180028 SE Readings in Political Cybernetics (2022W)

Cybernetics is both a historical scientific field and a general worldview. Martin Heidegger once famously proclaimed that cybernetics represents the end of philosophy, understood as Western Metaphysics. It is the end of philosophy because metaphysical thinking is overcome by the global technical system in which we live. It therefore encapsulates and influences many aspects of our lives: our work (think of electronic performance management), love life (think of all those dating apps), social life (think of social media), but also, and perhaps foremost, political life. It is even with political life that original cybernetic thinking started, namely in the work by philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, who likened political governance to the steering of a ship, in which the primary role way played by the Kubernetes, the pilot.

This course focuses on the political implications of the cybernetic worldview: how cybernetics informs our thinking about politics, but also how our political systems are shaped by cybernetic principles.

The course focuses on a number of core readings that should give students a comprehensive insight into the topic of political cybernetics. It starts with an exploration of the origins of political cybernetics in political philosophy. Continuing, it looks at a variety of philosophical critiques aimed at evaluating the significance of the cybernetic paradigm. The course then turns to exploring historical examples of cybernetic systems used in governance, such as Cybersyn in Chile. Following this, it looks at how cybernetics has impacted contemporary political and legal philosophy, such as the thought of Carl Schmitt. With this in mind, the course discusses several paradigmatic cybernetic systems that have emerged in the 21st century:

The course uses methods of philosophical reflection, argumentation, empirical and historical research, and political philosophy.