Philosophy of Technology and Technoethics

Course content

This introductory course consists of two main parts: 1) Philosophy of technology and its historical background and 2) ethical aspects of technology and technological developments. This course will address main issues in both the philosophy of technology and technoethics/cyberethics aiming to familiarize students with philosophical and ethical debates surrounding technology. It aims to encourage students to think critically about multidimensional impacts of modern technological developments on various aspects of everyday life; to explore how technologies shape human life, society and environment by analyzing a number of noteworthy essays written by philosophers and influential researchers in this field, such as Heidegger, Marcuse, Foucault, Ellul, Feenberg, and Floridi. It also aims to stimulate students to develop the ability to identify, analyze and critically examine moral issues, new ethical problems and challenges raised by developments in modern technologies, especially developments in communication and information technologies, and develop the capacity to argue for a chosen position in discussions. Further, legal implications of advances in communication and information technologies in Turkey will be studied briefly.