[PHILOS-L] PhD Position on Moral Creativity and Technology at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) Fully Funded and 4 Years

[Mandi Astola]

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Dear philosophers,

 

A vacancy has just opened for a four-year, fully funded, PhD position at Delft University of Technology, on the topic of moral creativity and technology.

 

Topic

 

Moral problems are often thought of as dilemmas, with two options. However, in real-life there is often a potentially infinite number of choices that a moral agent can make in response to a problem. Coming up with these potential responses, and reflecting on what they might mean and how they might play out in the world, requires creativity. This project investigates the role of creativity (including artistic creativity) in moral decision making, especially in connection with the innovation of technologies. The envisaged outcomes of this project include a theory of the role of creativity in the responsible development and anticipation of new technologies, and the establishment of methodological tools for transdisciplinary collaborations including artists, philosophers and technology developers. The PhD project will investigate these questions by combining philosophical reasoning with participation in transdisciplinary collaborations involving artists who work at the intersection of art, technology and society. To make this possible, we have established a collaboration with Waag Futurelab, which has experience with the exercise of moral creativity in artistic practice surrounding technologies.

 

This PhD position will be part of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies programme, ESDiT, a ten year long international research programme of seven academic institutions in the Netherlands that has started in January 2020. This programme has a combined budget of €27 million, and is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research in the Gravitation funding scheme for excellent research, and by matching funds from the participating institutions. The duration is from January 2020 to December 2029. The programme has the aim of achieving breakthrough research in at the intersection of ethics, philosophy, technology/engineering and social sciences, and to position its consortium at the top of its field internationally. A key objective is to investigate how new technologies challenge moral values and ontological concepts (like “nature”, “human being” and “community”), and how these challenges necessitate a revision of these concepts. The programme includes four research lines, “Nature, life and human intervention”, “The future of a free and fair society”, “The human condition” and “Foundation and Synthesis: Ethics of Technology, Practical Philosophy, and Modern Technology-Driven Societies”.

 

This PhD project will be embedded in the Art Track that cuts across the whole programme. Depending on the interests of the PhD candidate, the project can be related to one or more of the programme's main research lines. More information can be found on the ESDiT website: https://www.esdit.nl/ The candidate is expected to play an active role in the project described above and to participate actively in the workshops, public events, courses and other activities of the ESDiT programme in general and the Art Track in particular. ESDiT-PhD students are encouraged to spend a semester abroad, and a budget is available to cover expenses. Furthermore, generous (conference) travel budgets are available for the position.

 

The supervisory team for this position will consist of dr. Mandi Astola (TU Delft), dr. Julia Hermann (University of Twente) and Prof.dr. Sabine Roeser (TU Delft). The position is based at the Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) at TU Delft, which provides a stimulating and internationally oriented research environment. The candidate will participate in the activities of in the Graduate Schools of TU Delft, of the Faculty of TPM, and of the 4TU.Center for Ethics and Technology. Our PhD candidates also are expected to take on a small number of teaching tasks, under supervision.

 

Application deadline: 30^th of August

 

Requirements

• You will have completed, prior to appointment, a Master’s degree or equivalent degree in philosophy, but other Master’s degrees will also be considered if you have demonstrable expertise in close connection with the themes of the research project. (Minimally BA in philosophy; MA in e.g. STS, history of science, arts and culture, media studies, design, engineering).
• Strong conceptual and analytic skills.
• You have proven affinity with technology and the philosophy of technology.
• Relative to experience, you have excellent research skills and excellent academic writing and presentation skills.
• You can work both independently and as part of a team.
• You have a high level of proficiency in English.

 

For more information and application link, please see: Job details (tudelft.nl)

 

Best regards,
Mandi

 

 

Mandi Astola

Assistant Professor
Ethics and Philosophy of Technology

TU Delft
m.as...@tudelft.nl

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