Essay Prize for Michael Klenk and Martin Sand

Michael Klenk and Martin Sand recently received an Essay Prize for their research on responsibility and technology. 

The question “What Technology?” stood in the fore of this year’s Essay Prize Competition of the Hannover Institute of Philosophical Research. Two postdoctoral researchers from the Department of Values, Technology and Innovation, Michael Klenk and Martin Sand, provided an original answer to this question in their essay “Prometheus’ Legacy: Responsibility and Technology” to win the First Prize in this competition.

In their essay, Klenk and Sand establish a more nuanced view of the relationship between responsibility and technology by arguing that technology is not only the cause but also the result of responsible acting. Through the prism of the antique myth of Prometheus, they suggest to pose the question “Why technology?” first, before asking “What technology?”

The Prize, which is endowed with 3000 Euros, will be ceremonially awarded on September 13th in Hildesheim, Germany.