Wider and Deeper Norms for Technology Design

About Wider and Deeper Norms for Technology Design

Abstract

The design norms proposed in the book Responsible Technology are based on Dooyeweerd‟s categorization of the structure of reality into fifteen facets. This approach is continued in the further writings of several of the Responsible Technology authors including Schuurman and Van Poolen. The norms are celebrated, revisited, and revised by a variety of later authors, including Adams, Bradley, Ermer and VanderLeest, Newberry, Van Antwerp, Funk, and others. Following a survey of the literature on design norms, two difficulties are addressed, which result in widening and deepening the idea of norms for technology design. First, additional guides (virtues) are considered that have apparent ethical impact on design decisions. Because they do not fit nicely into the existing list of design norms, a wider approach is suggested. Second, although Herman Dooyeweerd was a thoroughly Christian philosopher and scholar, Responsible Technology does not explicitly link Biblical principles to the design norms it links with the top eight of Dooyweerd‟s aspects of reality. This paper makes a preliminary attempt to deepen the norms by connecting them more directly to scriptural values.