{"product_id":"the-machine-question-isbn-9780262534635","title":"The Machine Question","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn investigation into the assignment of moral responsibilities and rights to intelligent and autonomous machines of our own making.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the enduring concerns of moral philosophy is deciding who or what is deserving of ethical consideration. Much recent attention has been devoted to the \"animal question\"—consideration of the moral status of nonhuman animals. In this book, David Gunkel takes up the \"machine question\": whether and to what extent intelligent and autonomous machines of our own making can be considered to have legitimate moral responsibilities and any legitimate claim to moral consideration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe machine question poses a fundamental challenge to moral thinking, questioning the traditional philosophical conceptualization of technology as a tool or instrument to be used by human agents. Gunkel begins by addressing the question of machine moral agency: whether a machine might be considered a legitimate moral agent that could be held responsible for decisions and actions. He then approaches the machine question from the other side, considering whether a machine might be a moral patient due legitimate moral consideration. Finally, Gunkel considers some recent innovations in moral philosophy and critical theory that complicate the machine question, deconstructing the binary agent–patient opposition itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTechnological advances may prompt us to wonder if the science fiction of computers and robots whose actions affect their human companions (think of \u003ci\u003eHAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c\/i\u003e) could become science fact. Gunkel's argument promises to influence future considerations of ethics, ourselves, and the other entities who inhabit this world.\u003c\/p\u003eA formidable new book.... Provides a galaxy of challenging thought.... Gunkel does a fine job of lucid and concise exposition.—\u003cb\u003ePeter Hankins\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMachines Like Us\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eGunkel's deconstruction is a tour de force that largely succeeds in getting us to 'think otherwise'. His argument that machines have always been the excluded other is convincing.... Gunkel engages the thinking of both 'analytic' and 'continental' philosophers, which I believe is a virtue.... The book is an original contribution to the field and likely to have wide reverberations... careful and remarkably comprehensive.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eEthics and Information Technology\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is something right about Gunkel's recognition that one can hardly consider the questions of machine morality without being led to more fundamental methodological and meta-ethical issues.... He nevertheless succeeded in connecting the ethics of robots and AI to a much broader ethical discussion than has been represented in the literature on machine ethics to date.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNotre Dame Philosophical Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis controversial and thought-provoking book is a must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy of technology and in discussions on artificial intelligence and ethics of information and communication technology. The unprecedented value of the book is that Gunkel not only analyzes important aspects of the immediate problem but also that he places his discussion in the context of philosophical discussions on such related issues as rights discourse. Maybe some day the moral status of machines will be obvious for all of us, but for the present Gunkel's book provides an important voice for discussion on the moral status of machines.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eInternational Philosophical Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the opening pages, \u003ci\u003eThe Machine Question\u003c\/i\u003e is a delightful melange of graduate philosophy seminars, solemn debates at science fiction conventions, and weighty discussions over drinks in dimly-lit pubs. It is delightful mainly because such diversity of approach, content, and examples is too rarely found in an academic publication...Gunkel's book is worth reading and will likely find a place in courses dealing with the problems reflected in its title.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eEssays in Philosophy\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is essential reading for philosophers interested in AI, robot ethics, or animal ethics.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eAISB Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eReaders would do well to first read David Gunkel's \u003ci\u003eThe Machine Question\u003c\/i\u003e in order to introduce themselves to the complex field of robot ethics.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTechne\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobot Rights\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliantly disorienting book.\u003c\/p\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e—David J. Gunkel is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication Technology at Northern Illinois University and the author of T\u003ci\u003ehe Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOf Remixology: Ethics and Aesthetics after Remix,\u003c\/i\u003e both published by the MIT Press, and other books.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304312819941,"sku":"NP9780262534635","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262534635.jpg?v=1767740352","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-machine-question-isbn-9780262534635","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}