New and Updated Course Descriptions

PHL 105 - Technology and Values

3 Credits

A study of the ways that the advance of technology relates to the development of values. The course will investigate how we evaluate and respond to technology and will examine technology's impact upon values, such as freedom, individuality, growth, work, and the political process. The course includes topics that computer science and engineering technology students need to understand, such as unique ethical problems in information technology; ethical practices to minimize computer misuse; ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Codes of Ethics and Professional Practice; the morality of software piracy; hacking and viruses; and a range of questions raised by globalization and climate change. Students will articulate problems and issues, identify, analyze, and evaluate ideas and arguments, acknowledge limitations of arguments, and make reasonable judgments.

Learning Attributes: WR, GR

New SUNY General Education:
SUNY - Critical Thinking and Reasoning Competency
SUNY - Humanities

MCC General Education: MCC-AH - Arts and Humanities (MAH), MCC-BCW - Writing (MBCW), MCC-VE - Values and Ethics (MVE)

Course Learning Outcomes
1.Summarize complex readings in ethics and philosophy of technology
2.Understand key concepts central to the study of ethics and the philosophy of technology
3.Analyze existing arguments that focus on the extent to which our relationship with technology may give rise to philosophical problems
4.Create and defend a philosophical argument on an issue related to technology
5.Produce a written argument that advances and defends a philosophical position on an issue caused or complicated by technology

Course Offered Fall, Spring