More Value-Sensitive Innovations in Disposal of the Dead

TU Delft researchers have developed a framework to assess the moral acceptability of innovations in the disposal of the dead. As part of the framework a wide range of relevant values have been identified and operationalized, which can also be used to further improve the (design of) the innovations in question. The framework was developed on request of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

The techniques for disposal of the dead investigated are traditional burial, cremation, plastination, natural burial, resomation, composting, cannibalism, promession and cryonics. On 19 february 2019 Minister Ollongren sent the resulting report, ‘Assessment Framework Alternative Forms of Disposal of the Dead‘ (available in Dutch only) to the Dutch House of Representatives (see here). Jeroen van den Hoven, scientific director of the Delft Design for Values Institute and professor of ethics and technology at the Delft Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, was one of the authors.

Contents of the Report

The report offers an assessment framework – consisting of seven steps – that makes it possible to

1. test whether legalizing / prohibiting a new method is morally acceptable, and if the technique cannot (yet) be admitted
2. propose improvements that can contribute to the future legalization of the technique.

The seven steps outlined in the report are:

• Step 0: Conceptual demarcation
• Step 1: Basic exploration
• Step 1: Identification of the stakeholders, available techniques and the ethical base position
• Step 2: Identification of potentially relevant values
• Step 3: Operationalization of actually relevant values
• Step 4: Testing the acceptability of banning the technique
• Step 5: Drawing up concrete improvement requirements (conditional)
• Step 6: Re-assessing acceptability (conditional)

The report contains a visualization and schematic representation of these steps, a decision tool and overview of identified values ​​and their specification in the funeral context.

Responsible Innovation and Value Sensitive Design

The report expresses the Dutch innovation vision in the field of ethics and new technology (as embedded in the Socially Responsible Innovation Program of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Dutch Top Sector Policy). Discussions about the desirability of innovations should, according to this approach, go beyond a 'yes / no' answer. The question is how the benefits of new technology can be exploited, while at the same time doing justice to all moral values ​​that are relevant: value-conscious design of new technology and socially responsible innovation.