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Philosophical aspects of manipulation

Veranstaltungstyp:Seminar (Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen)

Beschreibung:In all social groups, people try to make other people doing things. Parents want their children to eat healthy food; lecturers try to make their students read papers and books; companies try to sell (and thereby make people buy) their products; politicians want to be elected by the voters; (nearly) everyone wants someone to like him especially (and some are more or less creative in finding methods to bring that about).
There are different ways of how you can have an influence on other people’s behavior and/or thoughts and emotions: e.g. reasonable persuasion, brute force, various forms of coercion – and manipulation, of course. Manipulation occurs in practically all social contexts and certainly deserves philosophical scrutiny. We probably all have an intuitive conception of what manipulation is: Lying to someone to make him behave in a particular way seems to be a manipulative act, for instance. But do all acts of manipulation entail a lie? Drinking sweet brown lemonade is hardly intrinsically related to meeting young attractive people on sports events, but coupling these notions to each other in a commercial increases selling rates. Is that manipulation? Does it entail a lie? Is all advertising manipulative – perhaps especially when tailored to individuals like in internet marketing? Or in a more intimate context: Putting on a special perfume may very well be part of an effective seduction strategy – but does that make it a manipulative act?
So what exactly is manipulation? How is it related to coercion, persuasion, rationality, emotions, and autonomy? Is all manipulation morally wrong? Or are there benevolent forms of manipulation? What about exploiting mechanisms known from social psychology in order to lead someone to make better decisions (“nudge”)? May there be unconscious forms of manipulation? And is it possible to manipulate oneself, perhaps by using fitness trackers?
Questions like these will be discussed in the seminar, mainly based on papers collected in
Christian Coons and Michael Weber (eds.): “Manipulation. Theory and Practice”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
A copy of this book is stored in the Semesterapparat “Meyer: Autonomy” in the new library on the Westerberg (2. floor). You cannot borrow it, but have access to the papers.
Additionally, we will talk about Cass Sunstein’s and Richard Thaler’s famous idea of “nudging”, which also has strong economic and political consequences. You find the respective papers in Stud.IP. For copyright reasons, they are enclosed in an encrypted zip-folder – sorry for the inconvenience. To get the password, just write me a short mail (or wait for the first lesson). Also for copyright reasons: Please do not distribute the papers.
Participants are asked to give a presentation on the basis of a paper and to deliver a short written elaboration to get 4 credits. Depending on the number of participants, it may perhaps be possible to give another presentation instead of writing an elaboration. You can (but need not) give your presentation together with a partner. The list of topics and time slots has already been uploaded, you can sign up for a topic.

Ort:93/E07

Semester:WiSe 2015/16

Zeiten:Fr. 10:00 - 12:00 (wöchentlich)
Erster Termin:Freitag, 16.10.2015 10:00 - 12:00, Ort: 93/E07

Veranstaltungsnummer:8.3238

Empfohlenes Semester:ab 3. Semester

ECTS-Kreditpunkte:4