Design Ethics
Syllabus⇝
In these three sessions we will tackle an introduction to the philosophy of technology and the central theme of our relationship with technology: are we determined by technology? Do we determine the technology or should the issue be explored in a radically different way? We will then deal with current topics in ethics and artificial intelligence. After that, we will end by reflecting on what it can mean to be a professional designer.
Objectives
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To understand the nature of technology and its relationship with humans.
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To know the limits and potentialities of ethical reflection.
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To gain an awareness and understanding of ethics and its entailments for the design profession
Deliverables⇝
2-page report based on exercises performed in class of one’s course project.
Submission deadline: April 30 2021
Additional Resources⇝
Casacuberta, D., y Guersenzvaig, A. (2019). Using Dreyfus’ legacy to understand justice in algorithm-based processes. AI & Society, 34(2), 313-319.
Benjamin, Ruha. (2019). Race after technology: Abolitionist tools for the new Jim Code. Cambridge: Polity.
Baym, Nancy. (2015). Personal Connections in the Digital Age: Digital Media and Society. London: Polity.
Eubanks, Virginia. (2018). Automating inequality: How high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Gertz, Nolen. (2018) Nihilism and Technology. London: Rowman and Littlefield.
Guersenzvaig, Ariel. (2021). The Goods of Design. London: Rowman and Littlefield.
Kiran, A. H., Oudshoorn, N., y Verbeek, P.-P. (2015). Beyond checklists: Toward an ethical-constructive technology assessment. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2(1), 5-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2014.992769
Vallor, Shannon. Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Verbeek, Peter-Paul. Moralizing Technology: Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Faculty⇝
Ariel Guersenzvaig is a lecturer at ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona (Spain). He combines his academic work with 20+ years of professional experience in the field of user experience and service design. He is the author of an upcoming book on design professional ethics (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2021). Besides professional ethics and design theory, another important locus of research is the ethical impact of machine intelligence on society, with a focus on autonomous weapons and algorithmic justice. He has published in academic journals such as ACM Interactions, SDN Touchpoints, AI & Society, Journal of Design Research, and IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. He holds a PhD in Design Theory from the University of Southampton (UK), an MA in Ethics from the University of Birmingham (UK).