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ESDiT Research Line

The Human Condition

We investigate how and to what extent socially disruptive technologies have implications with regard to humans, humanity and the human condition, focusing on new biomedical and digital technologies.

The overall aim of the ESDiT research programme is to develop a comprehensive philosophical understanding of the socially disruptive technologies (SDTs) of the 21st century, and in particular their challenge to the very concepts and values that we normally appeal to in our moral thinking about technologies.

Description of This Research Line

In this research line, we investigate how and to what extent socially disruptive technologies have implications with regard to humans, humanity and the human condition. Some SDTs will make an impact on our biological and mental make-up and our interactions with our social and material environment. Because of that, they are challenging basic aspects of human self-understanding and self-constitution, including notions like autonomy, sociality, corporality, mortality, and transcendence.

In this research line, we focus particularly on new biomedical and digital technologies. We work on the following clusters of questions.

  • In which ways and to what extent are the SDTs really disrupting the human condition and our self-understanding as human beings?
  • How do these disruptions challenge existing conceptualisations of ‘the human’, moral and anthropological theories, and corresponding legal frameworks?
  • Which ethical theories and normative frameworks are better equipped to provide normative guidance in responding to those challenges?

The ultimate goal is to develop new ethical frameworks that integrate theories from both ethics and philosophical anthropology. In doing so, we aim to make a substantial and new contribution to already ongoing philosophical discussions about the ‘human being’, ‘humanity’, and the human condition in relation to both technology and ethics.

Related Publications

Social robots and digital well-being: how to design future artificial agents

Dennis, Matthew

Social robots and digital well-being: how to design future artificial agents Journal Article

In: Mind & Society, vol. 21, iss. 1, pp. 37-50, 2022.

Links | BibTeX

Politicizing Postphenomenology

Verbeek, Peter-Paul

Politicizing Postphenomenology Book Chapter

In: Miller, Glen; Shew, Ashley (Ed.): pp. 141-155, Springer Cham, 1, 2022, ISBN: 978-3-030-35966-9.

Links | BibTeX

Enactivism and the Paradox of Moral Perception

van Grunsven, Janna

Enactivism and the Paradox of Moral Perception Journal Article

In: Topoi, vol. 41, iss. 2, no. 287-298, 2022.

Links | BibTeX

Meaning and Anti-Meaning in Life and What Happens After We Die

Nyholm, Sven

Meaning and Anti-Meaning in Life and What Happens After We Die Journal Article

In: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, vol. 90, pp. 11-31, 2021.

Links | BibTeX

Related News & Media

— VACANCY CLOSED — Postdoc position “The potential of living labs for the ethics of technology: developing new empirical and philosophical methods”

— VACANCY CLOSED — Postdoc position “The potential of living labs for the ethics of technology: developing new empirical and philosophical methods”

ESDiT Research line leader Wijnand IJsselsteijn has been awarded the Distinguished NIAS-Lorentz Fellowship 2024/25

ESDiT Research line leader Wijnand IJsselsteijn has been awarded the Distinguished NIAS-Lorentz Fellowship 2024/25

Impressions of a successful ESDIT2022 conference

Impressions of a successful ESDIT2022 conference

Related Events

Repurposing Persuasive Technologies for Digital Well-Being – Online Seminar

Jun192023
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: Online Seminar
Academic event | Human condition | Public ESDIT event
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Within the ESDiT (Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies) project, the working group on “Attention Economy” organizes an online seminar on “Repurposing Persuasive Technologies for Digital Well-Being” “Attending as practice in the attention economy”.

Workshop Engaging with empirical studies as a philosopher

May242023
Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: Social Impact Factory, Vredenburg 40, 3511 BD Utrecht
Academic event | All research lines & tracks | Internal ESDIT event
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Researchers involved in the ESDIT program are cordially invited to register!

People Involved

Research Line Leaders

Prof. dr. Joel Anderson

Prof. dr. Joel Anderson

Professor of Moral Psychology and Social Philosophy
Utrecht University
ESDIT role(s): Management boardResearch fellow
Research line(s): Foundations & SynthesisThe Human Condition
Prof. dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Prof. dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Professor of Cognition and Affect in Human-Technology Interaction
Eindhoven University of Technology
ESDIT role(s): Management boardResearch fellowResearch line leader
Research line(s): The Human Condition

Research Line Coordinator

Dr. Janna van Grunsven

Dr. Janna van Grunsven

Assistant professor in Ethics and Philosophy of Technology
Delft University of Technology
ESDIT role(s): CoordinatorResearch fellow
Research line(s): The Human Condition

Participants

Prof. dr. Joel Anderson
Dr. Dina Babushkina
Caroline Bollen
Dr. Gunter Bombaerts
Prof. dr. Jan Broersen
Kristy Claassen
Dr. Matthew Dennis
Dr. Lily Frank
Cindy Friedman
Dr. Nolen Gertz
Dr. Julia Hermann
Prof. dr. Wijnand IJsselsteijn
Dr. Naomi Jacobs
Prof. dr. Catholijn Jonker
Dr. Annemarie Kalis
Dr. Bart Kamphorst
Steven Kraaijeveld
Dr. Olya Kudina
Dr. Daniel Lakens
Dr. Sven Nyholm
Dr. Giulia Perugia
Prof. dr. Nicolas Ramsey
Dr. Filippo Santoni de Sio
Prof. dr. Floortje Scheepers
Prof. dr. Chris Snijders
Dr. Andreas Spahn
Prof. dr. Stefano Stramigioli
Ans Tummers-Heemels
Dr. Janna van Grunsven
Anna van Oosterzee
Dr. Birna van Riemsdijk
Prof. dr. Peter-Paul Verbeek
Dr. Christopher Wareham
Dr. Sander Werkhoven
Dr. Lucie White

 

All ESDiT Research Lines

Nature, Life & Human Intervention

Nature, Life & Human Intervention

We aim to go beyond traditional discussions about the normative status of nature, e.g., whether there is something intrinsically good or desirable in nature and something objectionable in changing nature.
The Human Condition

The Human Condition

We investigate how and to what extent socially disruptive technologies have implications with regard to humans, humanity and the human condition, focusing on new biomedical and digital technologies.
The Future of a Fair & Free Society

The Future of a Fair & Free Society

We try to map how the changes in social relations, social structures, social institutions, and democratic practices, brought about by SDTs affect the basic concepts of social and political philosophy.
Foundations & Synthesis

Foundations & Synthesis

This research line aims to develop more synthesizing perspectives on the entire topic of the research programme. We work on frameworks that are able to provide normative responses to the challenge of SDTs.