Miranda Fricker's concept of epistemic injustice aims at injustices towards a person or a group that affect their status as knowers. We will read her book, as well as its reception. In the second half of the seminar, we will examine fields of application in science, medicine, politics, in digitalization processes, as well as in urban planning.

Building practices have often been associated with utopian visions and promises of a more just way of living together. But to what extent can the built environment contribute to a better society? What role can mathematical models or data analyses play in questions of distributive justice in the city? Is it ever possible to build sustainably, or is building always also destroying the environment?

What do we owe nature or the natural environment? Preserving nature is essential for our continued existence and well-being as human beings. But other species and landscapes are also worth preserving for their own sake. If that is true, what sacrifices can be morally required of us for the sake of nature, and how can these sacrifices be justly distributed among different social groups?

The course will provide an overview on the city in the history of philosophy. We will reflect on its role as a political achievement, as a technological artefact (e.g. as the product of Big Data or biomimetic construction), and as an ecosystem. Subsequently, we will discuss challenges around the compatibility of these differing aspects of the city.

We all have intuitions about whether something is just or unjust and why. In this seminar, we will discuss, analyse and respectfully critique such intuitions. Philosophy offers a wide range of analytic tools that can serve for that purpose. We will focus on examples relevant to STEM students.