This contribution will provide a novel method for value deliberation on technologies, grounded in art and emotions. Philosophy tends to see itself as a rational discipline, emphasizing logical argumentation and seeing emotions as belonging to the realm of irrationality and subjectivity. This view of emotions has been challenged by philosophers and psychologists who emphasize the cognitive dimension of emotions. Emotions can then play an important epistemological role, providing us with insights into the evaluative dimension of our lived experience. Emotions can also contribute to deliberation on ethical dimensions of technology. Furthermore, art can provide an important way to elicit emotions and provide us with a unique epistemological method to elicit insights into values and meaning. There are now more and more artists working with technologies, and there is a growing interest in these works of art in cultural and media studies. Philosophers have only recently become interested in these artworks. What is needed is to develop a method to integrate works of art in philosophy of technology. This contribution will reflect on ingredients for a unique method incorporating value experiences into ethical deliberation on socially disruptive technologies, grounded in emotions and art. Artworks and the emotions they elicit can provide us with unique epistemological vantage points for a humane perspective on technological developments.

This presentation is part of the panel Value Experiences & Technomoral Deliberation