Book Review: Technology and the Virtues, a Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. By Shannon Vallor, Oxford University Press (2018)

Abstract

This essay reviews Shannon Vallor's, Technology and the Virtues (2017), which advocates persuasively for an intercultural renewal of virtue ethics applied to emerging technologies. In particular, she is concerned with developing a description of virtue from the diverse practices of Confucianism, Mayahana Buddhism, and Aristotelianism. By drawing from Alasdair MacIntyre's conception of virtue as a cultural practice, she outlines some virtues for an emerging globalized technology culture. This review suggests that Vallor's project might benefit from an engagement with Christian Neo-Platonism and more concern for the political implications of her description of virtue.

Keywords: Ethics, Virtue Ethics, Technology, Confucian, Buddhist, Aristotelian, Alasdair MacIntyre, Social Media, Transhumanism, Robots