Updating the concept of morality based on science

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H03341
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Kukita Minao 名古屋大学, 情報学研究科, 准教授 (10648869)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 神崎 宣次 南山大学, 国際教養学部, 教授 (50422910) ; 村上 祐子 立教大学, 理学部, 特任教授 (80435502) ; 戸田山 和久 名古屋大学, 情報学研究科, 教授 (90217513)
• Research Collaborator: Nakamura Michio ; Miwa Kazuhisa ; Hattori Hiromitsu ; Osawa Hirotaka ; Kawaguchi Jun ; Hira Riichiro
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 道徳性 / 機械倫理 / 人工道徳

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we clarified the gap between the findings regarding "morality" obtained in various fields of natural science and the views that have traditionally been accepted in philosophy and ethics. Specifically, in philosophy and ethics, the mainstream view emphasizes individual autonomy and reason, but science has revealed that the emotional and physical factors, as well as social and environmental factors, also play important roles, and that these factors and rational factors are intricately intertwined to enable moral judgments. Based on this, we found a difficulty in the very framing of the problem as "making machines ethical" in the research field called "machine ethics," in which they attempt to make artificial intelligent systems and robots that are capable of moral judgments and/or moral actions.

Free Research Field

哲学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在、「道徳の衝突」（異なる文化や宗教の間での道徳観の対立）が様々な問題を引き起こしている。一部の学者は「道徳は科学が扱うべき」と論じる一方で、「道徳は科学では扱えない」という意見もある。本研究は道徳性についての科学的知見が現在のところどのようなもので、いまだ科学で扱えていない部分はどこなのかを明らかにすることで、道徳の衝突の状況において有益な対話の基盤を提供することが期待される。