---
title: Design Ethics
page_type: course
track: Reflection
course_type: Short course
feature_img: /assets/images/2023-24/grid.jpg
faculty:
    - ariel-guersenzvaig
ects: 2
---

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## Syllabus

In these two sessions, we will tackle an introduction to the philosophy of technology from an analytical perspective and the central theme of our relationship with technology will be explored: are we determined by technology or do we determine it? And if that is the case, how? And to what extent? Or is this perhaps a false dichotomy and should the issue be explored in a radically different way? We will deal with current topics in ethics related to technology and design.

**Keywords: Technology, Ethics, Design**
​​
### Learning Objectives

-	To understand the nature of technology and its relationship with humans.
-	To know the limits and potentialities of ethical reflection.-	To be able to reflect and assess the ethical dimensions of one’s own work.
-	Get a sense of doing ethics going beyond arm-chair ethics.

### Methodological Strategies

- Lectures
- Discussion of cases
- Practical exercises
- Peer learning
- Team-based learning

## Schedule

=== "Day 1"

    - Technology and “us”
    - Technology and values
    - The normative power of artefacts
    - Perspectives on technological intentionality
    - Exercise: ethical-constructive technology assessment

=== "Day 2"

    - Ethical frameworks and their integration into design
    - Design, justice and just design
    - Design as a professional practice and its connection to ethics
    - Wrap-up exercise: VSD cards

## Deliverables

No special deliverables are expected.

## Grading Method

| Percentage  | Description                         |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------|
| 50%         | Participation                       |
| 50%         | Self-assessment    |

Students should submit via email ariel@interacciones.org a one-page text or visual containing a numerical mark (0-10) as a self-assessment containing a reflection on the classes and the learning outcomes obtained as rationale for the mark.

!!! ects "European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)"

    {{ ects }} ECTS

## Additional Resources

Baym, Nancy. (2015). Personal Connections in the Digital Age: Digital Media and Society. London: Polity.
 
Gertz, Nolen. (2018) Nihilism and Technology. London: Rowman and Littlefield.
 
Guersenzvaig, Ariel. (2021). The Goods of Design. London: Rowman and Littlefield.
 
Parvin, Nassim. (2023). Just Design: Pasts, Presents, and Future Trajectories of Technology. Just Tech. Social Science Research Council. February 1, 2023. [DOI](https://doi.org/10.35650/JT.3049.d.2023)

Rosenberger, R. (2017). Callous Objects: Designs against the Homeless. 3rd ed. University Of Minnesota Press. Available online: [Callous Objects: Designs against the Homeless 3rd ed.](https://manifold.umn.edu/read/callous-objects/)  

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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