An Ethical Evaluation of Lethal Functions in Autoregulative Weapons Systems

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.

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.