The course Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the conceptual, ethical, and socio-political questions raised by contemporary AI systems. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in infrastructure, governance, communication, creativity, and everyday decision-making, philosophical reflection is indispensable for understanding how these technologies shape— and are shaped by—human values, knowledge, identities, and power relations.
This course introduces students to the foundational questions that have animated philosophical inquiry into AI since its inception: What is intelligence? Can machines think, act, or make moral decisions? How do algorithms represent the world, and what does it mean for humans to offload cognition, agency, or judgment onto computational systems? Students examine classical debates about mind and machine, computationalism, agency, consciousness, and the Turing Test, alongside contemporary perspectives on machine learning, data-driven agency, and the metaphysics of digital environments.
Based on these foundations, in this course we investigate the ethical and societal dimensions of AI in the context of the information revolution. Topics include algorithmic bias, surveillance capitalism, data ethics, privacy, autonomy, transparency, accountability, and the political economy of automated systems. We explore how AI technologies transform labor, identity, and social relations, and how moral responsibility can be meaningfully assigned in complex sociotechnical systems.
A distinctive component of the course examines critical approaches—from feminist philosophy, critical theory, psychoanalysis, and science and technology studies—that question assumptions embedded in AI design. Students engage with concepts such as the “algorithmic unconscious,” feminist epistemologies of technology, intersectionality, and the gendered and racialized dynamics of AI. These frameworks illuminate how AI systems reproduce historical inequalities and why technological design is never neutral.
Finally, the course turns to future-focused philosophical questions about posthumanism, cyborgs, and emerging technoscientific imaginaries. We consider utopian and dystopian narratives about AI, the ethics of human–machine coexistence, and possibilities for designing more just, inclusive, and sustainable technological futures.
Throughout the course, students develop the conceptual tools needed to critically analyze AI systems, articulate informed ethical arguments, and assess the broader implications of AI for humanity, democracy, and the evolving digital world. Readings are drawn from philosophy of mind, ethics, AI ethics, feminist theory, data science ethics, and contemporary debates on automation and digital culture.
SHORT:
The course Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence examines the conceptual and ethical questions raised by the rapid development of AI technologies. The course begins with classical debates about intelligence, cognition, agency, and the possibility of machine thought, then moves to contemporary issues arising from machine learning, data-driven decision-making, and algorithmic systems. Students examine how AI reshapes human autonomy, identity, labor, and social relations, and how emerging technologies challenge traditional philosophical categories.
A central component of the course focuses on the ethical and political dimensions of AI, including algorithmic bias, surveillance, privacy, responsibility gaps, and the non-neutrality of technological design. Based on perspectives from philosophy of mind, AI ethics, feminist theory, psychoanalytic critiques, and science and technology studies, students learn to analyze the power structures, assumptions, and cultural narratives embedded in AI systems.
Through interdisciplinary readings and case studies, the course equips students with the analytical tools needed to critically assess the societal impact of AI, evaluate competing normative frameworks, and reflect on the future of human–machine coexistence in the information age.
Learning Outcomes
1. Explain major philosophical theories of mind, intelligence, and agency and apply them to contemporary AI systems.
2. Analyze ethical challenges in AI, including bias, transparency, privacy, responsibility, and data governance.
3. Evaluate the social and political implications of AI in the context of the information age.
4. Assess claims about technological neutrality and identify how values and power relations shape AI design and deployment.
5. Apply critical and feminist philosophical perspectives to understand how AI systems reproduce or challenge existing inequalities.
6. Formulate well-reasoned arguments on the future of AI, including questions of posthumanism, automation, and human–machine relations.
Indicative Sessions (subject to change):
1: Technology is Not Neutral: Techno-Futuristic, Computer and Engineering Ethics
2: AI Ethics I: “As if Human”
3: AI Ethics II: “The Algorithmic Unconscious” and Psychoanalysis
4: AI Ethics III: “The Algorithmic Unconscious” and Psychoanalysis & Feminist Issues A
5: AI Ethics III: Feminist Issues B
6: Data Science/Big Data Ethics: Theory & Case Studies & Ethics for the Future: Ethics for Posthumans, Cyborgs, and the Metaverse I
7: Ethics for the Future: Ethics for Posthumans, Cyborgs, and the Metaverse II
Teilnahmevoraussetzungen: None
Literatur:
Notes: This is an indicative list.
Extracts from the books needed for the course (for presentations or reading) will be shared with students in a digital form. A detailed syllabus will explain which readings are mandatory (1-2 short texts per session) and which are optional. Each student has to present at least one text from the readings.
· Clegg, Stewart and Nelson Phillips, “Techno-Futuristic Ethics.” In Critical Theory Ethics for Business and Public Administration, edited by David M. Boje, 259-279. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing (IAP), 2008.
· Hare, Stephanie, Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology. London: London Publishing Partnership, 2022.
· Johnson, Deborah G., “Computer Ethics.” In A Companion to Applied Ethics. Edited by R.G. Frey and Christopher Heath Wellman, 608-619. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Malden, MA & Oxford, UK & Melbourne, Victoria, Australia & Berlin, Germany: Blackwell, 2003.
· Pritchard, Michael S., “Engineering Ethics.” In A Companion to Applied Ethics. Edited by R.G. Frey and Christopher Heath Wellman, 620-631. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Malden, MA & Oxford, UK & Melbourne, Victoria, Australia & Berlin, Germany: Blackwell, 2003.
· Shadbolt, Nigel, and Roger Hampson, As If Human: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2024: Chapter 2: “What Is an Artificial Intelligence?”; Chapter 4: “Morals and Artificial Intelligence”; Chapter 5: “Ethics for the Digital Age”; Chapter 7: “Privacy Now”
· Floridi, Luciano, The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Principles, Challenges, and Opportunities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
· Coeckelbergh, Mark, AI Ethics. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press, 2020.
· Boddington, Paula, AI Ethics: A Textbook. Springer, 2023: Chapter 2.4: “The Rise of AI Ethics: Ethical Questions in AI Currently Receiving Attention: Freedom and Autonomy; Transparency and Explanation; Justice and Fairness; Beneficence/Nonmaleficence; Responsibility; Privacy; Trust; Sustainability; Dignity; Solidarity”; Chapter 3.2: “Comparing AI to Humans”
· Possati, Luca M., The Algorithmic Unconscious: How Psychoanalysis Helps in Understanding AI. London & New York: Routledge, 2021.
· Millar, Isabel, The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence. (The Palgrave Lacan Series). Palgrave MacMillan, 2021.
· Ho, Anita, “Artificial Intelligence as a feminist bioethics issue.” In The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, edited by Wendy A. Rogers, Jackie Leach Scully, Stacy M. Carter, Vikki A. Entwistle and Catherine Mills, 291-307. New York and London: Routledge, 2023.
· Alva Noë, “Rage against the machine.” Aeon, 25 October 2024: https://aeon.co/essays/can-computers-think-no-they-cant-actually-do-anything?fbclid=IwY2xjawGNfoFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHagEfaFbvOM2pIwdIhq_x727f6RPtN87EcxRRVsrIillkJwGpBNIOJrGOQ_aem_HTdT2CTtAnCQj-oC4mAC-g
· Goltz, Nachshon (Sean), Tracey Dowdeswell, Real World AI Ethics for Data Scientists: Practical Case Studies. In collaboration with Peter Singer and Yip Fai Tse. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2023: Chapter 1: “Introduction: Moral Machines”
· Kizza, Joseph Migga, Ethical and Social Issues in The Information Age. Springer, 2023 [7th; 1st: 1998]: Chapter 5: “Anonymity, Security, Privacy, and Civil Liberties”; Chapter 6: “Intellectual Property Rights and Computer Technology”; Chapter 8: “Software Issues: Risks and Liabilities”; Chapter 9: “Computer Crimes”; Chapter 10: “Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking, and Cyber Harassment”; Chapter 11: “Virtualization, Virtual Reality, and Ethics”; Chapter 12: “Cyberspace and the Changing Frontiers of Ethics”; Chapter 15: “New Frontiers of Ethics and Security: Internet of Things (IoT)”; Chapter 16: “Ethical, Privacy, and Security Issues in the Online Social
Network Ecosystems”; Chapter 17: “Mobile Systems and Their Intractable Social, Ethical, and Security Issues”; Chapter 18: “Computer Crime Investigations and Ethics”; Chapter 19: “Biometric Technologies and Ethics”
· Kizza, Joseph Migga, Ethical and Social Issues in The Information Age. Springer, 2023 [7th; 1st: 1998]: Appendix C: Projects (referring to specific chapters of the book; see, the whole of the book)
· MacKellar, Calum and Trevor Stammers (eds.), The Ethics of Generating Posthumans: Philosophical and Theological Reflections on Bringing New Persons into Existence. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney, 2022.
· Gregurić, Ivana, Philosophical Issues of Human Cyborgization and the Necessity of Prolegomena on Cyborg Ethics. Hershey PA: IGI Global, 2022.
· Kizza, Joseph Migga, Ethical and Social Issues in The Information Age. Springer, 2023 [7th; 1st: 1998]: Chapter 13: “Metaverse—The Evolving Realities and Ethics”
· Shannon, Leslie, Interconnected Realities: How the Metaverse Will Transform Our Relationship with Technology Forever. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2023.
· Panza, Christopher & Adam Potthast, Ethics for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ, Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley, 2010: Chapter 19: “Ten Ethical Dilemmas Likely to Arise in the Future”
· Zuboff, Shoshana. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. New York: PublicAffairs, 2019
· Spicer, Tracey. Man-Made: How the Bias of the Past is being Built into the Future. Simon & Schuster, 2023.
· Moradbakhti, Laura, Simon Schreibelmayr, and Martina Mara. “Do men have no need for “feminist” artificial intelligence? Agentic and gendered voice assistants in the light of basic psychological needs.” Frontiers in psychology 13 (2022): 855091.
· Wellner, Galit, and Tiran Rothman. “Feminist AI: Can we expect our AI systems to become feminist?.” Philosophy & Technology 33, no. 2 (2020): 191-205.
