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Cornell University

Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering

Curriculum Vitae — Trystan S. Goetze

Director of the Bovay Program in the History & Ethics of Professional Engineering at Cornell University
Last updated: October 2023

Contact Information

Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Work Address: 136 Hoy Road, Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall, Room 194, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA
ORCiD: 0000-0002-3435-3264
Personal Website
Bovay Program Website

Social Media Accounts

Philosophical Research & Teaching Areas

Specialization

  • Moral Philosophy, especially Responsibility and the Ethics of Technology (including artificial intelligence)
  • Epistemology, especially Epistemic Injustice

Competence

  • Normative Ethics
  • Meta-Ethics
  • Feminist Philosophy
  • History of Western Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Education
  • Interdisciplinary Studies

Academic Employment

Cornell University

  • Senior Lecturer in the Ethics of Engineering. 2023–Present.
  • Director of the Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering. 2023–Present.

Harvard University

  • Lecturer on Philosophy. Spring 2023.
  • Postdoctoral Fellow of Embedded EthiCS. 2021–23.

Dalhousie University

  • Assistant Professor (Limited-Term) of Philosophy and Computer Science. Spring 2020 and Fall 2020.
  • Banting Postdoctoral Fellow Scholar in Philosophy. 2019–21.

Honorary, Affiliate, Visiting, and Special Appointments

  • Affiliated Faculty, Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University. 2023–Present.
  • Affiliated Researcher, Computer Science Education Research Cluster, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University. 2020–21.
  • Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield. 2018–21.
  • Visiting Research Scholar, Philosophy Program, Graduate Center, City University of New York. Fall 2017.

Education

Ph.D. in Philosophy

Institution: University of Sheffield
Year Awarded: 2018
Supervisor: Miranda Fricker (now at New York University)
Thesis: Conceptual Responsibility

M.A. in Social Justice Education

Institution: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Year Awarded: 2014
Supervisor: Eric Bredo
Thesis: Theory vs. Practice: Conceptions of the University and Contemporary Challenges

M.A. in Philosophy

Institution: York University
Year Awarded: 2013

Honours Bachelor of Knowledge Integration with Joint Honours in Philosophy

Institution: University of Waterloo
Year Awarded: 2012
Certificate in French Language, Level 2

Teaching

Cornell University

  • ENGRG 3600 Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice (cross-listed in Science & Technology Studies and Philosophy). Every Spring semester. 2024–Present.
  • Ethics Sessions in ENGRG 1050 Engineering Seminar. Every Fall semester. 2023–Present.

Guest Lectures in Engineering Courses

  • MAE 6130 Engineered Living Materials. Fall 2023. Topic: Bioengineering Decisions and Disaster Relief.
  • ENGRC 3027 Cross-cultural Communications and Ethics in the Workplace, 2 sections. Fall 2023. Topic: Value-Sensitive Design.
  • ENGRC 3500 Engineering Communications. Fall 2023. Topic: Value-Sensitive Design and Communicating Ethical Concerns at Work.

Harvard University

Course

  • PHI 166 Ethics of Computing Technologies (upper-division). Spring 2023. Download syllabus.

Embedded EthiCS Modules

Thesis Supervision

Student: Melissa Kwan, Joint Concentrator in Computer Science and Philosophy. Topic: The epistemology of social media content algorithms. 2021–22.

Athabasca University

Co-developer, AI Ethics Micro-Credential, for PowerED. Four self-paced online courses:

  • AI Ethics: An Overview
  • Data Ethics
  • Machine Learning Models and Ethical Design
  • Roboethics

Dalhousie University

Courses

  • Directed Studies in Computer Science: The Ethics of Privacy Policies (senior undergraduate). Winter 2021.
  • Social, Ethical, and Professional Issues in Computer Science (lower-division philosophy, upper-division computer science). Fall 2020. Online asynchronous.
  • Social, Ethical, and Professional Issues in Computer Science (lower-division philosophy, upper-division computer science). Winter 2020. Face-to-face instruction interrupted by COVID-19 pandemic.

University of Sheffield

Instructor or Co-Instructor

  • Philosophical Projects: Epistemic Injustice (Year 3 undergraduate), Spring 2017.
  • Matters of Life and Death (Year 1 undergraduate), Fall 2016.

Tutor or Graduate Teaching Assistant

  • History of Ethics (Year 1 undergraduate), Spring 2016.
  • History of Western Philosophy (Year 1 undergraduate), Spring 2016.
  • Matters of Life and Death (Year 1 undergraduate), Fall 2015.
  • Knowledge, Justification, and Doubt (Year 1 undergraduate), Fall 2015.
  • Key Arguments in the History of Philosophy (Year 1 undergraduate), Spring 2014.

Publications

My publications, with abstracts, on PhilPeople.

Items marked with an (*) asterisk received some form of anonymous peer-review (typically double- or triple-anonymous review); others received only editorial review.

Journal Articles

Conference Proceedings in Computing & Engineering

Book Chapters

  • (*) OK, Google, Can I Trust You? An Anti-Trust Argument for Antitrust. In The Moral Psychology of Trust, eds. David Collins, Iris Vidmar Jovanović, and Mark Alfano. Lexington Books (2023). 237–57.
  • (*) Hermeneutical Justice for Extremists?. In The Philosophy of Fanaticism: Epistemic, Affective, and Political Dimensions, eds. Leo Townsend, Ruth Rebecca Tietjen, Hans Bernhard Schmid, and Michael Staudigl. Routledge (2022). 88–108. DOI: 10.4324/9781003119371-7. Co-author: Charlie Crerar.
  • Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice. In Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 84, eds. Simon Barker, Charlie Crerar, and Trystan S. Goetze. Cambridge University Press (2018). 1–21. DOI: 10.1017/S1358246118000528. Co-authors: Simon Barker and Charlie Crerar.

Edited Book

  • Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 84. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2018). Co-editors: Simon Barker and Charlie Crerar. Contributors: Alison Bailey, Olivia Bailey, Simon Barker, Heather Battaly, Havi Carel, Quassim Cassam, Charlie Crerar, Miranda Fricker, Trystan S. Goetze, Heidi Grasswick, Keith Harris, Casey Rebecca Johnson, Ian James Kidd, and Alessandra Tanesini.

Book Reviews

Professional Blog Posts

Works in Progress

  • A New Sheriff in Town: Hermeneutical Injustice, Conceptual Ethics, and the “Wild West of the Mind”
  • A.I. Art is Theft: Creative Labour, Data Colonialism, and the Fallacy of the Digital Commons
  • Epistemic Blame is Moral Blame

Awards, Grants, and Prizes

The following currency symbols are used below:

  • US$ = US Dollars
  • CA$ = Canadian Dollars
  • £ = Pounds Sterling

Research Funding

  • Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. CA$ 140,000. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). 2019–21.

Scholarships

  • University Prize Scholarship. £ 101,510. University of Sheffield. 2014–17.
  • Research Training Support Grant. £ 5,000. 2014–17.
  • Declined (incompatible with award from University of Sheffield): Doctoral Fellowship. CA$ 80,000. SSHRC. 2014.
  • Declined (tenable only at Canadian institution): Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Doctoral Level. CA$ 105,000. SSHRC. 2014.
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship. CA$ 15,000. University of Toronto. 2013–14.
  • University Graduate Scholarship, Upper Tier. CA$ 10,000. York University. 2012–13.
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Masters Level. CA$ 17,500. SSHRC. 2012–13.
  • Declined (incompatible with award from SSHRC): Ontario Graduate Scholarship. CA$ 15,000. York University. 2013–14.

Prizes, Awards, and Honours

  • Honorable Mention for ‘Philosophy from Alpha Centauri: Anaxamanda’s Thesis’, Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories Book Launch Flash Fiction Contest. 2021.
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence, European Commission. 2019.
  • Graduate Student Travel Stipend. US$ 300. American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. 2019.
  • Graduate Student Travel Stipend. US$ 300. American Philosophical Association, Central Division. 2019.
  • Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Academic Excellence Award. CA$ 2,000. University of Toronto. 2013.
  • Degree Dean’s Honours List. University of Waterloo (roughly equivalent to first-
    class honours or summa cum laude). 2012.
  • Judy Wubnig Undergraduate Essay Prize in History of Philosophy. CA$ 500.
    University of Waterloo. 2012.
  • Department of Philosophy Fourth Year Prize. CA$ 100. University of Waterloo. 2012.

Competitive Event Organization Grants

  • Royal Institute of Philosophy Departmental Conference Grant for Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice. £ 5,000. 2016.
  • Analysis Trust Conference Grant for Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice. £ 500. 2016.
  • Society for Women in Philosophy UK Conference Grant for Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice. £ 150. 2016.
  • White Rose College of Arts and Humanities Student-Led Forum Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 2,000. 2015.
  • Mind Association Major Conference Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 1,000. 2015.
  • British Society of Aesthetics Small Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 1,000. 2015.
  • Analysis Trust Conference Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 500.
  • Society for Applied Philosophy Conference Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 500. 2015.
  • Society for Women in Philosophy UK Conference Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 150. 2015.
  • Aristotelian Society Conference Grant for Understanding Value V. £ 100.

Professional Accreditation

  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education.

Invited Presentations

  • Teaching Responsible Computing with Value-Sensitive Design, Embedded Ethics Conference, Stanford University. Co-presenter: William Cochran. 2023.
  • Value-Sensitive Design for Responsible Engineering. Cornell University. 2023.
  • Is AI Art Theft? California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. 2023.
  • Ethics of Gamification. Phillips Academy at Andover. 2023.
  • Is AI Art Theft? Department of Philosophy Talk Shop, Harvard University. 2023.
  • Embedded EthiCS at Dalhousie, panel discussion held jointly between the Department of Philosophy and the Faculty of Computer Science. Dalhousie University. 2022.
  • Value-Sensitive Design. Teaching demonstration for the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics Design Studio, Harvard University. Co-presenter: William Cochran. 2022.
  • Mind the Gap: Autonomous Systems, the Responsibility Gap, and Moral Entanglement. Stony Brook University / SUNY. 2022.
  • Embedded EthiCS @ Harvard. Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Annual Conference. 2022.
  • Integrating Ethics into Computer Science Education: Multi-, Inter-, and Transdisciplinary Approaches, Union College. 2022.
  • The Moral Emotions and Epistemic Accountability, or, Don’t Get Mad, but There is No Such Thing as (Purely) Epistemic Blame. Society for Philosophy of Emotion Symposium, Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. 2022.
  • Ethical Reasoning for Computer Scientists. Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), Harvard University. Co-presenters: Jeff Behrends and James Mickens. 2021.
  • Embedded EthiCS @ Harvard. Responsible Tech University Summit. 2021.
  • OK, Google, Can I Trust You? An Anti-Trust Argument for Antitrust. Department of Philosophy Talk Shop, Harvard University. 2021.
  • OK, Google, Can I Trust You? An Anti-trust Argument for Antitrust. Dalhousie University. 2021.
  • OK, Google, Can I Trust You? An Anti-trust Argument for Antitrust. University of King’s College. 2021.
  • Hermeneutical Justice for Extremists? Department of Philosophy Colloquium, Dalhousie University. 2021.
  • Moral Entanglement: Taking Responsibility and Vicarious Responsibility. Department of Philosophy Colloquium, Dalhousie University. 2020.
  • Epistemic Blame and Frustration, or, What’s Going Wrong in Our Debates Online? Department of Philosophy Colloquium, Dalhousie University. 2019.
  • Moral and Epistemic Responsibility for Conceptual Ignorance. Social Epistemology Working Group (SEWing Circle), University of Connecticut. 2018.
  • Inquiry and Hermeneutical Justice. Pragmatism & Feminism Workshop, University of Nottingham. 2015.

Conference Activity

Events Organized

  • Inaugural Conference of teχnē: Technology Ethics eXchange NorthEast (lead organizer). 2023.
  • Harvard / MIT Conference on Ethics in Computing and AI (lead organizer). 2022.
  • Harms and Wrongs in Epistemic Practice: Departmental Conference of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, University of Sheffield (co-lead organizer). 2017.
  • Understanding Value V, University of Sheffield (lead organizer). 2016.
  • Understanding Value IV, University of Sheffield (steering committee member). 2015.

Panels Organized

  • Teaching Philosophy to STEM Students. Teaching Hub, Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. 2023. Other participants:
    • Ryan Miller (University of Geneva)
    • Susan Kennedy (Santa Clara University)
    • Meica Magnani (Northeastern University)
    • Ana Gomez (Purdue University)
    • Katherine Valde (Wofford College)
    • Timothy Stock (Salisbury University)
  • Teaching Ethical and Humanistic Thinking in Computer Science. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2022. Other participants:
    • Jeff Behrends, J. L. A. Donohue, and William Cochran (Harvard University)
    • Darren Abramson (Dalhousie University)
    • Katrina Ingram (Ethically Aligned AI, Inc.)
    • Aaron Wright (University of King’s College)
    • Catherine Stinson (Queen’s University)
    • Sheila McIlraith, Diane Horton, and David Liu (University of Toronto)
    • Johnathan Flowers (American University)
    • Kiran Bhardwaj (Phillips Academy, Andover)

Presentations from Refereed Papers

  • AI Art is Theft. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2023.
  • Computer Ethics Education: Multi-, Inter-, and Transdisciplinary Approaches. ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), Technical Symposium. 2023.
  • Mind the Gap. ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT). 2022.
  • Bigger Isn’t Better: The Ethical and Scientific Vices of Extra-Large Datasets in Language Models. ACM Web Science Conference, Web and Philosophy Workshop. Co-author: Darren Abramson. 2021.
  • How Not to Express Epistemic Blame. American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting. 2021.
  • How Not to Express Epistemic Blame. Joint Session of the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society, Open Session. 2020.
  • Epistemic Culpability. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2019.
  • Epistemic Culpability. American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting. 2019.
  • The Shadow of Answerability: Taking Responsibility and Penumbral Agency. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2018.
  • The Structure of Hermeneutical Resources: A Reply to Critics of Hermeneutical Injustice. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2016.
  • Learning to Become Ourselves: Foucault and Dewey on Subjectivity. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2014.
  • Epistemic Justice as Epistemic Responsibility. Canadian Society for Epistemology Symposium. 2013.
  • Being Virtuous Enough, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Unity Thesis. University of Waterloo Philosophy Graduate Student Association Conference. 2013.
  • Testimonial Responsibility: Unifying and Expanding Testimonial and Hermeneutical Justice. University of Windsor Graduate Conference. 2013

Presentations from Refereed Abstracts

  • AI Art is Theft. (Dis)Trust and AI, University of Western Ontario. 2023.
  • Is AI Art Theft? Philosophy, AI, and Society Workshop, Stanford University. 2023.
  • Creating a Classroom Community with Unfamiliar Students and Limited Time. Biennial Conference of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers. Co- presenter: William Cochran. 2022.
  • What Do The “New Normals” Need To Be For An Ethical, Augmented, Online Educational Future?. Cyber Summit, Alberta. Co-presenters: Stella George, Katrina Ingram. 2021.
  • OK, Google, Can I Trust You? Accountability, Trust, and Big Tech. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2021.
  • Hermeneutical Injustice and Extremism. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. Originally accepted to the 2020 Congress, which was merged into the 2021 Congress due to COVID-19. Co-author: Charlie Crerar. 2021.
  • Hermeneutical Injustice and Extremism. Confronting Fanaticism Workshop, University of Vienna. Co-author: Charlie Crerar. 2019.
  • Conceptual Responsibility and the Ethics of Thinking. Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association. 2017.
  • Experiencing the World: John Dewey and John McDowell. Summer Institute in American Philosophy. 2015.
  • Clinical Ethics Committees as a Model for Socially Engaged and Responsible Research. Communities of Integration, Kitchener, ON. 2014.
  • Challenges and Barriers to Knowledge Mobilization in Academic Philosophy. Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum, Mississauga, ON. 2013.
  • Didactic Injustice: A New Species of Epistemic Injustice. York University Graduate Conference in Education. 2013.

Presentations from Refereed Posters

  • The Shadow of Answerability: A Reply to Enoch. American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting. 2019.

University Service

Cornell University

  • Observer, Common Curriculum Governing Board, College of Engineering. 2023–Present.

Harvard University

  • Outreach Coordinator, Embedded EthiCS. 2021–23.
  • Postdoc Member, Embedded EthiCS Faculty Committee. 2021–23.

University of Sheffield

  • Convenor, Summer Seminar Series. 2016.
  • Ph.D. Student Member, Postgraduate Affairs Committee. 2015–17.
  • Co-Chair, Philosophy International Postgraduate Students Society. 2015–17.

University of Toronto

  • Full-time M.A. Student Member, Student Advisory Committee to the Chair, Department of Social Justice Education. 2013–14.

Peer Review

  • Ethics and Information Technology
  • The Philosophical Quarterly
  • Philosophical Studies
  • Feminist Philosophy Quarterly
  • Journal of Philosophy of Disability
  • Social Epistemology
  • Journal of Philosophical Research
  • Theory and Research in Education
  • Synthese
  • Australasian Journal of Philosophy
  • Journal of the American Philosophical Association
  • Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy
  • Episteme: A Journal of Social and Individual Epistemology
  • Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
  • Moral Philosophy and Politics

Consulting

  • Keynote Speaker, Responsible AI event. Overlap Associates. 2023.
  • Educational Development and Ethics Research Consultant. Ethically Aligned AI, Inc. 2021.
  • Educational Development Consultant. YellowDig. 2021.

Outreach

Current Professional Memberships

  • Canadian Philosophical Association
  • American Philosophical Association
  • Friends of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Association for Computing Machinery. Special interest groups:
    • Computers and Society (SIGCAS)
    • Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
  • American Association of Philosophy Teachers

Academic References

  • Miranda Fricker, Professor of Philosophy, New York University.
  • Alison Simmons, Samuel H. Wolcott Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University.
  • Jeff Behrends, Associate Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar on Philosophy, Harvard University.
  • Duncan MacIntosh, Professor of Philosophy, Dalhousie University.
  • Heather Battaly, Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut.