Love and Sex in Digital World: Philosophy, Ethics and Theology

On-site in Tartu, 31 July - 10 August 2023

Digital technologies have tremendously transformed all spheres of our life, including romantic and sexual relationships. This course is an attempt to analyse all those changes from philosophical, ethical, and theological perspectives.

It will discuss a variety of topics from the ethics of dating apps and online infidelity to cybersex and future relationships with robots. Philosophy, ethics, and theology have a long history of discussing love and sex, and this course will provide a fresh look at existing discussions by adding recent technological influences to them. Moreover, this course will try to show how contemporary humanities could contribute to the development of technologies to make them more ethical.

Ülikooli 18, 50090 Tartu

UT International Summer University:

Ülikooli 18, 50090 Tartu

+372 737 6115

E-post: isu@ut.ee

https://isu.ut.ee

MA Philosophy

When you join the University of Tartu Department of Philosophy, you’ll be joining a highly ranked department (within the top 200 philosophy departments in the world according to the QS University Rankings) whose researchers work to address important philosophical questions of these various sorts using the tools of philosophical inquiry. The Department invites candidates (both those with a background in philosophy and those with a background in another discipline) to train in the use of these tools and to acquire knowledge of the contemporary debates currently unfolding between theorists on these and related matters.

A student admitted to our programme develops these skills and this knowledge by pursuing an amalgamation of study and supervised research tailored to their background and where they want to use these skills after graduating. Graduates of our programme work in organisations that require the skills our programme trains such as start-ups, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and research universities.

MA Philosophy

Focus area:	Philosophy, ethics, theology	Coordinating unit at UT	School of Theology and Religious Studies, Department of Philosophy
Study Field:	Humanities	Course Leader	Anastasiia Babash, Junior Research Fellow
Format	Summer course	Location	Tartu, Estonia

Course dates:	31- 10 August 2023	Apply by:	30 April 2023
ECTS:	2	Fee:	550 €
Study group	advanced BA, MA, PhD	Language	English

Lecturers:

Anastasiia Babash, University of Tartu

The course aims to cover the past, present, and future of cyber love and cybersex.

After the brief overlook on the main discussions in philosophy and ethics of love and sex, the course will follow to the very beginning of digital technologies and how do cyber love and cybersex have become possible. It will explore the nature of cyberspace and its specific features that create similarities and differences between online and offline romantic and sexual relationships. We will focus on them and, thus, discuss such questions as to whether virtual reality is perceived or imagined, or something in between, whether the touch is mediated or immediate sense in cyberspace, etc.

The course will also explore different moral views on cyber love and cybersex in the very beginning of the use of digital technologies and how they have changed by today. It will focus on different moral dilemmas and concrete cases to understand how we are building in real-time the contemporary ethics of digital technologies.It will also discuss how do cyber love and cybersex have influenced love and sex generally and what are the future trends. In the course, we also discuss how philosophers, ethicists, and theologians could possibly influence the development of digital technologies and shape them.Therefore, the preliminary program includes these topics that will be covered during one full study week at the beginning of August (1-5 of August):

philosophy of love and sex: a short introduction into the history of research and how does cyber love and cybersex challenge the existing definitions;
philosophy of technology: the nature of cyber space, its ontology and phenomenology and, specifically, how does cyberspace make possible and influence relationships online;
theology of love and sex: a short introduction into the history of religious views on love and sex and contemporary discussions of cyber love and cybersex in the main religions;
ethics of cyber love and cybersex: online cheating, dating apps, parasocial relationships, online sex work, and cyber rape;
possible future relationships with technologies:love and sex with robots.

The course presupposes the short preliminary readings that will be sent closer to the dates of the school, as well as the active participation in the seminars. The course is built around student interactions and discussions. We will also have a cultural program altogether that includes watching movies related to the topic, playing games, etc.

The students can participate in cultural programme events in the evenings.

Entry requirements:

Online application form
Motivation letter (up to 1 page) that demonstrates the applicant’s motivation to participate, his/her expectations about the programme, how participation in the summer programme relates to his/her studies and interests, and how the applicant plans to use the gained experience and knowledge in the future.
Transcript of academic records
Copy of passport

PS: Only complete applications including all annexes submitted by the deadline will be considered for selection.

After successful completion of the summer course the student:

is familiar with the main developments of contemporary philosophy, ethics, and theology of love and sex;
has an overview of the contemporary philosophical and theological discussions on cyber love and cybersex in particular;
is able to argue in favour or against various moral dilemmas that have arisen and continue to arise when digital technologies are transforming the ways we fall in love and have sex;
is able to construct their own argumentative views on cyber love and cybersex;

Two weeks prior to the start of the programme an information file will be sent to all participants. This file contains the daily schedule and relevant contact information of the programme managers.

Students are responsible for their travel, accommodation and travel insurance (visa arrangements if needed) from their home country to Tartu and back to their home country. It is recommended to visit the Tartu Welcome Centre website and arrival and housing section to find accommodation opportunities.

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