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The Campus of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics on 30 November 2023 - Day 1 of the BudPT 23 Conference. Photo: BUTE Official Facebook

BudPT25: Budapest Workshop on Philosophy and Technology

BudPT25 is coming!

Dates: 27-28 November 2025, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

The fifth Budapest Workshop on Philosophy of Technology will seek to explore a wide variety of topics connected to the Ethics of AI, Epistemology of Engineering and the Metaphysics of Artifacts. Any other high-quality submissions in the field of philosophy of technology are welcome.

You can present at the workshop by submitting an abstract, which will be peer-reviewed. Abstracts are welcome in the following topics:

• philosophy of AI: ethics, epistemology, metaphysics
• general philosophy of technology
  • epistemology of engineering
  • tacit knowledge in engineering
  • ontology and metaphysics of technology

Special Theme - AI at War

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) are no longer science fiction: we can say that they are part of our current reality.

The emergence of LAWS marks a profound transformation in the nature of warfare, bringing urgent philosophical, ethical, sociopolitical, and technological questions to the forefront. No longer confined to the realm of science fiction, autonomous systems are now actively reshaping the theater of conflict. Ethical debates around responsibility, bias, and accountability, the dual-use dilemma of AI research, and the shifting boundaries between human and machine agency call for a multi-layered investigation.

This track encourages contributions to explore the representation of AI in warfare across literature, film, video games, and other media, recognizing that cultural narratives both reflect and shape public understandings and moral intuitions about emerging military technologies.

In this special track, in line with the nature of the conference we focus on the philosophical questions surrounding these machines, such as:

• LAWS in historical and modern contexts
• Arguments for and against a ban on LAWS
• The permissibility conditions of development of LAWS
• The permissibility conditions of usage of LAWS
• Machine ethics of LAWS: the issues of bias, fairness, explainability, trustworthiness in the context of AI at War
• Dual use technologies
• The transformation of soldiering and military ethics in the face of automation
• Speculations about the future of LAWS
• Understanding deeper human values and virtues in light of LAWS

Special Theme - Medical Technologies: Curing and Caring

The special track titled ‘Medical Technologies: Curing and Caring’ aims to bring together scholars from various fields focusing on the philosophical, historical, sociological, and communicative role of technology in the medical sciences. From functional and malfunctional medical instruments to ethical dilemmas posed by risky technologies, the influence of technological advancement on our physical and mental health is enormous. The track highlights that these questions cannot be reduced to a single discipline, since they require a much more nuanced analysis that can scrutinize ethical, technical, and philosophical problems simultaneously.

This track also aims to investigate the representational level of medical developments in the arts, media, and popular culture, since, from period dramas to science fiction, many genres reflect on the past, present, and future of health and healing.

The program committee proposes the following themes (including, but not limited to):

• Historical analysis of medical instruments
• Philosophy of medicine
• Values in medical diagnosis and processes
• Bias in medical research
• Application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine
• Technological and ethical aspects of end-of-life decisions
• Gendered medical instruments
• Maintenance and repair studies
• Medical humanities
• Medical progress in the arts, popular culture, and media

If you apply to the special track, please indicate in your submission!

Local Organizing Committee

• Mihály Héder - associate professor - chair of the committee
• Alexandra Karakas - assistant professor
• Eszter Nádasi - assistant professor
• Gellért Nagy  - PhD Student
• Márton Pluzsik - PhD Student
• Marcell Sebestyén - PhD Student