Ethics in Cyberspace

This volume examines how the conditions of certain kinds of interaction in cyberspace differ from the conditions of face-to-face interaction and how these differences may come to affect the behavior of interacting agents in terms of ethics.

Over the last few decades information and communication technology has come to play an increasingly prominent role in our dealings with other people. Computers, in particular, have made available a host of new ways of interacting, which we have increasingly made use of. In the wake of this development a number of ethical questions have been raised and debated. Ethics in Cyberspace focuses on the consequences for ethical agency of mediating interaction by means of computers, seeking to clarify how the conditions of certain kinds of interaction in cyberspace (for example, in chat-rooms and virtual worlds) differ from the conditions of interaction face-to-face and how these differences may come to affect the behaviour of interacting agents in terms of ethics.

Addresses issues of life on the net key to anyone interested in understanding this phenomenon Advances highly original views as to key determinants of life on the net Is one of few books dealing with the ethical consequences of interacting on the net rather than face-to-face Applies advanced philosophical analysis in the study of life on the net The philosophical approach taken warrants strictness and clarity of analysis

Inhalt

Preface. I The basic premise. 1. Ethics in Cyberspace. 1.1 Introduction. 2. The basic premise revisited. 2.1 Shortcomings of the basic premise. 2.2 The basic premise. II Action, explanation and cyberspace. 3. Actions and explanations. 3.1 Actions and reasons. 3.2 Explaining the basic premise. 4. Interaction in Cyberspace. 4.1 Cyberspace: Infrastructure and interaction. 4.2 Key properties of cyberspatial interaction. III Explaining the basic premise. 5. Belief and particularity. 5.1 Structure of analysis. 5.2 The three hypotheses. 6. Belief and reality. 6.1 Hypothesis I: Reality and determinateness. 6.2 Hypothesis II: Reality, causality and life-world. 6.3 Hypothesis III: Reality and vulnerability. 6.4 Hypotheses I to III: Beliefs and evidence. 7. Belief and evidence. 7.1 Evidence in cyberspatial interaction. 8. Belief and action. 8.1 Belief, reality and ethics. 8.2 Explaining the moral difference in interaction. 9. Concluding remarks. 9.1 Alternative explanations and interpretations. Bibliography. Index.