Can robots have personal identity? Flashcards
Paper’s question
Can robots have personal identity and therefore be connected in some manner with human morality?
Personal Identity
the characteristics that each of us possess that differentiate us from other human beings, and whose existence is prolonged in time
Relation Between Personal Identity and Moral World
Some claim that:
Our moral sense is based on recognising ourselves and other people as individuals
Thus, our personal identity allows us to orient ourselves in the moral world
Problem of Multiplicity
the fact that judgments concerning personal identity occur in circumstances and contexts that are too diverse from one another, with very different practical demands and intentions
thus, this problem portrays personal identity as less important when it comes to morality
personal identity cannot be understood in a unitary sense and thus should not have as much importance attached to it
Personal Identity Theories
- Psychological
- Animalist
- Narrative
Pscyhological Personal Identity Theories
There exists a psychological connection, linkage or unity between the different moments of consciousness or mental states of a person that allows them to maintain their personal identity.
Explain our everyday experience of what constitutes being oneself - sustaining an auto-biographical account based on memory and continued way of behaving over time.
Has as its drawback the fallibility of memory.
Quasi-memory can be mentioned as an argument back as it is a kind of memory that doesn’t require direct, first-person recollection of past experiences.
Animalist Personal Identity Theories
a person’s identity is grounded in their continuous existence as a particular biological organism, emphasizing the significance of the human body in defining who an individual is over time
personal identity is intimately tied to the persistence of the same living, organic being, challenging alternative accounts that rely on psychological continuity or abstract concepts like the soul
however, these leave outkey elements such as a person’s personality, memories, projects from personal identity
Narrative Personal Identity Theories
Our identities are primarily a construction made by us and our human circle.
Account for both the corporal dimension emphasised by animalist theories and for the auto-biographical dimension emphasised by psychological theories.
Interaction with other people is essential for one to maintain their personal identity. Our interactions, practices, works and even instutitions sustain and shape our identity.
Can robots have personal identity? 3 perspectives
Animalist theories: no biological body, no personal identity
Psychological theories: only if computation were to advance to the point where artificial minds would work indistinguishably from biological ones
Narrative theories:
since personal identity and morality take place primarily on the relation plane, yes, even if their bodies and minds are different from those of humans;
however, auto-biographical capacity and embodiment also have decisive weights in this perspective, which the robot may lack;
Socio-relational justificaition of moral consideration in roboethics
the ethical treatment of robots is determined by their role in human society and relationships, acknowledging the inherent human perspective while recognizing the interconnectedness between humans and artificial entities
instead of indulging in fantasies about moral robots with robot rights, we must be attentive to and imagine possibilities of living with personal robots that contribute to and co-constitute good human lives in practice
morality is granted within a dynamic relation between humans and the entity, not adhered to a certain entity
Strechtman’s perspective
relational view of personal identity without neglecting the importance of psychological and bodily characteristics of the subject
sufficiently human-like robots in appearance and behaviour should be considered human for all intents and purposes
leaving beings such as these out of person-space would constitute a case of oppression comparable to slavery or racism
our embodiment is deeply connected to the form of our person-specific interactions
thus, there will undoubtedly be some limitations on how different from human embodiment a nonhuman person can be
Key to Moral Consideration of Robots
the relationship they enter into with humans, which is constrained by their psychological and physical constitution
Sentience for Human Interactions
Schecthtman argues that sentience would be a fundamental capacity for participating in human interactions, and suspects that robots could not properly develop this feature of sentience, and thus lack the ability to engage in authentically human relationships
Does granting a personal identity to a non-living thing automatically grant that thing a moral status?
Critics would argue that it does not follow from our tendency to anthropomorphize many of the objects that we interact with that they can have moral status or consideration
The Problem of Constructivism
making up personal identities for the robots we interact with and consequently giving them a place in our moral sphere
however, robots are not just any object, because their appearance is human-like, as is their behaviour
