Towards an Approach to Ethics and HCI Development Based on Løgstrup’s Ideas

Concurrent with interactive technologies playing an increasingly large part of the lives of people all over the world, ethical reflections concerning the use of such technology are becoming more and more important. Most often ethical evaluations of a technology are based on either a utilitarian or a deontological approach. Both kinds of approaches to the ethics of information technology appear to be inadequate. This paper suggests an alternative based on the works of the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905-1981). On this basis it is argued that an attitude change is required amongst the developers of interactive technologies in order for new technologies to be developed in a truly ethical manner.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark

   Sandra Burri Gram-Hansen

Editors and Affiliations

1. Faculty of Media, Bauhaus University Weimar, Bauhausstr. 11, 99423, Weimar, Germany

   Tom Gross

2. Department for Information Technology, Uppsala University, 75105, Uppsala, Sweden

   Jan Gulliksen

3. Meraka Institute, 0001, Pretoria, South Africa

   Paula Kotzé

4. Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden

   Lars Oestreicher

5. University Paul Sabatier, 118, route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France

   Philippe Palanque

6. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627, Pampulha, 31270010, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

   Raquel Oliveira Prates

7. Université Paul Sabatier, 118, route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France

   Marco Winckler

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