Conference Agenda

During this one hour symposium, we will present a novel 4TU.ethics project to develop and publish an online encyclopedia for philosophy and ethics of technology. The session aims to introduce and raise awareness about the project, showcase upcoming lemmas, and, importantly, to gather input and feedback from participants.

First, we will present the rationale, relevance, and ambitions behind this project. Although many good handbooks and introductions to philosophy and ethics of technology now exist, these can be difficult to find and navigate for those who are new to the field. The 4TU.ethics encyclopedia is designed in such a way that lemmas serve as a ‘primer’ of ‘first entry point’ for students or researchers shifting to a novel subject or domain. The latter is particularly significant in light of the fact that philosophy and ethics of technology are increasingly practiced outside technical universities as well. Having a focused point of entry then not only helps orient newcomers, but also increases visibility of existing expertise and work, thus reducing the risk of reinventing the wheel.

Secondly, the symposium will demonstrate several upcoming lemmas, written and reviewed by experts, maximally devoid of jargon, around 5000 words in length, which offer students basic but up-to-date introductions on the a) history, b) systematic discussions, and c) contemporary controversies of a particular topic. By showcasing an operational version of our online encyclopedia and by reporting developments down the road, we hope to initiate a dialogue with participants regarding the usability and potential improvements of the project as it currently exists, and extend an open invitation to contribute to this encyclopedia.

Participants to the symposium include members of the editorial board (dr. Jochem Zwier (Wageningen University) – project coordinator; dr. Udo Pesch (TU Delft); Prof. dr. Vincent Blok (Wageningen University); and Prof. dr. Wybo Houkes (TU Eindhoven)), as well as several lemma authors (Prof. dr. Sabine Roeser (TU Delft); Lucien von Schomburg (University of Greenwich); Mariska Bosschaert-Bakhuizen (Wageningen University).