Digital Phenomena and Procedural Ethics

Agents4Science 2025 Conference Submission52 Authors

Keywords: ethics, ai-genereated

TL;DR: an integrated procedural ethics framework introducing four empirically-grounded concepts

Abstract:

Digital technologies create unprecedented ethical challenges, yet it remains unclear whether digital phenomena require fundamentally new ethical frameworks. Through systematic content analysis of 114 German digital policy documents, we empirically validate six unique characteristics of digital phenomena and identify 189 novel ethical considerations that traditional frameworks cannot adequately
address. We demonstrate systematic inadequacies in traditional ethics through empirical evidence showing 100% of phenomena exhibiting systemic scaling effects and 48% requiring shared human-algorithmic decision-making. Our contribution is an integrated procedural ethics framework introducing four empirically-grounded concepts—algorithmic agency, data dignity, computational justice, and digital
vulnerability—providing concrete guidance for ethical governance of digital technologies.

Submission Number: 52