BA in Management of Science and Technology; MA in Philosophy of Science and Technology from China Agricultural University, China; Ph.D. in Ethics from Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
This article discusses the very origin of the Dutch School's idea of "Moralizing Technology" (MT)... more This article discusses the very origin of the Dutch School's idea of "Moralizing Technology" (MT). Current discussion on MT focuses almost exclusively on introducing theory of Peter-Paul Verbeek, and yet fails to trace the history of such a idea. This article directly discusses how Hans Achterhuis, the professor who is often referred to as the earliest promoter of MT, developed this idea with heavy influences from various thinkers. The idea of MT aims to explore a novel understanding of man-thing relationship with a aim to partly outsource our moral burdens to the artifacts.
Human dignity is one of the most important concepts in moral philosophy and legal study. Accordin... more Human dignity is one of the most important concepts in moral philosophy and legal study. According to Alan Gewirth, human dignity is not acquired; it does not require a specific status, a specific role to match, or a special moral effort to obtain. Human dignity is shared by all equally. Every purposive agent necessarily sees himself as the source of value, and because of this, he must also identify himself with the most fundamental value, namely dignity. If an agent thinks that he does not have dignity, it is equivalent to thinking that he is not an agent at all, which is bound to cause a serious contradiction in the will.
This essay discusses the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian notion of human dignity. Prev... more This essay discusses the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian notion of human dignity. Previous discussions on this topic have been either historical or reconstructive, the former discussing mainly how Confucianism considers dignity and the latter exploring the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian human dignity as an alternative to Kant's Menschenwürde. This essay focuses on mainly the latter effort. Specifically, I critically evaluate professor Ni Peimin's celebrated attempt at reconstructing Confucian dignity in the context of Kant's Menschenwürde, arguing that Ni's work offers us novel and original insights on human dignity but fails to be coherent in several senses. On the other hand, Kant's Menschenwürde may well lack motivation in particular circumstances, and gives no credit to moral efforts. Building upon this criticism, I further Ni's discussion of the "four hearts" and propose a revised version of Confucian dignity.
This article discusses a Confucian notion of cosmological life and its eco-philosophical implicat... more This article discusses a Confucian notion of cosmological life and its eco-philosophical implication. In contrast to the Kantian notion of the man who has exclusive moral worth, existing as the ultimate value-conferrer among beings, Confucian cosmological man un- derstands his/her selfness through the lens of sacred unity with other beings. The modern ecological disaster is arguably caused by the reluctance to recognize the inherent value of nature, which is due to the anthropocentrism partly introduced by the enlightenment no- tion of humanity. The Confucian cosmological person worships the ultimate value of the cosmos as a unity of heaven, humans, and earth, and in so doing delivers genuine care for the environment, not for the sake of its instrumental but for its inherent value.
Abstract:This paper introduces Alan Gewrith's justification of PGC against the background of Kan... more Abstract:This paper introduces Alan Gewrith's justification of PGC against the background of Kant's Categorical Imperative. Moral foundationalists such as Kant and Gewirth both hold that morality provides universal criteria for the action. Kant's moral philosophy grounds on three preconditions: firstly, Kant assumes that morality is universally binding. Based on this, he explains how his categorical imperative is possible through the method of transcendental analysis; secondly, Kant's moral philosophy is built upon his distinction between phenomenal and noumenal world; thirdly, Kant holds a teleological understanding of nature through which man is understood as the being who takes proper balance between the demands of animal instinct and reason. Gewirth's philosophy does not require these preconditions. He starts with discussing the agency shared equally by all, and further elaborating the precondition. Through the dialectical reasoning of the agent, Gewirth explains what the highest moral principle is.
In this paper, I discussed specifically the notion of agency in Alan Gewirth's moral philosophy. ... more In this paper, I discussed specifically the notion of agency in Alan Gewirth's moral philosophy. The paper is to be published in the journal of 'World Philosophy'(世界哲学)。
Responsible research and innovation is integrated in the European 2020 project. As an emerging ap... more Responsible research and innovation is integrated in the European 2020 project. As an emerging approach to technology, RRI is a dynamic idea with its concept being subject to change and evolution. We discussed the differences and similarities between RRI, VSD and SCOT, investigating further how RRI is situated in the history of philosophy of technology. In comparison with SCOT with a focus on how social values change technology, RII adopts a two-way approach, holding that value and technology influence each other from both directions. In contrast to VSD, RRI focuses on a more democratic and open method of organizing responsibility, avoiding the paternalism criticism. Yet, the idea of responsibility embedded in RRI has not been reflected carefully, and might introduce value confusion and transition once deployed unrefl ectively.
The paper aims at exploring if we have sound philosophical reason to embrace a human right to Int... more The paper aims at exploring if we have sound philosophical reason to embrace a human right to Internet access. While attempts to make Internet access a candidate for the standing of human right have become popular in both the political and legal arenas, we still lack serious philosophical reflection on this issue. The paper first evaluates the arguments made by various authors, and then moves to provide its own conclusions. Its logic is that if (i) Internet access is crucial for enabling democracy, and (ii) democracy is a basic human right, then we may have at least prima facie reason to see such a technology as a derived human right whose normativity supervenes on the right to democracy.
Several scholars have argued that Internet use might be fundamentally incompatible with Confucian... more Several scholars have argued that Internet use might be fundamentally incompatible with Confucian ethics, because the values that are embedded in the Internet might be in conflict with Confucian values. In addition, the design of various social network services (SNS) considers very little of non-Western values in its engineering. Against this background, this article explores the philosophical question of whether Internet use, particularly social network services, is compatible with the fundamental values and norms of Confucian ethics. In addition, the article discusses the Confucian notion of tian xia (under heaven), and argues that tian xia, as a basic structuring principle of Confucian philosophy, helps to innovate a different social media.
This article discusses the very origin of the Dutch School's idea of "Moralizing Technology" (MT)... more This article discusses the very origin of the Dutch School's idea of "Moralizing Technology" (MT). Current discussion on MT focuses almost exclusively on introducing theory of Peter-Paul Verbeek, and yet fails to trace the history of such a idea. This article directly discusses how Hans Achterhuis, the professor who is often referred to as the earliest promoter of MT, developed this idea with heavy influences from various thinkers. The idea of MT aims to explore a novel understanding of man-thing relationship with a aim to partly outsource our moral burdens to the artifacts.
Human dignity is one of the most important concepts in moral philosophy and legal study. Accordin... more Human dignity is one of the most important concepts in moral philosophy and legal study. According to Alan Gewirth, human dignity is not acquired; it does not require a specific status, a specific role to match, or a special moral effort to obtain. Human dignity is shared by all equally. Every purposive agent necessarily sees himself as the source of value, and because of this, he must also identify himself with the most fundamental value, namely dignity. If an agent thinks that he does not have dignity, it is equivalent to thinking that he is not an agent at all, which is bound to cause a serious contradiction in the will.
This essay discusses the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian notion of human dignity. Prev... more This essay discusses the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian notion of human dignity. Previous discussions on this topic have been either historical or reconstructive, the former discussing mainly how Confucianism considers dignity and the latter exploring the possibility of conceptualizing a Confucian human dignity as an alternative to Kant's Menschenwürde. This essay focuses on mainly the latter effort. Specifically, I critically evaluate professor Ni Peimin's celebrated attempt at reconstructing Confucian dignity in the context of Kant's Menschenwürde, arguing that Ni's work offers us novel and original insights on human dignity but fails to be coherent in several senses. On the other hand, Kant's Menschenwürde may well lack motivation in particular circumstances, and gives no credit to moral efforts. Building upon this criticism, I further Ni's discussion of the "four hearts" and propose a revised version of Confucian dignity.
This article discusses a Confucian notion of cosmological life and its eco-philosophical implicat... more This article discusses a Confucian notion of cosmological life and its eco-philosophical implication. In contrast to the Kantian notion of the man who has exclusive moral worth, existing as the ultimate value-conferrer among beings, Confucian cosmological man un- derstands his/her selfness through the lens of sacred unity with other beings. The modern ecological disaster is arguably caused by the reluctance to recognize the inherent value of nature, which is due to the anthropocentrism partly introduced by the enlightenment no- tion of humanity. The Confucian cosmological person worships the ultimate value of the cosmos as a unity of heaven, humans, and earth, and in so doing delivers genuine care for the environment, not for the sake of its instrumental but for its inherent value.
Abstract:This paper introduces Alan Gewrith's justification of PGC against the background of Kan... more Abstract:This paper introduces Alan Gewrith's justification of PGC against the background of Kant's Categorical Imperative. Moral foundationalists such as Kant and Gewirth both hold that morality provides universal criteria for the action. Kant's moral philosophy grounds on three preconditions: firstly, Kant assumes that morality is universally binding. Based on this, he explains how his categorical imperative is possible through the method of transcendental analysis; secondly, Kant's moral philosophy is built upon his distinction between phenomenal and noumenal world; thirdly, Kant holds a teleological understanding of nature through which man is understood as the being who takes proper balance between the demands of animal instinct and reason. Gewirth's philosophy does not require these preconditions. He starts with discussing the agency shared equally by all, and further elaborating the precondition. Through the dialectical reasoning of the agent, Gewirth explains what the highest moral principle is.
In this paper, I discussed specifically the notion of agency in Alan Gewirth's moral philosophy. ... more In this paper, I discussed specifically the notion of agency in Alan Gewirth's moral philosophy. The paper is to be published in the journal of 'World Philosophy'(世界哲学)。
Responsible research and innovation is integrated in the European 2020 project. As an emerging ap... more Responsible research and innovation is integrated in the European 2020 project. As an emerging approach to technology, RRI is a dynamic idea with its concept being subject to change and evolution. We discussed the differences and similarities between RRI, VSD and SCOT, investigating further how RRI is situated in the history of philosophy of technology. In comparison with SCOT with a focus on how social values change technology, RII adopts a two-way approach, holding that value and technology influence each other from both directions. In contrast to VSD, RRI focuses on a more democratic and open method of organizing responsibility, avoiding the paternalism criticism. Yet, the idea of responsibility embedded in RRI has not been reflected carefully, and might introduce value confusion and transition once deployed unrefl ectively.
The paper aims at exploring if we have sound philosophical reason to embrace a human right to Int... more The paper aims at exploring if we have sound philosophical reason to embrace a human right to Internet access. While attempts to make Internet access a candidate for the standing of human right have become popular in both the political and legal arenas, we still lack serious philosophical reflection on this issue. The paper first evaluates the arguments made by various authors, and then moves to provide its own conclusions. Its logic is that if (i) Internet access is crucial for enabling democracy, and (ii) democracy is a basic human right, then we may have at least prima facie reason to see such a technology as a derived human right whose normativity supervenes on the right to democracy.
Several scholars have argued that Internet use might be fundamentally incompatible with Confucian... more Several scholars have argued that Internet use might be fundamentally incompatible with Confucian ethics, because the values that are embedded in the Internet might be in conflict with Confucian values. In addition, the design of various social network services (SNS) considers very little of non-Western values in its engineering. Against this background, this article explores the philosophical question of whether Internet use, particularly social network services, is compatible with the fundamental values and norms of Confucian ethics. In addition, the article discusses the Confucian notion of tian xia (under heaven), and argues that tian xia, as a basic structuring principle of Confucian philosophy, helps to innovate a different social media.
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