A note about who can take the course: This PHIL graduate course can also be taken by Philosophy undergraduate students at their fourth academic year. Futhermore, graduate students in departments other than Philosophy may be allowed to take the course. If you are a fourth year Phil undergrad OR a grad in a department other than Philosophy, send me an e-mail explaining your background and stating your Cum. GPA so that I can consider your case and respond to you.
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The essence of technology is by no means anything technological.
Martin Heidegger
- Open the pod bay door HAL.
- I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
2001: A Space Odyssey, Dir: Stanley Kubrick
PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY I
The subject matter of this course will be philosophy and technology. We will try to understand and evaluate certain philosophical accounts in order to answer questions like: Does technology have a nature? How can we define technology? What are the ontological and epistemological issues surrounding technology? How can we carry out a phenomenological inquiry (e.g., Martin Heidegger) into technology? How can we portray the social-political dimension of modern technology? Does technology come with some necessity in today’s world? How is technology and aesthetics related to one another?
Our main reading is a highly controversial book by Barry Allen, titled Artifice and Design: Art and Technology in Human Experience which is concerned with the anthropological, ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic/artistic dimensions of technology. By way of preparation to the discussion explained above, we will read some selected articles regarding introductory matters in philosophy of technology. We will also engage in certain crucial discussions regarding manifestations/applications of Artificial Intelligence and current controversies surrounding that phenomenon.
Reading material: The reader contains selected articles/chapters from the following books:
Allen, B. Artifice and Design: Art and Technology in Human Experience. N.Y: Cornell Univ. Press, 2008.
Scharff, R. C. and Dusek, V. (eds) Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition, An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003.
Frankish, K and Ramsey, W. M. (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Coeckelbergh, M. AI Ethics. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2020.
(some extra material)
Grading: You will write one or two term paper(s) for this course (70% grade value in total). On that matter, you have a choice: (1) You can write a single paper to be submitted in the finals period; it is expected to be at least 4000 words or approximately 12 pages. (2) Alternatively, you can write two 5-8 page papers (probably more advisable for undergraduate students taking the course). In that case, the first one will be submitted around the middle of the term and the other during the finals period. You will not get a passing grade if you submit only one of the required papers, in case you have opted for (2).
Before the submission of any paper, you will send me a short progress report regarding your work in order to get feedback (10% grade value in total). And the remaining 20% of the course will come from your presentations, attendance rate and participation in our class discussions.
Note: Students are responsible for arranging a presentation time in consultation with me.
AI Usage and Plagiarism: By taking this course you agree that you commit yourself to writing papers without getting substantial help from AI programs. Students must also familiarize themselves with the definition of plagiarism and the ways to avoid it.