1. Introduction

The overall primary objective of this paper is to defend and describe a philosophical meta-ethical as well as normative model for the theoretical and practical evaluation of the quality of digital information on the Internet. This model as I shall argue must of necessity be universal and objective in its mode of justification and global in its reach. It has to be able to transcend cultural boarders so as to be able to objectively evaluate the quality of information that is in its essence borderless and global.   Although the model proposed is universal and objective, it has both local and global applications. Furthermore, it allows and can account for the maximal flexibility and variety of expression of any number of personal and cultural perspectives and interests. Although universal, the model proposed and defended is not dogmatic as it is based, of necessity, on universal shared interests and capacities, briefly the interest and capacity for purposive action that all agents have in common. More importantly, the model proposed overcomes moral relativism. As the proposed model is based on the supreme principle of morality (Alan Gewirth’s Principle of Generic Consistency) the model can accommodate other ethical theories and is thus sensitive at least to some minimal robust pluralism based on the requirements of practical reason. Due to constrains of space, the paper will in the main be concerned with the epistemological and ethical quality of digital information.    

The structure of the paper is briefly as follows:

• Describing the theoretical problem

Any theoretical model for the critical evaluation of the cultural quality of information generally and that of digital information on the Internet specifically (interformation henceforth) has to be able to address the problem that there are many cultural varieties and differences, not always compatible or consistent, that exist both intra-nationally and inter-nationally. Cultural relativism and more critically moral relativism threaten from every corner. How does one propose let alone provide a theoretical (and practical) model for the evaluation of interformation that can address the problem of cultural and moral relativism?   Given the global reach and scope of the World Wide Web that now reaches and impacts on every part of the planet, any theoretical model that seeks to not merely describe the cultural quality of interformation but evaluate it, at least in its epistemological and ethical manifestations, must itself be global in its application and scope. For it to be global in its application, however, it has to be universal and objective in its mode of justification and motivation. It must be able to evaluate interformation on the basis of universal principles that most if not all reasonable individuals irrespective of their cultural differences and affiliations can accept and more importantly must accept on the basis of their shared minimal rationality, a minimal rationality which like language is a universal condition of discourse, necessary for all human communication. Communication cannot proceed let alone succeed if no one observed, for example, the rational principle of non-contradiction (“A” and not “A” at the same time and in the same respect).

My main aim in this paper is to provide a solution to this problem by proposing a universal theoretical model which can provide at least in principle a method for evaluating objectively interformation in all its modes of production, communication and uses across the globe. As such, the model proposed is both objective and universal in its justification and global in its reach and application. If successful, it overcomes the problem of intra-national and inter-national cultural and moral relativism.

1.2 A proposed solution

Beginning with a definition of information, the paper will seek to determine how the production, communication and uses of digital information on the internet (interformation) can in principle be epistemologically and ethically evaluated in terms of the notions of both what is right and what is good.

To that end, the paper will first provide a normative account of information based on the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief. This normative account of information is required in demonstrating and describing the generic ethical commitments that necessarily arise in the production, communication and uses of information. A central claim of the paper is that these informational processes commit all rational agents to both epistemological and ethical conduct; specifically, it commits all agents to epistemological and ethical values such as accuracy, justification, truthfulness, honesty, integrity and generally respect of other agents’ moral rights, that for the purpose of this paper will be defined as rights to freedom and wellbeing (Gewirth 1978 Beyleveld 1991 and Spence 2006).

Following the analysis of a normative account of information and the necessary ethical commitments to which it gives rise, the paper will offer a theoretical account of the good derived from the notion of rights, specifically the generic rights to freedom and wellbeing that all agents have, both individually and collectively as a society, as matter of rational necessity. This unified account of theright and the good (Spence 2006) is required for offering a dialectical and objective framework for assessing the notion of a good life, more specifically, the essential conditions that must be present for a good life. Freedom and wellbeing as the necessary features of all purposive action in Alan Gewirth’s moral theory provide the basis for a rich and flexible descriptive and prescriptive analysis of the essential conditions for such a life. Moreover, I will claim that such conditions, as the necessary features of all purposive action and successful action in particular, are universal.

Using as its departure point Alan Gewirth’s theory of self-fulfillment (Gewirth, 1998) as well as the notion of eudemonia of the Hellenistic philosophers, specifically the Epicureans and the Stoics, the paper will advance an applied universal neo-stoic model for analyzing and evaluating the notion of a good life, one that is applicable to both individuals and society as a whole.

Finally, the paper will show how this unified neo-stoic model of the right and the good can be applied to objectively and universally evaluate the culture quality of digital information on the Internet or interformation. Specifically, as it concerns its epistemic and ethical dimensions.    

2. The Epistemology and Ethics of Information

“Verifiability helps establish credibility” (Jack Fuller, 1997, 40)

This key section of the paper will critically examine and evaluate the concepts of “information” and “knowledge”. Beginning with a simple definition of the concept of information as “the communication of instructive knowledge” (Shorter Oxford Dictionary) the concept of knowledge in turn will be defined as “justified true belief”.   Using this traditional epistemological definition of knowledge, this section of the paper will develop a normative account of information.

Briefly, the argument is as follows: Insofar as information is a type of knowledge it must comply with the epistemological conditions of justification and truth. And insofar as the communication and dissemination of information is based on the justified and rightful expectation among its users that such information should meet the minimal conditions of justification and truth, so that such information can be perceived to be reliable and hence trustworthy, then both producers, communicators and users of information are ethically committed to the informational principles of justification and truth on the basis of widely recognized and accepted epistemological criteria. Those epistemic criteria will in the main comprise objectivity as well as the independence and reliability of the sources that generate the information. The epistemology of information in turn commits both its producers, communicators and users to certain ethical principles and values, such as accuracy, truthfulness, honesty, trustworthiness and fairness, including justice, which requires the equal distribution of the informational goods to all citizens.   Thus information has an intrinsic normative structure that commits everyone involved in its production, communication and use to its ethical processing and dissemination.

3. A Unified Account of the Right and the Good

Briefly in outline: A unified account of the right and the good will be advanced and defended on the basis of an indirect application of Alan Gewirth’s Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC). Insofar as the PGC requires all agents, including informational agents, to act ethically or at least acknowledge that they ought to act ethically, and insofar as virtues of character such as the cardinal virtues of justice, courage, moderation and prudence, as well as the Humean moral sentiments, such as sympathy (positive) and remorse (negative), can be conceived as enabling dispositions that allow agents generally and informational agents specifically to act ethically in compliance with   the PGC, then  the inculcation of those virtues and cultivation of those sentiments are also rationally required, at least prudentially (Spence 2006). Hence, the inculcation of the virtues and the cultivation of the moral sentiments, which as I shall argue are essential for leading a good life, a life that can potentially lead to self-fulfilment or eudemonia, are themselves good – but good for what? They are good because they are essential for a good life, objectively conceived, not just as means but ultimately also as ends. Not only instrumentally but also intrinsically good. I will argue this on the basis of a neo-stoic model of eudemonia (Spence 2006).  

References

Beyleveld, Deryck (1991) The Dialectical Necessity of Morality: An Analysis and Defence of Alan Gewirth’s Argument to the Principle of Generic Consistency, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  

Brey, P. (forthcoming 2007).   Is Information Ethics Culture-Relative?   Journal of Technology and Human Interaction.   Special Issue Information Ethics: Global Issues, Local Perspectives.   Guest ed. C. Ess.

Bynum, Terry "Metaphysical Foundations for Information Ethics" (2006), East-West Perspectives on Information and Computer Ethics" ,   Video Presentation, 4:05 pm - 6:30 pm, August 10 2006, North American Computing and Philosophy Conference, August 10-12, 2006, NA-CAP 2006 @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA.

Floridi, Luciano (2002) “What is the Philosophy of Information?” Metaphilosophy, Vol.33, pp. 123-145.

Gewirth, A. (1978) Reason and Morality, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

_________ (1996) The Community of Rights, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

_________ (1998)  Self-fulfilment, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Gorniak-Kocikowska, K. (1996) “The Computer Revolution And the Problem of Global Ethics” Science and Engineering Ethics, April 1996.

Ess, Clarles (2006) "An Impending Global ICE Age?: East-West Perspectives on Information and Computer Ethics" ,   Video Presentation, 4:05 pm - 6:30 pm, August 10 2006, North American Computing and Philosophy Conference, August 10-12, 2006, NA-CAP 2006 @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA.

Spence, E. (2006) Ethics Within Reason: A Neo-Gewirthian Approach, Lanham: Lexington Books (a division of Rowman and Littlefield).