Marie Hirsch
Applied Ethics, Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of Passau
Brief description of my doctoral project
Autonomy has long been considered the cornerstone of individual and democratic selfdetermination. Yet in contemporary public and scientific discourse, the term is increasingly ascribed to AI systems, for example to denote machines’ independence from human control. I argue that this is a metaphorical shift shaping human thought and action. When we speak of ‘autonomous’ systems, we project notions associated with human autonomy onto new technologies, which in turn affects our understanding of human autonomy. In my research, I explore the consequences of this ‘autonomy metaphor’ in the age of AI on our self-conception as autonomous beings, the accompanying ethical implications, and the potential for further development in philosophical metaphorology.