We are glad to announce that 4TU.ethics will organize a new PhD course on the Philosophy and Ethics of AI. The course will take place in Wageningen February or March 2025. 

Aim / objective

This course acquaints students with current theories and approaches to the relations between mind, body, and technology. Our entry point is the central role of the human mind in the European and Anglo-American tradition of Philosophy. Simply put, human beings are considered to have a specific kind of mind, that makes them human.

Promises and expectations concerning new and emerging science and technologies (NEST) abound in contemporary societies. How should we anticipate and evaluate these new and emerging sciences and technologies and the impacts they may have on society? In this course we start by identifying the specific challenges emerging technologies pose to their ethical and societal evaluation. Since NEST are not fully developed yet, the object of evaluation is rather elusive and replete with uncertainties. Taking a pragmatist approach to the ethical and societal evaluation of NEST, the course subsequently first investigates the informal, (‘de facto’) processes of anticipation and evaluation of NEST taking place in society, analysing their character, strengths and weaknesses. We then ask how more systematic (‘dedicated’) methods to anticipate and/or evaluate NEST (developed in technology assessment, ethics and STS more generally) could contribute to the quality of societal anticipation and evaluation of NEST. To what extent can such methods help to make innovation processes more reflective of societal and moral value and responsible (as recent calls for ‘Responsible Research & Innovation’ seem to suggest)? What do these methods assume about what ‘good anticipation and evaluation’ of NEST entails, and how valid are these assumptions? What is the role and added value of ethical and Technology Assessment -expertise? The course ends with two sessions dedicated to topical subjects (capita selecta) in the philosophical, ethical and social science literature on anticipation and evaluation of NEST, which may vary from year to year.

We are excited to announce that the 4TU.Ethics workshop about critical theory and philosophy of technology will take place on the 13th of December 2024 at Utrecht University! Our target audience are PhD candidates working on the ethics and philosophy of technology with a curiosity towards critical theory. Other interested people (ReMa students and other researchers) are welcome to inquire about possibilities via email. The day will be centered around the question: 

Located on a beautiful farm, surrounded by nature and like-minded PhD students, the writing retreat is the perfect occasion to get some nice writing done, bond with others, and learn from each other and our writing coach. The days will be filled with plenty of writing time, some fun and relaxing activities to keep our spirits up, and a writing workshop with our coach. Cooking and eating together and enjoying nature will be part of the experience, offering another good chance to let ideas and words flow freely.

Moral philosophy before the mid-Twentieth Century developed under the implicit assumption that outcomes could be treated as determinate. Risks and probabilities, when mentioned, were treated as a side issue. By contrast, our current understanding of agency and causation is probabilistic and foregrounds issues of uncertainty. In addition, there is significant attention to the disruption surrounding fast-paced societal and technological change. Moral philosophy, epistemology, and applied ethics have adapted to this understanding, but the philosophical issues are far from settled. This is an exciting area of philosophical and interdisciplinary research.

Ethics and Technology PhD programme candidates.

Each year we have a PhD day in which PhDs from the various 4TU Universities can meet. The program of the PhD day 2024 will be announced soon. It will concern topics that are of the interest of PhDs. It is also organized by the PhD council.

If you are a 4TU.Ethics PhD, you can put the 7th of November in your calandar.

The location will be Quinton House (Nieuwegracht 60) in Utrecht.

Registration will open soon.

This course focuses on present-day and particularly continental philosophical approaches to technology and science. The course consists of 12 sessions (120mins), with 6 sessions centering around authors (e.g. Heidegger, Simondon, Stiegler), and the other six sessions being more thematic (e.g. Synthetic Cell, AI, Anthropocene). Confirmed lecturers include Prof. Peter-Paul Verbeek; dr. Vincent Blok; Prof. Tamar Sharon; and Prof. Susanna Lindberg. (see below for a full overview)

The joint ESDiT / 4TU.Ethics international conference on “Rethinking Ethics – Reimagining Technology” will take place from October 2nd to October 4th at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.