Distributed morality in multiagent systems
- 16:30 May 2010 ( week 8, Trinity Term 2010 )Lecture Theatre B
The phenomenon of distributed knowledge is well-known in epistemic logic. In this paper, a similar phenomenon in ethics, largely neglected so far, is investigated, namely distributed morality in multiagent systems (MAS) The paper is divided into three parts: the logic, the genesis and the implications of distributed morality. More specifically:
a) the first part explains the nature of distributed morality, as a feature of moral agency. Here the central topic is the logic of distributed morality;
b) the second part investigates the problem of how distributed morality can arise in multiagent systems comprising also non-human (artificial or hybrid) individual agents. Here the central topic is MAS; and
c) the third and concluding part explores the implications of the occurrence of distributed morality in our information-based society.