Keynote Speaker 2019

Dr. Alexander Fischer (University of Basel)

Clouded Thinking. On Manipulation and its Ethics

Manipulation confronts us with a loss of control by unfolding its influence beyond our rationality. But we want to decide freely, guided by a clear, rational mind. Manipulation therefore has a bad reputation: it appeals to feelings and thus obfuscates our thinking. It challenges our already limited ability of acting autonomously a bit more. In his talk Dr. Alexander Fischer is going to offer a philosophical-psychological perspective on how manipulation works and how we should evaluate it ethically.