Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Philosophical Skills and one of the following combinations: Logic and Epistemology OR Philosophy of Culture and Concepts of Selfhood OR Ethics and Political Philosophy.
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Filosofische vaardigheden and one of the following combinations: Logica and Epistemologie OR Cultuurfilosofie and Continentale filosofie OR Ethiek and Politieke filosofie.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement and who have to complete an advanced seminar.
Description
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important technologies today. Ever since its birth in the 1950s it has been the subject of intense philosophical discussion. These discussions have changed considerably as AI, in the course of its development, took on different forms and started to integrate itself in our daily lives.
This course explores the way in which AI has changed, and the different sets of philosophical questions that were raised in the course of that development.
The course distinguishes four broad periods in the history of AI:
A. 1955-1985: GOFAI and rule-based expert systems.
B. 1985-2015: Neural networks and deep learning
C. 2015-present: AI integrated in daily life
D. Near future: how far could AI go?
Each period is covered in an introductory lecture and two sessions with student presentations. Discussion topics will include the following:
A. What is GOFAI? Turing test, Chinese Room experiment, strong and weak AI, and the computer metaphor in cognitive science. How do rule-based expert systems work? Is machine intelligence based on a caricature of human intelligence?
B. What are neural networks? How do they work and what can they do? What makes them different from GOFAI? What is deep learning? Is the brain a computer? Can neural network models really explain human cognition?
C. Machine learning, big data, and automated decision making. How smart algorithms are integrating AI in our daily lives. Epistemic opacity, algocracy and surveillance capitalism.
D. Utopian and dystopian views of AI. More general questions about our relation to technology: are we in control of technology, or is technology controlling us?
Course objectives
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the basics of artificial intelligence in its various forms: GOFAI, rule-based expert systems, neural networks, machine learning and smart algorithms;
key concepts in philosophical reflections on artificial intelligence, including algorithms, rules and representations, strong and weak AI, epistemic opacity, algocracy and surveillance capitalism;
the main philosophical discussions about artificial intelligence since the 1950s;
key questions in the philosophy of technology in general.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
use philosophical sources and review philosophical literature;
prepare and deliver an oral presentation of philosophical arguments, using digital presentation tools;
collaborate with fellow students on preparing and delivering their presentation;
write a clear argumentative essay on a philosophical question raised by AI, or make a discursively articulate video presentation on the same.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures;
Seminars.
Class attendance is required.
Assessment method
Assessment
Active participation in class (10%);
Oral presentation by small teams of students (40%);
Final project: essay (3,000-4,000 words) or video presentation (30 min.) (50%);
Reflection report (0%).
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
A resit is offered only for the final project (50%). Grades for participation and presentation remain in place. Students who have obtained a satisfactory overall grade for the first examinations cannot take the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Required reading:
- Boden, Margaret A. (2018), Artificial Intelligence. A very short introduction (Oxford: Oxford UP).
Other required readings will be announced and/or made available through Brightspace. These will include selections from:
Boden, Margaret A. (Ed.) (1990), The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (Oxford: Oxford UP);
Bostrom, Nick (2014), Superintelligence. Paths, Dangers, Strategies (Oxford: Oxford UP);
Dreyfus, Hubert. L. (1992), What Computers Still Can’t Do. A Critique of Artificial Reason (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press);
Haugeland, John (Ed.) (1997), Mind Design II. Philosophy, Psychology, Artificial Intelligence. Revised and enlarged edition (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press);
Heim, Michael (1993), The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality (Oxford: Oxford UP).
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
Not applicable.