Can Technological Artifacts be Good or Bad?

The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between technology and ethical values, and to demonstrate that technological artifacts are not ethically neutral, but rather can be morally assessed. To do so, it is referred to two Dutch philosophers of technology, namely (Ibo) van de Poel and Peter-Paul Verbeek. According to Poel’s view function and side-effects of artifacts can be related to ethical values, accordingly, artifacts can embody values, and in practice lead to the supervenience of values. On the basis of Verbeek’s opinion, artifacts affect human action and perception. This effect can be ethically assessed, and technological design bringing about virtuous life for human beings can be suggested. At last, with the aid of a critical analysis of what was stated, it is tried to present a consistent proposal, according to which technological artifacts are in a sense good or bad, and design ethics is defensible.