SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY – READING LIST – NIELS MARTENS
Summer Semester 2018, RWTH Aachen University
SESSION 1 & 2 – 9 & 16 APRIL Lecture 9 April: General Introduction & Introduction to Philosophy of Science Lecture 16 April: Introduction to Ethics
Philosophy of Science Understanding Philosophy of Science, James Ladyman (2001), Routledge Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Peter Godfrey-Smith (2003), The University of Chicago Press A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume (1739), Book I, Part III, sections III- VI The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper (1959), Hutchinson & Co, Chps 1, 4 & 10 (Section 85). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn (1962; 3rd Ed. 1998), University of Chicago Press 1998. Chps 8-11. Structural Realism: the best of both worlds?, John Worrall (1989), reprinted in The Philosophy of Science, D. Papineau ed. 1996
Ethics The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James Rachels, fifth edition by Stuart Rachels (2007), McGraw-Hill
Ethics of Science Ethics and Science, Adam Briggle & Carl Mitcham (2012), Cambridge University Press
Ethics of Technology/ Humanities Philosophy of Technology Encyclopedia of Science Technology and Ethics, Carl Mitcham (editor; 2005), Macmillan reference USA Thinking through Technology: the Path between Engineering and Philosophy, Carl Mitcham (1994), University of Chicago Press
Analytic Philosophy of Technology Philosophy of Technology, Maarten Franssen, Gert-Jan Lokhorst & Ibo van der Poel (2009/2013), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
SESSION 3 – 23 APRIL Student Presentation: Ethical Conundrums of Self-driving Cars
Text to be presented: The Ethics of Saving Lives with Autonomous Cars are Far Murkier Than You Think, Patrick Lin (2013), Wired
Secondary reading: Why Ethics Matters for Autonomous Cars, Patrick Lin (2016), In Markus Maurer et al. (eds.) Autonomous Driving, Springer, p69-85 Responsibility for crashes of autonomous vehicles: an ethical analysis, A. Hevelke & J. Nida- Rümelin (2015), Science and Engineering Ethics, 21(3), p619-630
inspired by a reading list by Radin Dardashti
SESSION 4 – 30 APRIL Student Presentation: Science vs Pseudo-Science and Religion
Text to be presented: The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper (1959), Hutchinson & Co, Chapter 1.
Secondary reading: Can’t philosophers tell the difference between science and religion?: Demarcation revisited, Robert Pennock (2011), Synthese 178(2):177-206 Science and Pseudo-Science, Sven Ove Hansson (2008 [2017]), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
THERE IS NO SEMINAR ON THE 7TH OF MAY!
SESSION 5 – 14 MAY (SEMINAR LEADER: JOSHUA ROSALER) Student Presentation: Scientific Realism vs Anti-Realism
Texts to be presented: A Confutation of Convergent Realism, Larry Laudan (1981), Philosophy of Science, 48(1):19-49 Structural Realism: The Best of Both Worlds?, John Worrall (1989), Dialectica, 43(2):99-124
Secondary reading: The Scientific Image, Bas van Fraassen (1980), Clarendon Press. Chapter Two. Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth, Stathis Psillos (1999), Routledge. Scientific Realism, Anjan Chakravartty, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward Zalta (ed), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-realism/ Understanding Philosophy of Science, James Ladyman (2002), Routledge. Chapters five – eight.
THERE IS NO SEMINAR ON THE 21ST OF MAY! (PENTECOST/ PFINGSTEN)
SESSION 6 – 28 MAY Student Presentation: Minds and Brains: Intelligence and Consciousness
Texts to be presented: The Computational Theory of Mind, Michael Rescorla (2015), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, §1-4.2, 7-7.5 Troubles with Functionalism, Ned Block (1978), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 9 [You only need to present p261-266, p.277-285, that is I’d like you to present the homunculi- headed person and the China brain.]
Secondary reading: Minds, Brains and Programs, John Searle (1980), Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3(3):417-457
SESSION 7 – 4 JUNE Student Presentation: Tay bot
Reading: Three blogs: o https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist o https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/23/11290200/tay-ai-chatbot-released-microsoft o https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-microsofts-tay-ai-bot-went-wrong/ Is that social bot behaving unethically?, Carolina Alves de Lima Salge & Nicholas Berente (2017), Communications of the ACM 60(9):29-31 Taxonomy of Pathways to Dangerous AI, Roman Yampolskiy (2015), ArXiv:1511.03246
SESSION 8 – 11 JUNE Student Presentation: Opportunities, challenges and dangers of future technology
Texts to be presented: Transhumanism and the future of humanity: 7 ways the world will change by 2030, Sarwant Singh (2017), Forbes.com Superintelligence, Nick Bostrom, Chapter 9: The Control Problem, Oxford University Press (uploaded to L2P)
Secondary reading: Superintelligence, Nick Bostrom, Oxford University Press Future progress in Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Expert Opinion, Vincent Müller & Nick Bostrom (2016), Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence, p555-572
SESSION 9 – 18 JUNE Student Presentation: Taxing Robots
Text to be presented: The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates, Kevin Delaney (2017), qz.com
Secondary reading: Should Robots be taxed?, Joan Guerreiro, Sergio Rebelo & Pedro Teles (2018), NBER Working Paper 23806, doi:10.3386/w23806 Robotization without Taxation?, Robert Shiller (2017), Project Syndicate