Human-Robot Interaction and Human Self-Realization: Reflections on the Epistemology of Discrimination

Abstract

The ethical debate on robots has become a cutting edge issue in many countries. It is, however, most often approached through an us-versus-them perspective—as if we were watching a soccer game and taking one side. Informed by Eastern as well as Western thought, the meta-ethical aim of this paper is to test the basis for this type of discrimination when it comes to human-robot interaction. Furthermore, the paper will take Heidegger's warning concerning technology as a vantage point and explore the possibility of human-robot interaction forming a praxis that might help humans to be with robots beyond the limits of our conceptual framing and even facilitate the self-development of the human involved.