Auditoriums:

Monday and Tuesday: D133

Wednesday: DL 145 (Låven)

Thursday: D 139

Friday: D 138

Lecturers (course):

Prof. Charles Ess, Drury University, USA

Prof. John Weckert, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Associate professor May Thorseth, NTNU, Norway

PhD Research fellow Johnny Hartz Søraker, Twente University, Netherlands

Further contributors to workshop part (which is part of the course):

Dr. Annamaria Carusi, Oxford University, UK

Prof. Dag Elgesem, University of Bergen, Norway

Associate professor Bjørn Myskja, NTNU, Norway

PhD Research Fellow Mariarosaria Taddeo, University of Padua, Italy and Information Ethics Group (IEG), University of Oxford, UK

There will be a combination of plenary lectures, presentations and discussions of essay proposals.

Reading list and Schedule

Course description:

Virtuality will be scrutinized from different perspectives in this combined course and workshop. We believe that virtuality is philosophically and ethically relevant to a range of different aspects of life in a world where most people make use of modern information and communication technologies - most obviously, the Internet, but certainly also Internet-enabled mobile devices. And, as online communications become increasingly interwoven in our lives in the developed world, the 1990s’ distinction between offline and online becomes increasingly limited in contemporary analyses of the Internet and its various interactions with our lives.

Some questions: How might virtual worlds contribute to deliberation online?. How do we draw the line between offenses in online and offline worlds? How is it possible to establish online trust? How do we resolve the ethical challenges evoked by new communication technologies - especially as these challenges intersect with diverse cultural values? Emotivist and rationalist accounts of virtual worlds will be considered. Virtue ethics approach to new technologies will also be discussed.

Credit points:

7.5 credits will be given for completed course (requires writing and submitting one essay by the end of the course).

Adressees:

PhD candidates, graduate students (course, workshop) and scholars (workshop)

Registration fee:

600 NOK ( ≈ 70 EUR) 

(no registration fee for workshop)

Registration or questions: Deadline for registration is February 27. Please send an email to marit.hovdal.moan@hf.ntnu.no. Upon registration, please indicate whether you will attend the PhD/graduate course (incl. the workshop), or just the workshop. Please also provide the following information: Your full name, position/institutional belonging, and postal address.