Legal Theory Blog

Organized by Philip Brey (chair), Adam Briggle, Ed Spence, Johnny Soraker

Department of Philosophy, University of Twente and 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology, the Netherlands.

Maximum number of participants: 32

This workshop will consider the implications of contemporary technology for the quality of life, and will examine approaches from philosophy and social and behavioural science for studying the quality of life in a technological age. Since the industrial revolution, modern technology has seriously impacted day-to-day life and has engendered changing ideals of the good life. In recent years, new technologies in the information, medical, industrial, and other sectors have further impacted everyday life. In this workshop, different disciplinary perspectives, from philosophy, psychology, economics and other fields, will be employed to interpret and evaluate contemporary relations between technology and the quality of life.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:

Philip Brey
Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands

Luigino Bruni
Department of Economics, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

Charles Ess
Interdisciplinary studies, Drury University, USA

Anna Croon Fors
Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden

Jeroen van den Hoven
Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

Neil Levy
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Australia

Don Slater
Sociology Department, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Anton Tupa
Department of Philosophy, University of Florida, USA

Ruut Veenhoven
Department of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Peter-Paul Verbeek
Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands

More invited speakers will be announced on http://ceptes.nl/glita

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Philosophical and empirical methods for studying the good life and quality of life in a technological culture
Implications of modern technology for the quality of life
Hedonist, desire-satisfactionist and objective list accounts of contemporary life
Quality of life, consumer culture and consumer technologies
Quality of life, political philosophies and technology policy
Quality of life, sustainability and the environment
Quality of life and information technology
Quality of life and biomedical technology
New technologies and changing ideals of the good life
Welfare economics and technology
Happiness studies and technology

We are looking for contributions that employ conceptions of the quality of life or well-being that go beyond traditional social-economical quality-of-life indices, and that consider either the subjective preferences and psychological states of persons (as in psychology and welfare economics) or particular normative ideals of the good life (as developed in philosophy).