Can STUFF be morally good?

Abstract

We are used to the idea that people can be good or bad, but it is less obvious to see how an inanimate object – without desire or volition – can be morally good or bad. This talk therefore considers what it means to redeem, or even need to redeem, a thing. The things people make, from guns to phones to Coke cans, are designed to be used in particular ways. This inbuilt purpose is not value free, and predisposes objects – deliberately or inadvertently – to be used in ways which are morally value-laden: you can use a gun as a paperweight, but you are using it wrong. The engineers and scientists who develop new technologies are in a unique position, and have a unique responsibility, to be aware of the moral dimension of their work. This awareness can open new vistas for research. It enables us to move beyond the usual puzzles of finding how to make something faster, lighter, or cheaper, and ask how to make something which is, morally speaking, good.