Project description
Rethinking manipulation in a social world
The rise of populism, political polarisation, and scandals like Cambridge Analytica highlight the urgent need to address manipulation in our increasingly interconnected world. Current theories fail to account for the reality that humans are social beings, relying on others and technology to deliberate effectively. The ERC-funded CareNow project challenges this outdated perspective by developing the first manipulation theory that incorporates our social and structural dependencies. By redefining manipulation through the lens of deliberative care, CareNow addresses both malicious interference and the neglect of conditions that foster sound reasoning. Specifically, it combines philosophy with empirical studies to redefine manipulation for legal and ethical applications, such as the EU’s AI Act. This groundbreaking shift promises transformative insights.
Objective
Interest in philosophical theories of manipulation has soared in recent years. One reason is the debate about rising populism, polarisation, and political events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which draws on philosophical theories to identify illegitimate, manipulative influence. Beyond academia, philosophical theories also inform the definition of manipulation in legal regulation, like the EU’s AI Act, which aims to limit the risk of technological mass manipulation. Getting the definition right is an urgent issue: according to Sam Altman, ChatGPT's inventor, new AI systems may soon reach superhuman persuasive capabilities.
But current manipulation theories are ill-equipped to carry out this task because they are overly individualistic. They assume that humans are solitary beings who think and reason independently. In reality, however, we are deeply social beings who depend on others and helpful technology to deliberate well. Therefore, we must be protected from malicious interference (as current manipulation theories emphasise) and from a lack of care to safeguard the social and structural conditions under which we reason and deliberate well.
CareNow aims to develop the first manipulation theory that acknowledges our deliberative dependency. The targeted outcomes will be an original definition of manipulation, one that is – unlike current definitions – compatible with manipulation by social systems and technology (which typically lack intention), and explain the context-dependent epistemic, ethical, and political status of manipulation based on the new value of deliberative care. It yields innovation by taking a social epistemology perspective and pioneers an experimental philosophy approach that integrates philosophy with empirical studies of manipulation.
Because CareNow reverses a fundamental assumption of current manipulation theories and switches perspectives from the individual to the social, it is ambitious, bold, and potentially groundbreaking.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
90461 NUREMBERG
Germany
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