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Katinka Waelbers
Maastricht University, Philosophy, Post-Doc
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In contemporary Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies, Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) is often used to study how social change arises from interaction between people and technologies. Though Latour’s approach is rich in... more
In contemporary Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies, Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) is often used to study how social change arises from interaction between people and technologies. Though Latour’s approach is rich in the sense of enabling scholars to appreciate the complexity of many relevant technological, environmental, and social factors in their studies, the approach is poor from an ethical point of view: the doings of things and people are couched in one and the same behaviorist (third person) vocabulary without giving due recognition to the ethical relevance of human intelligence, sympathy and reflection in making responsible choices. This article argues that two other naturalist projects, the non-teleological virtue ethics of Charles Darwin and the pragmatist instrumentalism of John Dewey can enrich ANT-based STS studies, both, in a descriptive and in a normative sense.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Since the mid-twentieth century, technological change has increasingly led to public debate. Concerns have been raised about the legitimacy of nuclear deterrence, dangers of environmental pollution, informed consent in medicine, privacy... more
Since the mid-twentieth century, technological change has increasingly led to public debate. Concerns have been raised about the legitimacy of nuclear deterrence, dangers of environmental pollution, informed consent in medicine, privacy and computing, the safety and desirability of genetic engineering, intellectual techno-property rights, and nanotechnological risks. Given the large and increasing number of these moral discussions, one could anticipate that any companion to the philosophy of technology would include ...
Research Interests:
Katinka Waelbers Department of Philosophy University of Maastricht Grote Gracht 9092 6211 SZ, Maastricht The Netherlands katinka.waelbers@maastrichtuniversity.nl ISSN 1879-7202 e-ISSN 1879-7210 ISBN 978-94-007-1639-1 e-ISBN... more
Katinka Waelbers Department of Philosophy University of Maastricht Grote Gracht 9092 6211 SZ, Maastricht The Netherlands katinka.waelbers@maastrichtuniversity.nl ISSN 1879-7202 e-ISSN 1879-7210 ISBN 978-94-007-1639-1 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1640-7 DOI ...
How can we take responsibility in practice? The previous chapter introduced a toolbox that supports imagining the future social role of technologies: five questions were offered to structure imaginative reflection, some examples of... more
How can we take responsibility in practice? The previous chapter introduced a toolbox that supports imagining the future social role of technologies: five questions were offered to structure imaginative reflection, some examples of reflective, intersubjective and empirical (behavioral) research methods were explained to support the desired imagination, and some starting points for the collective evaluation of the possible social role of technologies were presented. However, these tools aim to be widely applicable, and, consequently, they need to be clarified and specified for real-life cases. Clarifying and specifying has to be done intersubjectively to obtain a comprehensive and well prioritized evaluation (meaning organizing strategic conferences, consensus conferences, dialogue workshops, and interviews). This chapter explains briefly how the toolbox can generate questions for an intersubjective study on the intelligent car of the future. In other words, the aim of this chapter is to show how applying the toolbox can generate new insights and questions on expected and unexpected social impacts.
Technologies influence the way people act: when listening to an mp3 player or a mobile phone, people are less inclined to talk to for instance shop keepers at stations, and behave more “autistic” when using public transport. Internet and... more
Technologies influence the way people act: when listening to an mp3 player or a mobile phone, people are less inclined to talk to for instance shop keepers at stations, and behave more “autistic” when using public transport. Internet and mobile phones have deeply influenced the way people communicate with each other and how they define, begin and maintain friendships. Some of these influences are desirable: people of European countries are more involved with wars, starvations and natural disasters that take place in other, less rich parts of the world, just by watching television. Consequently, they are more inclined to provide (financial) aid. But watching too much television is also to blame for the lack of sufficient exercise, and as a consequence many people in the west become obese by eating snacks while watching television.
Research Interests:
... Ethics for the Metaverse: The Ethics of Virtual Worlds 3 Edward H. Spence On theEcological/Representational Structure of Virtual Environments 13 Omar Rosas The Dynamic Representation of Reality and of Ourself between Real and Virtual... more
... Ethics for the Metaverse: The Ethics of Virtual Worlds 3 Edward H. Spence On theEcological/Representational Structure of Virtual Environments 13 Omar Rosas The Dynamic Representation of Reality and of Ourself between Real and Virtual Worlds 24 Lukasz Piwek Part ...