PhD course: Design for Human Autonomy

In this PhD course, we explore the relationship between design and human autonomy. We will ask fundamental questions about how technology impacts human autonomy. What does human autonomy entail? How does technology undermine and enhance it? Throughout the course, we examine various cases of designing for human autonomy, including artificial intelligence. 

Technology has the potential to enhance human autonomy and freedom, yet it can also pose risks by manipulating users or undermining autonomy in subtle ways. To address this issue, methods such as Value Sensitive Design and ethics-by-design have gained popularity over the past decade. These approaches are crucial for embedding core values, like human autonomy, into the early stages of technology design and development.

After the course you will have the skills and knowledge to:

• Understand the relation between technology, values, and human autonomy.
• Argue why technology can or cannot embody values (and if so how).
• Explain basic notions of values and human autonomy within philosophy and other relevant disciplines.
• Differentiate main approaches to designing for human autonomy.
• Characterise and discuss ‘value conflict’ and ‘value change’ and understand the implications of these phenomena for designing for values and designing for  human autonomy.
• Evaluate technology in terms of human autonomy

**Program**

Technology and Values – Assistant Professor Steffen Steinert (TU Delft)

•Brief historical overview of thinking about values and technology in the philosophy of technology

•Technology: value-neutral or value-laden?

Embedding Values in Technology – Assistant Professor Steffen Steinert (TU Delft)

•How to think about the connection between value and technology?

•Key theories and philosophical accounts of how values can be embedded in technology

Design for Values – Full Professor Ibo van de Poel (TU Delft)

•Design for Values and Value Sensitive Design, and other approaches to embedding values in technology (e.g., participatory design)

•Value conceptualization and value specification

•Value conflict and changing values

Understanding Human Autonomy – Full Professor Joel Anderson (Utrecht University)

•The term autonomy is used in many ways. This session focuses on how autonomy is both an acquired set of capacities related to self-governing agency and a status that entitles one not to be treated in certain ways.

Autonomy, AI, and Manipulation – Assistant Professor Michael Klenk (TU Delft)

•Exploration of how AI can enhance or undermine human autonomy

•Manipulation and human autonomy. How to design for non-manipulation

Diverse Perspectives on Human Autonomy – Assistant Professor Janna van Grunsven (TU Delft)

•Examination of feminist, care ethical, and non-western perspectives on autonomy

Designing for Human Autonomy in a (Medical) Care Context – Assistant Professor Marina Bos de Vos (TU Delft)

•How can social robots or digital twins be used in a (medical) care context to enhance the autonomy and well-being of patients and their families?

Design for Human Autonomy and Car Navigation Apps – Postdoctoral Researcher Kathrin Bednar (TU Eindhoven)

•Example of a design-for-values investigation into how to design car navigation apps that promote social values (such as safety, sustainability, and nature) while respecting the human autonomy of car drivers

Human Autonomy and Neurotechnology – Assistant Professor Stephen Rainey (TU Delft)

•Exploration of how neurotechnology, like brain-computer interfaces, enhances or infringes on autonomy

•Can neuroenhancement enhance human autonomy?

**Costs and registration**

Always consult and register via the OZSW website: https://www.ozsw.nl/activity/design-for-human-autonomy/

• Free for PhD candidates who are member of the OZSW and/or 4TU Center for Ethics and Technology and/or another research school in Humanities (LOGOS;
• Free for Research Master students who are a member of the OZSW and/or 4TU Center for Ethics and Technology and/or another research school in Humanities (LOGOS);
• All others pay a tuition fee of 300 euros.

**Contact**

[email protected]