Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. (Mark)
Research profile
Background
Mark Coeckelbergh (PhD, University of Birmingham, UK) is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Technology at the Philosophy Department of the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He studied political sciences (Lic., KU Leuven, Belgium) and philosophy (MA, University of East Anglia, UK). He also holds a teacher degree (Aggregaat, KU Leuven). During and after his PhD on freedom and autonomy, he worked on several research projects in the area of ethics of technology, involving inter-disciplinary research at the University of Bath (UK) and the nuclear research centre SCK-CEN (Belgium). From 2003 to 2006 he has been a Lecturer in Philosophy at Maastricht University (The Netherlands), where he taught (among other courses) Ethics and Political Philosophy. He wrote books on freedom and autonomy (Liberation and Passion and The Metaphysics of Autonomy) and on the role of imagination in moral reasoning (Imagination and Principles), and published journal articles on engineering ethics, decision-making in neonatal intensive care, global justice, empathy, moral imagination, technological risk, and business ethics in journals such as Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Science & Engineering Ethics, Ethics and Education, and Science, Technology & Human Values. In 2007 Mark won - together with Jessica Nesman from the University of Maastricht - the NVBe prize of the Dutch Association for Bioethics (NVBe) for their article on moral imagination and neonatal care.
Research
Mark Coeckelbergh’s research interests are mainly situated in the area of practical philosophy, including – but not limited to – issues in moral theory (Kant, pragmatism, moral sentiment tradition), moral psychology (personal autonomy and freedom, the role of imagination and emotions in moral reasoning), political philosophy (global justice, cosmopolitanism), ethics of risk and ethics of technology – in particular ethics of information technology, engineering ethics and medical ethics. He is sympathetic to individual and collaborative approaches in philosophy that cross different philosophical traditions and (sub)disciplines, are relevant to contemporary societal problems, and benefit directly or indirectly from empirical research.
Currently he works on ethical, anthropological, and political issues related to emerging and future information technology. For example, he is interested in how imagination and emotions (such as fear and hope) may assist the development of an ethics of future technology, he comments on developments in AI and robots, and he reflects on ethical and anthropological problems with transhumanist versions of human enhancement. How will future technology change who we are? What can we imagine, and what can’t we imagine? What are the ethical implications of these possibilities? And how should we, as individuals and as a society, respond to these problems today?
Below just a small selection of publications. A more extensive list of publications can be found here
3TU.Ethics Projects
Scientific publications (selection)
Coeckelbergh, Mark. 2010. "Criminals or Patients? Towards a Tragic Conception of Moral and Legal Responsibility" Criminal Law and Philosophy 4(2): 233-244 available online
Coeckelbergh, Mark. 2010 "Moral Appearances: Emotions, Robots, and Human Morality", Ethics and Information Technology (on-line 17 March 2010) available online
Coeckelbergh, Mark. "Human Development or Human Enhancement? A Methodlogical Reflection on Capabilities and the Evaluation of Information Technologies", Ethics and Information Technology (on-line 6 June 2010) available online
Coeckelbergh, Mark. 2010. 'You, Robot: On the Linguistic Construction of Artificial Others' in: AI & Society (on-line 10 August 2010) available online
Coeckelbergh, Mark. 2010. 'Robot Rights? Towards a Social-Relational Justification of Moral Consideration'. Ethics and Information Technology 12(3): 209-221 available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. 2009. Risk and Public Imagination: Mediated Risk Perception as Imaginative Moral Judgment. In The Ethics of Technological Risk edited by L. Asveld and S. Roeser. London: Earthscan Publishers available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2009. 'Distributive Justice and Cooperation in a World of Humans and Non-Humans: A Contractarian Argument for Drawing Non-Humans into the Sphere of Justice' in: Res Publica 15(1): 67available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2009. 'Virtual Moral Agency, Virtual Moral Responsibility' in: AI & Society 24(2), 181-189 available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2009. 'Personal Robots, Appearance, and Human Good: A Methodological Reflection on Roboethics' in: International Journal of Social Robotics 1(3): 217-221 available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2009. 'The Public Thing: On the Idea of a Politics of Artefacts' in: Techne 13(3)
Coeckelbergh, M. 2010. 'Health Care, Capabilities, and AI Assistive Technologies' in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13(2): 181-190 available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2010. 'Engineering Good: How Engineering Metaphors Help Us to Understand the Moral Life and Change Society' in: Science and Engineering Ethics 16(2): 371-385 available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. 2008. Mogelijkheid van een eiland. Houellebecq's heimwee naar de mens. Wijsgerig perspectief op maatschappij en wetenschap 48 (1):38-49.
Coeckelbergh, M. 2007. Imagination and Principles: An Essay on the Role of Imagination in Moral Reasoning. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2007. 'Violent Computer Games, Empathy, and Cosmopolitanism' in: Ethics and Information Technology 9(3): 219-231available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2007. ‘Principles or Imagination? Two Approaches to Global Justice’ in: Journal of Global Ethics 3(2), August 2007, 203-221.available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. 2007. Who Needs Empathy? A Response to Goldie's Arguments against Empathy and Suggestions for an Account of Mututal Perspective-shifting in Contexts of Help and Care. Ethics and Education 2 (1).available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. and Mesman, J. 2007. With Hope and Imagination: Imaginative Moral Decision-Making in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 10 (1):3-21
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. and Wackers, G. 2007. Imagination, Distributed Responsibility and Vulnerable Technological Systems: The Case of Snorre A. Science and Engineering Ethics 2 (13):235-248.
Coeckelbergh, M. 2006. ‘Regulation or Responsibility? Autonomy, Moral Imagination, and Engineering’ in: Science, Technology, & Human Values 31(3): 1-24 available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2004. The Metaphysics of Autonomy: The Reconciliation of Ancient and Modern Ideals of the Person. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.available online
Coeckelbergh, M. 2002. Liberation and Passion: Reconstructing the Passion Perspective on Human Being and Freedom. Alfter/Bonn: DenkMal Verlag.available online
Professional/Popular publications (selection)
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. & Wackers, G. 2008. Vulnerability and imagination in the Snorre A gas blowout and recovery. WorldOil.available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. 2007. Empathisch Wereldburgerschap als Moreel Ideaal. Filosofie 17 (5):14-17available online
Coeckelbergh, M.J.K. 2007. Risico en Publieke Verbeelding: van Perceptie tot Moreel Oordeel. Filosofie 3 (17):39-44available online
Teaching
- Master Course PSTS: Politics Society Technology
- Master Course PSTS: Technology and Social Order
- Bachelor Course: Medische ethiek voor Technische Geneeskunde, 3rd year
- Bachelor Course: Medische ethiek voor Gezondheidswetenschappen, 3rd year
- Minor Course Futures: Maakbare Mens (Philosophy of Human Enhancement)
- Minor Course Philosophy: History of Philosophy + Philosophical Methods
