Organization profile

Introduction / mission

The Philosophy and Ethics (P&E) Group conducts research at the intersection of philosophy, technology, and innovation

Highlighted phrase

Philosophical perspectives on technology and innovation

Organisational profile

Research at the Philosophy and Ethics (P&E) group connects philosophy and ethics to technology and innovation. We believe the design, use, and regulation of technologies is enriched by ethical and philosophical analysis. In turn, philosophy must be informed by science, innovation, and technological developments. A few of the research topics studied in the group include theories and models of technological and cultural evolution, and ethical assessment of persuasive technologies, social robotics, and advances in medical and mobility technologies. Interdisciplinary cooperation is vital for our research, which often involves direct engagement with the natural, engineering and social sciences. Researchers in the P&E group often study innovative technologies and technology-related problems in detail to enable genuinely empirically informed analyses that are meaningful to philosophers, researchers in other areas, and society. For this purpose, the group has established close interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers from other groups in the TU/e School of Innovation Sciences, as well as with mechanical engineers, climate scientists, and archaeologists, among others.

At the same time, we also view fundamental philosophical research as an essential part of what we do. Our research on technology-related problems and technological innovations requires going beyond the application of existing frameworks. Members of the group have proposed substantial changes to existing philosophical theories such as consequentialism, Kantian ethics, responsible innovation frameworks, and the extended-mind hypothesis. Members have also developed entirely new philosophical frameworks, such as the ethical design cycle and theories of technical functions and of engineering knowledge. Moreover, we work on fundamental critical assessments of technology-related research in various sciences, and of programs in engineering disciplines.

The group’s expertise covers a variety of philosophical sub-disciplines, including applied ethics, normative ethics, meta-ethics, philosophy of science and technology, and epistemology.

The P&E group is currently the management headquarters for the 4TU|Centre for Ethics and Technology. In addition, the group is a member of the Dutch Research School for Philosophy (OZSW), is actively involved in the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, and has ongoing collaborations with both private and public partners.
Past and current stakeholders in P&E group projects include the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DAF Trucks, Agentschap NL, Milieudefensie, Rathenau Instituut.

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Profiles

Chirag Arora, MSc

c.arora@tue.nl

Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Philosophy & Ethics - Doctoral Candidate

Person: Prom. : doctoral candidate (PhD)

Mandi Astola

m.a.astola@tue.nl

Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Philosophy & Ethics - Doctoral Candidate

Person: Prom. : doctoral candidate (PhD)

Bastiaan Bervoets

b.c.bervoets@tue.nl

Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Philosophy & Ethics - University Lecturer

Person: OWP : University Teacher / Researcher

Projects

5 Finished
5 Active

Scaling up Co-creation: Avenues and Limits for Integrating Society in Science and Innovation

Bombaerts, G., Bombaerts, G., Tsui, S., Astola, M., Laes, E. J. W., Wieczorek, A. J., Spahn, A., Benckhuijsen - Mertens, P., Reymen, I. M. M. J. & Royakkers, L. M. M.

1/05/18 → 31/07/21

Project: Research direct

Working with or against the machine? Optimizing human-robot collaboration in logistic warehouses

Le Blanc, P. M. & Berkers, H. A.

1/04/18 → 31/07/20

Project: Research direct

Working ‘with’ or ‘against’ the machine? Optimizing human-robot collaboration in logistic warehouses

Smids, J., Le Blanc, P. M., Le Blanc, P. M., Nyholm, S. & Nyholm, S.

1/04/18 → 31/07/20

Project: Research direct

Research Output

Automated cars meet human drivers: responsible human-robot coordination and the ethics of mixed traffic

Nyholm, S. & Smids, J., 2020, In : Ethics and Information Technology. p. 1-10 10 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Open Access

5 Citations (Scopus)

Book review: Achim Brunnengraber, Maria Rosaria Di Nucci (Eds.), Conflicts, Participation and Acceptability in Nuclear Waste Governance - An International Comparison, Vol. III (2019), ISBN: 978-3658271060

Laes, E., 1 Jan 2020, In : Energy. 190, 2 p., 116406.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Challenge based introductory ethics course at TU/e

Bombaerts, G., 2020.

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster

Datasets

Dataset: "Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction"

Vaesen, K. (Creator), Scherjon, F. (Creator), PLoS ONE, 2019

DOI: 10.17026/dans-znu-2ssx

Dataset

Prizes

1st prize #IkSchrijf Award 2017

Marjolein Lanzing (Recipient), 2017

Prize: Other › Discipline related › Professional

File

1st Prize in Safety Category Data4Refugees

Erika Frydenlund (Recipient), Ross Gore (Recipient), Meltem Y. Sener (Recipient), Christine G. van Burken (Recipient), Christa DeKock (Recipient) & Engin Bozdag (Recipient), 21 Jan 2019

Prize: Other › Career, activity or publication related prizes (lifetime, best paper, poster etc.) › Scientific