Philosophy of Technology as Philosophy of Digitalization

The Focus Group „Philosophy of Technology as Philosophy of Digitalization“ involves Philosopher in Residence Fellow Prof. Walther Ch. Zimmerli and his hosts Prof. Claudia Eckert (TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology), Prof. Urs Gasser (TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology) and Prof. Michael Zäh (TUM School of Engineering and Design). 

The project aims at developing an adequate understanding of the process of digitalization as the main characteristic of today's technological culture, bottom up from different perspectives of both engineering and social sciences, as well as by trying to integrate them top down in a comprehensive philosophical approach at the same time. The underlying paradigm shift consists in the assumption that the process of digitalization is also affecting some of the main philosophical ideas of the implicit epistemology, ethics, and anthropology, guiding our thinking from “behind our backs.” Thanks to the different expertise of the TUM Hosts, it will be possible to test this general hypothesis in a case study approach by scrutinizing cases such as digital twin technology in manufacturing, privacy techniques in cybersecurity, or smart contracts and intellectual property issues in the legal system.

In order to achieve sustainable results, it will be helpful to first develop an operatively feasible clarification of the concept “digitalization” before looking at some of the most important effects the process of digitalization has with respect to traditional philosophical reasoning.