Dr. Jason Branford

Jason Branford is a research associate (postdoc) in the Ethics in Information Technology (EIT) research group at the Department of Informatics, Universität Hamburg.

In his doctoral dissertation (LMU Munich), Jason sought to shift the focus in the human enhancement debate from the enhancing of human bodies to the enhancing of human lives. In particular, following Dewey, he emphasised the socially embedded character of human life and argued that this ought shape the way we think about both enhancing it, and the kinds of considerations that should be brought to bare on existing proposals for enhancing particular forms of human functionality.

His current research focuses on the moral dimensions of existing and emerging technologies (particularly AI). This has two streams. In the first, Jason considers to what extent such technologies might aid or hinder moral agency as a vital aspect of moral and social progress. In the second, he explores ethical and epistemological dimensions of affective computing and AI, particularly as a socialised and situated phenomenon.

• Social and Moral Philosophy
• Computer Ethics
• Bioethics (Human Enhancement)
• Pragmatism (Dewey)
• Science and Technology Studies

• Winter 2021/22 | SE (Bachelor) Ethics Workshop: Doing Ethics Assessments in Informatics
• Summer 2021 | LECT+SE (Bachelor) Ethics & IT
• Winter 2019/20 | SE (BA+MA) Foundations of Normative Ethics and Solving Moral Problems (Venice International University, Co-taught))
• Summer 2019 | SE (BA+MA) Cosmopolitanism and the Nation (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Co-taught)
• Winter 2018/19 | SE (MA) Moral Progress (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Co-taught)
• Summer 2018 | SE (BA+MA) John Rawls: Justice as Fairness (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Co-taught)
• Winter 2017/18 | SE (BA) Academic Writing in Philosophy (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)