An Evening with Timothy Aylsworth

Books & Books proud to present an evening with Timothy Aylsworth presenting his new book, Kantian Ethics and the Attention Economy: Duty and Distraction (Palgrave Macmillan, $71.99)

***Please note: This event will take place at the Books & Books in Coral Gables at 265 Aragon Ave. Tickets are FREE and books will be available for purchase at the event. Want your copy early or can't make it in-person? Order your copy online here.

About the Book:

In this open access book, Timothy Aylsworth and Clinton Castro draw on the deep well of Kantian ethics to argue that we have moral duties, both to ourselves and to others, to protect our autonomy from the threat posed by the problematic use of technology. The problematic use of technologies like smartphones threatens our autonomy in a variety of ways, and critics have only begun to appreciate the vast scope of this problem. In the last decade, we have seen a flurry of books making "self-help" arguments about how we could live happier, more fulfilling lives if we were less addicted to our phones. But none of these authors see this issue as one involving a moral duty to protect our autonomy.

About the Author:

Timothy Aylsworth is an assistant professor of philosophy at Florida International University. He completed his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he wrote a dissertation on Kant's concept of freedom. He also works on issues in applied and normative ethics, especially topics involving autonomy, manipulation, technology, and collective harm.