GERMAN 590 A: Machines, Algorithms, and the Human: Technology from Aristotle to AI

Spring 2026
View in MyPlan View in Time Schedule
Meeting:
Th 1:30pm - 4:20pm
SLN:
21111
Section Type:
Seminar
Joint Sections:
GLITS 450 B , GERMAN 493 A
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):
Machines, Algorithms, and the Human:
Technology from Aristotle to AI 
(GLITS 450, German 493 / 590)
5 credits (A&H)
Th 1:30-4:20
Denny 359
(Visiting Prof., University of Amsterdam, NL)
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Content

This course investigates three questions that, in the age of AI, seem more urgent than ever before: What is technology? How do we perceive it? And what is the human? --The digital era comes with unique and often unprecedented challenges in defining the limits between both technology and the human. Nevertheless, our contemporary moment in history echoes many of the perceptions, hopes, and fears about technological disruption from the past. In order to both trace continuities and understand the specificities of each of these historical moments of disruption, Aristotle’s ideas about techné are as much of interest as the phantasies about the human as a machine during the age of enlightenment or, of course, the reactions to the rise of industry and mechanization during the 19th and 20th century. The course offers a reflection on technology from authors like Plato, Aristotle, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, Johnann Wolfgang Goethe, Karl Marx, Jules Verne, E.M. Forster, Ernst Jünger, Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger, Christa Wolf, Donna Haraway, Shoshannah Zuboff, Daniel Kehlmann and others. Also, the course addresses the role of technology in a century of cinema (from Fritz Lang's Metropolis to Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2029).

 

Study material

Some of the readings will be made available through Canvas, if not indicated differently. It is expected, though, to print out material that is not read in the form of a book. This helps to establish a reading culture 'on paper and with pencil', a skill underestimated immensely. The course follows the principles of deep reading. This means that a thorough reading of the texts is expected and necessary for the course.

This said, the course is designed as a low-tech-course in which no digital equipment is needed in the classroom. Leave your phones in the bag, leave your laptops at home -- and read on paper with a pencil at hand!

You are more than invited to read the text in the original language! In this case, any edition can be used.

 

Material to be Purchased (as soon as possible!):

You need to purchade two books. From these, we will be read longer passages:

  • Verne, Jules: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, trans. David Coward, London/New York: Penguin 2018, ISBN: 978-0-141-39493-0
  • Jünger, Ernst: Storm of Steel, trans. Michael Hofmann, London/New York: Penguin 2003, ISBN: 978-0-141-18691-7

Other material will be provided on Canvas. You can find it in the timetable below (by clicking on the title).

 

Assignments

There are three assignments:

  1. Introduction of assigned material. Choose early! (weighed 25%)
  2. Individual video project presentation (Loom) (weighed 25%)
  3. Final paper (weighed 50%)

 

Assignment 1: Introduction

You will introduce one of the texts/movies we are discussing in class. Choose one at the beginning of the course and prepare a short intervention that serves as a base for the discussion. Skip questions about the author’s life. Instead, work with concerte observations!

 

Assignment 2: Video Project Presentation

You are expected to compose a 3-5-minute video presentation (not longer!) about your paper project for a final paper in week 8. You are expected to

  1. make a concrete observation based on your reading
  2. conceptualize this observation, i.e. to connect it to a ‘general’/principal/theoretical question to be discussed in your paper

You are asked to study the material in depth and sketch out a clear trajectory for the composition of your paper (think in I., II., III.).

Important: Use Loom and provide only a link, not a file to be downloaded!

 

Assignment 3: Final Paper

The word limit for your research paper is 2500 words (+/- 10%). It shall consist of two elements:

  • a reading of concrete material (literature, film, philosophy, etc.) and
  • a conceptualization of your reading, reflecting the principal problems to be derived from your reading

I recommend organizing your paper in three parts:

  1. Start with careful observation(s) about primary material.
  2. Widen the scope and conceptualize your observation(s) and bring them into dialogue with general ideas, concepts, perhaps theory that helps to inform your observation(s).
  3. Come back to the material and demonstrate what implications such ‚widening‘ of scope for the understanding your material as more than just an ‚individual case‘.

While your paper reflects your own interpretation, it must engage both with direct quotes/passages from the primary sources and with conceptual questions. Make sure that your paper contains both elements and addresses them in a transparent and convincing way. The following criteria are to be applied:

  • Primary material must be quoted in your text at least 8-10 times directly
  • At least five relevant secondary sources shall be considered in your paper. This can also include ‘theoretical’ contributions.

The paper be graded based on the quality of

  • the way you work with the material, the concepts, readings and arguments.
  • the way you factor in other 'conceptual voices' in order to shed a principal light on your reading
  • the level of originality and relevance of your chosen topic and/or object;
  • the setup, structure, coherence of argumentation.

Important: Speak with your sources, not about them. Create a dialogue!

 

Deadlines

Deadlines are deadlines. And: Planning is good for your reading and writing, always. Dealing with deadlines is an integral part of academic writing. If you foresee trouble, inform me on time. If there are reasons in your personal sphere for not being able to meet the deadline, please contact me.

Uploading your material on Canvas on time in the right version is your responsibility.

 

Feedback

You will receive written and/or audio feedback on your presentation of your project and your written paper.

 

Plagiarism & Use of AI

Your paper is a (graded) exercise that trains you ability to articulate your thoughts in organized fashion! You are not allowed to use AI in the writing process. A paper written (partially) by AI, is still easy to detect by it style. Use of AI may result (at least) in a ‘not passed’. An additional oral exam can be held in case of doubt!

 

How to prepare for class?

You are expected to prepare the material independently before coming to class. So, please read the texts (or watch the movies) carefully, take notes (on paper!), and formulate your own questions. Be ready to contribute! Everything can be said!

 

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Timetable

 

Week 1 (April 2, 2026)

  • Introduction: What Actually is Technology? And Who are We?

 

Week 2 (April 9, 2026)

 

Week 3 (April 16, 2026)

 

Week 4 (April 23, 2026)

  • The 19th Century II: Capitalism and Technology
    • K. Marx: Capital (1867, excerpts)
    • J. Vernes: Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1869/70, excerpt)
    • Watch (and listen!)

 

Week 5 (April 30, 2026)

 

Week 6 (May 7, 2026)

 

Week 7 (May 14, 2026)

 

Week 8 (May 21, 2026)

 

Week 9 (May 28, 2026)

  • The Digital Age, Part 1: Algorithms
    • J. Vogl: Capital and Resentment (2021, excerpt)
    • S. Zuboff: Surveillance Capitalism (2018, excerpt)
    • M. Proust: À la recherche du remps perdu (1913, excerpt)
    • Check: What were IBM Punched Cards?

 

Week 10 (June 4, 2026)

Catalog Description:
Seminar on rotating special topics dealing with the impact of particular thinkers, movements, or philosophical problems in German culture.
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
March 22, 2026 - 2:28 pm