Record STMT-WDAC418Aspirational

The Identity Crisis and Solutions for Nursing Robots Under the Confucian Ethics of Filial Piety

The identity crisis and solutions for nursing robots under the confucian ethics of filial piety

Position paper State lawEastern Asia · CNin force

This academic paper examines the ethical and identity challenges surrounding the deployment of nursing robots for home-based elderly care under China's Confucian filial piety framework. It investigates the dual identity of care robots—intrinsic self-identification and extrinsic social identity—and proposes a three-pronged approach based on technological moderation, intergenerational shared responsibilities, and cultural adaptability to harmonize tool rationality with humanistic ideals.

Summary and content fields are drawn from the document text and are pending editorial review.

Who issued it

Southeast UniversityAcademic · CN

Lead issuer

Legal forceAspirational

Under whose authorityState law

Judged fromfull text

Who it governs

Researchers and academicsCompaniesAI developers and providersAI deployers and users

Researchers, ethicists, and policymakers should read this to understand the cultural and ethical implications of integrating care robots into family-based elder care systems.

Sectors

Healthcare · elderly careResearch and science · philosophy and ethics

What the document contains

What's covered

The paper addresses the ontological and social identity challenges of nursing robots in elder care, analyzing the philosophical and ethical conflicts between automated care technologies and traditional Confucian filial piety ethics.

What's missing

The document does not provide binding legal regulations, technical safety standards, or specific commercial deployment guidelines for nursing robot manufacturers.

Key takeaways

Nursing robots face an identity crisis regarding their intrinsic self-identification and extrinsic social identity within human social networks.
Under Confucian ethics, robots lack the authentic moral agency and emotional consciousness required to fulfill genuine filial piety.
Excessive anthropomorphism and treating robots as substitutes rather than assistants risk eroding interpersonal human connections and elderly dignity.
A dynamic ethical framework incorporating technological moderation, shared intergenerational responsibility, and cultural adaptability is essential for harmonizing care robots with filial duties.

Principles it states

Filial piety as the moral foundation of family-based elder careTechnological moderation to preserve cognitive sovereignty and identity transparencyHuman-robot symbiosis where robots serve as tools rather than emotional replacements

Outline

· Abstract
· Introduction
· The identity of nursing robots
· The intrinsic self-identity of nursing robots: can they become moral agents within confucian ethics?
· The triple dilemma of the social identity of nursing robots
· How can filial piety ethics guide nursing robots to overcome their identity dilemma?
· Conclusion

Issued3 October 2025

Length7,910 words

FormatNot recorded

Scopenational

How it scores

Pending review

Each score is backed by a quote verified against the document text. Editorial review has not yet confirmed them.

Accountability

3/5

Clear responsibility for AI outcomes

Based on the technological entity's actual ethical decision-making level, a framework for shared responsibility can be built using the moral capacity ladder model.

Shared responsibility across generations: filling the gap in legal accountability

screening score · 2026-10-24

Fairness

2/5

Non-discrimination and equitable treatment

multi-stake elderly samples—such as data from senior citizens from various geographic locations, dialects, and socioeconomic backgrounds—must be introduced during the model training phase.

Technological moderation

screening score · 2026-10-24

Human Dignity

3/5

Respect for the inherent worth of persons

The social dignity theory highlights that robotic care should not deprive the elderly of their sense of self-worth, maintaining their dignity through the autonomous completion of non-social activities

Technological moderation

screening score · 2026-10-24

Human Oversight

3/5

Humans remain in control of consequential decisions

Permissions for human intervention must be specified at crucial nodes, like emotional encounters, and algorithms must create clear and traceable procedures.

Shared responsibility across generations: filling the gap in legal accountability

screening score · 2026-10-24

Privacy

1/5

Protection of personal data and private life

By reducing filial piety to measurable tasks like tracking physiological indicators and ignoring emotional interactions like respect and difficulty in expressing emotions

Shared responsibility across generations: filling the gap in legal accountability

screening score · 2026-10-24

Transparency

3/5

Openness about how AI systems work and are used

Simultaneously, algorithm explanation mechanisms must be established. For example, when nursing robots execute emotional feedback, they must give users brief explanations

Technological moderation

screening score · 2026-10-24

Enforcement

1/5

Consequences and compliance mechanisms with real force

Rigid enforcement capabilities are necessary for ethical restriction systems.

Cultural adaptability: reconstructing the emotional core of filial piety ethics

screening score · 2026-10-24

Impact Assessment

2/5

Required assessment of an AI system's risks/impacts before or during use

In addition to offering a dynamic ethical framework, it explores the duality of their identity recognition—Intrinsic self-identification and extrinsic Social Identity.

Abstract

screening score · 2026-10-24

Topics

Physical AI Governancecontext

nursing_robots filial_piety confucian_ethics elder_care ai_identity