Specialist exchange of the WIT core team 2010

In two short workshops and a keynote lecture the philosopher Mag.^a Nora Hangel presented the core thoughts on this subject in an expert way, put them up for discussion and invited the participants to take part actively. 

A) Technical research and the societal context in which it is integrated
The goal is to refer to the multidimensional aspects of responsibility in technology

Responsibility can be described as multi-digit relation: WHO has responsibility, WHAT FOR, TO WHOM and regarding WHICH normative standards.
Technology, e.g. a machine,/ a tool/ a process does not stand for itself in a neutral and value-free way, but is a means to a certain end. All acts of producing and using this technology give rise to decisions of action. And this is where the domain of ethics and and ethics of technology starts, and thus the end of the thesis of the neutrality of technology. Besides production and use there also is the knowledge of technological processes, their use and repair. In this third domain, the ethics of technology makes an impact, too.
By means of the technological achievement of the car Ms Hangel showed in which context of responsibility technology stands: The car as an answer to a heightened need for mobility, the increase of infrastructure like petrol stations, road networks; the political necessity of laws and traffic rules and an adjusted health system because of accidents. Thus, technology changes the world actively. Neither the development of technology nor its use take place in a „vacuum“. Technology therefore does not only have a multi-digit relation, but also multidimensional effects. It is important to realise that responsibility does not vanish into the gaps between responsible parties as soon as it comprises multiple parties, like e.g. producers, technology knowers, users.

B) Research routine and its organisational coherence: Researchers themselves
The goal is to show the responsibility of cooperation of researchers in technology.

There was an interesting article in 2005 in the journal Nature on scientific malpractice of researchers.
The results highlight the importance of searching for new ways for lessening the danger to research integrity. In order to ensure integrity in research, the research environment and those aspects need to be examined which promise the best results of change.

Reference: Fenner, Dagmar: Einführung in die Angewandte Ethik, UTB 2010.