Responsibilities and usage plans
Description
NOTE: LOCATION OTHER THAN USED.
Engineers are initially morally responsible for the technical artefacts they produce, but at some point some of that responsibility is taken over by the user. In this presentation, the speaker will suggest how and when this transfer of responsibility occurs. He will do this by making a connection between Houkes and Vermaas's usage plan analysis, which describes what knowledge a user needs to use an artefact functionally, and Fischer and Ravizza's theory of moral responsibility and control. This connection will provide a number of conditions that must be met before an engineer can successfully transfer responsibility for an artefact. He will show how these conditions work using a practical example: the Abcoude metering sluice
The (annual) theme "The intertwining of ethics and technology" will be presented by PhD students from the 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology". The lectures are aimed at engineers who are interested in reflections on, among other things, the political and moral connotations of technology and who want to give the speakers feedback from their own experiences. For further information, an e-mail message can be sent to w.loeve@ziggo.nl . From the 3TU.centre side, the programme will be coordinated by Dr Claudia Basta. Website: http://www.ethicsandtechnology.eu/basta
Speaker(s)
Auke Pols (1979) is a PhD student at Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Philosophy & Ethics. The subject of his presentation is part of his PhD thesis, Acting with Artefacts, on which he will receive his PhD in 2011. More information about his PhD project can be found at http://web.tue.nl/staff/nl/a.j.k.pols. The presentation is based on the following, English-language publication: Pols, A.J.K. (2010). Transferring responsibility through use plans. In I. van de Poel, D.E. Goldberg (Eds.), Philosophy and Engineering : an emerging agenda. (pp. 189-203). Dordrecht: Springer
Location
De Poort van Kleef, Mariaplaats 7, 3511 LH Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 42505844 or via the e-mail address below.