ORIGINAL PAPER On the Autonomy and Justification of Nanoethics Fritz Allhoff Received: 10 October 2007 /Accepted: 10 October 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract In this paper, I take a critical stance on the emerging field of nanoethics. After an introductory section, “Conceptual Foundations of Nanotechnology” considers the conceptual foundations of nanotechnol- ogy, arguing that nanoethics can only be as coherent as nanotechnology itself and then discussing concerns with this latter concept; the conceptual foundations of nanoethics are then explicitly addressed in “Conceptual Foundations of Nanoethics”. “Issues in Nanoethics” considers ethical issues that will be raised through nanotechnologyand,in “What’sNew?”,itisarguedthat none of these issues is unique to nanotechnology. In “It’s a Revolution!”, I express skepticism about argu- ments which hold that, while the issues themselves might not be unique, they nevertheless are instantiated to such a degree that extant moral frameworks will be ill-equipped to handle them. In “What’s Different?”,I draw plausible distinctions between nanoethics and other applied ethics, arguing that these latter might well identify unique moral issues and, as such, distinguish themselvesfromnanoethics.Finally,in “WhatNow?”,I exploretheconclusionsofthisresult,ultimatelyarguing that, while nanoethics may fail to identify novel ethical concerns, it is at least the case that nanotechnology is deserving of ethical attention, if not a new associative applied ethic. Keywords Nanoethics . Nanothechnology . Revolution Introduction Nanotechnology has been hailed as the “next Indus- trial Revolution”, 1 and promises to have substantial impacts into many areas of our lives. These impacts will be manifest through many of the novel applica- tions that nanotechnology will enable; these applica- tions will take advantage of features that are only realized through nanoscale manipulations. And, through these technological advances, many ethical and social questions will, or have been, raised. 2 These questions have given rise to the emergent field of nanoethics, which has been characterized by substan- tial research funding and an explosion of publication outlets (including this one). Nanoethics DOI 10.1007/s11569-007-0018-3 F. Allhoff (*) Department of Philosophy, Western Michigan University, Moore Hall 1903 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5328, USA e-mail: fritz.allhoff@wmich.edu F. Allhoff Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia 2 See, for example, Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, and John Weckert (eds.), Nanoethics: The Social and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007). 1 National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Technology [73].