Jan Henrik Wasserziehr

Thesis: 'The Death of the Modern Self: The Technological Remaking of Humanity as a Philosophical Problem'

My thesis explores the politico-philosophical implications of contemporary technological change. I argue that both our conceptions of values and our self-conception as rational beings are in flux due to digitization and AI, destabilizing specifically modernist conceptions of freedom, rationality, and the person. Emphasizing the co-emergent nature of human being and technology as well as technology’s impact on human cognition and ability, I call for a subject-centred approach to technology ethics which recognizes the systemic dimensions of technological change and transcends modes of analyses that prioritize individual artifacts and inventions.