Phil 327 – Ethics in the Information Age -- Spring, 2012
Metropolitan Sate University
First Paper assignment (Updated for Spring 2012)
Second Paper Assignment (Updated for Spring 2012)
Third Paper Assignment (Updated for Spring 2012)
Paper writing guides:
Instructor's Office Hours: In my office (312 St. John's Hall, St. Paul Campus) Monday, 4:30-7:00; Tuesday, 12:00-3:00; Wednesday, 11:00-1:00
At Midway (in the lower level common area where the tables and vending machines are) Tuesday, 3:30-6:00
| Date | Topic | Reading | Writing Due | Handouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 10 | Introduction
|
none
|
Cases
for Discussion
|
|
| January 17 | Overview:
Personal, Professional, and Social Issues in Information Technology
|
Quinn,
Chapter 1; Benkler, Wealth of
Networks, Introduction (online here - HTML formatted for easy reading - or here - PDF formated for saving paper when printing);
The Case of the Killer Robot (online here)
|
Response to Readings | |
| January 24 | Ethical
Theories 1: Relativism, Religion, Kant
|
Quinn,
Chapter 2 through p. 74; Excerpts
from Kant (with notes); "The
Truth in Ethical Relativism" by Hugh LaFollette
|
Response to Readings | Discussion Project: Applying Kant |
| January 31 | Ethical
Theories 2: Utilitarianism, Social Contract theory
|
Quinn,
Chapter 2, the rest; "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" by Peter Singer; Prisoners'
Dilemma: Game and Explanation: "We
are all Prisoners" and "An
Ethic Based on Prisoners' Dilemma" by Jonathan Blumen; (another version of the game)
|
Response to Readings | Discussion Project: Applying
Utilitarianism
|
| February 7 | Precinct Caucuses - No Class | |||
| February 14 | Professional/Business
ethics 1: responsibilities, standards, codes
|
Quinn,
Chapter 8, through p. 422
|
Response to Readings | Discussion Project:Applying the Software Engineering Code of Ethics |
| February 21 | Professional/Business
ethics 2: whistleblowing, loyalty
|
Quinn,
Chapter 8, the rest; also "Encouraging
Internal Whistleblowing in Organizations" by Lilanthi Ravishankar ; "Illusions of whistleblower protection" by Brian Martin, University of
Wolongong; Brian Martin's summary of Robert Jackall's discussion of whistleblowing; Summary
of Jackall's book "Moral Mazes" (pdf) by Damian Grace,
University of New South Wales
|
Response to Readings | Discussion Project: Whistleblowing |
| February 28 | Computer
Reliability
|
Quinn,
Chapter 7
|
Response to Readings;First Paper Due | Discussion
project on software warranties
|
| March 6 | Spring Break - No Class | |||
| March 13 | Spam, Pornography, Free Speech, Censorship | Quinn, Chapter 3; Brian Leiter on Cyber-Cesspools, cleaner version, explicit version | Response to Readings | |
| March 20 | Privacy
1
|
|
Response to Readings |
|
| March 27 | Privacy
2
|
Quinn,
Chapter 5, the rest; plus whatever you have time for from the articles
listed on this page
|
Response to Readings | Discussion
project on Surveillance
|
| April 3 | Intellectual
Property 1
|
Read this first: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html; then Quinn,
Chapter 4
|
Response to Readings; Second paper due | |
| April 10 | Intellectual
Property 2
|
Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Introduction
to Chapter 2 (pp. 35-41); Chapter
3 (pp. 59-90); last
section of Chapter 5 (pp. 161-175)
|
Response to Readings | Film: Revolution OS |
| April 17 | The
Internet and Democracy
|
Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Chapter
7 - html
here, pdf
here (Chapter 6 is optional); "The
Daily We" by Cass Sunstein; "Bloggers
and Parties: Can the Netroots Reshape Democracy" by Henry Farrell
|
Response to Readings | |
| April 24 | Access and Equity |
Quinn, Chapter 9 |
Response to Readings | Story of Stuff videos: |
| May 1 | No class |
None
|
Third paper due
|