Ethics and the risk society

No single person or organization can fully control the risks we face—but understanding them is essential. Risk is one of the main ways that we understand and adapt to new technologies, and quantifying and mitigating risks is often our best way of taming the challenges they bring forward. In this course, you acquire a philosophical view of the ethics of risk and uncertainty. You’ll have the opportunity to apply what you learn by bringing deep insights about the concept of risk to bear on a practical question involving new technologies, on a topic of your choice. Concepts such as resilience, responsibility, and compensation will help understand the virtues, values and norms surrounding risk. Potential focus topics include artificial intelligence applications, military technologies, and climate risk mitigation.

After this course, students will be able to:

• Recognize and differentiate different conceptualizations and applications of the concept of risk,
• Explain (or Identify) ethical and psychological principles of risk perception and develop a critical personal opinion.
• Apply ethical, psychological, and risk management principles to case studies and formulate practical recommendations.
• Critically evaluate their own work through self-reflection, peer feedback, and tutor feedback.
• Develop a well-supported line of argument in a written paper and defend it orally during the exam.

You must meet one of the following collections of requirements

• Collection 1
• Completed Final examination Bsc program
• Collection 2
• Completed Pre-Master

• Lecture Notes
• Course reader with reprinted articles (deels verplicht, deels aanbevolen)