# Research Roadmap: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (Philosophy) ### 3-Week Plan — Backwards Design from Due Date --- ## Step 1 — Assignment Assessment A philosophy research paper on AI ethics sits at a rich intersection of analytic philosophy, applied ethics, and emerging technology studies. Here's what to expect: **Typical source expectations for this discipline:** - **Primary sources** — foundational philosophical texts and original arguments (Kant, Mill, Rawls, etc. as relevant frameworks; also primary AI ethics documents like the Asilomar Principles or IEEE Ethically Aligned Design) - **Secondary sources** — peer-reviewed journal articles engaging with or critiquing those arguments - **For a 3-week undergraduate paper**, aim for **8–15 sources**, weighted toward scholarly journal articles and book chapters **Discipline-specific conventions to know:** - Philosophy papers are *argument-driven*, not just descriptive. You need a clear, defensible **thesis** — not just "AI raises ethical concerns," but something like "Algorithmic decision-making systems violate Kantian principles of autonomy in ways that contractualist frameworks are better equipped to address." - Engagement with **counterarguments** is expected and taken seriously. Ignoring the best objection to your view is a significant weakness in philosophy writing. - Citation style is typically **Chicago** or **MLA** — confirm with your instructor. - AI ethics as a subfield moves fast; aim to include sources from **the last 5–7 years** for the technology-facing arguments, while older sources are fine for foundational ethical frameworks. --- ## Step 2 — The Research Roadmap ``` WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 [Orientation] → [Discovery] → [Synthesis] → [Production] Days 1–3 Days 4–10 Days 11–17 Days 18–21 ``` --- ### 📍 Phase 1 — Orientation **Days 1–3 | ~3 days** This phase is about *scoping*, not reading. Your goal is to arrive at a focused, arguable thesis question before you read deeply. 1. Read 2–3 overview sources (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries on "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence," "Machine Ethics," and one foundational ethical framework relevant to your angle) 2. Browse the landscape of debates — algorithmic bias, autonomous weapons, surveillance, labor displacement, AI consciousness — and **choose one focused angle** 3. Draft a working thesis question (e.g., *"Can autonomous vehicles be held morally responsible for harm?"*) 4. Make a list of 5–8 keywords and concept pairs you'll use for searching > ⭐ **Critical flag:** Orientation is the most underestimated phase in philosophy papers. Students who skip straight to reading end up with unfocused papers. The SEP is your best friend here — it's peer-reviewed, free, and maps the debates efficiently. --- ### 🔍 Phase 2 — Discovery **Days 4–10 | ~7 days** This is your active research phase. Work systematically, not by rabbit hole. 5. Search 2–3 databases using your keyword list (see Step 3 below) 6. Use **citation chaining** — find 1–2 highly cited foundational articles and follow their reference lists forward and backward 7. Aim to locate **12–15 candidate sources**; you'll cull to 8–12 after evaluating relevance 8. Take brief notes on each source: *main argument, methodology, how it connects to your thesis question* 9. By Day 10, confirm or revise your working thesis based on what the literature actually argues > ⭐ **Critical flag:** Discovery is especially important in AI ethics because the field spans philosophy, computer science, law, and policy. You'll need to deliberately filter toward *philosophical* treatments of your topic rather than technical or purely policy-focused ones. Use subject limiters in databases. --- ### 🔗 Phase 3 — Synthesis **Days 11–17 | ~7 days** Now you move from gathering to thinking. This is where your paper actually gets built. 10. Organize your sources by *position* — which authors agree, disagree, or offer nuance relative to your thesis 11. Draft your paper's **argumentative outline**, including your anticipated counterargument and your response to it 12. Write a full rough draft — don't aim for polish, aim for completeness 13. Identify any **gaps** in your argument that require one more source or one more look at a primary text > ⭐ **Critical flag:** Synthesis is the intellectual core of philosophy writing. Don't skip straight to writing — an hour of outlining here saves three hours of revision later. Your outline should show your argument's logical structure, not just your topic sequence. --- ### ✍️ Phase 4 — Production **Days 18–21 | ~4 days** 18. Revise for argument clarity and logical flow — ask: *does each paragraph move my thesis forward?* 19. Check that counterarguments are represented fairly (this is a key grading criterion in philosophy) 20. Verify all citations are correctly formatted 21. Final proofread; submit --- ## Step 3 — Three Discipline-Specific Search Tips --- **1. Start with the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) — plato.stanford.edu** The SEP is a peer-reviewed, authoritative reference specifically for philosophy. Every entry ends with an extensive bibliography of the key literature. Search "ethics of artificial intelligence" or "machine ethics" and use the bibliography as a curated reading list. This saves hours of database trawling and ensures you're engaging with the sources philosophers actually cite. *Search tip:* Use SEP entries to identify **the 3–4 most-cited authors** in your specific area (e.g., Nick Bostrom, Luciano Floridi, Shannon Vallor), then search those names directly in PhilPapers to find their full output. --- **2. Use PhilPapers (philpapers.org) for philosophy-specific literature** PhilPapers is the field's dedicated database — it indexes philosophy journals that general databases like JSTOR or Google Scholar may miss, and it organizes articles by philosophical category. This matters because searching "AI ethics" in a general database will return mostly computer science and policy results. *Search tip:* Use PhilPapers' **category browse** feature. Navigate to *Philosophy of Computing and Information > Ethics of Artificial Intelligence* to find pre-organized subcategories like machine consciousness, algorithmic bias, and AI rights. This is faster and more precise than keyword searching alone. --- **3. Use JSTOR + keyword pairing with your ethical framework** Once you've chosen your philosophical framework (deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, etc.), pair it directly with your AI topic in searches. *Search tip:* Instead of searching `AI ethics` broadly, try structured pairs like `"autonomous systems" AND "moral responsibility"` or `"algorithmic bias" AND "justice"` or `"artificial intelligence" AND "Kantian"`. This dramatically narrows results to philosophically-framed arguments rather than general think-pieces, and will surface the literature most relevant to your specific thesis. --- **You've got this.** Three weeks is a workable timeline for a focused philosophy paper — the key is committing to a specific angle by the end of Day 3 and not letting Discovery bleed into your Synthesis week. Good luck!