Phil 327 – Ethics in the Information Age --Spring, 2015 

Metropolitan Sate University

 

 

Syllabus

 

Paper Assignments  (Note:  These are carried over from last semester.  Check back for updated versions before you write your papers)

 

 First Paper Assignment (updated for Spring 2015)

 

Second Paper Assignment 

 

Third Paper Assignment

Paper writing guides: 

    from Williams College

    from Jim Pryor of NYU

 


Schedule of assignments
Date Topic Reading Writing Due Handouts - in class stuff
Jan. 13 Introduction none   Cases for Discussion; Discussion Project: Identifying Ethical Issues
Jan. 20 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) -- you may safely skip the section called "Four Methodological Comments" but do read the section that comes after it.

The Case of the Killer Robot (online here)

Response to Readings Discussion Project Killer Robot
Jan. 27 Ethical Theories 1: Relativism, Religion, Kant Quinn, Chapter 2, the first six sections, through p. 72;  Excerpts from Kant (with notes); "The Truth in Ethical Relativism" by Hugh LaFollette Response to Readings Discussion Project: Applying Kant
Feb. 3 Ethical Theories 2: Utilitarianism, Social Contract theory Quinn, Chapter 2, the rest (but skip section 10 on virtue ethics for now); "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; First Paper assignment handed out
Feb. 10 Professional/Business ethics 1: responsibilities, standards, codes Quinn, Chapter 2, section 10, pp. 89-94; Chapter 9, the first five sections, through p. 430 Response to Readings Discussion Project:Applying the Software Engineering Code of Ethics
Feb. 17 Professional/Business ethics 2: whistleblowing, loyalty Quinn, Chapter 9, 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; First Paper Due Discussion Project: Whistleblowing
Feb. 24 Computer Security and Reliability From Quinn, Chapter 7: the first three sections, through page 335); Chapter 8: the first four sections and the last two (pp. 361-377 and 387-398);
Principles for Fair Commerce in Digital Products (shorter)
Principles for Fair Commerce in Digital Products (longer)		 Response to Readings Discussion project on software warranties
March 3 Spam, Pornography, Free Speech, Censorship Quinn, Chapter 3; Brian Leiter on Cyber-Cesspools, cleaner version, explicit version Response to Readings Second Paper Assignment handed out
March 10 Spring Break- No class      
March 17 Privacy 1 - What is privacy and why is it important? -- private sector policies and practices Quinn, Chapter 5; MSNBC article on privacy law Response to Readings Discussion project on privacy;
March 24 Privacy 2 - Privacy and the Government Quinn, Chapter 6; plus whatever you have time for from the articles listed on this page Response to Readings Discussion project on Surveillance
March 31 Intellectual Property 1 Read this first: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html;  then Quinn, Chapter 4 links to further (optional) materials on copyright Response to Readings; Second paper due Larry Lessig's TED talk Discussion project on Copyright
April 7 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) (Here's a page with more detailed information on this reading assignment.) Response to Readings Film: Revolution OS
April 14 The Internet and Democracy Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Chapter 7 - html here, pdf here (Chapter 6 is optional); "The Daily We" by Cass Sunstein; "Reflections on Information Technology and Democracy" by Joshua Cohen Response to Readings Discussion Project on the Internet and Democracy Benkler Notes
April 21 Access and Equity Quinn, Chapter 10 Response to Readings Story of Stuff videos: Stuff in general Electronic stuff
April 28 Wrap Up

No class -- email papers by midnight

 Third paper due