(NOTE:  It seems highly probable now that the FALL 2021 lectures of this course will be held on-line.  The final decision will be announced in the first or second week of the term.)

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.

Reading material:  A course package will be available at Dereağzı Fotokopi Ciltevi.  The reader contains selected articles/chapters from the following books:

Scharff, R. C. and Dusek, V. (eds) Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003.

Allen, B. Artifice and Design: Art and Technology in Human Experience. N.Y: Cornell Univ. Press, 2008.

(some extra material)

Grading:  You will write a single paper for this course, at least 4000 words or approximately 12 pages (60% grade value).  It will be submitted in the finals period.  You are required to produce a written progress report (10% grade value) several weeks before the submission of paper.  The remaining 30% 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.  You are expected to determine your presentation topic/time in the first month of the term.

Plagiarism:  Students must familiarize themselves with the definition of plagiarism and the ways to avoid it.