Considerations of Moral Ontology and Reasoning in Human-Robot Interaction

Contents

In this paper we discuss moral ontology and reasoning as it relates to HRI. We review several theories of ought(A), where we examine the meaning of “ought” and the ontological status of A, e.g. as abstract properties of acts, individual act propositions, states-of-affairs, and practitions. We discuss several forms of moral deliberation based on those theories. We argue that a discussion of moral ontology and reasoning will play a role in understanding the ethical and social implications of HRI, and we offer three conjectures towards that end.