MA by Research in Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire in conjunction with a research assistantship

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE (UK)

MA BY RESEARCH IN PHILOSOPHY IN CONJUNCTION WITH A RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP

2008/09 Programme

The Department of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire is inviting applications for a one-year position for the Master by Research in Philosophy for the academic year 2008-09.

The successful candidate will pursue research in the area of information/computer ethics, under the supervision of Professor Luciano Floridi, and will be eligible for a research assistantship, in order to work on the international Project “Information and communication technologies, inter-firm networking and innovativeness", funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. This will require spending three months in Lisbon during the academic year 2008-09.

The Research Assistantship will be awarded (for one year) and governed by the rules of FCT (http://www.fct.mctes.pt/pt/apoios/formacao/ambitoprojectos) and the School of Economics and Management of the Catholic University of Portugal, FCEE-Católica (http://www.fcee.ucp.pt).

The successful candidate will become a member of the GPI, the research Group in Philosophy of Information at the University of Hertfordshire (http://philosophyofinformation.net/centre/gpi/) and join a research joint-venture composed by FCEE-Católica, Carnegie Mellon University (Department of Engineering and Public Policy) Bocconi University (CESPRI - Centre of Research on Innovation and Internationalization), in collaboration with the Research Chair In Philosophy of Information at the University of Hertfordshire (http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/).

The student will be expected to develop and participate in a research project in applied ethics aimed at analyzing the impact of information and communication technologies on firms’ innovation capabilities.

The monthly stipend will be € 980.00/month, according to the FCT regulations, for a candidate already holding a previous M.Sc. or € 745.00/month for a candidate with only a first degree. The Assistantship will also cover expenses for some travelling.

Deadline: 1st of May 2008.

For further information on how to apply please contact:

Janice Turner, J.1.Turner@herts.ac.uk

Institute Research Administrator, SSAHRI (Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Research Institute), De Havilland Campus - Room R312

University of Hertfordshire

Hatfield, AL10 9AB

Tel: 01707 285628

Fax: 01707 285611

Against Digital Ontology

It seems fashionable these days to talk of a digital ontology. Fashionable, but mistaken. Kant had already shown that any attempt to interpret the intrinsic nature of the world as either discrete (digital) or continuous (analogue) is meaningless. He was right.

In an article, just accepted for publication in Synthese, I argue against digital ontology. I do so in order to make room for an informational ontology (see the post below, Wednesday, February 20, 2008). If you are curious, you can read the preprint online.

And here is the abstract:

The paper argues that digital ontology (the ultimate nature of reality is digital, and the universe is a computational system equivalent to a Turing Machine) should be carefully distinguished from informational ontology (the ultimate nature of reality is structural), in order to abandon the former and retain only the latter as a promising line of research.

Digital vs. analogue is a Boolean dichotomy typical of our computational paradigm, but digital and analogue are only “modes of presentation” of Being (to paraphrase Kant), that is, ways in which reality is experienced and/or conceptualised by an epistemic agent at a given level of abstraction.

A preferable alternative is provided by an informational approach to structural realism, according to which knowledge of the world is knowledge of its structures. The most reasonable ontological commitment turns out to be in favour of an interpretation of reality as the totality of structures dynamically interacting with each other.

The paper is the first part (the pars destruens) of a two-part piece of research. The pars construens, entitled “A Defence of Informational Structural Realism”, was previously published in Synthese.

CFP: APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, special issue on 'The Ontological Status of Web-Based Objects'

The APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers organizes a special issue on 'The Ontological Status of Web-Based Objects'.

Contributions of up to 3,000 words should be emailed to the editor, Prof. Peter Boltuc pbolt1@uis.edu, by July 01/2008.

The First Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference 2008

Roskilde University is the host of the annual Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference.

The Science Sunrise initiative has been installed to provide an international forum for discussing important new scientific developments and the broader societal, cultural, political, ethical and other challenges such developments may bring about.

The First Roskilde Science Sunrise Conference 2008

Surviving Ourselves: The Human Condition

August 13-15, 2008, Roskilde University, Denmark

How are we to act and interact in the century ahead? Shaping the future and grappling with its complexities is a challenge to ourselves and at the same time a matter of surviving ourselves since history seems to teach us that we are as much problem makers as problem solvers.

What might be the impact on the human condition of two major scientific breakthroughs about to be announced:

(1) the laboratory creation of primitive life, and

(2) the possibility of genetic recreation of dead DNA ("awakening the dead")?

By bringing together some of the most renowned politicians, scientists and public figures together this first Roskilde Sunrise Conference provides a unique forum for discussing some of the scientific, ethical and political consequences of these two new possibilities for the human race in the 21st century.

Invited speakers:

Mark Bedau / Reed University
David Deamer / UC Santa Cruz
Drew Endy / MIT
Gerald L. Epstein / Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC
P. Luigi Luisi / University of Rome
Donald W. Pfaff / Rockefeller University
Pamela Silver / Harvard University, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Steen Rasmussen, FLiNT Center, SDU, Denmark
Robert M. Friedman, Vice President for Public Policy, J. Craig Venter Institute

For further information, please visit our website: http://sunrise.ruc.dk