Enlightenment in the Digital Age – Implications for Applied Ethics

With the arrival of the digital age, massive societal transitions are taking place, urging moral philosophy to reconsider its traditional tenets. It would indeed be revolutionary if evocative objects were viewed as ethical objects – something which should be open for discussion in all its possible variations. An abandonment of categorical values would be less far-fetched, as a network society yields value diversity and brings forth flexible online-personae. Since artificial intelligence introduces a vast sum of possibilities, good might appear in several dimensions, and it might not be appropriate anymore to define right and wrong before every situation. Just as the time has come to accept that there is not only one conception of reality but plenty of perspectives. This goes back to the idea that communication itself has always been digital. Similarly, putting norms into question must always be legitimate. Empirical facts such as the phenomenon of impact without intention, the enormously rapid growth of complexity, the humanizing of objects, the default of communicative rationality and pure reason need to be taken into account in order to sketch an ethical theory which is practicable, psychologically acceptable and has an impact on people. The emancipated and critical mind-set, the opposition to established authorities, and intellectual openness – all those principles of the Age of Enlightenment might experience a renaissance.