The Third Asia-Pacific Computing and Philosophy Conference November 2-4, 2007

1. The Third Asia-Pacific Computing and Philosophy Conference November 2-4, 2007 Chulanlongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

2. Intercultural Information Ethics: Foundations and Applications Rafael Capurro Stuttgart Media University Germany

3. Overview • Defining the Field • Origins • Recent Publications • The Foundational Debate • The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures • Special Issues • Conclusion R. Capurro: IIE

4. Defining the Field • IIE in a narrow sense: deals with the impact of ICT on different cultures as well as on how specific ethical ICT issues are understood from different cultural traditions R. Capurro: IIE

5. Defining the Field • IIE in a broad sense: deals with ethical questions raised by other (than digital) information and communication media allowing a large historical cross-media comparative view. R. Capurro: IIE

6. Defining the Field • IIE explores these issues under descriptive and normative perspectives. • Comparative studies can be done at a concrete or ontic level or at the level of ontological or structural presuppositions. R. Capurro: IIE

7. Origins • The international debate: • UNESCO First International Congress on Ethical Legal, and Societal Aspects of Digital Information, Principality of Monaco 1997 (and subsequent conferences) • WSIS (Tunisia 2003, Geneva 2005) R. Capurro: IIE

8. Origins • The academic debate: • CATaC Conferences organized by Charles Ess and Fay Sudweeks since 1998 • ETHICOMP Conferences organized by Simon Rogerson since 1995 • CEPE conferences (since 1997) • ICIE Conference 2004: the first international conference addressing explicitly information ethics from an intercultural perspective • Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics: international conference 2005 R. Capurro: IIE

9. Recent Publications • Soraj Hongladarom & Charles Ess (Eds.), „Information Technology Ethics Cultural Perspectives“ (2007) • Rafael Capurro, Johannes Frühbauer, Thomas Hausmanninger (Eds.), „Localizing the Internet: ethical aspects in intercultural perspective“ (2007) R. Capurro: IIE

10. The Foundational Debate • Charles Ess‘ „global information ethics“: • avoiding imperialistic homogenization which preserving the irreducible differences between cultures and people • Western Ethics and Confucian thought: „resonance“ and „harmony“ • „pros hen“ robust pluralism • Between irreducibility and complementarity R. Capurro: IIE

11. The Foundational Debate • Toru Nishigaki: • The Western idea of a „coherent self“ and the Buddhist questionning of this idea. • The Western search for universal values and the „doing away of conventional or universal interpretations of the meanings of words“ in ZEN. • Cognition as representation vs. „enactment“ of the history of actions of a subject in the world • Ethics as observer-dependent reflection on moral norms („fundamental informatics“). R. Capurro: IIE

12. The Foundational Debate • Terrell Ward Bynum: • „flourishing ethics“ • Basic principles: freedom, equality and benevolence, minimum infringement of freedom. • Maximize the opportunities of all humans to exercise their autonomy. • Different cultures „can provide a conductive context for human flourishing.“ R. Capurro: IIE

13. The Foundational Debate • Bernd Frohmann: • „A philosophical ethos seeks contingencies and singularities rather than universal determinants, which block the aim of getting“ „free of oneself.“ • Aim of IIE:careful situational analysis and critical appraisal on the way(s) computers control societies. • Develop strategies to become „digitally imperceptible“. R. Capurro: IIE

14. The Foundational Debate • Rafael Capurro: • IIE between mono- and meta-cultural ethical claims: intertwining „thick“ and „thin“ ethical arguments (Michael Walzer) • „direct“ and „indirect speech“ in relation to information society • „hothen“ („from“) approach: the question of the source(s) of ethical norms, particularly the experience(s) of the facticity of the world and human existence R. Capurro: IIE

15. The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures • Asia and the Pacific: • Grodzinsky/Tavani: the danger of homogenization • Nakada: Japanese three-fold „life world“: „Seken“ (trad. values), „Ikai“ (source of evil) and „Shakai“ (Western values) with regard to ICT • Takenouchi: critique of „digital reductionism“ • Nath: diversity of digital governance R. Capurro: IIE

16. The Impact of ICT on Local Cultures • Latin America and the Caribbean • Pimienta: new social movements based on the Internet • Figueroa: collective construction of identity in México: • Africa • First Africa Information Ethics Conference (Pretoria, February 2007) • Australia: • Van der Velden: aboriginal database R. Capurro: IIE

17. Special Issues • Privacy: • China: LÜ Yao-Huai • Thailand: Kitiyadisai, Hongladarom • Japan and the West: Nakada/Tamura • Intellectual Property: Burk, Coy • Online Communities: Sützl • Governmentality: Elichirigoity • Gender Issues: Schinzel • Mobile Phones: Chokvasin • Health Care: Stahl, Rogerson • Digital Divide: Kvasny R. Capurro: IIE

18. Conclusion • IIE is an emerging discipline. • The present debate shows a variety of foundational perspectives with a preference on the narrow view that focuses IIE on ICT. • Comparative studies with other media and epochs are not being considered so far. R. Capurro: IIE

19. Conclusion • A lot of cultures have not been analized. • I plea for an enlargement of the historical and geographical scope of IIE. • The present debate emphazises the question of privacy but new issues are arising. R. Capurro: IIE

20. Conclusion • We should deepen the foundational debate on the sources of morality from an IIE perspective. • Ethics understood as the „problematization“ of morality (M. Foucault): this concerns the ontological or structural as well as the ontic or empirical level. R. Capurro: IIE

21. Conclusion • One important issue in this regard is the question of the universality of values vs. the locality of cultures and vice versa • which is related to the problem of homogenization and hybridization (or „thermocline“) of information cultures and cultural approches to IE. R. Capurro: IIE

22. R. Capurro: IIE

23. Thanks for your attention!Yong-Seak Oh (Korea): Drama No 3 2004-2005 (Video)http://hosting.zkm.de/thermoclines/stories/storyReader$38 R. Capurro: IIE