Course Information
This core course aims to address the why of regulating digital technologies. We reflect on the broad societal implications of digital technologies, and how they mediate what we consider to be worth striving for, or worth protecting - and, consequently, what requires legal regulation.
As technologies may disrupt established practices and bring forth unintended consequences that are not, or even cannot, always be adequately addressed by existing regulation, students will be trained in identifying, analyzing and providing advice on ethical dilemmas that arise with the embedding of digital technologies in almost all of our interactions.
Given the current developments (both in technology and regulation), the course will have a special focus on Artificial Intelligence. We reflect on the relation between ethics and the development of relevant legal frameworks, such as data protection law and the AI Act.
Course topics:
What is ethics, and what is its status or authority? Moral versus legal reasoning (Meta-ethics)
Some main ethical frameworks and concepts: utilitarianism, deontology, theories of justice (Rawls), virtue ethics
How do law, technology and ethics relate in the regulatory landscape?
(Moral) norms and values embedded in technology (mediation theory, Value Sensitive Design)
Anticipating impact of technologies (Collingridge’s dilemma; technologies as “social experiments)
Characteristic ethical issues around Artificial Intelligence
Course objectives
The course aims to develop knowledge and understanding of ethical concepts and thinking relevant for legal professionals in the domain of digital technologies. While this course does not aim to be a general introduction to ethics and ethical theories, it will provide pointers to -mostly western European- normative ethical frameworks and concepts, which can be seen to underly European legal frameworks relevant for digital technologies. An important part of the course is dedicated to understanding how technology mediates values and norms, and some specific normative aspects related to digital technologies.
Achievement levels
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of key ethical concepts relevant to digital technologies and the European legal frameworks for digital technologies.
- Identify and describe relationships between normative aspects of digital architectures and ethical considerations - in particular for AI.
- Identify and analyze specific normative challenges around digital technologies - in particular AI - and provide basic arguments how ethical, technical and legal interventions could contribute to resolving them.
- Read, ask basic questions about and reflect on relevant non-legal readings and materials
- Discuss ethical implications of digital technologies with proficient awareness and reflection on different disciplinary, cultural and personal positionalities.
Mode of instruction
The course will have 6 sessions: 4 plenary "interactive lecture" sessions, and 2 sessions with class discussions and activities in smaller groups.
In preparation as well as in-class, students are expected to actively engage with a curated collection of readings and other materials from different relevant disciplines.
The learning method relies on active and critical reading and engagement with non-legal perspectives on the impacts of digital technologies.
Specific attention will be paid to balancing cultural diversity and disciplinary differences in assessing and resolving relevant normative tensions.
Students are explicitly asked to bring in, and reflect on, their own positionality in terms of knowledge and (life) experience.
The group will be split in smaller subgroups in one or more sessions, to facilitate optimal interaction and exchange of ideas (students learning from and about each other).
Course Requirement
Master Degree
Timetable
The timetable of this course will be available for students in MyTimetable
Brightspace
More information on this course is offered in Brightspace
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory as specified in Article 5.1 of the Course and Examination Regulations of the Master of Laws Advanced Studies Programmes
Examination Method
In term assignment: individual reflective portfolio (pass/fail; pass required for participation in final graded assignment)
Take home assignment (individual) followed by in-person group discussion (100%)
Required reading list
See Brightspace
As the field is rapidly and continuously evolving, the set of course materials will be updated every year and communicated on Brightspace at the start of the course. Course materials will include academic articles, podcasts, documentaries and/or web lectures.
For the introduction to ethics and ethical theories, we will work with the book (and lecture recordings):
Sandel Michael J. 2009. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Justice with Michael Sandel – recorded lecture series at Harvard: https://scholar.harvard.edu/sandel/justice
In case you want to prepare for the course, here are articles that may or may not be part of the exam materials, but that will probably be referenced in the lectures (among others):
Langdon Winner, Do Artifacts Have Politics? Daedalus, Vol. 109, No. 1, Modern Technology: Problem or Opportunity? (Winter,1980), pp. 121-136
Peter-Paul Verbeek (2015) ‘Beyond Interaction: A Short Introduction to Mediation Theory’. Interactions 22:3, pp. 26-31 ISSN 1072-5520 (download here)
van de Poel, I. (2016). An Ethical Framework for Evaluating Experimental Technology. Science and Engineering Ethics, 22(3), 667–686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-015-9724-3
Nissenbaum, H. (2001). How Computer Systems Embody Values. Computer, 34(3), 119-120. https://doi.org/10.1109/2.910905 (available here)
Richards, Neil M. and King, Jonathan, Three Paradoxes of Big Data (September 3, 2013). 66 Stanford Law Review Online 41 (2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2325537
Helen Nissenbaum. 1996. Accountability in a computerized society. Science and engineering ethics 2, 1 (1996), 25–42.
Binns, R. (2018). Fairness in Machine Learning: Lessons from Political Philosophy. in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 81:149-159 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/binns18a.html.
European Commission High-Level expert group Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI (2019). Available here.
Weblectures Jeroen van den Hoven: Introduction to Value Sensitive Design (part 1, part 2), Applying Value Sensitive Design (VSD part 3) and Introduction to Responsible Innovation (11 minutes)
Some other recommended non-course materials if you want to prepare for the course:
Kate Crawford, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, 2021. Yale University Press
Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction, 2016. Crown Books.
Novel: Dave Eggers, The Circle (2013) and The Every (2021)
Novels: Sierra Greer, Annie Bot (2024); Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (2021); Ian McEwan, Machines Like Me (2019);
Series: Black Mirror (Netflix). Person of Interest.
Series: The Good Place (Netflix)
Movie: Stanley Kubrick, 2001 A Space Odyssee
Movie: Minority Report (2002)
Contact information
Programme Coordinator
Ms Patricia Garcia Fernandez
Telephone number: 0031- 71 527 4228
E-mail: lawanddigitaltechnologies@law.leidenuniv.nl
Course Coordinator
Dr Francien Dechesne
f.dechesne@law.leidenuniv.nl
“Disclaimer:
Should there be any future extenuating circumstances which may impinge our teaching and assessment, these could necessitate modification of the course descriptions after 1 September. This will only happen in the event of strict necessity and the interests of the students will be taken into account. Should there be a need for any change during the course, this will be informed to all students on a timely basis. Modifications after 1 September 2025 may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.