Philosophy and Critical Theory (PHCRT) courses focus on developing critical reading and thinking skills, with an emphasis on learning to frame and explore meaningful questions. Students consider multiple perspectives and claims in the process of formulating independent, well-founded opinions.The ubiquity of technology in our times has understandably raised larger ethical issues for individuals and society. Techno Ethics offers a comprehensive overview of the history, theory and ethics pressing upon our technological age. First, it reviews the historical factors giving rise to modern technology, including the scientific revolution and the emergence of industrial capitalism. Second, it encounters critical readings on the "essence" of technology from philosophical and social-theory perspectives, including Martin Heidegger's Question of Technology, the computer theories of Alan Turing, and Friedrich Kittler's extensive studies on digital and information culture especially in their relations to military strategy. Finally, it evaluates texts on non-human, species and animal ethics by such theorists as Peter Singer, followed by readings prioritizing "roboethics" (Gianmarco Veruggio) - the ethics for humans in their dealings with machines - as well as "machine ethics" (Mitchell Waldrop) - the ethics that might be anticipated from machines which have reached sufficient sophistication to be compared to human abilities and emotions. Through these themes it is hoped that CCA students will be better equipped to understand, evaluate, and deal with some major ethical ramifications of our technological age.

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