Oppression: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

We sometimes see philosophy as an inaccessible subject and the philosopher a solitary academic musing about abstract concepts from her office chair. However, philosophical thinking lies at the heart of many aspects of human life. Anyone who has pondered over questions regarding goodness, value, friendship, fairness, how to live well, or how to determine the right course of action has thought philosophically. These issues are of great interest and importance not just to adults, but also to children and teenagers. Introducing younger students to philosophical thought consists, in part, of showing them the ways in which they are already thinking philosophically.  

This graduate seminar, we will explore a growing body of work at the intersection of technology and social justice. A range of areas are included under this umbrella including tech ethics, design justice, algorithmic fairness, as well as work on equity, bias, diversity, and representation in computer science and other related disciplines. In this course, students will read and discuss a wide range of this work, through both critical and generative lenses.