Thursday, June 12, 2008

Workshop: The Good Life in a Technological Age

International Workshop, June 12-14 of 2008

This workshop will consider the implications of contemporary technology for the quality of life, and will examine approaches from philosophy and social and behavioural science for studying the quality of life in a technological age. Since the industrial revolution, modern technology has seriously impacted day-to-day life and has engendered changing ideals of the good life. In recent years, new technologies in the information, medical, industrial, and other sectors have further impacted everyday life. In this workshop, different disciplinary perspectives, from philosophy, psychology, economics and other fields, will be employed to interpret and evaluate contemporary relations between technology and the quality of life.

Confirmed speakers

Philip Brey, Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands
Luigino Bruni, Department of Economics, University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy
Charles Ess, Interdisciplinary studies, Drury University, USA
Jeroen van den Hoven, Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Neil Levy, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Anton Tupa, Department of Philosophy, University of Florida, USA
Ruut Veenhoven, Department of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
Peter-Paul Verbeek, Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Netherlands

More invited speakers will be announced on http://ceptes.nl/glita.

Topics

Topics include:

Philosophical and empirical methods for studying the good life and quality of life in a technological culture
Implications of modern technology for the quality of life
Hedonist, desire-satisfactionist and objective list accounts of contemporary life
Quality of life, consumer culture and consumer technologies
Quality of life, political philosophies and technology policy
Quality of life, sustainability and the environment
Quality of life and information technology
Quality of life and biomedical technology
New technologies and changing ideals of the good life
Welfare economics and technology
Happiness studies and technology

We are looking for contributions that employ conceptions of the quality of life or well-being that go beyond traditional social-economical quality-of-life indices, and that consider either the subjective preferences and psychological states of people (as in psychology and welfare economics) or particular normative ideals of the good life (as developed in philosophy).

Organization

Department of Philosophy, University of Twente / 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology, the Netherlands. Organized by Philip Brey (chair), Adam Briggle, Ed Spence, Johnny Soraker.

Submission of extended abstracts

Authors should submit an electronic version of an extended abstract (1000-1500 words). The abstract should be in doc, rtf or pdf format and be submitted by email to before March 10, 2008.

Workshop format

Each participant will give a short presentation followed by discussion. For invited papers a commentator will be assigned. There will be a plenary discussion at the end of the workshop. Maximum number of participants: 32.

Publication

We are currently considering reputable publishers for a book consisting of the best papers from the workshop. Full papers for inclusion in the book should be submitted before November 1, and will be peer-reviewed.

Important dates

March 10 - Extended abstract submission deadline
March 21 - Notification of acceptance
June 12-14 - Workshop
November 1 - Submission of full paper (optional)

Practical information

There is no registration fee for the workshop, but participants cover their own expenses for travel and accommodation (inexpensive accommodation will be available). More information about transportation and local accommodation can be found on our Website: http://ceptes.nl/glita. If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please direct them to .