Ethics and Autonomous Weapons

Leveringhaus, Alex

 This book is amongst the first academic treatments of the emerging debate on autonomous weapons. Autonomous weapons are capable, once programmed, of searching for and engaging a target without direct intervention by a human operator. Critics of these weapons claim that ‘taking the human out-of-the-loop’ represents a further step towards the de-humanisation of warfare, while advocates of this type of technology contend that the power of machine autonomy can potentially be harnessed in order to prevent war crimes. This book provides a thorough and critical assessment of these two positions. Written by a political philosopher at the forefront of the autonomous weapons debate, the book clearly assesses the ethical and legal ramifications of autonomous weapons, and presents a novel ethical argument against fully autonomous weapons.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Pivot

Publication Date: 2015-01-06

Format: Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9781137523600

DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-52361-7

Dimensions: 210cm x148cm

Pages: 131