| This dissertation outlines a new articulation of what human beings are in relation to technology with the intention of informing Catholic ethics of technologies. I call this new anthropological framework "Homo gubernator ," meaning the human being as pilot or helmsman. I use this image to emphasize the way that humanity, as a moral project, is already underway in its journey; is constantly being moved and directed by both natural, social and technological entities; and is in need of a moral destination or telos. I thus argue that humanity is evolved and evolving, socially constituted, technologically interdependent and teleologically oriented. This means that moral approaches that see technology as endemic to humanity, that rely on essentialist accounts of the person or that neglect the world-shaping consequences of human activity are inadequate bases for articulating sound technological ethics.;I articulate this thesis by examining what I take to be an emblematic case study, namely the proposed technology of consciousness uploading, and evaluating a number of moral attitudes toward it. I note that nearly all moral objections to the technology hinge on differing understandings of the meaning of being human. Thus, I examine six major moral articulations of the human in relation to technology, expressed as the Aristotelian, Augustinian, Thomistic, Heideggerian, transhumanist, and bioconvervative views. Because these six viewpoints each claim authority and are incommensurate with each other, I use Actor-Network Theory within the field of Science, Technology and Society studies to clarify what can empirically be claimed about the human. After this, I find that the anthropological views of Hans Jonas and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin are still reasonably compatible with Actor-Network Theory. I thus highlight the morally important and complementary aspects of these two theorists" anthropologies. Finally, I articulate Homo gubernator in clearer terms, outlining the morally important points of each of my four primary claims and explaining how they fit in the overall metaphor. In the concluding chapter, I reconsider the problem of consciousness uploading, anticipate Homo gubernator's use within Catholic ethics, and suggest some insights the framework gives us on new and developing technological projects. |
