Digital Ethics Minor
Table of Contents
What is a digital ethics minor?
The field of digital ethics exists at the intersection of philosophy and all fields where emerging technology raises issues of duties, rights, harms and justice. This includes a range of intellectual property issues, questions of privacy in data collection and distribution, growing use of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and any domain where digital technologies serve to mediate interpersonal relationships.
Why study digital ethics at Furman?
Our signature approach to the liberal arts and sciences means you’ll collaborate with professors who know your name, and you’ll receive one-on-one instruction to learn the basics. The Digital Ethics minor capitalizes on Furman’s approach, providing students with both a technical and theoretical foundation and a customizable path to application in an array of fields. You’ll come away from the program with a more robust education than students in programs at larger institutions who don’t receive personalized attention in their introductory courses, and which streamline students into a narrow course of study.
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How will you learn?
The digital ethics minor takes a three-pronged approach to the topic, including: (1) hands-on training in computing, (2) theoretical background in ethics, and (3) customizable application to your field of study, all culminating in a supervised research project that you’ll develop.
Careers for digital ethics minors
As technology continues to encroach on every aspect of our lives, an aspect of an engaged person in society should be a familiarity with the moral issues that such technologies raise. If you are looking to work in a field that produces or consumes digital content, you should have both a theoretical and functional understanding of the ethical dimension of your work.
In simpler terms, a digital ethics minor is applicable to most every career.
Digital ethics minor courses
The following three required courses provide foundational exposure to computing and the theoretical foundation needed to grapple with the ethical ramifications of existing and new technologies. Students will then complete upper-level courses in Communications Studies, Economics, Business, or Sociology.
See the Furman catalog for a list of approved courses and exact requirements.
View CoursesOur Faculty
Chris Alvin
Darren Hick
Mai Nou Xiong-Gum
Carmela Epright
Jeanine Stratton
Andrea Tartaro
Digital Ethics Minor FAQ
You can become more desirable to employers. More and more companies are hiring Digital Ethics Officers and expecting that tech and data specialists – from engineers to analysts – have ethics training. And more and more jobs outside of the tech field, from librarians to medical staff to learning consultants, are looking for employees who can integrate ethical standards with their handling of data.
If you are interested in digital ethics, you should look to complete CSC-121 and PHL-101 in your first or second year with the intent of completing PHL-208 in your second or third year. Elective courses can then be completed in your third and fourth year of study.
There are many pathways to complete the minor, but we strongly advise you to plan your course of study as early as possible.
