Man's frontier
Description
This lecture is organised in cooperation with the Society for Philosophy in The Hague.
Does the fusion of humans and technology cross the boundary of what can still be called "human" or have humans always been intertwined with technology?
By taking a philosophical-anthropological look at the tools we add to our lives, it is possible to discover how technology guides our lives and behaviour. Man and technology are not opposing, mutually exclusive entities. Man has always used technology to shape life: man is an intrinsically technical being.
However, somewhere there is a limit of hubris, the Ancient Greek word for pride. Think of Prometheus who gave man too much technical capacity, of Icarus who flew too high. It is precisely this boundary between intervening in nature and disrespecting it that is interesting.
The main ethical question is not whether we should use technology, but how we should use it. The mere existence of technology presents people with an ethical issue. It is high time for ethics to focus on how technical development can be properly embedded in society. To what extent, for instance, will medical technologies shift our responsibilities and lead to decreasing acceptance of illness and imperfection? What will happen to the quality of our existence as human beings when these technologies become as natural as dentures and compression stockings? Where is the limit of the human, how do we remain human in times of these technical advancements?
Speaker(s)
Peter-Paul Verbeek is professor of Philosophy and Technology at the University of Twente. His speciality is the interconnectedness of man and technology and the place of ethics in it. He published in Dutch: "De grens van de mens. Over techniek, ethiek en de menselijke natuur" (2011) and "Op de vleugels van Icarus: over de moraal van technologie" (2014).
Location
Molenstraat 53, 2513 BJ The Hague
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Association for Philosophy
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 26715554 or via the e-mail address below.
Apply via
the Association for Philosophy in The Hague, e-mail
verenigingvoorwijsbegeerte@gmail.com