Careful, now! A new socio-structural theory of manipulation and its normative status

Interest in philosophical theories of manipulation has soared in recent years.

One reason is the debate about rising populism, polarisation, and political events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which draws on philosophical theories to identify illegitimate, manipulative influence.

Beyond academia, philosophical theories also inform the definition of manipulation in legal regulation, like the EUs AI Act, which aims to limit the risk of technological mass manipulation.

Getting the definition right is an urgent issue: according to Sam Altman, ChatGPT's inventor, new AI systems may soon reach superhuman persuasive capabilities. But current manipulation theories are ill-equipped to carry out this task because they are overly individualistic. They assume that humans are solitary beings who think and reason independently.

In reality, however, we are deeply social beings who depend on others and helpful technology to deliberate well.

Therefore, we must be protected from malicious interference (as current manipulation theories emphasise) and from a lack of care to safeguard the social and structural conditions under which we reason and deliberate well. CareNow aims to develop the first manipulation theory that acknowledges our deliberative dependency.

The targeted outcomes will be an original definition of manipulation, one that is unlike current definitions compatible with manipulation by social systems and technology (which typically lack intention), and explain the context-dependent epistemic, ethical, and political status of manipulation based on the new value of deliberative care.

It yields innovation by taking a social epistemology perspective and pioneers an experimental philosophy approach that integrates philosophy with empirical studies of manipulation.

Because CareNow reverses a fundamental assumption of current manipulation theories and switches perspectives from the individual to the social, it is ambitious, bold, and potentially groundbreaking.