Postdoc in Ethics, Technology, and Epistemic Agency

Join the Ethics Institute for three years as a postdoctoral researcher! You will carry out research within the project “The Impact of Socially Disruptive Technologies on Epistemic Agency”, as part of the inter-university Gravitation consortium Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technology (ESDiT).

Your job
Socially disruptive technologies (SDTs) have a significant, distinctive, and under-studied impact on epistemic agency – our capacity to develop and assert knowledge claims, as collectives as well as individuals. As a postdoc, you will analyse this 'impact dimension' of SDTs, in terms of:

1. how epistemic agency is undermined (or enhanced) by new technologies;
2. the distinctive demands that SDTs place on the epistemic agency, as individuals and collectives respond to the social disruptions brought about by new technologies.

This will lead to developing a framework for assessing epistemic agency as an 'impact dimension' of SDTs, as part of ESDiT’s “Research Objective 1” (Understanding the disruptive effects of 21st century SDTs).

As with many other forms of social disruption, there are ways in which our ability to coordinate actions across multiple contexts and to orient ourselves in normative space can be upended by various new implementations of technology. Knowledge institutions, procedures of processing information, practices of adjudicating disputes about facts, are crucial to the autonomous lives of individuals and the functioning of societies, but many emerging technologies are leading to disruptions specifically in these aspects of epistemic agency.

In conjunction with developing a general conceptualisation of epistemic agency that is well- suited to SDTs, this project will test it by analysing in further detail the impact on epistemic agency generated by specific SDTs – especially, SDTs central to several ongoing or completed ESDiT projects and technologies of particular interest to you.

Your main focus will be on the following:

• You aim to develop a systematic account of epistemic agency as a particularly pivotal and multifaceted dimension of SDTs' disruptive impact, which contributes to Objective 1.
• You will engage with relevant subdisciplines in philosophy, such as: Social Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Moral Psychology, Meta-Ethics, and Ethical Theory, which contributes to Objective 5 (Innovating practical philosophy).
• You help to operationalise the assessment of an impact dimension, which could be used as a model for impact assessment as a more general method of ethics for SDTs. This contributes to Objective 3 (New approaches for ethical assessment and guidance of SDTs).

Alongside your participation in the ESDiT consortium as a whole, you will participate in two research line: “Autonomy, Agency, and Human Nature” and either the “New Methods” line or the “STEM” line.

You will play a key innovative role in developing a more systematic account of epistemic agency as one of the dimensions of SDTs' impact. This includes inspiring other researchers to attend to this impact dimension when in their analyses of SDTs and in thinking about methods of ethics.

You also play a key synthesizing role, both in highlighting the 'epistemic-agentic' dimension in many of ESDiT projects (including some already completed) and in identifying opportunities for synergy with projects in which agentic agency plays a key role. You are expected to spend approximately 10% of you time to various coordinating roles within ESDiT and another 10% of your time to teaching within the Ethics Institute.

Please consult the full description of the project, when preparing your application.

Please note that there are other vacancies in the ESDiT programme at different participating universities. In case several are of interest to you, we encourage you to apply to them simultaneously.

• A position for 12 months, which will be extended to a total of three years after positive evaluation;
• a working week of 38 hours and a gross monthly salary between € 4,060,- and € 4,537,- (salary scale 10.5-10.7 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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The Faculty of Humanities has around 7,000 students and 1,100 staff members. It comprises four knowledge domains: Philosophy and Religious Studies, History and Art History, Media and Culture Studies, and Languages, Literature and Communication. With its research and education in these fields, the Faculty aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Netherlands and Europe in a rapidly changing social and cultural context. The enthusiastic and committed colleagues and the excellent amenities in the historical city centre of Utrecht, where the faculty is located, contribute to an inspiring working environment.

You will be part of the Ethics Institute, which is part of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. It provides a stimulating and internationally oriented research environment.

This Postdoc position is part of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technology (ESDiT) programme, a ten year long international research programme of seven academic institutions in the Netherlands. This programme has a combined budget of €27 million, and is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research in the Gravitation funding scheme for excellent research. The duration of the programme is from January 2020 to December 2029. The programme has the aim of achieving breakthrough research in at the intersection of ethics, philosophy, technology/engineering and social sciences, and to position its consortium at the top of its field internationally. A key objective is to investigate how new technologies challenge moral values and ontological concepts (like 'nature', 'human being' and 'community'), and how these challenges necessitate a revision of these concepts. The consortium, counting over 130 researchers, consists of internationally well-known ethicists, philosophers, engineers and social scientists. The programme functions through nine research lines and three synthesising workshops.