PhD position on 'Conceptual engineering in the philosophy of technology'

Throughout history, technology has been a driver of social change. The technologies of the industrial revolution played a crucial role in shaping modern society, and society has since then continued to be shaped by technological innovations. Some technologies not just change specific domains or practices for which they were designed but affect our lives in a much broader sense.

These socially disruptive technologies (SDTs) contribute to the transformation of social norms, cultural practices, and economic and political institutions. Historical examples of such technologies include the printing press, the steam engine, electric lighting, the computer, and the Internet.

An intriguing aspect of SDTs is that they may challenge the meaning of our moral concepts or cause them to no longer apply. For example, new digital technologies, including robotics and artificial intelligence, challenge concepts like trust, autonomy, fairness, and manipulation. For instance, consider that AI-mediated communication sometimes seems manipulative, which challenges what manipulation means when it concerns the behaviour of an intention-less machine. Similar questions arise for new bio- and brain technologies, including gene editing, and technologies for human enhancement, as they shake the boundaries of (human) nature. New environmental and sustainable technologies, including energy technologies and climate engineering, may require re-conceptualising our relation to and impact on ecosystems.

Thus, an important philosophical question arises about the criteria we should consider about whether and how to change or adapt our moral concepts in response to SDTs. Stipulative definitions hardly settle the matter. Instead, we need a principled understanding of the criteria by which we can evaluate conceptual change in response to SDTs.

This PhD project will develop appropriate criteria for changing or adapting concepts in response to SDTs. The project will draw on a broadly functionalist account of concepts, using insight from theoretical and practical philosophy (esp. metaethics and epistemology) and the philosophy of technology.

This PhD position will be part of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT) programme (www.esdit.nl), a new ten year long international research programme of seven academic institutions in the Netherlands that has started in January 2020.

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Michael Klenk and Ibo van de Poel. Ibo van de Poel is professor in Ethics of Technology and interested, among others, in topics like design for values, and value change. Michael Klenk is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and works on topics at the intersection of meta-ethics, epistemology, and moral psychology with foci on moral change and the nature of manipulation. In the ESDiT programme, he coordinates the "Foundations and Synthesis" research line ethicsandtechnology.eu

The successful candidate will be encouraged to spend a semester abroad, and a budget is available to cover expenses, and generous (conference) travel budgets are available for the position.

The candidate is expected to play an active role in the project described above and to participate actively in the workshops, public events, courses and other activities of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies programme in general and the “Foundations and Synthesis” research line in particular.