Technical responsibility and ethical methods

Philosopher of technology Michael Funk (U Vienna) will join us on February 20th, 4pm for an introductory lecture on Technical responsibility and ethical methods. This lecture is the second part of a two part lecture (first part on February 19th) especially aimed at computer scientists, engineers and technologists.

Join us online at:
https://unistuttgart.webex.com/unistuttgart/j.php?MTID=m6128876942256d6b35c1f595d4b776c6

Abstract

Responsibility is probably the central concept of technology ethics. In any case, it is one of the most prominent buzzwords when it comes to regulation, technology assessment or ethical guidelines. Organisations such as ACM, IEEE and FEANI have published guidelines for responsible behaviour by engineers. However, responsibility cannot be reduced to printed paper. Applied technology ethics develops concepts and methods for analysing and resolving ethical conflicts. These include specifics and principles of technical responsibility such as the principle of condition preservation, the understanding of collective long-term responsibility, and the distinction between six relata for ethical responsibility analysis. These concepts will be explained in the lecture using selected examples, and insights into the methodological practice of professional engineering ethics will be offered.