dealt with in quite as much depth, which is a pity.
The book is, as other reviewers note, prone to asking question after question, rather than presenting variant moral/ethical frameworks and their potential application. Given my predilections, I'd have been interested in seeing a teensy bit more on religion and machine ethics. If you're looking at the normative frameworks that shape understandings of the good, focusing on academic ethicists and neglecting the applied ethics of the supermajority of humanity seems a bit of an oversight. Not a bad text for a 200-300 level undergrad class, though.
March 20, 2025
This book works well as an introduction to robot ethics, but only that. It seems best served as a way to gauge your interest into topics and then do further reading with the cited texts to go deeper. It covers a wide range in a short time, is easily understandable, and provides citations and further reading recommendations.
For example, the book touched on the ethics of self driving cars and the disanalogy of the trolley problem. The brief summary given is shallow but appropriate for this book. It cites the Nyholm and Smids article which I enjoyed reading and analyzing for a class. In this case, if a reader was interested by the passing remarks in this book they would likely enjoy a deeper dive through the citations.
For example, the book touched on the ethics of self driving cars and the disanalogy of the trolley problem. The brief summary given is shallow but appropriate for this book. It cites the Nyholm and Smids article which I enjoyed reading and analyzing for a class. In this case, if a reader was interested by the passing remarks in this book they would likely enjoy a deeper dive through the citations.
September 25, 2022
This book was just okay in my estimation. The author really didn't do much besides posing a lot of questions. I also feel he fundamentally misunderstands the nature of technology and how it evolves. Questions around the ethics of richer people and nations having access to robot healthcare compared to the poorer nations illustrate my point. Initial technology is always expensive and ends up benefiting the richest people first, but as the cost curves slope downward over time, that same technology becomes available to more consumers around the world.
I also feel the author misses a fundamental understanding of the nature of mankind and the desire of some to use whatever means necessary to subjugate other humans. Just because the UN passes a resolution prohibiting the use of robotics in warfare, that does not mean that warring nations won't use them if they can gain an advantage from doing so. I know people will point to prohibitions on the use of chemical and biological weapons, but not only have those been used, but the major detriment to their use is actually the threat of retaliation with the same type of weaponry by the enemy or other parties.
The best part of the book was the last chapter looking at how robots and humans will evolve together. While the other introduces his own odd theory, it seems that two out of the three real options end with the melding of human and machine into a type of cyborg over the longer term. My own thoughts tend to lean that way as well.
I also feel the author misses a fundamental understanding of the nature of mankind and the desire of some to use whatever means necessary to subjugate other humans. Just because the UN passes a resolution prohibiting the use of robotics in warfare, that does not mean that warring nations won't use them if they can gain an advantage from doing so. I know people will point to prohibitions on the use of chemical and biological weapons, but not only have those been used, but the major detriment to their use is actually the threat of retaliation with the same type of weaponry by the enemy or other parties.
The best part of the book was the last chapter looking at how robots and humans will evolve together. While the other introduces his own odd theory, it seems that two out of the three real options end with the melding of human and machine into a type of cyborg over the longer term. My own thoughts tend to lean that way as well.
February 24, 2024
In reading this book I could not help comparing it to another book on robot ethics that I read 10 years ago -- Robot Nation by Stan Neilson. While Coeckelbergh's book ask questions and poses problems, Neilson's book provided concrete answers and workable solutions. I kept expecting to encounter answers as a I read further, but encountered very few. This is an okay book, if you've somehow never been exposed to the idea of robots needing ethics, but it's a bit of a frustrating and disappointing read otherwise.
December 28, 2022
Enjoyable and thought-provoking (e.g., robots, deception, and magic). Raises and sketches some answers to several important philosophical questions about robots from what I will call the technological-environmental-bureaucratic-political Left (which I mean descriptively, not critically). The chapters are concise and there are plenty of references for further investigation.
December 25, 2022
Superb guide to ethical questions on robotics application in various aspects of real-world issues. It could lay the foundation for practical resolutions to expedite adoption of robotics. Consider a must-read guide to those involved in robotics.
April 1, 2024
Basically an explanation of where morality and technology meet. People may have conspiracy theories about the use of AI for surveillance and military warfare, but it’s also used in natural disasters to locate victims and in agriculture to harvest algae for use as biofuel.
March 20, 2023
Interesting but very repetitive in terms of asking the same questions (without many answers) in each chapter.
June 30, 2023
Great and thought provoking. Good overview of the field and it’s problems and written in an accessible way
March 4, 2025
"We simply assume that humans have consciousness based on appearance and behavior"
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews