Philosophy and ethics of scientific and technological cultures

Since the 19th century, technical and scientific developments have become a defining factor of modern culture. We analyse technical visions, human-technology relations and socio-technical transformations as well as normative and epistemic challenges of these developments.

Va­can­cies in the work­group

Research Associate (Praedoc) (f/m/d) | Cultures of the Cryosphere

Research in the context of the ERC project "CultCryo" | Ethnographic field studies in collaboration with a postdoc on the use of blockchain for securing food supply chains | Project management, reporting | Scope of 65% of regular working hours | Temporary position for 48 months | Pay grade 13 TV-L

To the job advert

„Reliability is a very important prerequisite for all questions that become ethically relevant in the narrower sense.”

Prof. Dr. Suzana Alpsancar,
Head of the “Philosophy and Ethics of Scientific and Technological Cultures” workgroup at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at the University of Paderborn

News from the workgroup

23.01.2026

Our work­group "Philo­sophy and Eth­ics of Sci­entif­ic and Tech­no­lo­gic­al Cul­tures" has been strengthened

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11.12.2025

Cul­tures of the Cryo­sphere: Work­shop in Pader­born from 07 to 09 Janu­ary

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11.12.2025

Our work­group "Philo­sophy and Eth­ics of Sci­entif­ic and Tech­no­lo­gic­al Cul­tures" is grow­ing

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04.12.2025

We wel­come Ana­stas­ia to our "Philo­sophy and Eth­ics of Sci­entif­ic and Tech­no­lo­gic­al Cul­tures" work­group

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23.09.2025

Call for work­shop on tech­no­logy as­sess­ment from 18-19 June 2026 at the Deutsches Mu­seum in Mu­nich

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23.09.2025

Our work­group "Philo­sophy and Eth­ics of Sci­entif­ic and Tech­no­lo­gic­al Cul­tures" has been strengthened

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10.09.2025

Cul­tures of the Cryo­sphere: In­fra­struc­tures, Polit­ics and Fu­tures of Ar­ti­fi­cial Cool­ing

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20.08.2025

"Eth­ics and norm­ativ­ity of ex­plain­able AI"

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28.07.2025

"Philo­sophy and Eth­ics of Sci­entif­ic and Tech­no­lo­gic­al Cul­tures" spe­cial­ist group gains new mem­bers

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14.07.2025

WHB job ad­vert­ise­ment in the pro­ject "Cul­tures of the Cryo­sphere. In­fra­struc­tures, Polit­ics and Fu­tures of Ar­ti­fi­cial Cool­ing"

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08.07.2025

Reg­u­la­tion meets SMEs: The EU AI Act and its im­pact on OWL

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17.06.2025

Prof Dr Su­z­ana Alpsan­car con­firmed as a full mem­ber

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06.05.2025

Per­man­ent pro­fess­or­ship for Su­z­ana Alpsan­car

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26.03.2025

100 years of Heinz Nix­dorf: Deep­fakes and eth­ics - find out what ex­cit­ing ques­tions the fu­ture holds

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19.03.2025

As­so­ci­ated work­group on tech­no­logy eth­ics re­ceives sup­port

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More news

Eth­ic­al Ma­chines Col­loqui­um

Colloquia organised by our team take place at regular intervals during the semester, in which current projects and theses are presented and discussed. Interested students are cordially invited to take part in these discussions. You will be kept up to date on topics and dates here.

Eth­ic­al Ma­chines Blog

We regularly share articles on the topics we cover on this blog. Feel free to take a look!

VDI Pod­cast: Tech­no­logy eth­ics for smart de­cisions

Does man serve technology or does technology serve man? Many people tend to categorise ethics as philosophy. Yet technology ethics is an important component in the development of innovations. In the podcast "Technik aufs Ohr", Dr Suzana Alpsancar clarifies the term and talks to the hosts about conflicts in the energy and mobility transition.

Pub­lic­a­tion

Bach­el­or's and Mas­ter's theses

Re­search

The options offered by technological developments often present us with new epistemic and normative questions. Technology ethics weighs up the moral implications of new technologies under the uncertainty of their development and application by, among other things, explicating and discussing inherent value references.

Research topics

Teach­ing

Classics and case studies in philosophy and ethics of technology are the focus of teaching, which is incorporated into both the two-subject Bachelor's degree programme and the Master's degree programme at the Faculty of Cultural Studies, as well as into the Philosophy teaching programmes for various types of schools.

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Pro­jects

The vision of autonomous driving, AI-supported medical diagnoses or robots designed to help children learn. Technology ethics weighs up the moral implications of new technologies under the uncertainty of their development and application by, among other things, explicating and discussing inherent value references.

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