PHIL 766

Special Topic: Ethics for Possible Futures

Please note: this is archived course information from 2016 for PHIL 766.

Description

Traditional moral and political philosophy focuses on relations between contemporaries – asking what we owe to present people. A prominent topic in recent moral theory is whether we need to re-imagine ethics to capture our obligations to future people. In this course, we will focus on the impact on moral and political philosophy of two credible futures: a broken world damaged by climate change or other disaster; and a digital future inhabited by super-intelligent machines. How should we think about these futures? Should we welcome or fear them?

Availability 2016

Not taught in 2016

Lecturer(s)

Lecturer(s) Professor Timothy Mulgan

Recommended Reading

For an introduction to the issues covered in the course see: Tim Mulgan, ‘Ethics for Possible Futures’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 2014; Tim Mulgan, Ethics for a Broken World, Acumen, 2011; Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, 1984, Part Four; Nick Bostrom, Superintelligence, Oxford University Press, 2014.

Points

PHIL 766: 15 points