Academic perspective
Philosophy and ethics
Ethics and philosophy of technology influence the practice of technical writers because they are: 1) designing information about technology for target groups who are not always aware of what it means to use a technology and what the results may be in one’s professional or everyday life; 2) testing and evaluating information products using methods that involve human beings.
Technical writers need to be aware of the ethical implications when making decisions about how to develop technologies and the accompanying information in a responsible way.
The disciplines focus on describing and interpreting the relations between human beings and technology; on the advantages and disadvantages of the expanding impact of technology on the lives of human beings.
- Understand different ways to classify the relation between society and technology
- Understand the nature of technological knowledge
- Understand the normative dimensions of technology
- Understand the ethics involved in developing, testing and using new technologies
- Understand trust and privacy risks and concerns in relation to technology
- Understand the difference between inductive and deductive methods
- Understand what makes an argument valid