When There’s no Fun in Funding: External Research Money, Ethics-Washing, and Positive Academic Freedom (guest post)

Governments and firms are turning to philosophers and other scholars more and more in regard to the ethics of developing and regulating technology. Yet this engagement with ethics may be superficial, careless, or even manipulative—and the ethicists involved may not even be in a position to realize this. “Ethics-washing” can take several forms. In the following guest post, the authors (in alphabetical order)—Lisa Herzog (Groningen), Marijn Hoijtink (Antwerp), Gijs van Maanen (Tilburg), Ann-Katrien Oimann (KU Leuven), and Linnet Taylor (Tilburg)—describe some cases of it and some challenges in identifying it, and emphasize the need for collective action to address it. When There’s no Fun in Funding: External Research Money, Ethics-Washing, and Positive Academic Freedom by Lisa Herzog, Marijn Hoijtink, Gijs van Maanen, Ann-Katrien Oimann, Linnet Taylor For legal and ethics scholars, the recent boom in digital technologies has brought new challenges when it comes to navigating…