A theological account of artificial moral agency

Ximian Xu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This article seeks to explore the idea of artificial moral agency from a theological perspective. By drawing on the Reformed theology of archetype-ectype, it will demonstrate that computational artefacts are the ectype of human moral agents and, consequently, have a partial moral agency. In this light, human moral agents mediate and extend their moral values through computational artefacts, which are ontologically connected with humans and only related to limited particular moral issues. This moral leitmotif opens up a way to deploy carebots into Christian pastoral care while maintaining the human agent's uniqueness and responsibility in pastoral caregiving practices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)642–659
Number of pages18
JournalStudies in Christian Ethics
Volume36
Issue number3
Early online date9 Mar 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Aug 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • archetype and ectype
  • artificial intelligence
  • carebots
  • Christian pastoral care
  • computational artefacts
  • Herman Bavinck

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