CC1 Philosophies of Technology

Aim of the course

The aim of this course is to introduce students to classic themes, concepts and authors in ethics and philosophy of technology via a selection of key academic articles, while also looking at some more recent work from the 4TU.Ethics community. The course runs across five days and covers different dimension of philosophy of technology: metaphysics, (meta)ethics, politics, design, education. The course is designed as a mix of lectures and interactive exercises or workshops run by researchers in the 4TU.Ethics network.

Dates and locations

The course will take place on 11-13 March and 16-17 March 2026. The course takes place at two different universities and cities (Eindhoven and Delft): The first three days – Wed-Thu-Fri – will be at TU Eindhoven campus and the last two days – Mon-Tue – will be at TU Delft campus.

11, 12, 13 March: TU Eindhoven campus.
16, 17, March : TU Delft campus.

Program

Wednesday 11-03-2026 - TU Eindhoven

11:00 – 12:00: Philosophical speed-dating, get to know each other
13:00 – 13:30: Welcome and course introduction
13:45 – 15:50: Analytic/Continental/Applied/Empirical Turn – Filippo Santoni de Sio
15:30 - 17:00: The nature of technological artefacts - Wybo Houkes

Thursday 12-03-2026 - TU Eindhoven

10:00 – 12:15: Heidegger / Postphenomenology panel – Nolen Gertz, Jan Bergen
13:45 – 15:00: Disability and technology – Janna van Grunsven
15:15 – 16:30: Collective reading session of Langdon Winner’s “Do Artifacts Have Politics?”

Friday 13-03-2026 - TU Eindhoven

10:00 – 11:15: Power, democracy and design – Filippo Santoni de Sio
11:30 – 12:30: Femisnist perspectives on technology – Lily Frank
13:45 – 15:00: Mid-term reflection and exercise to prepare the final assignment – Janna van Grunsven

Monday 16-03-2026 - TU Delft

10:15 – 11:30: Art, emotions & risky technologies – Sabine Roeser
11:30 – 12:45: Group reflection and preparation of final assignment
14:00 – 16:30: Workshop: Design Philosophies – Filippo Santoni de Sio, Jelle van Dijk, Janna van Grunsven

Tuesday 17-03-2026 - TU Delft

10:00 – 12:45: Technology, Animals and the Environment – Andrea Gammon, Bernice Bovenkerk
13:00 – 14:30: Lunch and final reflections

Sample Reading List

Coghlan & Parker “Harm to Nonhuman Animals from AI: a Systematic Account and Framework”.
Davis J. and Nathan L. (2015), Value-Sensitive Design: Applications, Adaptations and Critiques. In: Van den Hoven et al. Handbook of Ethics, Values, and Technological Design: Sources, Theory, Values and Application Domains, Springer 2015
Franssen, Maarten, Gert-Jan Lokhorst, and Ibo van de Poel, “Philosophy of Technology”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/technology/>
Foucault M. (1975), Panopticism. In Discipline & Punish: TheBirth of the Prison, translated by A. Sheridan, 195-228. Vintage Books, 1995. In: Scharff R.C. & V. Dusek (2014), Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology, p. 654-667. https://foucault.info/documents/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.panOpticism/
Gammon, A. “Environmental Technology and the Absence of Maintenance”
M. Heidegger “The Question concerning Technology’. In: Scharff R.C. & V. Dusek (2014), Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology, Second Edition
Loh, J. (2020). What is feminist philosophy of technology? A critical overview and a plea for a feminist technoscientific utopia. Feminist philosophy of technology, 1-24.
Roeser S. Emotional Deliberation on Technological Risks in Practice. In: Risk, Technology, and Moral Emotions, chapter 8.
Santoni de Sio, F. Design for Democracy: Deliberation and Experimentation. In: F. Santoni de Sio, Human Freedom in the Age of AI (Routledge, 2024), Chapter 10
Scharff R.C. & V. Dusek (2014). The Task of a Philosophy of Technology (p. 187-190), in: Scharff R.C. & V. Dusek (2014) Philosophy of Technology: The Technological Condition: An Anthology, Second Edition
Van Dijk, J. & Oral, L. (2025). In support of neurodiverse participatory sensemaking. Language sciences.
Van Grunsven, J. “Disabled Body-Minds in Hostile Environments”
Verbeek & Rosenberger A field-guide to Post-phenomenology, In: Postphenomenological Investigations: Essays on Human-Technology Relations. Lexington
Winner L. (1980), Do Artifacts have a politics? Daedalus, Vol. 109, No. 1
Amie L. Thomasson (2014), Public Artifacts, Intentions, and Norms. In: M. Franssen et al. (eds.), Artefact Kinds: Ontology and the Human-Made World, 45 Synthese Library 365, Springer

Preparation and Assessment

Students are expected to pre-read the relevant papers before the sessions. Materials are circulated at least two weeks before the course, and the course usually runs from 10-4.30 to allow for some additional reading time before and after the sessions.

To pass the course, students must participate in presence at TU Eindhoven and TU Delft campus to at least 80% of the sessions (=at least 8 half days), and write a final short paper (around 1000 words) in which they present and briefly discuss original connections between some of the themes explored the course and their PhD project, to be submitted via email to the course coordinators within two weeks form the end of the course. Final assignments may also be written in the form of blog posts and considered for publication on the 4TU.Ethics website.

Online attendance is not allowed.

Credit points

Study load is the equivalent of 5 ECTS.

Registration/application form

The registration is open until March 4th 2026. You can register at this link.

There is a maximum of 25 students for this course. When this number is reached, a waiting list will open.

Research master students are welcome to register, but 4TU.Ethics and OZSW PhD students have priority. ReMa students can email education@ethicsandtechnology.eu to let us know you are interested. You will be informed about whether you can join the course after the registration deadline.

Costs

This course is free for ReMa and PhD students who are a member of the 4TU.Ethics or the OZSW.

More information

For more information please contact get in touch with us at education@ethicsandtechnology.eu.