[davesims]

Yeah, point taken. Or maybe each one as a graduate seminar or something. That said it seemed to me a number of topics in the UVA course descriptions were just as specific. Anyway, these were just titles I pulled out of the air, to get in the ballpark of issues closer to my philosophical bent.

The real problem is that there aren't any core texts for Philosophy of Computers, so just about anything you put together is going to end up looking like research.

I think though for a curriculum I would like to see more basic Philosophy of Technology and applied philosophical principles, particularly the ontological status of code and programs, and how we might relate Aristotelian notions of form to things like object hierarchies.

[FreakLegion]

I can't say I've seen any seminars that were quite so specific (plenty of conferences, though!), but now that you mention it I have seen a few built around someone's work in progress. Those were, as a rule, amazing experiences, with the caveat that the topic was still broad enough that everyone involved could carve out their own path.

I'd probably favor a more Deleuzian vocabulary myself, but it'd be interesting to see where someone who ran with your ideas ended up regardless.

[davesims]

Deleuze -- yes, now we're talkin! There's a whole raft of phenomenologists I'd like to work in. Levinas, Jonas, Borgmann...

So, I just need to go get a PhD, write my dissertation on the Phenomenology of Code, then find a position against all odds at some research university, get tenure, help write a Philosophy of Computers and Technology curriculum...

[FreakLegion]

Your odds might not be so bad. It's a tough market for anyone working in traditional (read: overcrowded) areas [1], but there are precious few folks working in the intersections, particularly between the arts and sciences [2]. Of course, you'd have to be willing to live below the poverty line for a while!

I highly recommend working up some paper abstracts and pitching them to conferences to gauge interest. There are plenty of organizers who won't care that you aren't affiliated with a university, and that would be a great chance for you to get in a room and chat with others who share your interest.

1. http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the-Huma/448...

2. Purely anecdotal, but I've taken Ph.D. phil and lit seminars at Berkeley and UO, and never encountered another student who could even code. They must exist, but they're rare.

[davesims]

Ha, yeah it's that poverty line problem (not to mention the geographical volatility) that kept me out of academics and embedded (as it were) in the front lines of software development. Not conducive to the raising of the kids. Maybe someday...