The semester is coming to an end, which is always a time of reflection. Without question, Ethical Data Futures has made me a better AI Ethicist, hopefully this is reflected in my final paper, but if not, I’ll state a few reasons why here.
- The course teaches six core ethical data skills, including:
- Ethical Reflection: Questioning your own experiences and comparing them to the experiences of others.
- Ethical Analysis: The subjective (as ethics are) identification and interpretation of the issue(s) at play.
- Ethical Deliberation: Reaching a conclusion on an issue that is supported by an argument and critical thinking.
- Ethical Evaluation: Using moral reasoning to assess the moral quality of a particular action. You can think of this as a “draft” of the ultimate idea that has yet to undergo some kind of ethical review.
- Ethical Contestation: Using moral reasoning to interrogate and challenge the legitimacy or acceptability of an action.
- Ethical Decision-Making: After considering the entire vector of arguments and perspectives, this is the final judgment.
- The course teaches one how to get beyond one’s own perspectives and think of ethics as more of a societal or political practice. Many who think they understand ethics have a narrow understanding and can’t move beyond personal dispositions to understand and empathize with non-similar groups. This is important to understand when working on ethical challenges beyond anything you’ve experienced personally.
- The course prepares one for ethical debate. There are several case studies students work through where we not only offer our opinions but also consider the opinions of others. Opinions we disagree with are open to Ethical Contestation. At the heart of these exercises is critical thinking and the Socratic Method, whereby students use reasoned argumentation to discover the truth. Along the way, you begin to understand these core concepts more deeply. For example:
- We often don’t know what we think we know, and being aware of our ignorance makes us wiser.
- We start to understand what something is NOT, thereby narrowing down the vector of possibilities and potential outcomes.