Nature & Technology
Nature & Technology is a course designed to explore emerging technologies and their intersections with environmental philosophy – this course in particular would dive into my specific interests within environmental philosophy, examining philosophical questions surrounding technologies such as those associated with space exploration or de-extinction. The hope was to be able to use this course to examine contemporary issues with philosophical depth.
I’ve taught this course twice at Northland College: once as a May term course in 2023 that covered a wide array of technologies, using Christopher J. Preston’s The Synthetic Age: Outdesigning Evolution, Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World to anchor our discussion as we then took a closer look at particular issues through journal articles. The second course in the Winter of 2024 focused specifically on issues surrounding space exploration, using Erika Nesvold’s Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space to guide the course as we also engaged with journal articles.
Sample Syllabi
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May 2023
The first three weeks of this course were driven by Preston’s book and related papers. The fourth week focused on issues surrounding space exploration in particular. Being an intense, four-week course, assessments focused on four exams and participation.
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Winter 2024
This iteration of the course focused on philosophical problems surrounding space exploration. In addition to the readings, students completed reflection journals and worked on final projects that related the course content to science fiction or current events.