William McDonald
Papers
1
Total Citations
59
H-Index
1
About
William McDonald is a leading voice in the emerging field of robot ethics, with a particular focus on the moral status of artificial agents. His most influential work, "Sympathy for Dolores: Moral Consideration for Robots Based on Virtue and Recognition" (2019), has garnered 59 citations and fundamentally reframes the debate around machine rights. Rather than grounding moral consideration in a robot’s cognitive capacity, McDonald argues for a virtue- and recognition-based approach, suggesting that our own moral character—demonstrated through sympathy and respect—obligates us to treat sophisticated robots with a form of moral consideration. This contribution bridges virtue ethics and social robotics, offering a novel framework that has sparked significant discussion in both philosophy and AI ethics communities. McDonald’s work is notable for its accessible yet rigorous style, making complex ethical arguments relevant to engineers and policymakers alike. By centering the question on human moral psychology rather than artificial consciousness, he has opened new pathways for thinking about our responsibilities toward the increasingly autonomous machines we create.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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