On Friday, 29 July, the Institute for Contemporary Ethics (ICE), associated with the School of Philosophy, was launched. The launch was attended by the Chair, the Steering Committee, Prof. Mirna Nel – the Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation, and Prof. Nnenesi Kgabi – Director of Research Support, on behalf of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for […]

On Friday, 29 July, the Institute for Contemporary Ethics (ICE), associated with the School of Philosophy, was launched. The launch was attended by the Chair, the Steering Committee, Prof. Mirna Nel – the Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation, and Prof. Nnenesi Kgabi – Director of Research Support, on behalf of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation.

Prof. Tapiwa Chagonda, the Director of the Centre for Data Ethics (CDE) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), gave the keynote address, emphasising the crucial need for the Humanities to engage with the ethics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Whereas the CDE and other similar institutes in South Africa are driven by questions of opacity, accountability and the exclusivity of algorithmic processes and data mining and usage, ICE distinguishes itself by addressing posthuman ethical questions, such as the ecological crisis and its co-imbrication with society and technology. This includes, for example, the carbon footprint of server farms and the environmental destruction brought about by cobalt extraction. These practices highlight not only the potential negative consequences of human-technology-environment entanglements, but also the need for addressing these in terms of global South specific frameworks. To this end, ICE’s mission is to find more ethical ways to live meaningful, just lives by establishing a hub for trans- and interdisciplinary research.

ICE is run by the current Chair, Prof. Chantelle Gray, and the ICE Steering Committee, consisting of Prof. Anné Verhoef (also the Director of the School of Philosophy), Ms Amantle Mothelesi, Drs Aïda Terblanché-Greeff and Yolandi Coetser, and Prof. Jean du Toit. Currently, the Programme Manager is Dr Matthias Pauwels, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Philosophy.