D9.1 – EKUT Ethical Framework

This deliverable provides a conceptual analysis of “diversity” from an ethical perspective. It addresses the following issues: what is ethics, what is diversity, why diversity matters, what is the WeNet understanding of diversity, and what are points to consider when working with the social practices approach. In the deliverable, ethicists argue why diversity can be considered desirable or undesirable, depending on the context. The deliverable also reflects on the diversity understanding as laid out in the proposal text of the WeNet project. It makes explicit some of the underlying assumptions about diversity and raises ethical questions that should be considered in working with the term “diversity”. Finally, the deliverable addresses preliminary ideas of operationalizing diversity, and thereby investigates the benefits and constraints of the social practices approach. It raises ethical concerns that we as a consortium should discuss and consider in the modeling of diversity.