Time: Fri 22 May 2026, at 15:00-18:00

Place: Room 210, New Sun Student Center, Peking University

Speaker: Pak-Hang Wong, Hong Kong Baptist University

This event is part of the Lecture Series of Analytic Philosophy.

Abstract:

Existing approaches to digital well-being (DWB) primarily view well-being from an individualistic, anthropocentric perspective, treating interpersonal relationships and environments as merely instrumental. Based on the Intercultural Digital Ethics approach, I problematize these accounts, arguing that relational and non-anthropocentric considerations are actually constitutive of DWB.

Drawing on the Confucian concepts of personhood and oneness, I posit human welfare to be deeply intertwined with others and the world. I expand DWB to explicitly integrate interpersonal and extrapersonal dimensions. Additionally, I identify self-centeredness as a primary obstacle to DWB. To address this, I introduce the notion of self-centered technology as an evaluative tool to assess technological impacts on well-being. This research, therefore, aims to offer an alternative, holistic DWB framework grounded in Confucian philosophy.