Sex Robots

Ruiping FAN received his medical degree from Baotou College of Medicine in Inner Mongolia and PhD in philosophy from Rice University in Houston. He is currently a professor of philosophy at the City University of Hong Kong. He also serves as Co-Editor of the International Journal of Chinese & Comparative Philosophy of Medicine (Hong Kong), Associate Editor of The Journal of Medicine & Philosophy (USA) and Chinese Medical Ethics (mainland China). His research focuses on bioethics as well as Confucianism and comparative philosophy. He has published over 170 journal articles and book chapters (over 90 in English and 80 in Chinese). Among his two monographs and ten edited/co-edited volumes is Reconstructionist Confucianism: Rethinking Morality after the West via Springer in 2010.Mark J. Cherry is the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Houston and his doctorate degree in philosophy from Rice University in Houston, Texas. His research compasses ethics and bioethics, together with social and political philosophy. He is author of Kidney for Sale by Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market (Georgetown University Press, 2005; 2015) and Sex, Family, and the Culture Wars (Routledge, 2016). He is Editor of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (Oxford University Press), Senior Editor of Christian Bioethics (Oxford University Press), and Editor-in-Chief of HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum (Springer); he is Co-editor of the book series The Annals of Bioethics (Routledge) and Editor of the book series Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture (Springer)

“This volume special is that it has contributors from different cultural and philosophical backgrounds. … I hope that readers can see that this anthology is very rich both in the sense of containing comparative perspectives … and in the sense that there are actually dialogues among its contributors. These interesting philosophical exercises can surely help readers to reflect not only on ethical implications of the use of sex robots, but also on issues in applied ethics in general.” (Tongdong Bai, Dao, Vol. 22 (1), 2023)

• Preface.- Chapter 1. Introduction (Mark J. Cherry).- Part I. Digisexuality, Sexbots, and Other Twenty-First Century Innovations.- Chapter 2. Sociable Robots for Later Life: Carebots, Friendbots and Sexbots (Nancy S. Jecker).- Chapter 3. Does a Love Machine have Emotions? An Ethical Examination of Empathy in Human-Robot Relations (Wang Jue).- Chapter 4. Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink: Sex Robots as Social Influencers (Mark Howard and Robert Sparrow).- Part II. Sex: Shifting Cultural and Moral Norms.- Chapter 5. Why Sex? Sex-bots from a Daoist Perspective (Ellen Y. Zhang).- Chapter 6. Could You Marry a Sex Robot? Shifting Sexual Norms and the Transformation of the Family (Mark J. Cherry).- Chapter 7. The Moral Significance of Human-Likeness in Sex Robots: A Confucian Perspective (Lawrence Yung).- Chapter 8. What Kinds of Use of Sex Robots Can be Morally Allowed? A Confucian Perspective (Hanhui Xu).- Chapter 9. Simulated Sex: On the Public Health Crisis of Unbridled Eroticism (Ryan Nash).- PartIII. Reponses and Critique.- Chapter 10. Response and Critique to Part I.- Chapter 11: Response and Critique to Part II (Ruiping Fan)