Organized by Dr. Christoph Durt and Dr. Lucy Osler
for the Foundation for Philosophical Orientation.

This online seminar meets every other Monday, beginning on January 15, 2024. There will be at least 8 seminar sessions. Meeting time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. (US Central Time). The beginning corresponds in winter to: 7:30 a.m. San Francisco, 10:30 a.m. New York, 12:30 p.m. Rio de Janeiro, 3:30 p.m. Lagos, Lisbon, London, 4:30 p.m. Berlin, Madrid, Rome, 9:00 p.m. Kolkata, 11:30 p.m. Beijing, Manila (but please double check your local time).

CONTENT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) changes not only how we find our way on the internet and in the world, it also changes how we relate to each other and how we conceive of ourselves. In all these respects, AI is increasingly intertwined with and thus transforms human orientation – raising new philosophical questions, such as: how does human intelligence differ from artificial intelligence? How do these differences apply to concepts such as consciousness, thinking, understanding, communication, and creativity? And what are potential challenges or dangers concerning healthcare, art, and politics?

In this bi-weekly seminar, we explore how AI may expand, impede, and change human orientation. We will draw on concepts from Werner Stegmaier’s What is Orientation? A Philosophical Investigation (2019) and bring them into dialogue with current contributions concerning understanding and creativity, music and art, chatbots, virtual healthcare, and digital communication.

Besides Stegmaier’s philosophy of orientation, we will discuss the following authors, some of whom will join our seminar sessions:

  • ­Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs, Karl-Jaspers professor for the philosophical foundations of psychiatry and psychotherapy at the University of Heidelberg
  • Prof. Dr. Elena Esposito, professor of sociology at Universities of Bielefeld (Germany) and Bologna (Italy)
  • Prof. Dr. Joel Krueger, associate professor in philosophy at the University of Exeter
  • Dr. Tom Robert, senior lecturer of philosophy at the University of Exeter

This seminar is discussion-based; this means participants are expected to read the respective passages before the sessions. The seminar is free, but the number of participants may be limited. Please apply by January 10, 2024, via the application form here by briefly explaining 1.) your professional and/or academic background, 2.) your philosophical interests, and 3.) your motivation for joining the seminar (max. 100 words per field).