Could a robot be conscious? Some lessons from philosophy

Abstract

In this chapter, the question whether robots could be conscious is evaluated from a philosophical perspective. The position taken is that the human being is the indispensable locus of ethical discovery. Questions concerning what we ought to do as morally equipped agents subject to normative guidance largely depend on our synchronically and diachronically varying answers to the question of "who we are." It is argued here, that robots are not conscious and could not be conscious, where consciousness is understood as a systemic feature of the animal-environment relationship. It is suggested, that ethical reflection yields the result that we ought not to produce cerebral organoids implanted in a robotic "body."