Overview

This book connects two of the most pressing ethical topics of our time: questions of peace and technology, materialized in so-called autonomous weapons systems, which can operate without human control and intervention in real time. The author, however, criticizes the term """"autonomy"""" as too anthropomorphic and therefore misleading. She consequently proposes using the term """"autoregulation"""" in its place. Taking a contingent pacifist stance, this book addresses the question of whether such technological means help or hinder peace processes. The argument is tripartite. First, it is demonstrated that the risk of harm to nonparticipants is very likely to increase. Second, and with respect to responsibility, it is indicated that a human-machine system can only be operated responsibly if a human is in control. Finally, this idea is transferred into theological thought through reference to Bonhoeffer's idea of incurring guilt in acting responsibly. In that context, autoregulative technology might pose the possibility of shying away from responsibility--and therefore becoming guilty. This book is among the first ethical considerations of lethal autoregulative weaponry from a contingent pacifist stance and brings together peace ethical thinking and theories from various backgrounds.

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Reviews

""This book is essential for a critical understanding of the ethical complexities of autonomous weapons systems. As an African Christian theologian, I endorse this work for its critical engagement with theological ethics and technology, offering valuable insights and frameworks for ethical reasoning. This timely and interdisciplinary work is vital for scholars and policymakers addressing the moral challenges posed by modern warfare."" --Dion A. Forster, professor of public theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, extraordinary professor of public theology and ethics, Stellenbosch University ""The prospect of lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS)--weapons capable of navigating their environment and applying force to a target without supervision by a human operator--has become a pressing ethical and legal issue. Dr Kunkel's work elegantly integrates Christian peace ethics with the secular debate on LAWS. She also makes important conceptual observations, rendering the notion of LAWS clearer. This is a stimulating contribution to the debate on emerging technologies and armed conflict."" --Alex Leveringhaus, lecturer in political theory, University of Surrey, United Kingdom ""This brilliant work represents a cutting-edge contribution to the theology and ethics of peace and war in addressing the problem of so-called 'autonomous' weapons systems by arguing that they are autoregulative at best. Drawing on the works of Bonhoeffer, Coeckelbergh, Latour, May, Walzer, and current Christian debate, it starts a long-overdue conversation between Continental and Anglo-Saxon discourses of pacifism and just war theory."" --Torsten Meireis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Stellenbosch University

Author Information

Nicole Kunkel is research assistant in the Department of Ethics and Hermeneutics at the Theological Faculty of the Humboldt University, Berlin. She studied in Leipzig, Berlin, and Jerusalem and holds a diploma in Protestant theology. By this book she obtained her doctorate.

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