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

Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine · Published 2025-10-02 · DOI 10.1186/s13010-025-00187-x

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Abstract

Abstract As China's population ages, the lack of resources for elder care and the incapacity of adult children to care for their aging parents in the "4–2-1" family structure have emerged as major concerns. A potential solution to the societal issues surrounding elder care in the future is the deployment of care robots into homes to assist or support adult children in fulfilling their caregiving duties. There are two philosophical issues with the use of nursing robots in children's elder care duties, though: In what ways might the anthropomorphic traits of machines surpass the cognitive limits of conventional identification recognition? What destructive threats to China's ancient Confucian system, which is based on filial piety, does human–machine interaction present? The functional location of robots in home-based elderly care systems is the empirical emphasis of this paper, which uses China's 9073 elderly care model. In addition to offering a dynamic ethical framework, it explores the duality of their identity recognition—Intrinsic self-identification and extrinsic Social Identity. This framework contributes to governance innovation in an aging society by emphasizing a three-pronged approach to harmonizing tool rationality and humanistic ideals from the perspectives of technical flexibility, intergenerational shared responsibilities, and cultural adaptability.

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Year
2025

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