Philipp Höfele

The aim of the project is to discuss artificial intelligence in relation to nature and to negotiate the related (environmental) ethical questions that arise in the face of the challenges of the 21st century and, in particular, the so-called Anthropocene. The research project will be based on three hypotheses: (a) From a theoretical point of view, the hypothesis is that the idea of nature-oriented technologies can be found early in philosophical reflections on technology, but that it is only in the present age that it has acquired a prominent importance – on the one hand with regard to the technical possibilities of imitation, especially in the fields of biomimetics and artificial intelligence, and on the other hand with regard to the need for sustainable solutions oriented towards nature. (b) This implies a second practical-normative hypothesis: in the present age, technical orientation towards nature is often accompanied by practical-normative assumptions, namely that these technologies offer ‘better’ solutions compared to ‘traditional’ technologies. (c) Finally, this project assumes that nature-oriented technologies, and especially AI systems, tell us something about the relationship between nature and technology in general. They help to learn something in theoretical and practical-ethical terms regarding the nature-technology relationship as a whole and to fundamentally rethink traditional anthropocentric hierarchies.