Contributions of Physics to Ethics: Nuclear Weapons, Free Will, and the Good Life
DIPC Seminars
- Speaker
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Carl Mitcham (Colorado School of Mines, USA)
- When
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2015/02/16
13:00 - Place
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC). Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 4, Donostia
- Add to calendar
-
iCal
Prof. Carl Mitcham (Colorado School of Mines)
Contributions of Physics to Ethics:
Nuclear Weapons, Free Will, and the Good Life
When discussing relationships between ethics and physics, emphasis commonly
falls on the internal ethics of physics research: the responsible conduct of
research in dealing with conflicts of interest, data acquisition and
dissemination, health and safety, humans subjects, mentoring, and more.
Externalist ethics commonly emphasizes the social utility of physics: giving
human beings greater insight into the nature of reality and enhanced control
over physical processes. Less common is any discussion of the influence of
physics on ethical thinking among scholars outside of the physics community.
This talk will briefly introduce an outsider’s perspective that highlights a
few contributions physics has made to ethical thinking about nuclear weapons,
free will, and the good life among selective scholars in the science,
technology, and society community — and suggests opportunities for more.