---
title: Design Ethics
page_type: course
track:
course_type:
feature_img: 
img_caption: 
faculty: 
    - ariel-guersenzvaig
---

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## Syllabus

In these three sessions we will tackle an introduction to the philosophy of technology and the central theme of our relationship with technology: are we determined by technology? Do we determine the technology or should the issue be explored in a radically different way? We will then deal with current topics in ethics and artificial intelligence. After that, we will end by reflecting on what it can mean to be a professional designer.

**Objectives**

- To understand the nature of technology and its relationship with humans.

- To know the limits and potentialities of ethical reflection.

- To gain an awareness and understanding of ethics and its entailments for the design profession

## Deliverables

2-3 page report containing an ethical assessment of one’s own course project based on the exercises performed during class + readings + contents of the lectures. The assessment should be reflective (not merely descriptive) and it should contain a discussion of themes in the project or of aspects thereof that merit ethical reflection. While not mandatory, it is recommended that it also included next steps or courses of action that can be taken to remediate ethical issues creating risks and harms.

## Additional Resources

Casacuberta, D., y Guersenzvaig, A. (2019). Using Dreyfus’ legacy to understand justice in algorithm-based processes. AI & Society, 34(2), 313-319.

Benjamin, Ruha. (2019). Race after technology: Abolitionist tools for the new Jim Code. Cambridge: Polity.

Baym, Nancy. (2015). Personal Connections in the Digital Age: Digital Media and Society. London: Polity.

Eubanks, Virginia. (2018). Automating inequality: How high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Gertz, Nolen. (2018) Nihilism and Technology. London: Rowman and Littlefield.

Guersenzvaig, Ariel. (2021). The Goods of Design. London: Rowman and Littlefield.

Kiran, A. H., Oudshoorn, N., y Verbeek, P.-P. (2015). Beyond checklists: Toward an ethical-constructive technology assessment. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2(1), 5-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2014.992769

Vallor, Shannon. Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Verbeek, Peter-Paul. Moralizing Technology: Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.

## Faculty

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