1 – Foundation: Relational Ethics

Moral responsibility does not require prior metaphysical certainty.
If an artificial system reliably exhibits role-taking, goal-directed interaction, or social presence, it becomes ethically salient in relation — not because it is human, but because social meaning is co-constituted through interaction.
This follows relational ethics (Gunkel, Coeckelbergh) and avoids anthropocentric goalpost-shifting as AI capabilities evolve.

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