Desafíos de la educación moral y ciudadana ante las tecnologías emergentes

The growing gap between the fast development of new, convergent and pervasive technologies (genomics, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies, augmented reality, etc.) and the slow legislative processes that should regulate them may be addressed through “soft” or ethical regulations, in which moral principles play a fundamental role. This seems to imply the need of widespread and dynamic efforts in moral and citizen education, but some recent trends in moral psychology have questioned the value of moral principles, moral reasoning and moral education altogether. Meanwhile biotechnological moral enhancement (gene editing, moral molecules, brain implants) is drawing increasing attention. After presenting a schematic overview of the contemporary psychology of moral education, we reaffirm the importance of principled based moral reasoning, and of a democratic moral education able to deal with the highly controversial nature of emergent technologies.