The Ethics of Digital Ghosts - Confucian, Mohist, and Zhuangist Perspectives on AI and Death

Advances in artificial intelligence are enabling the construction of "digital ghosts": algorithmic reconstructions of deceased individuals based on patterns of interaction in their text messages, social media posts, and other personal data. This book develops an ethics of digital ghosts using resources from classical Chinese philosophy.

List of contents

Introduction 1. Digital Remains and Digital Ghosts 2. Caring for Physical Remains 3. Confucian Connections with Digital Ghosts 4. Mohism and Seeing Ghosts 5. Zhuangzi on Remixing, Reanimation, and Remembering 6. Learning from the Conversation

About the author

Alexis M. Elder is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is the author of Friendship, Robots, and Social Media: False friends and second selves (Routledge). She publishes on issues involving technology and interpersonal relationships, drawing on historical philosophical traditions.

Product details

• Authors: Alexis M. Elder
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 15.08.2025
• EAN: 9781041058410
• ISBN: 978-1-041-05841-0
• No. of pages: 206
• Series: Routledge Research in Applied Ethics
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); China, Artificial Intelligence, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Ethics & moral philosophy, Regional Studies, Ethics and moral philosophy, Religious ethics, Regional / International studies, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, Non-Western philosophy, Medical Sociology, Sociology: death and dying, Sociology: Death & Dying, East Asian religions, Oriental Religions