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Christian Social Ethics
How should the protection of privacy, threatened by new technologies like radio frequency identification (RFID), be seen from a Judeo-Christian perspective? A dissertation by Erwin Walter Schmidt submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology in the subject Theological Ethics at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA Supervisor: Prof Dr Puleng LenkaBula Co-supervisor: Dr Dr Volker Kessler November 2011 1 © 2012-11-10 UNISA, Erwin Walter Schmidt, student no. 4306-490-6 Summary Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a new technology which allows people to identify objects automatically but there is a suspicion that, if people are tracked, their privacy may be infringed. This raises questions about how far this technology is acceptable and how privacy should be protected. It is also initiated a discussion involving a wide range of technical, philosophical, political, social, cultural, and economical aspects. There is also a need to consider the ethical and theological perspectives. This dissertation takes all its relevant directions from a Judeo-Christian theological perspective. On one side the use of technology is considered, and on the other side the value of privacy, its infringements and protection are investigated. According to Jewish and Christian understanding human dignity has to be respected including the right to privacy. As a consequence of this RFID may only used for applications that do not infringe this right. This conclusion, however, is not limited to RFID; it will be relevant for other, future surveillance technologies as well. 2 © 2012-11-10 UNISA, Erwin Walter Schmidt, student no. 4306-490-6 Key terms: Radio frequency identification, privacy, human rights, right to privacy, technology, information and communication technology, privacy enhancing technology, Internet of Things, data protection, privacy impact assessment. -
Pragmatism, Ethics, and Technology / 10 Pragmatism, Ethics, and Technology Hans Radder Free University of Amsterdam
Techné 7:3 Spring 2004 Radder, Pragmatism, Ethics, and Technology / 10 Pragmatism, Ethics, and Technology Hans Radder Free University of Amsterdam Pragmatist Ethics for a Technological Culture presents a variety of essays on a significant and timely issue. The plan of the book is thoughtful. It comprises nine major chapters, each followed by a brief commentary. The volume is divided into four parts: technology and ethics, the status of pragmatism, pragmatism and practices, and discourse ethics and deliberative democracy. In addition, the introductory and concluding chapters by the editors help to connect the various contributions. Moreover, these chapters sketch an interesting programmatic approach for dealing with the ethical problems of our technological culture. The only complaint one might have about the book's composition is the lack of a subject and name index. In this essay, I will not present the usual summary review but instead offer some reflections on the three main concepts of the book (pragmatism, ethics and technology) and on the way these concepts have been explained, employed and related in the various contributions. My overall conclusion is that, although much can be learned from the book, it also falls short in some respects. The most important problem is that, appearances notwithstanding, the full significance of technology for our ethical problems is not being appropriately acknowledged. Pragmatism Let me start with a preliminary issue. As do most of the authors, I think that it is appropriate to speak of a pragmatist, instead of a merely pragmatic, approach to ethics. As I see it, a pragmatist approach requires the commitment to engage in discursive explanation and argumentation, while a pragmatic approach suggests that these more theoretical activities may be omitted. -
Philosophy (PHIL) 1
Philosophy (PHIL) 1 Philosophy (PHIL) Courses PHIL 5210. Special Topics in Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours. Arranged each semester. Please consult the instructor. Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate. Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit. PHIL 5211. Intermediate Logic. 3 Credit Hours. This course will go through the soundness and completeness proofs for a first-order deductive system (i.e., the kind used in intro logic). The main goal of the course will be to deepen the students' understanding of logic by acquainting them with these formal results. But we'll also try to spend a little time on some philosophical issues (e.g., what, if anything, does logic have to do with reasoning). Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate. Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits. PHIL 5216. Philosophy of Science. 3 Credit Hours. Basic issues in the current philosophy of science, and particularly various accounts of such key notations of science as hypotheses, confirmation, laws, causation, explanation, and theories. Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate. Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits. PHIL 5217. Feminist Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science. 3 Credit Hours. This course explores the effects of gender on scientific creativity, method and decision making. Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), was one of the first to show that political, social and psychological factors affect scientific change. Feminist criticisms of science, developed over the last thirty years, are one way in which his views have been developed. -
Philosophy 1
Philosophy 1 for an Advanced Placement score of 4 or 5 in any discipline recognized PHILOSOPHY by the College. One unit of credit is awarded for a score of 6 or 7 on a Higher Level International Baccalaureate Examination in a liberal arts Philosophy is concerned with fundamental questions about the nature subject. One unit of credit is awarded for a score of A/A* or B on an A- of reality; the foundations of science, ethics and art; and the nature Level exam in a liberal arts subject. The College does not award credit and scope of human knowledge. Philosophy is actually the meeting for the IB Standard Exam or the AS-Level Exam. AP, IB, and A-Level credit place for all disciplines, for any discipline becomes philosophical once may be used to satisfy deficiencies and common area requirements. it begins seriously to examine its own methodology and fundamental Each academic department has its own policy regarding the use of presuppositions. Ultimately, philosophy is much more than the AP or IB credit for placement in courses and progress in the major. acquisition of a certain kind of knowledge. It is the ability to think The Department Chair must also review the A-Level score to determine reflectively and to raise questions about problems that lie at the root placement in courses and progress in the major. See departmental of what might appear self-evident. The study of philosophy is therefore descriptions for further information. recommended to all students, regardless of their major. Jeffrey A. Bernstein, Ph.D., Professor and Chair Philosophy involves both systematic forms of inquiry and a prolonged reflection upon its own history. -
Ordinary Technoethics
Ordinary Technoethics MICHEL PUECH Philosophy, Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris, France Email: [email protected] Web site: http://michel.puech.free.fr ABSTRACT From recent philosophy of technology emerges the need for an ethical assessment of the ordinary use of technological devices, in particular telephones, computers, and all kind of digital artifacts. The usual method of academic ethics, which is a top-down deduction starting with metaethics and ending in applied ethics, appears to be largely unproductive for this task. It provides “ideal” advice, that is to say formal and often sterile. As in the opposition between “ordinary language” philosophy and “ideal language” philosophy, the ordinary requires attention and an ethical investigation of the complex and pervasive use of everyday technological devices. Some examples indicate how a bottom-up reinvention of the ethics of technology can help in numerous techno-philosophical predicaments, including ethical sustainability. downloaded on http://michel.puech.free.fr 1/21 This paper resists “Ideal Technoethics”, which is implicit in mainstream academic applied ethics approaches and is currently favored by the bureaucratic implementation of ethics in public and private affairs. Instead, some trends in philosophy of technology emphasize the importance of ordinary technologically- laden behaviors. If we take this approach one step further, it leads to ordinary technoethics. In my take on ordinary technology, values are construed differently, starting from the importance of the ordinary use of technology (humble devices and focal1 familiar practices). The primacy of use in the history of the Internet provides a paradigm for the ordinary empowerment of users. What are the ethical consequences of this empowerment, and how is the average human being today equipped to address them in the innumerable micro-actions of ordinary life? Technoethics Technoethics as a research and practice field is situated in between philosophy of technology and applied ethics. -
New Perspectives on Technology, Values, and Ethics Theoretical and Practical Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science
Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science 315 Wenceslao J. Gonzalez Editor New Perspectives on Technology, Values, and Ethics Theoretical and Practical Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science Volume 315 Series editors Alisa Bokulich, Department of Philosophy, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Robert S. Cohen, Boston University, Watertown, MA, USA Jürgen Renn, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany Kostas Gavroglu, University of Athens, Athens, Greece The series Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science was conceived in the broadest framework of interdisciplinary and international concerns. Natural scientists, mathematicians, social scientists and philosophers have contributed to the series, as have historians and sociologists of science, linguists, psychologists, physicians, and literary critics. The series has been able to include works by authors from many other countries around the world. The editors believe that the history and philosophy of science should itself be scientifi c, self-consciously critical, humane as well as rational, sceptical and undogmatic while also receptive to discussion of fi rst principles. One of the aims of Boston Studies, therefore, is to develop collaboration among scientists, historians and philosophers. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science looks into and refl ects on interactions between epistemological and historical dimensions in an effort to understand the scientifi c enterprise from every viewpoint. More information -
The Technological Mediation of Morality
The Technological Mediation of Morality of Technological Mediation The In this dissertation, Olya Kudina investigates the complex interactions between ethics and technology. Center stage to this is the phenomenon of “value dynamism” that explores how technologies co-shape the meaning of values that guide us through our lives and with which we evaluate these same technologies. The dissertation provides an encompassing view on value dynamism and the mediating role of technologies in it through empirical and philosophical investigations, as well as with attention to the larger fields of ethics, design and Technology Assessment. THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION OF MORALITY: Olya Kudina Olya VALUE DYNAMISM, AND THE COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY University of Twente 2019 Olya Kudina THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION OF MORALITY VALUE DYNAMISM, AND THE COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY Olya Kudina THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIATION OF MORALITY VALUE DYNAMISM, AND THE COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY DISSERTATION to obtain the degree of doctor at the University of Twente, on the authority of the rector magnificus, prof.dr. T.T.M. Palstra, on account of the decision of the Doctorate Board, to be publicly defended on Friday the 17th of May 2019 at 14:45 hours by Olga Kudina born on the 11th of January 1990 in Vinnytsia, Ukraine This dissertation has been approved by: Graduation Committee Supervisor: Chairman/secretary Prof. dr. Th.A.J. Toonen University of Twente Supervisor Prof. dr. ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek University of Twente Prof. dr. ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek Co-supervisor Dr. M. Nagenborg University of Twente Co-supervisor: Committee Members Dr. -
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA Doctrina Christiana
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Doctrina Christiana: Christian Learning in Augustine's De doctrina christiana A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Medieval and Byzantine Studies School of Arts and Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Timothy A. Kearns Washington, D.C. 2014 Doctrina Christiana: Christian Learning in Augustine's De doctrina christiana Timothy A. Kearns, Ph.D. Director: Timothy B. Noone, Ph.D. In the twentieth century, Augustinian scholars were unable to agree on what precisely the De doctrina christiana is about as a work. This dissertation is an attempt to answer that question. I have here employed primarily close reading of the text itself but I have also made extensive efforts to detail the intellectual and social context of Augustine’s work, something that has not been done before for this book. Additionally, I have put to use the theory of textuality as developed by Jorge Gracia. My main conclusions are three: 1. Augustine intends to show how all learned disciplines are subordinated to the study of scripture and how that study of scripture is itself ordered to love. 2. But in what way is that study of scripture ordered to love? It is ordered to love because by means of such study exegetes can make progress toward wisdom for themselves and help their audiences do the same. 3. Exegetes grow in wisdom through such study because the scriptures require them to question themselves and their own values and habits and the values and habits of their culture both by means of what the scriptures directly teach and by how readers should (according to Augustine) go about reading them; a person’s questioning of him or herself is moral inquiry, and moral inquiry rightly carried out builds up love of God and neighbor in the inquirer by reforming those habits and values out of line with the teachings of Christ. -
Ethics and the Systemic Character of Modern Technology
PHIL & TECH 3:4 Summer 1998 Strijbos, Ethics and System/19 ETHICS AND THE SYSTEMIC CHARACTER OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY Sytse Strijbos, Free University, Amsterdam A distinguishing feature of today’s world is that technology has built the house in which humanity lives. More and more, our lives are lived within the confines of its walls. Yet this implies that technology entails far more than the material artifacts surrounding us. Technology is no longer simply a matter of objects in the hands of individuals; it has become a very complex system in which our everyday lives are embedded. The systemic character of modern technology confronts us with relatively new questions and dimensions of human responsibility. Hence this paper points out the need for exploring systems ethics as a new field of ethics essential for managing our technological world and for transforming it into a sane and healthy habitat for human life. Special attention is devoted to the introduction of information technology, which will continue unabated into coming decades and which is already changing our whole world of technology. Key words: technological system, systems ethics, social constructivism, technological determinism, information technology. 1. INTRODUCTION A burning question for our time concerns responsibility for technology. Through technological intervention, people have succeeded in virtually eliminating a variety of natural threats. At least that is true for the prosperous part of the world, although here too the forces of nature can unexpectedly smash through the safety barriers of a technological society, as in the case of the Kobe earthquake (1995). The greatest threat to technological societies appears to arise, however, from within. -
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A?£?-SE-6/3 lllllllllllilllllii SE0608416 Ethics of Risk Kristin Shrader-Frechette's Philosophical Critique of Risk Assessment Topi Heikkerö Centre for Social Ethics University of Helsinki Helsinki FINLAND Email: [email protected] Abstract This paper addresses risk assessment from a philosophical point of view. It presents and critically reviews the work of Kristin Shrader-Frechette. It introduces the ethical, epistemological, and methodological issues related to risk assessment. The paper focuses on the ethical questions of justice in risk decisions. It opens by framing the relationship between ethics and technology in modern world. Then the paper turns to a brief description of risk assessment as a central method in technological decision making. It proceeds to show how Shrader-Frechette analyzes ethical and political aspects of risk assessment. The central argumentation in her critique follows Rawlsian lines: distributive and participatory inequalities in creating technological constructions need to be justified. To clarify this requirement she formulates the Principle of Prima Facie Political Equity (PPFPE), which is her central tool in most of her ethical criticism, for instance, in relation to the future generations: prima facie, all generations should be treated equally. Brief critical remarks conclude the paper. They touch upon placing Shrader-Frechette's project on the academic chart and her liberal individualist anthropology. Key words Ethics of technology, environmental justice, risk assessment, Kristin Shrader-Frechette. Introduction Technological advance is seldom achieved without expenses. Pollution, draining earth from resources, accidents, noise, and loss of pristine environments, for example, constitute the costs our societies pay for the well-being that is gained through applications of technological systems and devices. -
Toward a Philosophy of Technology Author(S): Hans Jonas Source: the Hastings Center Report, Vol
Toward a Philosophy of Technology Author(s): Hans Jonas Source: The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Feb., 1979), pp. 34-43 Published by: The Hastings Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3561700 . Accessed: 26/10/2011 18:53 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Hastings Center is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Hastings Center Report. http://www.jstor.org KNOWLEDGE,POWER & THE BIOLOGICALREVOLUTION Toward a Philosophy of Technology by HANS JONAS the world furnishedwith them looks. A third, overarching themeis the moralside of technologyas a burdenon human A re there philosophicalaspects to technology?Of responsibility,especially its long-termeffects on the global course there are, as there are to all things of importancein conditionof man and environment.This-my own mainpre- humanendeavor and destiny.Modern technology touches on occupation over the past years-will only be touched upon. almost everythingvital to man's existence-material, men- tal, and spiritual.Indeed, what of man is not involved?The I. The FormalDynamics of Technology way he lives his life and looks at objects,his intercoursewith the worldand with his peers,his powersand modes of action, First some observationsabout technology'sform as an kinds of goals, states and changesof society, objectivesand abstractwhole of movement.We are concernedwith char- forms of politics (includingwarfare no less than welfare), acteristicsof moderntechnology and thereforeask firstwhat the sense and qualityof life, even man'sfate and that of his distinguishesit formallyfrom all previoustechnology. -
Cyclical and Circular Aspects of Native American Thought
Coming Around Again: Cyclical and Circular Aspects of Native American Thought B. Steve Csaki East Central University Before I begin my discussion of circularity and cyclical aspects of native thought and the importance of them, I think it would be helpful for me to explain what I mean by these terms, and why it is that I believe that they are both of great significance, yet largely ignored and/or undervalued by contemporary Western philosophers. By definition, when I say “circularity,” I do not mean strictly the geometric version of a perfect circle that has 360 degrees, a diameter of 2πr, etc. What I mean is rather a much broader interpretation of circular, that is to say almost anything that has a beginning point and end point that are the same. I’ll use the term “cyclical” to refer to instances of similarity that recur with some regularity, like the intervals between day and night, or the phases of the moon for instances. I have long been interested in circularity and the cyclical order of things, but more recently these issues have become a central, and unavoidable part of my life. I am a “semi-retired philosopher” who has been ranching full-time for the past ten years here in Oklahoma. What this means is that I spend an inordinate amount of my time making circles in fields, whether it is cutting hay, raking it, baling it, or putting seed in the ground for next year, I just go round and round – and I think. Sometimes I think about the fact that all this machinery that I use is based on circularity.