Warm-Up Stage I (5-8 min.) To begin, instructors should have the class perform a brainstorming exercise, responding chiefly to the questions What is ethics? What makes a dilemma an ethical dilemma?. This can be done informally; students can think independently or think/pair/share with their seat neighbors before the instructor asks small groups to share their … Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Part 1: What is the difference between Truth, a Lie and Bullshit? Students should begin by writing brief definitions of these words: TRUTH, LIE, SATIRE/ JOKE, FICTION, MISTAKE, BULLSHIT (or, politely, BS) What is the difference between truth, lie, satire/joke, fiction, mistake, and BS? After 10 minutes, discuss how these concepts overlap and differ from each other. It … Truth, Lies and Bullshit
Can a computer think? Do computers have minds? John Searle’s Chinese Room argument can be used to argue that computers do not “think” because computers do not understand the symbols that they process. For example, if you’re typing an email to your friend on the computer, the computer does not understand what your message to … Searle’s Chinese Room: Do computers think?
One of the practical consequences of the Scientific Revolution was a suggestion that one should only believe things that are both true and justified. Eventually, there was even the proposal by mathematician William Clifford that it is morally wrong to believe things without good justification. While early thinkers suggested we need to justify all of … The Demarcation Problem and Falsifiability
Overview One of the most fundamental questions philosophy of science raises involves the problem of scientific realism, which asks us to think about the status of scientific claims. For instance, when your chemistry teacher talks about atoms, are these real entities (and what does that mean?) or are they just a linguistic model that’s a … Scientific Realism and the Weird World
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