Why Philosophy of Information Matters

Luciano Floridi (University of Hertfordshire)

Professor Luciano Floridi (Oxford University)  

Why Philosophy of Information Matters

Organised by the Royal Institute of Philosophy branch at Oxford Brookes University

In association with the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

& Bloomsbury Academic

Wednesday 4th of December 2013, 6pm

Ashmolean Museum Education Centre (St Giles Entrance)

The talk is free and open to everyone. No registration is required but please arrive early to ensure you get a seat. We will be providing drinks and nibbles from 17.30

Abstract

The information society has its distant roots in the invention of writing, printing, and the mass media. However, it became a reality only recently, once the recording and transmitting facilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) evolved into processing capabilities. Today, we can no longer unplug our world from ICTs without turning it off. The profound and widespread transformations brought about by ICTs have caused a huge conceptual deficit. We clearly need philosophy to be on board and engaged, for the tasks ahead are serious. We need philosophy to grasp the epistemological and ontological nature of information itself. We need philosophy to anticipate and steer the ethical impact of ICTs on us and on our environments. We need philosophy to improve the economic, social and political dynamics of information. And we need philosophy to develop the right intellectual framework that can help us semanticise (give meaning to and make sense of) our new predicament. In short, we need a philosophy of information as a philosophy of our time for our time. 

Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, and Governing Body Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. Among his recognitions, he was been appointed UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, and the Gauss Professor by the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. He is recipient of the APA's Barwise Prize, the IACAP's Covey Award, and the INSEIT's Weizenbaum Award. He is an AISB and BCS Fellow, Editor in Chief of Philosophy & Technology and of the Synthese Library, and was Chairman of EU Commission's 'Onlife' research group. His most recent books are: The Fourth Revolution - How the infosphere is reshaping human reality (OUP, 2014), The Ethics of Information (OUP, 2013), The Philosophy of Information (OUP, 2011), Information: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2010), and The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics (CUP, 2010).

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=327
http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/Welcome.html

Facebook Event Page: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/173086302891018/?fref=ts

Join Why Philosophy Matters Online:

Tw: https://twitter.com/WhyPhilMatters

Fbk: https://www.facebook.com/WhyPhilosophyMatters

W:http://www.history.brookesac.uk/more/seminars/philosophy/