The 2025 HCSPiP will run for students from approximately June 22 through July 5, 2025.

Mara Harrell; University of California, San Diego

There are many exciting ways that science fiction stories can be used to illustrate or inspire philosophical discussions. My favorite way is to think of an SF story as a thought experiment. In fact, this is how Ray Bradbury describes his own approach to SF writing in the introduction to The Illustrated Man. Generally, what makes good SF good is, in part, that the fantastical part of the thought experiment can be taken for granted, and the people behave in that world in a way that seems reasonable and even predictable. In this course, we will read & watch science fiction stories that help us explore questions like: What is the best society? What kinds of inequalities are tolerable? What is the best form of government?

Kathryn Petrozzo; Oakland University

Since the early days of the Law and Order and CSI franchises, there has been a meteoric rise in fascination with forensic science. The advent of true crime podcasts, internet forums, and the inundation of both nonfiction and fictional television depictions of forensic science have brought investigating crime scenes to the masses. The term “internet sleuths” has been coined to reflect the phenomenon of individuals who take detective work into their own hands and interject themselves in criminal investigations. The rise of new forensic technologies, such as DNA matching, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, are shaping this rapidly evolving field—for better and for worse.

Despite the wide-reaching recognition and entrenchment in social practices, the practice itself has come under heavy scrutiny. Critics question the scientific validity of forensic investigative techniques, going as far as to dismiss the entire field itself as pseudoscience or junk science due to the unreliable results produced by forensic testing. But is this criticism warranted? What makes science “good” science? To what extent can forensic findings be admissible evidence in court?

The aim of CSI: Philosophy is to bring forensic science to trial and interrogate the scientific, legal, philosophical, and social dimensions of this practice. Through this course, students will engage with challenging dilemmas that demonstrate how inextricably linked science, the law, ethics, and social institutions are. Students will be asked to take on the role of investigator, defendant, scientist, ethicist, and witness throughout a series of discussions, activities, simulations, structured debates, and a final presentation.

Alex Cain; University of Melbourne

Conversations in Applied Ethics is a subject in which students work in teams to analyze and construct ethical arguments relating to a series of applied ethics cases that deal with real world problems facing society today. Students learn skills (e.g. listening, responding, argument construction) necessary for productive philosophical debate and learn about issues in a variety of areas (e.g climate ethics, finance ethics, reproductive ethics).

This subject is designed to be a practical, collaborative, dialogue-based and groupwork-based subject, which prioritizes thinking within a community of inquiry. This contrasts with the traditional conception of philosophy as a solitary activity. The subject is based on the US Ethics Bowl, an inter-university competition where teams face off in debate-style discussions, but where they can agree with one another. Monday to Thursday each week will be dedicated to devising answers to four cases in applied ethics, while on Fridays the four teams (each made up of five students) will hold a debate-style discussions with one another based on the cases.