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Philosophical Studies Series

Christopher Burr
Luciano Floridi Editors

Ethics
of Digital
Well-Being
A Multidisciplinary Approach
Philosophical Studies Series

Volume 140

Editor-in-Chief
Mariarosaria Taddeo, Oxford Internet Institute, Digital Ethics Lab,
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Executive Editorial Board
Patrick Allo, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium
Massimo Durante, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy
Phyllis Illari, University College London, London, UK
Shannon Vallor, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Board of Consulting Editors
Lynne Baker, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, USA
Stewart Cohen, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Radu Bogdan, Dept. Philosophy, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
Marian David, Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz, Austria
John Fischer, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
Keith Lehrer, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Denise Meyerson, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Francois Recanati, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France
Mark Sainsbury, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Barry Smith, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
Nicholas Smith, Department of Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College,
Portland, OR, USA
Linda Zagzebski, Department of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma,
Norman, OK, USA
Philosophical Studies aims to provide a forum for the best current research in
contemporary philosophy broadly conceived, its methodologies, and applications. Since
Wilfrid Sellars and Keith Lehrer founded the series in 1974, the book series has
welcomed a wide variety of different approaches, and every effort is made to maintain
this pluralism, not for its own sake, but in order to represent the many fruitful and
illuminating ways of addressing philosophical questions and investigating related
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The book series is interested in classical topics of all branches of philosophy
including, but not limited to:
• Ethics
• Epistemology
• Logic
• Philosophy of language
• Philosophy of logic
• Philosophy of mind
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• Philosophy of science
Special attention is paid to studies that focus on:
• the interplay of empirical and philosophical viewpoints
• the implications and consequences of conceptual phenomena for research as well as
for society
• philosophies of specific sciences, such as philosophy of biology, philosophy of
chemistry, philosophy of computer science, philosophy of information, philosophy
of neuroscience, philosophy of physics, or philosophy of technology; and
• contributions to the formal (logical, set-theoretical, mathematical, information-­
theoretical, decision-theoretical, etc.) methodology of sciences.
Likewise, the applications of conceptual and methodological investigations to applied
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For inquiries and submission of proposals authors can contact the editor-in-chief
Mariarosaria Taddeo via: mariarosaria.taddeo@oii.ox.ac.uk

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6459

Christopher Burr • Luciano Floridi
Editors

Ethics of Digital Well-Being

A Multidisciplinary Approach
Editors
Christopher Burr Luciano Floridi
Oxford Internet Institute Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford University of Oxford
Oxford, UK Oxford, UK

ISSN 0921-8599     ISSN 2542-8349 (electronic)

Philosophical Studies Series
ISBN 978-3-030-50584-4    ISBN 978-3-030-50585-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50585-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2020
Chapter 2 is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Acknowledgements

We would like to begin by acknowledging the hard work of all the contributors to
this edited collection. It is obvious that without their support and effort this edited
collection would not exist and would not contain such excellent and thoughtful
chapters.
Second, we would like to acknowledge the entire community at the Digital Ethics
Lab (DELab) and the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). This collection was conceived
and primarily organised among this supportive community, which is truly one of the
best places to conduct the inherently interdisciplinary research that is required to
develop such a collection. Christopher would also like to acknowledge his col-
leagues at the Alan Turing Institute for their support towards the end of the process
of publishing this collection.
In addition, we would like to thank all of the participants of a workshop held on
19th July 2019, as well as those at Exeter College, University of Oxford, who hosted
the event. Many of the contributions in this collection were initially presented at this
workshop, and we’re confident that all the contributors who attended will agree that
the feedback from the guests and participants was invaluable in revising and formu-
lating the ideas that are presented in this collection.
We would also like to specifically thank Danuta Farah for all her help in organis-
ing the workshop and the collection, and for keeping the DELab running so
smoothly; Mariarosaria Taddeo, both as the current series editor and also as a col-
league who offered insightful feedback and intellectual encouragement during the
time this collection was developed; and the whole team at Springer Nature for sup-
porting the publication of this edited collection.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge Microsoft Research for funding the
research project associated with this edited collection and for supporting our
research unconditionally.

Oxford, UK  Christopher Burr

 Luciano Floridi

v
Contents

1 The Ethics of Digital Well-Being:

A Multidisciplinary Perspective ������������������������������������������������������������    1
Christopher Burr and Luciano Floridi
2 Supporting Human Autonomy in AI Systems:
A Framework for Ethical Enquiry ��������������������������������������������������������   31
Rafael A. Calvo, Dorian Peters, Karina Vold, and Richard M. Ryan
3 Corporatised Identities ≠ Digital Identities:
Algorithmic Filtering on Social Media
and the Commercialisation of Presentations of Self ����������������������������   55
Charlie Harry Smith
4 Digital Well-Being and Manipulation Online����������������������������������������   81
Michael Klenk
5 What Contribution Can Philosophy Provide
to Studies of Digital Well-Being�������������������������������������������������������������� 101
Michele Loi
6 Cultivating Digital Well-Being and the Rise of Self-Care Apps���������� 119
Matthew J. Dennis
7 Emotions and Digital Well-Being: The Rationalistic
Bias of Social Media Design in Online Deliberations �������������������������� 139
Lavinia Marin and Sabine Roeser
8 Ethical Challenges and Guiding Principles
in Facilitating Personal Digital Reflection �������������������������������������������� 151
Andrew Gibson and Jill Willis
9 Big Data and Wellbeing: An Economic Perspective������������������������������ 175
Clement Bellet and Paul Frijters

vii
viii Contents

10 The Implications of Embodied Artificial Intelligence

in Mental Healthcare for Digital Wellbeing������������������������������������������ 207
Amelia Fiske, Peter Henningsen, and Alena Buyx
11 Causal Network Accounts of Ill-Being:
Depression & Digital Well-Being������������������������������������������������������������ 221
Nick Byrd
12 Malware as the Causal Basis of Disease������������������������������������������������ 247
Michael Thornton

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 263
Contributors

Clement Bellet Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam,

Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Christopher Burr Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
Alena Buyx Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine, Technical University of
Munich School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Nick Byrd Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Rafael A. Calvo Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London,
London, UK
Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge, UK
Matthew J. Dennis Department of Values, Technology, and Innovation, TU Delft,
Delft, The Netherlands
Amelia Fiske Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine, Technical University of
Munich School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Luciano Floridi Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
Paul Frijters London School of Economics, London, UK
Andrew Gibson Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of
Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Peter Henningsen Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy,
Klinikum rechts der Isar at Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Michael Klenk Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Michele Loi Digital Ethics Lab, Digital Society Initiative and Center for Biomedical
Ethics and the History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

ix
x Contributors

Lavinia Marin Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section, Department of VTI,

Faculty of TPM, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Dorian Peters Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge, UK
Design Lab, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Sabine Roeser Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section, Department of VTI,
Faculty of TPM, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Richard M. Ryan Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian
Catholic University, North Sydney, NSW, Australia
Charlie Harry Smith Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Michael Thornton Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University
of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Karina Vold Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge, UK
Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
Jill Willis Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology (QUT),
Brisbane, QLD, Australia
About the Editors

Christopher Burr is a Philosopher of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence.

He is a Senior Research Associate at the Alan Turing Institute and a Research
Associate at the Digital Ethics Lab/Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.
His current research explores philosophical and ethical issues related to data-
driven technologies, including the opportunities and risks that such technologies
have for mental health and well-being. A primary goal of this research is to develop
frameworks and guidance to support the governance, responsible innovation and
sustainable use of data-driven technology within a digital society.
To support this goal, he has worked with a number of public sector bodies and
organisations, including NHSx; the UK Government’s Department for Health and
Social Care; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; the Centre for
Data Ethics and Innovation; and the Ministry of Justice.
He has held previous posts at the University of Bristol, where he explored the
ethical and epistemological impact of big data and artificial intelligence as a post-
doctoral research and also completed his PhD in 2017.
Research Interests: Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence,
Digital Ethics, Decision Theory, Public Policy and Human-Computer Interaction.
cburr@turing.ac.uk

Luciano Floridi is the OII’s Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at

the University of Oxford, where he is also the Director of the Digital Ethics Lab of
the Oxford Internet Institute. Still in Oxford, he is Distinguished Research Fellow
of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics of the Faculty of Philosophy and Research
Associate and Fellow in Information Policy of the Department of Computer Science.
Outside Oxford, he is Turing Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute (the national insti-
tute for data science and AI) and Chair of its Data Ethics Group and Adjunct
Professor (‘Distinguished Scholar in Residence’) of the Department of Economics,
American University, Washington D.C.

xi
xii About the Editors

He is deeply engaged with emerging policy initiatives on the socio-ethical value

and implications of digital technologies and their applications. He has worked
closely on digital ethics (including the ethics of algorithms and AI) with the
European Commission, the German Ethics Council and, in the UK, with the House
of Lords, the House of Commons, the Cabinet Office and the Information
Commissioner’s Office, as well as with multinational corporations (e.g. Cisco,
Google, IBM, Microsoft and Tencent). Among his current commitments, he is Chair
of the Ethics Committee of the Machine Intelligence Garage project, Digital
Catapult, UK innovation programme; Member of the Board of the UK’s Centre for
Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI); the Advisory Board of The Institute for Ethical
AI in Education; the EU Commission’s High-Level Group on Artificial Intelligence;
EY AI Advisory Board; and the Advisory Board of the Vodafone Institute for
Society and Communications.
Research Interests: Digital Ethics (including the ethics of AI, and Information
and Computer Ethics), Philosophy of Information and Philosophy of Technology.
Among his recent books, all published by Oxford University Press (OUP): The
Logic of Information (2019); The Fourth Revolution - How the infosphere is reshap-
ing human reality (2014), winner of the J. Ong Award; The Ethics of Information
(2013); The Philosophy of Information (2011).
luciano.floridi@oii.ox.ac.uk
Chapter 1
The Ethics of Digital Well-Being:
A Multidisciplinary Perspective

Christopher Burr and Luciano Floridi

Abstract This chapter serves as an introduction to the edited collection of the same
name, which includes chapters that explore digital well-being from a range of disci-
plinary perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, economics, health care, and
education. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a short primer on
the different disciplinary approaches to the study of well-being. To supplement this
primer, we also invited key experts from several disciplines—philosophy, psychol-
ogy, public policy, and health care—to share their thoughts on what they believe are
the most important open questions and ethical issues for the multi-disciplinary
study of digital well-being. We also introduce and discuss several themes that we
believe will be fundamental to the ongoing study of digital well-being: digital grati-
tude, automated interventions, and sustainable co-well-being.

Keywords Artificial intelligence · Automated interventions · Digital ethics ·

Digital well-being · Sustainable design

1.1 Introduction

Recently, digital well-being has received increased attention from academics, tech-
nology companies, and journalists (see Burr et al. 2020a, b). While a significant
amount of this interest has been focused on understanding the psychological and
social impact of various digital technologies (e.g. Orben and Przybylski 2019), in
other cases the interest has been much broader. For instance, the International
Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)—a forum that advises on
how scientific evidence can inform policy at all levels of government—claims that

C. Burr (*) · L. Floridi

Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK
e-mail: cburr@turring.ac.uk

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to 1
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Burr, L. Floridi (eds.), Ethics of Digital Well-Being, Philosophical Studies
Series 140, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50585-1_1
2 C. Burr and L. Floridi

“to understand wellbeing in the 21st century requires an understanding of transfor-

mative digital technologies as drivers of change not just in human material circum-
stances, but also in human values and organisational systems that support wellbeing”
(Gluckman and Allen 2018, p.10). The digital transformation of society, it seems,
requires a more thorough investigation of how our conceptual understanding of
well-being may have been altered by emerging technologies and the new modes of
being they enable.
One may rightfully wonder why this surge in interest has happened now. After
all, digital technologies have been around for decades and our well-being has been
dependent on technology for far longer (Floridi 2014). What, if anything, is differ-
ent this time around? The short answer is that the function, use, effects, and even
experience of digital technologies has been altered significantly by the widespread
implementation of ubiquitous computing (e.g. wearables, smartphones), machine
learning, and more recently artificial intelligence (AI). These technological devel-
opments have resulted in drastic changes to our environment, including social
domains such as healthcare, education, employment, policy, and entertainment, and
have also been accompanied by drastic shifts in media consumption and lifestyle
habits (Ofcom 2018). Combined, these developments are exposing humans to an
environment that is increasingly adaptable to them, either as individuals or as mem-
bers of segmented groups, by monitoring and analysing digital traces of their inter-
actions with intelligent software agents (Burr et al. 2018). This is an important shift.
Whereas humanity has refined its ability to engineer and reconstruct its environ-
mental niche over the course of our evolutionary history (Sterelny 2003), we are
now at a stage where the design and construction of our environmental niche can be
automated, thereby reducing the need for human agency and oversight. For exam-
ple, recommender systems, due to their ability to operate at scale and speed, are
deployed to control the architecture of our online environments, making split-­
second decisions about the design elements of web pages (e.g. colour of fonts),
placement and content of links (e.g. advertisements), appropriate pricing for prod-
ucts (e.g. dynamic pricing of holiday packages), and much more (Milano et al.
2020). Such a change is unprecedented and demands that we consider the ethical
implications for our individual and social well-being. This is the primary purpose of
this edited collection: to explore the ethics of digital well-being from a multi-­
disciplinary perspective, in order to ensure that the widest possible aperture is
employed without losing focus on what matters most.
The purpose of this introductory chapter, more specifically, is to provide an
informative foundation to ground and contextualise the subsequent discussion,
while also offering some initial suggestions about where to head next. That said, we
do not consider it necessary to provide a precise definition or theory of ‘digital well-­
being’ that can serve as a universal placeholder for each of the subsequent chapters.
This would be inappropriate for a number of reasons. First, as a multi-disciplinary
(and often interdisciplinary) collection, each chapter will emphasise different
aspects of digital well-being, conditional on the explanatory goal they wish to
achieve. Second, it is unclear at present whether we need a new concept of ‘digital
well-being’ that is distinct from ‘well-being’ in a meaningful way. And, finally, the
1 The Ethics of Digital Well-Being: A Multidisciplinary Perspective 3

purpose of this collection is to generate further interdisciplinary interest in the topic,

in the hope that greater conceptual clarity may arise from subsequent discussions.
Therefore, for present purposes, ‘digital well-being’ can be treated as referring
loosely to the project of studying the impact that digital technologies, such as social
media, smartphones, and AI, have had on our well-being and our self-understanding
of what it means to live a life that is good for us in an increasingly digital society.
While the above outline may serve as a sufficient placeholder for general discus-
sion, there is obviously a risk of it leading to some conceptual confusion. For exam-
ple, a philosopher could rightfully ask what explanatory or enumerative role the
concept offers, over and above ‘well-being’ simpliciter. Does the restricted domain,
entailed by the inclusion of ‘digital’, offer any useful theoretical constraints, or does
it merely impede the philosophical pursuit of identifying the most general condi-
tions for well-being? In addition, psychology and economics have, in recent years,
developed new tools that are designed to measure the subjective well-being of indi-
viduals or the socioeconomic indicators that are treated as proxies of social well-­
being. What explanatory or prescriptive role would the concept of ‘digital well-being’
serve in these disciplines? Could it be employed as a theoretical construct to be
measured by a range of psychometric tests? Could it offer any useful theoretical
constraints to assist with the selection of relevant socioeconomic indicators of social
well-being, and in turn help to guide policy decisions that seek to improve human
capabilities in an increasingly digital society? These questions require careful con-
sideration, ongoing scrutiny, and thoughtful discussion, and we hope that the cur-
rent collection may offer a rich starting point for answering them.
This collection includes chapters that explore digital well-being from a range of
disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, economics, health
care, and education. Because of this broad focus, Sect. 1.2 provides a short primer
that serves as an introduction for those readers who may be approaching the topic of
digital well-being from a particular disciplinary perspective. In each of these sub-­
sections the reader will also find a short commentary from invited experts who were
asked to provide their own views on how they think their respective disciplines may
be affected by ongoing technological innovation (e.g. novel research methodolo-
gies, new means to test empirical hypotheses, impacts on policy-making), as a way
of pointing to further areas of research for the interested reader. Following this,
Sect. 1.3 introduces several themes that we believe will be fundamental to the ongo-
ing study of digital well-being: digital gratitude, automated interventions, and sus-
tainable co-well-being. These topics are not intended to be exhaustive or
representative of the literature (see Burr et al. 2020a, b for a more detailed review).
Rather, they have been chosen in part because of the connection they have to some
key ideas in other chapters. What they offer is merely some initial ideas that are
intended to be, in conjunction with the subsequent chapters, a platform and guide
for further discussion. Therefore, we hope that this collection as a whole will pro-
vide an informative starting point for readers from different disciplines interested in
the study of well-being, while also contributing to what we expect will be an excit-
ing and interdisciplinary pursuit of ensuring humanity can flourish in this new digi-
tal environment.
4 C. Burr and L. Floridi

1.2 Theories of Well-Being: A Short Primer

Theoretical statements about well-being are typically understood as making either a

descriptive claim (e.g., whether the implementation of a socio-economic policy
typically enhances or decreases some quantifiable measure of well-being), or a nor-
mative claim (e.g., an evaluation of the goodness or badness of some moral action
with regards to whether it maximises welfare). Although this can be a useful heuris-
tic for assessing the nature of a particular well-being claim, it is also conceptually
problematic. As Alexandrova (2017, p. xv) argues, empirical (descriptive) claims
about well-being rely on an inseparable normative standard: “any standard or
method of measurement of well-being is already a claim about the appropriateness
of an action or state in the light of some assumed value.” For example, if a policy-
maker states that an economic policy (e.g., increasing funding for education) is
highly correlated with some measure of social well-being, their descriptive claim is
also mixed with a normative element (i.e., increasing funding for education ought to
be done to increase social welfare). This is why the study of well-being is an inher-
ently interdisciplinary task.
Many disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, design engineering, eco-
nomics, law, medicine, and sociology are concerned with well-being, and each dis-
cipline has its own distinct theoretical framework. Therefore, it is important to
understand the commonalities and differences between the various theoretical per-
spectives because any digital technology that claims to be promoting or protecting
well-being must at the very least implicitly presume some general account of what
it is for a life to go well for an individual. By introducing some of the major theoreti-
cal perspectives, we will be able to specify more clearly what is at stake. Readers
who are already familiar with the general issues in a particular discipline should feel
free to skip over the relevant section.

1.2.1 Philosophy

Philosophy has a long tradition of seeking to understand the concept of ‘well-being’,

including its relationship with other important ethical concepts, such as ‘reason’ or
‘goodness’. A standard view is that ‘well-being’ refers to what is non-­instrumentally
good for a subject S (Crisp 2006; Woodard 2013). This notion is used to separate
that which is intrinsically (i.e., non-instrumentally) good for a person—sometimes
referred to as ‘prudential value’—from that which is merely good because of its
instrumental role in leading to a greater level of well-being (e.g., income, employ-
ment, or social network). Therefore, a fully developed philosophical theory of well-­
being is concerned both with enumerating those things that are non-instrumentally
good for someone (e.g., a mental state such as pleasure, or desire-satisfaction) and
also explaining why the individual ought to pursue and promote the respective good
(Lin 2017; Crisp 2006; Tiberius 2015). These two theoretical objectives can come
apart, such that there can be agreement between two theories regarding the
1 The Ethics of Digital Well-Being: A Multidisciplinary Perspective 5

enumerated goods for a particular theory (e.g., friendship) but disagreement con-
cerning the reasons why these goods have prudential value (e.g., friendship satisfies
an informed desire or fulfils an important part of our nature). Although it has been
extended or challenged over the last couple of decades (Haybron 2008; Woodard
2013; Sumner 1996), a (simplified) typology for well-being theories, famously
introduced by Derek Parfit (1984), can help organise the various philosophical theo-
ries of well-­being into hedonistic theories, desire-fulfilment theories, and objective
list theories. This typology is sufficient for our present purposes.
Hedonistic theories claim that all that matters for well-being is the amount of
pleasure and pain experienced by an individual, either at some point in time or over
the course of their life. Different theories may diverge on how these states should be
measured (i.e. their hedonic level) but will agree that more pleasure is good and
more pain is bad. According to hedonists, if activities or objects such as music, love,
food, or expressions of gratitude are good for us (the enumerative component), it is
in virtue of their bringing about mental states such as pleasure and avoiding mental
states such as pain (the explanatory component).
Desire-fulfilment theories claim that it is good for us to get what we desire, and
conversely, if our desires remain unfulfilled or frustrated this will lead to a decrease
in our well-being. As with the other two theories, micro-debates exist within this
class of theories that try to deal with a variety of possible objections. For example,
desire-fulfilment theories are often objected to on the basis that the fulfilment of
certain desires (e.g., the desire to stream one more television show rather than read-
ing a book, or to eat processed meat rather than a healthier plant-based alternative)
clearly leads to a diminished level of well-being. As such, desire-fulfilment theorists
will seek to make the initial claim more precise and may argue that only those
desires that are informed (i.e. held on the basis of rational deliberation and relevant
evidence) should be considered.
Whereas desire-fulfilment and hedonistic theories make reference to subjective
attitudes that an individual possesses, objective list theories claim that well-being is
constituted by some list of goods that are prudentially valuable irrespective of the
attitude that an individual may hold towards them. Aside from this feature of
attitude-­independence, as Fletcher (2016) labels it, the list of non-instrumental
goods may have little in common. They could simply be a diverse list including
goods such as achievement, friendship, pleasure, knowledge, and virtue,
among others.
Each of the above classes of theories is home to a series of micro debates, e.g.,
whether the process of obtaining some good must be experienced by the subject to
entail an improvement in their overall well-being. These debates are a worthwhile
theoretical enterprise but need not concern us for our present purposes. Moreover,
in recent years, philosophers have focused on how it may be possible to integrate the
various disciplines that study well-being in order to show how they can collectively
contribute to an increased understanding of well-being (Alexandrova 2017; Bishop
2015; Haybron 2008). For example, Bishop states that we should begin with the
assumption that “both philosophers and scientists are roughly right about well-
being, and then figure out what it is they’re all roughly right about” (2015, p. 2).
Psychology, as we will see in the next sub-section, is one of these sciences.
1 The Ethics of Digital Well-Being: A Multidisciplinary Perspective 17

motivating psychological attitudes (see Chap. 2 of this collection). For instance,

designers could introduce additional points of friction into the process of interacting
with information online (e.g., sharing and reading content on social media plat-
forms). This could allow users to reflect on how they are reacting to information,
rather than just instinctively “liking” a post with little to no thought about the ben-
efits they received from the original content. While this may reduce the amount of
valuable data available to the companies (e.g., implicit feedback from user behav-
iour that updates recommender system algorithms), it could generate more mean-
ingful engagement from users, further generating the perceived value of the social
media platform (see Burke and Kraut 2016).
Beyond social media, designing digital technologies to promote feelings and
expressions of gratitude could have additional benefits. For instance, it could help
direct our attention to the intrinsic value of our digital environment and possibly
generate more virtuous civic attitudes, rather than simply self-directed moral delib-
eration.3 By encouraging users to appreciate what is good in our lives, users may be
encouraged to recognise the shared source of prudential value that is contained
within the informational infrastructure that surrounds us—what we have previously
referred to as the infosphere (Floridi 2014). For instance, AI offers myriad opportu-
nities to improve and augment the capabilities of individuals and society, ranging
from improved efficacy in healthcare decisions (Morley and Floridi 2019c) to iden-
tifying novel markers of social welfare in big datasets (see Chap. 9 of this collec-
tion). It is important that we a) continue to improve and augment our capabilities
without reducing human control and b) continue to cultivate societal cohesion with-
out eroding human self-determination (Floridi et al. 2018). A greater consideration
of digital gratitude in the design of digital technologies could help us strike these
balances, by motivating us to identify sources of prudential value, both individual
and social.
However, as Andrew Gibson and Jill Willis demonstrate clearly in Chap. 8
(Ethical Challenges and Guiding Principles in Facilitating Personal Digital
Reflection), the process of designing even simple gratitude enhancing technologies,
such as digital self-reflective writing journals, can pose many complex and interre-
lated ethical challenges. Furthermore, as noted by Matthew Dennis in Chap. 6
(Cultivating Digital Well-being and the Rise of Self-Care Apps), the process of cul-
tivating positive outcomes, such as well-being or gratitude, may sometimes gener-
ate a tension between the pursuit of the positive outcome on the one hand, and
negative outcomes associated with too much screen time on the other hand. These
topics are far from resolved, and we hope that this collection serves to motivate
ongoing discussion and debate.

3
See (Vallor 2016; Howard 2018; Floridi 2010, Chapter 1) for a range of comments and approaches
to moral virtues in the context of sociotechnical systems.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dick's
retriever
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
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you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Dick's retriever

Author: E. M. Stooke

Release date: November 13, 2023 [eBook #72111]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: Thomas Nelson and Sons,

Limited, 1921

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK'S

RETRIEVER ***
Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as
printed.

"By the time that Mrs. Wilkins put in her appearance,

the table-cloth was laid."
 DICK'S RETRIEVER

BY

E. M. STOOKE

Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy,"

&c. &c.

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED,

LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.

1921

CONTENTS.

I. THE ARRIVAL
II. DICK RUNS AN ERRAND

III. DICK'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE BULLY

IV. TEN SHILLINGS REWARD

V. DICK'S INTERVIEW WITH THE COLONEL

VI. HARD TIMES

VII. A GALLANT RESCUE

VIII. STRANGER'S MISSION FULFILLED

DICK'S RETRIEVER.

CHAPTER I.
THE ARRIVAL.

IT was a wild, dark night. The rain was coming down in

torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane. Creak!
Creak! How the branches of the elm trees groaned as they
swayed to and fro outside the tiny cottage where Widow
Wilkins and her eldest child—a delicate looking boy of
twelve—crouched over a dying fire!
"Hark, mother, to the wind! Isn't it terrible?" little Dick
exclaimed in awe-stricken tones.

"Yes," said the widow, "it's a dreadful night. I shudder to

think of the poor sailors out at sea. Depend on it, there'll be
lots of wrecks before morning, unless the wind goes down,
and that pretty soon."

With this, she turned her head towards the door, beneath
which she had stuffed some old matting to keep out the
draught.

"I thought," she went on after a few minutes' pause, "I

heard a cry, but suppose it was only my fancy. One thing's
certain, it can't be from upstairs, 'cos the children are
asleep."

"P'raps it's the wind in the chimney or in the branches of

the trees you hear, mother," said the little boy. "It makes all
kinds of sounds when there's a gale on like this. Listen! I
heard a cry then—sure enough I did! 'Twas like the whine of
a dog, only very low and weak. What do you say—shall we
open the door and look? Something is going 'scratch,
scratch,' now," he cried, jumping excitedly to his feet.

"It's late to open the door, Dick," protested his mother

nervously. "Who's to tell that it isn't some drunken body
playing a trick upon us. Mind we've no near neighbours to
shout to if we should want help ever so bad!"

"I know, I know; but I ain't a bit afraid. And we couldn't go

to bed without seeing what was outside. If it isn't a dog,
why, then, maybe it's a child."

The widow looked disturbed. She rose from her chair, raked
the dying embers together in the fireplace, and lit the
candle; for she and Dick had been sitting the last half-hour
by firelight—they always did so to save lamp oil after she
had put away her sewing at nine o'clock on winter evenings.

"Here, mother, you stand back whilst I undo the door,"

directed Dick.

Mrs. Wilkins, not without some slight misgivings, did as she

was bid. Meanwhile Dick went to the door—his small face
pale with anticipation—and withdrew the heavy bolts. This
done, he lifted the latch, and as a result a gust of storm-
wind swept into the cottage kitchen, and a crouching,
shivering retriever entered.

"Oh!" cried the child. "What a poor wretched thing! See,

mother," he continued, as he shut the door and followed the
dog into the centre of the room, "he's soaked to the skin,
and there's a rope round his neck with a big stone at the
end of it! I know; I see what that means. Some one has
been trying to drown him in the river yonder."

"I reckon your guess isn't far out, Dick," agreed the widow.
"Here, you poor creature, let me look at you. Why, you're
cold as ice, and one of your paws is bleeding!"

Then, turning her kind face to her little son, who stood
looking down on their visitor with pitying eyes, she went on,
—

"Throw a few kindling sticks on those embers, child; and

take the bellows and blow the fire into a blaze. 'Tisn't often
you and I get a chance of doing good, 'cos we're so poor;
but we'll do the best we can for this miserable creature,
though he is but a dog."

"He's a real retriever, I believe," said the enthusiastic little

boy, hastily placing some sticks crosswise on the dying
coals, and reaching forward for the bellows. "See how
affectionately he's licking my hand, mother! Why, what are
you going to do to him with that great cloth you've got?"

"Dry him a bit, to be sure," was the woman's answer. And

straightway she knelt down and began to rub the animal's
rain-sodden coat. "We shall never get him warm as he is,"
she continued, "for he's so wet the water is running off him
into pools on the floor. Try and take off the rope, Dick. And
when you've done it, get me a rag and a piece of string,
and I'll bandage up his paw—it's very sore; I find he can
hardly bear me to touch it."

Dick wanted no second bidding. Setting to work with nimble

fingers, he soon succeeded in untying the knotted rope that
had in some places rubbed the dog's neck into wounds. This
done, he went to a cupboard and took from it a ragged but
clean apron of his sister's, which Mrs. Wilkins split into
strips and bound round the retriever's injured foot.

Having at length dried the dog to their satisfaction, they

coaxed him on to an old sack that they had spread in front
of the hearth; and dumb though he was, the intelligent
creature raised his brown eyes to their faces as if to thank
them for their mercy and compassion. Little Dick brought
some scraps left over from the children's supper and laid
them before the animal; he also offered him some warm
milk and water to drink. But so great was the dog's
exhaustion that he made no effort to drink or eat; instead,
he lay back with a sigh of contentment, and extended his
cramped limbs towards the comforting blaze. In this
position, he was soon asleep.

"Mother," said Dick in a low whisper, after several minutes'

silence, "he's uncommon pretty, now he's dry. Don't you
think so?"
"Yes, I do," assented Mrs. Wilkins. "No one could truthfully
call him ugly with such a fine curly coat as he's got. And he
seems gentle too," she added. "I can't think how folks can
find it in their hearts to be cruel to a dumb thing like him."

The mother and her son sat still for a time, silently admiring
the beautiful animal.

"Mother," said Dick, breaking the silence, "don't you wish

we could keep him—for always, I mean? 'Twould be proper
fun to see him swim in the river to fetch out sticks."

Mrs. Wilkins shook her head.

"Mother!" Dick's voice was low and coaxing; he slipped on

to the floor and laid his head upon his mother's knee. "Do
let us keep this poor dog that's come to our door to-night.
He shall have half of my dinner every day, and a part of my
supper too. O mother, do say yes!"

"Maybe he'll stray away when to-morrow comes."

"Yes, yes; but if he doesn't?"

"Well, Dick, it's not to be thought of—our keeping him—I'm

afraid. You see, a big dog eats a lot; more than you could
spare him from your meals every day, that's certain. Then,
again, there'd be his tax; I couldn't afford to pay it. But,"
hopefully, "p'raps he'll be claimed."

The boy shook his head, and pointed at the rope.

"Whoever tried to drown him doesn't want him back," he

said wisely. "Do you know what I believe, mother?"

"No, Dick. How should I know?"

"Well, I believe God means us to keep him, and I'll tell you
what makes me think so. God knows what happens
everywhere. The parson said so last Sunday. He told us that
there wasn't anything too small or poor to escape God's
notice. So He must know that this poor dog has come
whining to our door." Then, positively, "Of course He does!"

Mrs. Wilkins was silent.

Dick earnestly continued,—

"'Tisn't as if God ever made mistakes. He knows we're poor

folks, and that at times we can scarcely find food for
ourselves. Depend upon it, He won't let us lose by giving
this dear old fellow a home. And when the time comes for
paying his tax—"

"Eh, Dick, what then?" interjected his mother.

"He'll find us the seven and sixpence! P'raps I shall catch a

fish in the river with a piece of money in its mouth," the
little boy conjectured, thinking of the Bible story he had
heard at school the week before.

"We must not decide to-night, child," said Mrs. Wilkins,

heaving a deep sigh. "Poor thing, he shall sleep where he is
till morning. Now, dear, we must go to bed."

"Must we?" The boy stooped over the exhausted animal and
caressed its curly jacket. "Good-night, old man!" he said
softly. "I'm glad we heard you whining. I'm glad we let you
in."
 CHAPTER II.
DICK RUNS AN ERRAND.

THERE was no small amount of excitement next morning

when the three younger children became aware that a dog
had gained admittance to the cottage on the previous
evening. Cries of delight rang from their lips the instant
they set eyes on him, and words of pity followed as they
beheld his thin condition, sore neck, and bandaged paw.
The twins, Willie and Joe, aged four, were inclined to be
afraid of him at first; but after watching Dick and Molly
stroke his rough coat, and receive kisses in return from his
long pink tongue, they grew braver, and caressed him also.

"I wonder what he's called?" said bright-eyed, seven-year-

old Molly.

She had addressed the new-comer by a dozen or more

names owned by the various dogs with whom she was
acquainted, but not one appeared to be the right one.

"It isn't Rough, or Ranger, or Spring, or anything I can think

of. If we can't find out what it is, we shall have to think of
something quite new," clapping her hands excitedly.

"But, my dear," broke in the widow at this point, "I really

don't think we can keep him. The gentlefolks in the village
will be sure to say we ain't justified in doing so; and a big
dog is a great expense."

"O mother, we can't turn him to doors!" Dick, on the brink

of tears, pleaded. "What would become of him, lame as he
is? There are lots and lots of boys in the parish who'd stone
him directly they saw he couldn't run away from them. Do
let us keep him for a little while—at any rate, until his foot
is healed."

Widow Wilkins shrugged her thin shoulders and sighed. At

length she consented to keep the dog, assuring herself that
before long some one would be sure to take a fancy to him
and offer him a home.

"What shall we call our dog then?" asked Molly, with quite
an important air of ownership.

"Supposing we call him Stranger," said Dick. "Don't you

think that would do?"

"Yes! Yes!" his little sister and the twins agreed in a breath.

Within a week the dog learned to respond to his new name.

Within a fortnight, he learned to take the children to school
morning and afternoon, and fetch them when their lesson-
hours were over. And though his injured paw caused him to
limp a good deal at first, it soon got well. Then he was able
to scamper and bound along as gracefully as if nothing had
been amiss with it.

He was a sweet-tempered creature, and quickly made

friends with the people in the village, who constantly gave
him scraps to eat.

"Isn't his coat looking beautiful, mother?" Dick said one day
to Mrs. Wilkins, as the much-dreaded winter drew near.

"Ah, it is, my dear!" was her reply. "It's because he's so well
fed—that's the reason. Do you know, Dick, I almost envy
that dog the bits folks throw to him, sometimes, when you
children are on short rations. But there, I won't complain!
P'raps I shall get some more washing or sewing work to do
before long. I'm sure I don't mind how hard I slave, if only I
can manage to get necessaries for you children."

"But, mother, you can't—you mustn't work harder than you

do now!" cried the little boy, in tones strangely earnest for
his years. "Cheer up, though! We won't go meeting trouble
half-way," he went on, "'cos there'll be my shilling a week
that I'm to get for cleaning boots at the rectory before long.
I saw the rector's wife this morning, and promised to start
work in a fortnight's time—that is, if you were willing."

"Willing! Why, yes, 'twill be a fine help to us, my dear,"

responded the widow more cheerfully. "You're right, Dick;
we won't look upon the darkest side. We'll do our best, and
face things as they come."

But although Dick and his hard-working mother tried their

best to be brave during the weeks that followed, anxiety
met them at every turn. The winter settled in, and work
grew scarce. The children's appetites increased with the
cold weather, and rent-days came round all too quickly.

"There's scarcely a handful of coal left in the out-house,

Dick, and I can't spare money to buy more this week," said
Mrs. Wilkins one cold morning to her little son, by now her
right hand in almost every respect.

"That doesn't matter," cried courageous Dick; "I'll pick up a

big bundle of sticks in the woods during dinner-time. And
when I come out of school this afternoon, I'll get another
lot."

And Dick Wilkins was as good as his word. He collected a

huge bundle of fuel when he came out of school at twelve,
and when lessons were over in the afternoon, he hastened
to the woods again to get another lot together.
The weather was chill, indeed; but he paid no heed to the
fact, so busy was he in selecting and collecting his sticks.
He had barely succeeded in binding up his second load
when, to his surprise, he turned and found a gentleman
within a foot of him—one whom he at once recognized as
the artist who lodged at Farmer Smerdon's.

"Don't be frightened, my boy," said the new-comer, seeing

the child start and colour slightly. "You are doing no harm, I
am sure, and it is a pity these branches should be left to rot
in the woods when they would make such capital fires. But
now to come at once to business! Will you run an errand for
me? If so, I'll guard your fagot the while."

"Yes, sir," was Dick's quick reply.

A sensation of delight came over him as he thought of the

coppers that he was in view of earning. He would take them
home to his mother as a pleasant surprise. Oh, how
pleased, how thankful she would be!

"Well, the fact is, I have left a small box of water-colour

paints on the seat in the church porch," the artist lost no
time in explaining; "and as I have walked a great many
miles already this afternoon, I feel too tired to go back for
it. On the other hand, if the village children should come
upon my property, I fear they may do it damage."

"I'll fetch it straightway, sir. Please, is that all? Isn't there

brushes as well?"

"No; I have my brushes with me. It is only the box I have

forgotten."

"Right, sir; I'll be back again in no time."

And needing no further encouragement, Dick darted off as
fast as the broken soles of his worn-out boots would carry
him.

How he did his errand in so short a time, he never knew,

but he reached the church in less than five minutes, though
it was situated at a considerable distance from the woods,
and possessing himself of the little paint-box, he fastened
its cover securely that none of its contents might fall out,
and sped back with all haste to the spot where the artist,
true to his promise, was guarding his bundle of sticks.

"What! Returned already!" exclaimed the gratified

gentleman, as Dick, hot and panting, made his
reappearance. "You have been very quick. I should not have
thought it possible for any one to do the distance in so short
a time," taking the box from the boy's trembling hands and
looking scrutinizingly into his eager countenance.

It was an honest, good-looking face, but withal pinched and

thin. There was, too, a certain wistfulness in the child's blue
eyes that hinted at poverty—perhaps privation. The artist
was by no means rich, but a kindly impulse prompted him
to reward the runner of his errand more generously than he
had at first intended. "Here, lad," said he, "take this for
having obliged me." And he put a piece of money into the
boy's hand.

"Please, sir," Dick gazed with misty eyes at the coin—"did

you mean to give me a shilling?"

"To be sure I did," was the reply; and the donor afterwards
told himself that the expression of mingled wonderment and
delight on the little face was worth three times the amount.
"Take it and welcome, my lad," said he. "Now I will bid you
good-day."
"Good-day, sir; and—and thank you ever so!" burst from
Dick's quivering lips; after which he looked at the coin a
second time, and murmured with delight, "Won't mother be
surprised and glad! Fancy a shilling!—a whole shilling! Why,
that's as much as I get at the rectory for cleaning boots in a
week!"

And then, raising the piece of money to his lips, he actually

kissed it, not for its own sake, as a miser might have done,
but for the sake of the much-needed necessaries that he
meant it to buy.

CHAPTER III.
DICK'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE BULLY.

"HULLO, Dick Wilkins, let me see what he has given you!"

The speaker was Squire Filmer's son, a well-known bully of

about fifteen years of age. As his voice—always a dreaded
one—fell on Dick's ears, the little boy thrust his precious
shilling into his deepest pocket and turned pale.

"Here! Are you deaf?" continued Stephen, as his demand

received no answer. "Let me see this instant what the
gentleman has given you, or I'll make you turn out your
pockets. Oh, it's no good!" he went on as the child looked
anxiously around him. "There's no escape for you. And as
for calling, you might shout yourself hoarse, and no one
would hear. The artist is half a mile away by now; I watched
him out of sight before I spoke to you."

"I wasn't going to call to him, sir. And I wasn't going to run
away either. I ain't a coward," Dick found voice enough to
declare.

And he spoke the truth; no thought of flight had entered his

head for a moment. He had merely glanced around with the
hope that Stranger might perchance have come, as he
sometimes did, to seek him.

"Oh, you are not a coward, eh? Then that's all right. Now
show me that piece of money!" persisted the bully, gripping
Dick's shoulder so tightly that he could have shrieked with
pain, had he been less brave than he was.

"Why should I show it to you, sir? 'Twas given to me. I

earned it by running an errand for the artist gentleman, I
did," said Dick.

"What of that? Let me see it, I tell you, or I'll give you
something to remember me by. Ah!" as Dick's hand went
reluctantly into his pocket. "I thought I should bring you to
reason. So the gentleman gave you this, eh? A shilling!
Well, it's a great deal too much money for a little boy like
you to have. Think of it I—twelve pence, to be sucked away
in candy!"

"No, sir. I mean to take it home to mother," little Dick

explained, in his straightforward way. "We're terribly poor
now that father's dead. And the children do eat such a lot
this cold weather, and—and wear out so many boots."

"Come, you don't whine badly for a youngster! Poor folks

are born grumblers, and a discontented set at best," stated
Stephen. "Look here, Dick Wilkins, I may as well tell you at
once that I am going to have that shilling of yours, whether
you like it or no; and in return, I intend to give you this
pretty little box that I picked up in the road yonder about
half an hour ago. Exchange is no robbery, and you may
think yourself lucky to have anything."

With this, he snatched Dick's shilling from his hand, and

threw a small, curiously-carved match-box at the little
wood-picker's feet.

"Oh, you shan't! You shan't!" cried poor Dick, losing all self-
control, and throwing himself bodily upon the bigger boy.
"'Tis mine," he contended, breaking into a passion of sobs
and tears. "I earned it myself, and I mean to have it. Give it
to me this minute, and take your match-box back. A thing
like that's no good to me and mother. You're a coward and a
thief."

"Now stop that noise," said Stephen. "It's no use your

making a fuss; I want your shilling badly. I'm saving for
new skates; and there's certain to be ice on the lake in Lord
Bentford's grounds early in the new year."

"And I want to buy all sorts of things for mother and the
children," sobbed the miserable and indignant Dick. "Listen
to me, sir!" He ceased crying, took a step towards young
Filmer, and looked fearlessly into his face. "If you don't give
me back my money at once," he said, "I'll go straight to the
farm and tell your father."

"So that's your little game, is it?" exclaimed the bully. "Well,
it's a fortunate thing you mentioned it to me, because now I
can tell you what the result of your doing it would be. I
should make my mother promise me that she would never
have Mrs. Wilkins to do washing or charing for her again."