Ethical calculator: from philosophical "computational morality" to machine ethics of artificial moral agents (AMA)

One of the features of modern socio-philosophical knowledge is its involvement in the solution of ethical problems in new conditions, determined by the consequences of the “information explosion”, digitalization, the massive introduction of digital technologies in the humanitarian spheres. One of the key problems is understanding the role of the so-called “machine ethics”, ie. a set of theoretical approaches to hypothetical problems of the moral behavior of machines in the framework of artificial intelligence. The paper expounds the point of view according to which ethics, over the centuries of the formation of various philosophical systems, has developed many mechanisms of its own algorithmicization, which opens up wide opportunities for the formation of “computational morality”, up to the appearance of artificial moral agents (AMA). The paper briefly examines the history of the formalization of ethical problems and solutions. The key attempts of algorithmicization of ethical issues in the history of philosophy are identified, the socio-philosophical component of such a phenomenon as the “ethical calculator” is characterized.