The Ethics of Modelling
The lecture The Ethics of Modelling took place on 12 October. You can watch the presentation below. An article has also been added.
Description
The Ethics of Modelling
"Climate models, models for policy-making, or engineering models are examples for models that have an impact on society or individual humans. Indeed, moral problems related to models for decision support become an increasingly relevant issue. In this talk, I explicate three aspects of morality in modeling: (1) Which models are morally relevant, and what makes them morally relevant; (2) which influence model-builders have in order to make models morally appropriate; and (3) how a model-builder should deal with moral issues.
I will address these three aspects as three different parts of my talk. For answering the first question, I take three perspectives of moral investigation: Consequentialism, Kantian Ethics, and Virtue Ethics. Following these three perspectives, I emphasize three different origins of moral issues in modelling. The second question steps into the seeming conflict between objectivity and morality in modeling. In particular, I focus on the role of non-epistemic values in model construction and usage. While scientific standards seem to suggest that only epistemic consideration should influence model construction and usage, applied problems in modeling show that also non-epistemic considerations are an important part of modeling. The third part of my talk is the most practical one. Here I present moral mid-level principles that should guide model-builders toward a morally good model construction. First, I argue how the moral mid-level principles are based in the experiences of practitioners and how they relate to moral theories. As a final step, I explain how moral id-level principles are applied to particular cases."
Speaker(s)
Sven Diekmann, born in 1983, studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Bremen, Germany. He graduated in August 2009 with his master thesis in mathematics, named "Variance Amplification in Supply Chains". There he sets up a basic framework for a mathematical discussion of supply chains. In September 2009, Diekmann started his work as a PhD student at the Eindhoven University of Technology. His project is called the Ethics of Modeling. It discusses moral problems and ethical concerns that arise related to modeling. Two papers have already originated from his project:
- Sven Diekmann and Martin Perterson (forthcoming). 'The Role of Non-Epistemic Values in Engineering Models', Science and Engineering Ethics.
- Sven Diekmann (submitted manuscript). 'Moral Mid-Level Principles in Modeling'
Location
Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
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