Jonas Dietz

From 2019 to 2026, I studied German and Philosophy to become a secondary school teacher, completing my studies with the State Examination. Since April 2026, my PhD research has been funded by a grant from the state.

My research examines how invasive technologies affect human autonomy. Digital technologies in particular are becoming ever more integrated into the daily lives of most people. We store thoughts, pictures and videos in the cloud. Digital technologies influence the selection of our news, apartments and romantic partners. Artificial intelligence specifically is being used for companionship, therapy, medical advice, work and general guidance in life and decision-making. As digital technologies increasingly mediate how we remember, think, decide and relate to others, questions about human autonomy become more urgent. To capture how deeply these technologies are woven into cognition itself, I draw on the family of 4E-cognition theories. These theories hold that cognition is not confined to the brain but rather distributed across body, tools and environment. Exploring implications of these theories, I aim to develop a conception of autonomy in the digital age. I will develop a framework to ethically assess digital technologies with regard to what cognitive processes they influence and how this influence affects human autonomy.  To ground this framework empirically, I will conduct a linguistic study of human-AI interaction, using this paradigmatic case to analyze how a specific digital technology shapes cognition in practice.