THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK AND ETHICAL MODELS

The fourth Industrial Revolution heralds a series of cultural, political, social and economic upheavals that will unfold over the 21st century. Our current dossier intends, therefore, to deepen the ethical and philosophical-anthropological aspects connected to the fourth industrial revolution, not without paying attention to some aspects dealing with its methods of realization. What is the fourth industrial revolution and is it correct to use the term revolution to describe it? Which ethical models are more suitable to accompany the transformations we are witnessing? Is it possible to imagine a different model of society for man through the use of growing automation processes? Is it possible to imagine a new paradigm for framing the relationship between man and the future of job? The introduction of novelties such as synthetic meat can help us overcome some ethical controversies related to animal welfare and respect for sentient life forms? Is the augmented reality and the implementation of artificial intelligence machines a threat to the existence of a human-scale future? Can philosophy still advance the claim to propose itself as autonomous knowledge or, rather, it must rethink itself as inevitably hybridized with the new technoscientific fields?