A hybrid event for Uehiro Oxford Institute Members and Associates (booking not required).
Abstract
The work of philosophy in the age of mechanical reproduction.
Abstract: Some philosophers have worried that AI threatens meaning in life by making humans redundant in the workplace or by relegating them to menial tasks. While these worries may be justified, there's no reason to think AI threatens meaning in human life generally. In this paper, however, I argue that AI can threaten what has been called superlative meaning, at least in some domains. I argue that philosophy is a source of superlative meaning for those who engage in it as a vocation, and that if AI comes to be better than us at answering philosophical questions, philosophy can no longer be a source of such meaning for us. I consider attempts to rescue superlative meaning for philosophy, by finding a role for us, or by arguing that philosophy isn't the sort of thing that can be done for someone else, and find them wanting. I finish by asking how bad the death of superlative meaning would be.
Speaker
Professor Neil Levy, Senior Research Fellow, Uehiro Oxford Institute
Venue
Uehiro Oxford Institute, Suite 1 Seminar Area, Littlegate House, 16-17 St Ebbe’s Street, Oxford OX1 1PT (buzzer 1)
Zoom
Please attend in-person if you can. If you need to join online, the Zoom link is available from the Institute's Internal Google Calendar, or on request from vara.raturi@tss.ox.ac.uk
