Topics in Ethics of Technology

Course goals

The aims of this Topics course are to :
1) Get a grasp of some of the most fundamental issues in the ethics of technology
2) Develop your abilities to assess arguments for and against positions in this field
3) Develop your own standpoint on these issues
4) Develop ability to support your position with arguments
5) Use these general skills to approach particular cases

Content

Based primarily on delving into a few specific case studies in detail, we'll be aiming to uncover and come to a deeper understanding of the most fundamental issues in the ethics of technology - what values should guide the design and implementation of new technologies? How should we deal with difficult trade-offs between important ethical values? How do we best anticipate and mitigate potential problems with future technologies?

Topic of 26-27 will be announced later. 

Topic of 24-25 was:

The course will focus on the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), with special attention to the social embeddedness of algorithms and their impacts on fairness and knowledge dissemination. Questions we will address in this course are: What are the effects of AI technologies on fairness and epistemic injustice? How can we anticipate and mitigate potential negative effects? What makes an algorithm trustworthy? How do algorithms change the way we produce and disseminate knowledge?


This course is for Students RMA Philosophy, Applied Ethics, History and Philosophy of Science. Students of other MA-programmes, please contact the coordinator of de programm (n.miltenburg@uu.nl). 
 
The entrance requirements for Exchange Students will be checked by International Office and the Programme coördinator. Therefore, you do not have to contact the Programme coordinator yourself.

Additional information

Counts towards the fulfillment of the “Topics Seminar” requirement for RMA Philosophy students.