“What do you teach, in Computer Ethics?” someone asked me, at a recent conference on computing and philosophy. “I teach Tavani!” was the spontaneous reply. Perhaps I can explain my unashamed bias: students of computer ethics face a major challenge in being required to grasp and use some of the essentials of a discipline that has engrossed intellectuals for nearly three thousand years. Most information and computing technology (ICT) academic subjects boast a body of technical knowledge that was born 5, 50, or at most 100 years ago, whereas ethics is a branch of philosophy and philosophers began making profound and lastingly‐important contributions to their field well over two thousand years ago – the body of knowledge is overwhelming. If technically‐inclined students are not to become disheartened by the learning materials of computer ethics, then these students must be offered a highly‐structured subject with clear relevance to ICT careers of the future. Tavani achieved this structure and relevance in the first edition of Ethics and Technology and in the second edition he enhances the first by introducing analyses of newly‐emerging issues and dilemmas created by technological progress. Nanotechnology, pervasive computing and virtual worlds catch the imagination of the technical student who can then be induced to consider the social consequences of these brilliant inventions.
Tavani is renowned for his work as a bibliographer of the literature of computer ethics, and this allows him to draw on the widest possible range of sources to explain, illustrate and justify his view of what the pressing ethical issues are in ICT in the twenty‐first century. The book deals comprehensively with the ethical issues that have come to be accepted as the standard moral dilemmas in ICT, such as privacy, security, intellectual property, censorship and digital social justice. Then, as mentioned above, a little more glitz and glamour is introduced with discussion of the newer ethical puzzles associated with technical innovation such as robotics and the complex scene of the virtual worlds in which many technology devotees now pass much of their real lives.
The intended audience for the book includes not only ICT students and their teachers but, of course, library and information management scholars, as well as those in the fields of the social and behavioural sciences and people studying and researching in philosophical disciplines such as applied ethics. This claim of a wide audience seems to be justified, since the book's depth of treatment of the range of important issues, from technologically enhanced human bodies to ICT workplace conditions, draws on and refers to the work of numerous authoritative scholars – not only computer ethicists but also legal experts and specialists in each of the fields that the issues touch upon.
The student is introduced not only to the ethical issues in ICT today, but also to methods and frameworks that guide the development of a well‐reasoned recommendation for solving the dilemma in question. Important ethical concepts and principles are covered so that the student is able to see how deontological and teleological approaches may be employed in evaluating ethical propositions. The rudiments of critical reasoning are discussed, illustrating some of the commonest fallacies and misconceptions that frequently lead to illogical and unwise conclusions. The student's ethical toolkit then includes an awareness of what the issues and puzzles are, some principles that can be brought to bear on possible solutions, and elements of formal reasoned argumentation to evaluate proposals correctly. The fourth tool in the ICT ethical kitbag provided by Tavani is an understanding of professional responsibility and the codes of ethics or codes of conduct of some of the ICT associations and societies.
The book is an excellent pedagogical aid, designed to support both teachers and students, with helpful introductions and summaries, the name of the precise topic displayed at the top of every page, and a comprehensive index. Each chapter is accompanied by a set of thought‐provoking questions and exercises, a list of references and a separate list of further readings. The associated web site for the book supplies extensive information to enhance each chapter, such as the text of a number of ICT professional associations' codes of ethics to accompany the chapter on professional ethics. A separate student site is provided, whilst the site for trainers and teachers offers ready‐made presentations to assist with lectures, plus answers to the exercises.
The diligent student who exits from a course on computer ethics such as is provided by Tavani's book, will have acquired skills in detecting questionable situations involving ICT, working out where the ethical problem may lie, and thinking in a principled and logical manner about a selection of possible actions that might resolve the dilemma. Fortunately, there is a growing tendency in ICT education to define computer ethics as a core academic subject, and thus mandatory in all ICT degrees. That seems imperative, after reading the final chapters of this book, on the complexity of issues associated with emergent technology.
