Abstract. Ian Barbour is wisely aware of two kinds of ethical problems that constantly interact: first, those where we know the good but lack the will to do it; second, those where, in uncertainties and conflicts of values, we have to discover the best course of action. Both have long histories; but new technologies, which mean new powers, accentuate both. Three issues in Barbour's work deserve comment here: (1) the ways in which technology requires new ethical thinking, but cannot of itself make ethical prescriptions; (2) the perplexing relation of technology to political processes; (3) the relation between need and greed, a valid distinction that may be more puzzling than Barbour allows because a technological culture multiplies needs. I applaud Barbour's achievement. I find it ironic that I occasionally think him a shade too optimistic, whereas he has occasionally said the same of me.
values, conflicts of, political processes, freedom and ethics, technology and power, eschatology, freedom and determinism, faith and works, technology, moral ambivalence of, traditional ethics and new technologies, age of information, social constructions, need and greed, social limits to growth
Shinn, R., (1996) “EXPLORATORY ETHICS”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 31(1), 67–74. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.1996.tb00008.x
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