The technological advances of contemporary society have outpaced our moral understanding of the problems that they create. How will we deal with profound ecological changes, human cloning, hybrid people, and eroding cyberprivacy, just to name a few issues? In this book, Lorenzo Magnani argues that existing moral constructs often cannot be applied to new technology. He proposes an entirely different ethical approach, one that blends epistemology with cognitive science. The resulting moral strategy promises renewed dignity for overlooked populations, both of today and of the future.

Review of the hardback: '[Morality in a Technological World] is a masterpiece. It is completely innovative. It will change argumentation in several branches of cognitive science forever.' Michael Leyton, Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, Rutgers University
Review of the hardback: 'Magnani provides a stimulating exploration of the ethical implications of the medicalization of life, cybernetic globalization and the commodification of our lives through globalization. This book is essential reading for everyone interested in the impacts of social, economic and technological change on ethical and legal theory.' David Gooding, Director, Science Studies Centre, University of Bath, UK
Review of the hardback: 'This book integrates several fields of ethics, philosophy of technology, epistemology, and cognitive science, developing a completely new and challenging perspective from which Magnani makes the case for knowledge-centered morality.' Li Ping, Sun Yat-sen University
Review of the hardback: 'Magnani clearly articulates the complexity of morality, and the development of a process of treating people as things through which 'we can begin to make peace with inevitable technological advances'. He challenges us to think both cognitively and philosophically about moral and ethical dilemmas, in light of new approaches to technological development. In doing so he awakens important discussions around consciousness, humanity, free will and responsibility, and their interconnectedness; in fact, how do we treat people as things, rather than means? He opens up a space in which we can fruitfully discuss the balance between individual, corporate, national and supra-national needs and expectations, in terms of developing individual self-efficacy and agency. In a period of accelerating technological change, where both individually and collectively we are casting longer data shadows within expanding networks, this is an important and timely discussion.' Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society

Lorenzo Magnani, philosopher and cognitive scientist, is a Professor at the University of Pavia, Italy, and the Director of its Computational Philosophy Laboratory. He has taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology and at the City University of New York and currently directs international research programs in the EU, USA, and China. His books Abduction, Reason, and Science (Plenum/Kluwer, New York, 2001) and Philosophy of Geometry (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2001) have become well-respected works in the field of human cognition and epistemology. In 1998, he started the series of International Conferences on Model-Based Reasoning (MBR). The last book Morality in a Technological World Knowledge as a Duty (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) develops a philosophical and cognitive theory of the relationships between ethics and technology in a naturalistic perspective.