On September 22 at 16:00 and on September 23 and 24 at 17:00, Professor Axel Gosseries, President of the Institute of Philosophy at UCLouvain (Belgium), will visit YSU for the sixth time as part of the Erasmus+ program. During the visit, he and Levon Babajanyan, Associate Professor at the YSU Chair of Social Philosophy, Ethics and Aesthetics, will deliver a lecture series titled "Political Philosophy of Digital Rights," totaling seven hours, or approximately 10 academic hours. The series aims to introduce participants to the main methods of political philosophy and their application to analyzing issues of rights, freedoms and responsibility in the digital environment.
The three-day program will cover four topics:
Methodological foundations of political philosophy - 1 hour. The introductory lecture will present the main principles of formulating questions in political philosophy, constructing arguments and evaluating opposing positions.
The justification for banning social media access for those under 15 - 2 hours. The discussion will examine the relationship between protecting minors and safeguarding their freedom of expression and access to information.
The responsibility of members of parliament for lying in parliament or on social media - 2 hours. The discussion will focus on truthfulness in political speech, democratic accountability and the justification for sanctions over public lies. It will also consider the potential risks of restricting freedom of expression and misusing oversight mechanisms.
Moral and political issues surrounding spam and ways to address them - 2 hours. The lecture will examine why unsolicited bulk messages are problematic from the perspective of recipients' time, attention, consent and personal data protection. Possible regulatory measures and the allocation of responsibility will also be discussed.
The lecture series will help participants develop critical thinking and argumentation skills, enabling them to apply theoretical approaches in political philosophy to specific issues of contemporary digital life.
