One of the enduring concerns of moral philosophy is deciding who or what is deservingof ethical consideration. Much recent attention has been devoted to the "animalquestion"--consideration of the moral status of nonhuman animals. In this book, David Gunkeltakes up the "machine question": whether and to what extent intelligent and autonomousmachines of our own making can be considered to have legitimate moral responsibilities and anylegitimate claim to moral consideration. The machine question poses a fundamental challenge to moralthinking, questioning the traditional philosophical conceptualization of technology as a tool orinstrument to be used by human agents. Gunkel begins by addressing the question of machine moralagency: whether a machine might be considered a legitimate moral agent that could be heldresponsible for decisions and actions. He then approaches the machine question from the other side,considering whether a machine might be a moral patient due legitimate moral consideration. Finally,Gunkel considers some recent innovations in moral philosophy and critical theory that complicate themachine question, deconstructing the binary agent--patient opposition itself. Technological advancesmay prompt us to wonder if the science fiction of computers and robots whose actions affect theirhuman companions (think of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey) could become sciencefact. Gunkel's argument promises to influence future considerations of ethics, ourselves, and theother entities who inhabit this world.
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