Search

In the market discourses of technological disruption, higher education institutions have routinely been positioned in deficit models and of anachronistic approaches to teaching at odds with the types of educational futures being presented by commercial organisations. Predominantly, automation technologies in the form of artificial intelligence are being promoted as the future of teaching. In this paper, on the other hand, we explore the prospects for using non-artificial intelligence automated agents in teaching and its impact on the teacher function at the University of Edinburgh. Through engagement with teachers, staff and students at the university, this research has identified use cases for bots, in what spaces they would be situated, and how they would supplement the teacher function. This paper argues that a community-driven approach combined with a sociomaterial conceptualisation can generate a shift from market discourses and to collaborative development of educational technologies.

This paper argues that applied ethics can itself be morally problematic. As illustrated by the case of Peter Singer's criticism of social practice, morally loaded communication by applied ethicists can lead to protests, backlashes, and aggression. By reviewing the psychological literature on self-image, collective identity, and motivated reasoning three categories of morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism by applied ethicists are identified: serious psychological discomfort, moral backfiring, and hostile conflict. The most worrisome is moral backfiring: psychological research suggests that ethical criticism of people's central moral convictions can reinforce exactly those attitudes. Therefore, applied ethicists unintentionally can contribute to a consolidation of precisely those social circumstances that they condemn to be unethical. Furthermore, I argue that the normative concerns raised in this paper are not dependent on the commitment to one specific paradigm in moral philosophy. Utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and Rawlsian contractarianism all provide sound reasons to take morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism seriously. Only the case of deontological ethics is less clear-cut. Finally, I point out that the issues raised in this paper provide an excellent opportunity for further interdisciplinary collaboration between applied ethics and social sciences. I also propose strategies for communicating ethics effectively.

This paper explores the entanglement of humanism and posthumanism within the Western European University, focusing on ethical implications and the role of the university in protecting the marginalised. To illustrate its arguments, it draws on a small study conducted in an ancient Italian university which specialises in Humanities and Social Sciences. The paper focuses on two key knotty issues: relationships between university aspirations to posthumanism and the colonial legacies of humanism, and the implications of holding on to humanism as a guarantor of human rights for marginalised people. It concludes by discussing the limitations of a posthuman ethics of responsibility and proposes instead a posthuman ethics of rights for the university.

Educational research, and research in the Social Sciences more generally, has experienced a growth in the introduction of ethical review boards since the 1990s. Increasingly, universities have set up ethics review procedures that require researchers to submit applications seeking approval to conduct research. Review boards and the rules and conditions under which they operate have been criticised as obstructive, unnecessarily bureaucratic, and even unethical. At the same time, review boards and their procedures have been acknowledged as contributing to consideration of the ethical conduct of research. This paper explores the issues related to ethical review and examines the wider ethical considerations that may arise during the research process. The paper concludes that a purely administrative process of review is inadequate to ensure the ethical conduct of research, especially qualitative research. Rather, it is argued that ethical research entails the resolution of a potential series of ethical dilemmas as they arise during research. As such, the ethical conduct of research is a matter of researcher formation and development.

A national need exists to effectively engage women and people categorized as minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and career paths. Given the minimal existence of standards and accreditation boards for engineering design and holistic engineering practice in K-12 contexts, we must better understand how said engineering design and holistic engineering practice affects the learning and identity formation of K-12 students. Here, 50 rising 9th-12th grade girls are exposed to either a socio-ethics enhanced engineering curriculum or a standard engineering curriculum through a week-long STEM summer camp. Qualitative methods are used to conduct a thematic analysis on the engineering language used by students in each curriculum group. Significant differences in language and attitudes towards engineering and the practice of STEM subjects is observed through the incorporation of ethics and humanities into a standard model engineering curriculum. The study presented in this paper demonstrates that students have a tendency towards describing scientific ideas through abstract terms, while a group who participated in the social science integrated camp tended to describe scientific ideas using social-emotional terms. Lastly, students who participated in the camp with integrated social sciences displayed an expanded view and sense of responsibility for the society for which their science is developed to serve. These results could have implications on how STEM subjects are communicated to attract and sustain student interest.

Incentives for improving research productivity at universities prevail in global academia. However, the rationale, methodology, and impact of such incentives and consequent evaluation regimes are in need of scrutinization. This paper explores the influences of financial and career-related publishing incentive schemes on research cultures. It draws on an analysis of 75 interviews with academics, senior university administrators, and journal editors from China, a country that has seen widespread reliance on international publication counts in research evaluation and reward systems. The study focuses on humanities and social sciences (HSS) as disciplinary sites, which embody distinct characteristics and have experienced the introduction of incentive schemes in China since the early 2000s. Findings reveal tensions between internationalization and indigenization, quality and quantity, integrity and instrumentalism, equity and inequity in Chinese academia. In particular, we argue that a blanket incentive scheme could reinforce a managerial culture in higher education, encourage performative objectification of academics, and jeopardize their agency. We thereby challenge 'one-size-fits-all' policymaking, and suggest instead that institutions should have the opportunity to adopt an ethical and 'human-oriented' approach when developing their research incentives and evaluation mechanisms.

This paper explores the relation between poststructuralist theorising and new materialism with a particular focus on the work of Barad. Tracing the lines of thought, particularly as they relate to ethics, through the works of Foucault, Butler, Cixous and Deleuze the paper finds a range of concepts that anticipate and link directly with Barad's work. Barad's emphasis on the agency of matter, and on how matter is made to matter, is found to be new. The different analytic work that can be done with these various philosophers is explored through three intra-active entanglements; first, among preschool children and a rock, second, between a girl and a chimp raised as her twin, and third, between humans and cows.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are referred to differently in different contexts and circumstances. Related conceptions include 'Traditional Knowledge Systems' (TKS), 'Endogenous Knowledge Systems' (EKS) and 'Classical Knowledge Systems' (CKS). A focus on IKS implies an archaeology and re-appropriation of those knowledges that were not allowed to 'be', to enhance our human understanding, and develop, protect, and promote them. Most exigent in a decolonised context is the transformative challenge of developing appropriate protocols, codes of conduct, and terms for any dialogue and integration. This paper argues that at a systems level, IKS demands: establishing an ethically sound and ecologically constituted way of thinking; affirming the multiplicity of worlds and forms of life; creating a shared paradigm shift; self-reflexive praxis; becoming critical explorers of human and societal possibilities; establishing new evaluation and appraisal criteria; and a transformation to new futures. Such a transformation recognises cognitive justice as a plurality of ways of knowing.

This collection of works builds upon previous scholarship on biosociality and education. The timely contributions in this Special Issue are international in focus and explore the growing interface between the biosocial sciences and education. The issue begins with papers that are more applied in nature and ends on a conceptual note, leaving the reader with a sense of both the positive and negative possibilities. Over the course of the Special Issue, the reader will get an appreciation for how epigenetics, behavioral genetics and social genomics, sensing technologies, and neuroscience are impacting upon education. This collection stresses that careful ethical consideration needs to be given to the application of the biosocial sciences in education.

This paper explores provocation as an approach towards social science research. While routinely used in natural science and arts research, this paper argues provocation might enable the social science researcher to initiate critical reflection amongst participants on issues that are often otherwise overlooked, obscured or accepted as naturalised practice. By assuming the role of provocateur, stimulator and/or agitator, the social science researcher can interrupt the flow of everyday life in order to illuminate and draw attention to complex social issues. Using research interventions that embrace, rather than deny, the socially constructed nature of the research process, provocation provides an alternative to largely non-obtrusive methods favoured in much social science research. This paper concludes by outlining the practical and methodological issues associated with this approach -- in particular the complicated ethics of provoking reflection on topics that might not have otherwise come to the participant's attention.

This paper examines two influential views within the sociology of knowledge, specifically in literature examining relationships between knowledge, curriculum, and social justice, located in the South African context of extreme inequality and poverty. The first emphasizes the role of disciplines in creating criteria of powerful knowledge, arguing that knowledge must be evidence-based, generalizable, and revisable. The second argues for the importance of the social origins of knowledge for reasons both of strengthening knowledge and creating curricula that foster confidence in young scholars. We then draw on what we see as the strongest claims of each view and explore the value they bring to thinking about knowledge and curriculum debates raised by community of practitioners within three disciplines in the social science -- economics, education studies, and history. Our brief consideration of these disciplines reveals that different disciplines face specific challenges which transverse, in different ways, the polarity which characterizes the debate so far. Strong aspects of each view feature in the development of each of the three disciplines, some in negative ways. This is an interesting finding, which demonstrates that principled debates couched in epistemological terms, when applied to specific disciplines, do not remain as a simple binary.

The purpose of this paper is to outline some new developments in a mature research program that sees administrative theory as cohering with natural science and uses a coherence theory of epistemic justification to shape the content and structure of administrative theory. Three main developments are discussed. First, the paper shows how to deal with the evaluation of theories (of, say, leadership) where there is a demand that a theory needs to be context relevant, but also comprehensive. The solution is to allow context to determine the scope of comprehensiveness. Second, the paper develops an argument structure employing a coherentist epistemology for how ethical claims can be incorporated into administrative theories. Finally, the paper, drawing on research in neuroscience, argues for the relevance of emotion in rational decision-making. Contrary to the belief that emotion compromises rationality, the paper argues that it is essential for rationality.

This paper reports on our use of a two-phased, feminist memory work in a project conducted with 11 women, social science students at an Australian university. We begin by describing government-led attempts to widen participation in Australian universities because 10 of the 11 women who participated in our project were from "non-traditional" backgrounds. We discuss qualitative group research, identifying some of the benefits and limitations of focus groups, before differentiating them from feminist memory work and analysing key findings. Using excerpts from participants' written stories and oral discussions, we analyse some of the obstacles the women faced trying to complete their studies. Our attention then turns to methodological concerns where we examine memory work as a feminist inquiry method. As second-wave feminists understood several decades ago through their use of consciousness-raising groups, we describe how we derived many benefits from using feminist memory work. The method invites deep reflection on the intersections between the personal and political and can be productive of insights about how people feel, not just think, about their experiences. A sense of solidarity can stem from this awareness amongst participants who have a chance to workshop and thus reinterpret their own stories and those of others, which can mean a growth in self-confidence and a reduction in self-blame.

This paper discusses the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on research ethics in social sciences by focusing on the concept of vulnerability. We unpack the current conceptualisations of vulnerability and their limitations and argue for the need to reconceptualise vulnerability as multidimensional, consisting of both universal and contextual dimensions, as well as their dynamic interplay. Multidimensional vulnerability is inspired by and relevant to social science research during the pandemic but can also be useful in other contexts such as climate change or conflict. The paper puts forwards several considerations about how this revised concept of vulnerability may be useful when evaluating ethical dimensions of social science research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates employee engagement, authentic leadership and human capital factors' influences on the creative behaviors of bank employees within Nigeria's banking industry. This investigation's sample was taken from a selection of banks (Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, and United Bank For Africa Plc) across the Lagos and Ibadan cities of Lagos and Oyo States, Nigeria. This paper adopts a survey study approach, and questionnaires were randomly circulated. However, out of the 300 questionnaires distributed, 273 were fit to be used for the research and analyzed via statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS vs. 26). The current findings suggest that the younger the bank employees, the more creative they are. The higher their educational level and work experience, the more creative they are within Nigeria's banking industry. The current investigation further established that employee engagement and authentic leadership significantly and positively influence creativity amongst employees within Nigeria's banking industry. Therefore, the management of the Nigerian banks needs to consider spurring of employees' sense of belonging and engagement to help stimulate and nurture their creativity. They should also consider essential authentic leadership training for their managers to help them discharge their leadership functions, related to the positive development of their subordinates' creative behaviors and the human capital factors in stimulating employee creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As information technologies have become synonymous with progress in modern society, several ethical concerns have surfaced about their societal implications. In the past few decades, information technologies have had a value-laden impact on social evolution. However, there is limited agreement on the responsibility of businesses and innovators concerning the ethical aspects of information technologies. There is a need to understand the role of business incentives and attitudes in driving technological progress and to understand how they steer the ethics discourse on technology. In the information technology industry, there is an observed trivialization of ethics supported by a business driven and technology-centric approach to ethics. This trivialization rests on hardened beliefs, ideologies, and arguments which hint at reduced accountability for business and tend to individualize social responsibility. The phenomenon of ethics trivialization needs to be duly addressed to resolve the tensions between business needs and ethical concerns. This paper has identified from literature and conceptually analyzed the beliefs and ideologies underlying ethics trivialization which undermine ethics in business contexts. The paper has attempted to address the business concerns indicated by this phenomenon as well as highlight the weaknesses of its assumptions, rhetoric, and justifications. The aim of this paper is to systematically present the justifications in favor of and against the practice of ethics trivialization in the information technology domain, thereby highlighting the need to develop frameworks for assessment of ethical responsibility, accountability, and democratization of the value trade-offs involved in the design of technologies., Author(s): Sanju Ahuja [sup.1], Jyoti Kumar [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.417967.a, 0000 0004 0558 8755, Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, , Hauz Khas, 110016, New Delhi, India [...]

The present study is based on the analysis and conclusions in a preceding paper by the author. Major interpretations of epigenetics are considered - social-ecological, biomedical and bioethical, - as well as their impact on social sciences and humanities, policies and opportunities for human development. The following important conclusions are formulated: firstly, epigenetics can be a stimulus to reform social sciences, as well as for policies aiming at purer environment, less poverty and social inequality, more freedom and less violence; (2) one-sided and implicit biomedical interpretation of epigenetics not only does not solve but intensifies existing problems relating to health and wellbeing of people in contemporary societies; (3) this however does not mean rejecting the biomedical approach but finding it's appropriate and balanced place in the context of functioning ecological and social policies; (4) practices and behavioural models that epigenetics determines as sensitive presuppose respective responsibilities on the part of various subjects - organisations, institutions and pdrticular individuals. A critical evaluation is necessary of attempts to reject responsibilities as well as of their imballanced distribution among various subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent systemic review of research on Disabled*1 students in Higher Education (HE), Kutscher and Tuckwiller (2019) highlighted the lack of any intersectional examination of disability and argued that research examining the intersections of disability and gender, race, sexuality, et cetera. are urgently needed. In the UK, a House of Lords Committee released a report that highlighted the many disadvantages still faced by Disabled students in UK HE, highlighting issues around access, support, and performance - finding that there is an attainment gap for Disabled students in UK HE (Hector et al., 2020). This article uses intersectionality as critical social theory (Collins, 2019) in the examination of the success (or otherwise) of Disabled women in HE in the UK. Defining "success" as completing a degree and attaining "Good Honours", the aim is to identify how the success of Disabled women students in the UK compares to non-disabled women, Disabled men, and nondisabled men. The findings suggest that there are intersectional disadvantages for Disabled women students; suggesting that there is an attainment gap for Undergraduate students and differences in the likelihood they continue and gain their intended award at postgraduate taught level. This paper is the first to examine the intersectional effects of gender and disability in UK HE students, and as well demonstrating this it highlights areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses leading Japanese philosophical thought since the onset of Japan's modernity: namely, from the Meiji Restoration (1868) onwards. It argues that there are lessons of global value for AI ethics to be found from examining leading Japanese philosophers of modernity and ethics (Yukichi Fukuzawa, Nishida Kitaro, Nishi Amane, and Watsuji TetsurÅ), each of whom engaged closely with Western philosophical traditions. Turning to these philosophers allows us to advance from what are broadly individualistically and Western-oriented ethical debates regarding emergent technologies that function in relation to AI, by introducing notions of community, wholeness, sincerity, and heart. With reference to AI that pertains to profile, judge, learn, and interact with human emotion (emotional AI), this paper contends that (a) Japan itself may internally make better use of historic indigenous ethical thought, especially as it applies to question of data and relationships with technology; but also (b) that externally Western and global ethical discussion regarding emerging technologies will find valuable insights from Japan. The paper concludes by distilling from Japanese philosophers of modernity four ethical suggestions, or spices, in relation to emerging technological contexts for Japan's national AI policies and international fora, such as standards development and global AI ethics policymaking., Author(s): Andrew McStay [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7362.0, 0000000118820937, School of History, Law and Social Sciences, Bangor University, , Bangor, Wales, UK Introduction Focusing on Japan, this paper examines what [...]

This paper explores the entanglement of humanism and posthumanism within the Western European University, focusing on ethical implications and the role of the university in protecting the marginalised. To illustrate its arguments, it draws on a small study conducted in an ancient Italian university which specialises in Humanities and Social Sciences. The paper focuses on two key knotty issues: relationships between university aspirations to posthumanism and the colonial legacies of humanism, and the implications of holding on to humanism as a guarantor of human rights for marginalised people. It concludes by discussing the limitations of a posthuman ethics of responsibility and proposes instead a posthuman ethics of rights for the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse on the future of work should learn from a turn in philosophy that occurred in the 1980s, one that recognizes the good life towards which ethics strives can only be reached on a foundation of caring relationships (Gillian, 1982; Noddings, 1984). Care ethics recognizes that human well-being is a group project, one that involves strong relationships, and concern for bodies and emotions. Too often, these features are left out of research exploring robotics in the workplace. This paper outlines the main tenets of care ethics, then applies the moral framework to the context of industrial and retail settings using robots. This approach sees these contexts through a relational lens, helping to identify, evaluate, and improve relationships critical to ensuring workers' well-being. Second, care ethics considers taking care of people's bodies beyond mere safety, examining how working with robots can exacerbate societal or economic pressures. Lastly, care ethics takes emotions as an important source of knowledge in building and supporting care. Additionally, this paper contributes to the care ethics literature by applying the framework to the context of robotized industrial workplaces, which has yet to be done., Author(s): Madelaine Ley [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5292.c, 0000 0001 2097 4740, Ethics/Philosophy Section, Department of Values, Technology and Innovation, Faculty of Technology, Management and Policy, Delft University of Technology, [...]

Objective: To review research published in the AJA in terms of authors' positions and disciplinary backgrounds, and the settings in which research was done. Methods: Eighty two papers by 373 authors, in Vol. 35 No 1, March 2016, to Vol 37 No 2, June 2018, were reviewed. Results: Different clusters of authorship were found for research using surveys or database analyses, research in hospitals and aged care settings. Two out of three authors held academic positions, and professional practitioners in hospitals were much more likely to have academic affiliations than in aged care settings. Differing research cultures are seen to contribute to these outcomes. Conclusions: Editorial policies have been central to maintaining publication standards. The Journal's publication partners could take a number of actions to advance recognition of professionals in different roles as authors and to expand the range of research published, especially nursing and social science research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work is a human-centric social science that by design does not traditionally look beyond an anthropocentric perspective of practice, and this has consequences for nonhuman animals. Indeed, certain aspects of social service are oppressive towards nonhuman animals by advocating for the primacy of human rights and self-determination, which in a number of instances actively discriminates against nonhuman species through various forms of exploitation including (but not limited to) factory farming, hunting, entertainment, and ritual slaughter. This paper is a review of the curious relationship that social work has in regards to nonhuman animals in the United States, and how this dynamic can encourage and engender widespread forms of discrimination towards these sentient beings. Animal ethics, animal welfare, and speciesism are examined in the context of social work ethics, principles, and practice. Considerations are proposed and discussed for finding common ground between the NASW Social Work Code of Ethics and animal ethics, with the purpose of allowing for the social work profession to develop a more inclusive value system, one which is not limited to that of just our own species. Such a change would allow for a more just and complete value system within the social work profession in the U.S., which in turn could help to advance the cause for the rights and wellbeing of nonhuman animals on a wider national as well as international scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Individuals who reside in a country without regular authorisation generally find it difficult to access public medical services beyond emergency treatment. Even in countries with universal healthcare, there is often a gap between rights on paper and their implementation. Civil society organisations (CSOs) fill this gap by providing medical services to vulnerable populations, including irregular migrants. What, if any, are the ethical dilemmas that arise for CSO staff when delivering such services in countries with universal healthcare? Under what conditions do these dilemmas arise? And what strategies do CSO staff use to mitigate them? We answer these questions using 40 semi-structured interviews with CSO staff working in two European countries with high levels of irregularity, universal healthcare provisions on paper, and significant differences in approaches and availability of public services for irregular migrants: Italy and Spain. We show that CSO staff providing medical services to irregular migrants in places with universal healthcare coverage face a fundamental dilemma between humanitarianism and equity. CSO staff respond to the humanitarian belief in the value of taking all possible steps to prevent or alleviate human suffering, thus promoting a decent quality of life that includes access to both emergency and non-emergency care. In doing so, however, they run the risk of substituting rather than complementing public provisions, thereby preventing governments from assuming responsibility for these services in the long term. Individuals who acknowledge the existence of this dilemma generally oppose the creation of parallel structures; that is, services specifically developed for irregular migrants outside the public system; while those who ignore it essentially subscribe to a tiered system, giving up on considerations of equity. We argue that CSOs involved in the provision of healthcare to irregular migrants do not simply provide services; they also play an inherently political role.

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the vital connection between intersectional ecofeminism and veganism as profound ethical and political practices. It critically engages with the ideas of feminist philosophers Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, revealing how their contributions, while significant in critical animal studies and ecological philosophies, inadvertently allow continued exploitation of non-human animals, especially for food. Drawing from neo-materialist feminism and recent developments in political veganism, this paper underscores the ethical and ecological imperatives for an intersectional and radical veganism. This approach seeks to deconstruct biopolitical structures upholding non-human oppression, envisioning liberation for sentient beings and ecological restoration. It argues that the boundaries between ecofeminism, veganism, and multispecies justice should blur to dismantle systems rooted in human exceptionalism and ensure non-human animals are not treated as mere tools. In conclusion, this paper advocates for a holistic approach to non-human liberation, emphasizing the urgent need to strengthen the bonds between ecofeminism and veganism. This union challenges prevailing biopolitical systems and paves the way forgenuine liberation for all sentient beings, both human and non-human.

Many ethics initiatives have stipulated sets of principles and standards for good technology development in the AI sector. However, several AI ethics researchers have pointed out a lack of practical realization of these principles. Following that, AI ethics underwent a practical turn, but without deviating from the principled approach. This paper proposes a complementary to the principled approach that is based on virtue ethics. It defines four 'basic AI virtues', namely justice, honesty, responsibility and care, all of which represent specific motivational settings that constitute the very precondition for ethical decision making in the AI field. Moreover, it defines two 'second-order AI virtues', prudence and fortitude, that bolster achieving the basic virtues by helping with overcoming bounded ethicality or hidden psychological forces that can impair ethical decision making and that are hitherto disregarded in AI ethics. Lastly, the paper describes measures for successfully cultivating the mentioned virtues in organizations dealing with AI research and development., Author(s): Thilo Hagendorff [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10392.39, 0000 0001 2190 1447, Cluster of Excellence 'Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science', University of Tuebingen, , Tübingen, Germany Introduction Current AI [...]

Technology qualifying as human mood enhancement can be developed, on the one hand, for the well-being and mental health of their users (therapy) and, on the other hand, for changing the mood of their users above levels of normality (enhancement). Such technology provokes debates concerning its societal, ethical and legal consequences for individuals and society as a whole. This paper’s aim is twofold. It first aims to show an overview of the often-occurring arguments in the ethics debate about mood enhancement technology and outline which arguments should be considered relevant for supporting the legislative debate. The second aim of the paper is to highlight some of the main legal aspects concerning this technology through the human rights lens of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union.

This paper provides a systematic account of how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could harm nonhuman animals and explains why animal harms, often neglected in AI ethics, should be better recognised. After giving reasons for caring about animals and outlining the nature of animal harm, interests, and wellbeing, the paper develops a comprehensive 'harms framework' which draws on scientist David Fraser's influential mapping of human activities that impact on sentient animals. The harms framework is fleshed out with examples inspired by both scholarly literature and media reports. This systematic account and framework should help inform ethical analyses of AI's impact on animals and serve as a comprehensive and clear basis for the development and regulation of AI technologies to prevent and mitigate harm to nonhumans., Author(s): Simon Coghlan [sup.1] [sup.2], Christine Parker [sup.2] [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.1008.9, 0000 0001 2179 088X, School of Computing and Information Systems and Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, [...]

Software systems play an ever more important role in our lives and software engineers and their companies find themselves in a position where they are held responsible for ethical issues that may arise. In this paper, we try to disentangle ethical considerations that can be performed at the level of the software engineer from those that belong in the wider domain of business ethics. The handling of ethical problems that fall into the responsibility of the engineer has traditionally been addressed by the publication of Codes of Ethics and Conduct. We argue that these Codes are barely able to provide normative orientation in software development. The main contribution of this paper is, thus, to analyze the normative features of Codes of Ethics in software engineering and to explicate how their value-based approach might prevent their usefulness from a normative perspective. Codes of Conduct cannot replace ethical deliberation because they do not and cannot offer guidance because of their underdetermined nature. This lack of orientation, we argue, triggers reactive behavior such as 'cherry-picking,' 'risk of indifference,' 'ex-post orientation,' and the 'desire to rely on gut feeling.' In the light of this, we propose to implement ethical deliberation within software development teams as a way out., Author(s): Jan Gogoll [sup.1], Niina Zuber [sup.1], Severin Kacianka [sup.2], Timo Greger [sup.3], Alexander Pretschner [sup.1] [sup.2], Julian Nida-Rümelin [sup.1] [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.508844.5, Bavarian Research Institute for Digital [...]

The theory of ecofeminism is all about drawing comparisons and connections between old as well as new forms of oppressions against women and the environment and it fights against all forms of injustices to make earth a better place to live. Animal liberation theorists not only highlight animal abuse through hunting, caging, butchering, testing, and experimenting but they are of the opinion that animals are abused and derogated through the patriarchal language as well. In this regard, this paper attempts to explore the anthropocentric use of language in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” so as to discuss the way the author highlights animal devaluation and depreciation in terms of language. Kingsolver draws readers’ attention towards animal devaluation through various tropes (mostly similes) to highlight animal abuse in her ecofeminist text. The paper will examine the ways in which characters derogate each other through association with different animals and birds and show how the use of language plays a great role in the devaluation and derogation of nonhuman world.

Research on conflict and 'terrorism' is confronted by an expanding range of daunting ethical, methodological, and institutional challenges. One of these is the increasing involvement of university ethics and fieldwork safety committees in 'managing' researcher safety and security as an issue which requires institutional oversight, control, and approval. This paper contributes to contemporary reflection on and conversations about social sciences fieldwork in what is deemed to be an increasingly dangerous world. It focuses specifically on the increasing application of institutional ethics and safety review processes to 'dangerous' fieldwork on socio-political violence. While these new restrictions are clothed in the language or idiom of ethics and worker safety and security, a political analysis suggests that these committees represent powerful institutions of censorship and control, a serious challenge to academic freedom, and even movement towards the recolonisation of social science research. This paper describes and addresses this threat, and offers a constructive proposal for potentially responding by the development of risk assessment and management protocols which may contribute both to researcher survival in perilous field sites and help researchers to negotiate the necessary approval by university ethics and safety committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on two problems with Alexander Wendt's unification of physical and social ontology on the basis of quantum theory. Firstly, by endowing social phenomena with an ontological foundation in physical reality defined in quantum terms Wendt risks reducing a plurality of worlds as 'fields of sense', ordered by their immanent rules, to the physical world ordered by the laws of quantum theory. Secondly, by defining his quantum social science as an ontology Wendt risks excluding from consideration all that which violates ontological laws, yet may still be said to exist or take place: event, potentiality, and alterity. Although the advantages of a scientific ontology are indisputable, the price we pay for it is a sense of ontological captivity, whereby everything that is definitely is so, being and non-being rigorously distinguished and separated with nothing between them. This captivity may be escaped by supplementing quantum ontology with ethics in the Levinasian sense of 'otherwise than being'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores provocation as an approach towards social science research. While routinely used in natural science and arts research, this paper argues provocation might enable the social science researcher to initiate critical reflection amongst participants on issues that are often otherwise overlooked, obscured or accepted as naturalised practice. By assuming the role of provocateur, stimulator and/or agitator, the social science researcher can interrupt the flow of everyday life in order to illuminate and draw attention to complex social issues. Using research interventions that embrace, rather than deny, the socially constructed nature of the research process, provocation provides an alternative to largely non-obtrusive methods favoured in much social science research. This paper concludes by outlining the practical and methodological issues associated with this approach – in particular the complicated ethics of provoking reflection on topics that might not have otherwise come to the participant’s attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research analysed traditional healthcare ethics as perceived by the people of Larteh in Ghana. It is an ethnographic research that studied narratives of health care ethics and analysed their contents. The research attempted to extrapolate unique elements of what might be called the Larteh traditional system of health care ethics, showing their significance for health care in public and private health care centres and hospitals in Ghana. Thus using an ethno-medical approach, generally within the scope of Gyekye’s theory of communalism and Bertalanffy’s general systems theory, the paper argued that though some of the ethical ideas contained in the narratives constitute fragments of ethical behaviour among healers, they largely reflected ethics of health care practice known to Western or Orthodox medical practice such as confidentiality, professionalism, limited non-maleficence and paternalism. Nonetheless, other elements could provide important lessons for improving the care of patients in Ghana. The paper concluded that Larteh’s traditional ideas of health care provide ethical principles that not only preserve the dignity of the patient but also teach principles that can contribute to the development of health care generally. The significance of this paper is in its ability to provide a framework for interpreting traditional healthcare ethics.

Achieving the global benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) will require international cooperation on many areas of governance and ethical standards, while allowing for diverse cultural perspectives and priorities. There are many barriers to achieving this at present, including mistrust between cultures, and more practical challenges of coordinating across different locations. This paper focuses particularly on barriers to cooperation between Europe and North America on the one hand and East Asia on the other, as regions which currently have an outsized impact on the development of AI ethics and governance. We suggest that there is reason to be optimistic about achieving greater cross-cultural cooperation on AI ethics and governance. We argue that misunderstandings between cultures and regions play a more important role in undermining cross-cultural trust, relative to fundamental disagreements, than is often supposed. Even where fundamental differences exist, these may not necessarily prevent productive cross-cultural cooperation, for two reasons: (1) cooperation does not require achieving agreement on principles and standards for all areas of AI; and (2) it is sometimes possible to reach agreement on practical issues despite disagreement on more abstract values or principles. We believe that academia has a key role to play in promoting cross-cultural cooperation on AI ethics and governance, by building greater mutual understanding, and clarifying where different forms of agreement will be both necessary and possible. We make a number of recommendations for practical steps and initiatives, including translation and multilingual publication of key documents, researcher exchange programmes, and development of research agendas on cross-cultural topics., Author(s): Seán S. ÓhÉigeartaigh [sup.1] [sup.2], Jess Whittlestone [sup.1], Yang Liu [sup.1] [sup.2], Yi Zeng [sup.2] [sup.3], Zhe Liu [sup.2] [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5335.0, 0000000121885934, Leverhulme Centre for the [...]

If time is money and the human being an endless range of the homo oeconomicus figure who maximizes profit/pleasure by minimizing losses/pain, isn't empathy eminently anti-utilitarian? Isn't the effort to connect with the Other, by putting oneself in the place of the Other in order to understand their perspective from their point of view, a risk of minimizing profit/pleasure by maximizing losses/pain? And isn't that a promising prospect? Stemming from this questioning, the paper tells the story of an interdisciplinary doctoral research in development studies on the nomadic concept of empathy. Beyond inter- or trans-disciplinary, empathy becomes an undisciplined concept, which not only navigates from a discipline to the next, but also questions the ethics and epistemology of every step of the way by taking the researcher into unexpected conceptual, geographical and geopolitical territories. In this case, it moves conceptually from anti-utilitarianism to decoloniality; geographically, from Geneva to Quebec and Ontario; and geopolitically, from a Western perspective to Indigenous loci of enunciation. Through three hypostases, empathy raises some interesting ethical and methodological questions in the realm of social sciences. While trying to answer the initial question of the pertinence of an anti-utilitarian type of empathy by exploring what seemed to be from afar an original case study, the concept took the researcher to Canada, to the Iroquois nations and their notion of responsibility towards the 7th generation into the future. However, when confronted with the complex colonial dimension of the relationship with the Indigenous peoples, the concept became a heuristic tool for the researcher who had to redefine her own capacity to empathize with her interlocutors, which in turn redefined her entire project. Undisciplined, empathy finally became an ethical decolonial practice, helping the researcher build unexpected bridges between several schools of thought and perceive a reciprocal, respectful and responsible dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posthumanism has challenged the social sciences and humanities to rethink anthopocentricism within the cultures and societies they study and to take account of more-than-human agencies and perspectives. This poses key methodological challenges, including a tendency for animal geographies to focus very much on the human side of human–animal relations and to fail to acknowledge animals as embodied, lively, articulate political subjects. In this paper, we draw on recent ethnographic work, observing and participating in the care of research animals and interviewing the animal technologists, to contribute to the understandings of life within the animal house. In so doing, the paper makes three key arguments. Firstly, that studying how animal technologists perform everyday care and make sense of their relationships with animals offers useful insights into the specific skills, expertise and relationships required in order to study human–animal relations. Secondly, that animal technologists are keenly aware of the contested moralities which emerge in animal research environments and can offer an important position from which to understand this. Thirdly, that storytelling (exemplified by the stories told by animal technologists) is a useful resource for animal geographers to engage with complexity in human–animal relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the concept of adequacy central for Pertażycki's methodology. According to Petrażycki any valuable scientific theory should be adequate, that is, neither limping (to broad with respect its actual scope) nor jumping (too narrow with respect to its actual scope). Consequently, adequacy of a theory is a stronger condition than its truth. Every adequacy theory is true, but not conversely. However, there is problem, because scientific laws are conditionals (implications). This suggests that adequacy is too strong conditions, because the consequence of an implication has a wider scope than its antecedent. Thus, laws should have the form of equivalence. The paper shows how modeltheoretic characterization of theories allows to recognize truth and adequacy, consistently with Petrażycki's claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral Agency Within Social Structures and Culture: A Primer on Critical Realism for Christian Ethics. Ed. Daniel K. Finn. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2020. Paper. 115 p. $29.95. In [...]

In the social sciences, the iconic definition of privilege is that of unearned advantage. Consequently, professionals in the social services may devote less attention to the examination of their own professional privilege since it has been earned. This article addresses ethical concerns about the earned privilege that accrues to professionals in the caring fields and the potential effects on service users. This paper will focus particularly on some of the pedagogical dimensions. The inherent paradox in socializing students into professional roles, which enhance privilege, while attempting to reduce the power differentials with service users, requires attention by teachers. How one might lessen the hierarchy that is created between the helper and service user as a result of that privilege will be explored. The paper will detail professional privilege and both constructive and problematic impacts on the helping relationship. The ‘uneven’ advantage of being able to set the standards of health and morality are also discussed. In the process, ethical trespass may result. We will explore this concept and its implications. Because, privilege contributes to social stratification between helpers and recipients, the final segment offers one educational strategy that can be used to potentially lessen the ‘we–they’ duality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the SCOPUS database and VOSviewer, this paper aims to analyze the bibliographic information on three keywords (entrepreneurial intention (EI), human flourishing (HF), and unicorns) to identify relevant areas for current and future research on entrepreneurship by applying a bibliometric and content review approach to 2434 documents for the BMA (business, management, and accounting) and EEF (economics, econometrics, and finance) subject areas to construct and visualize bibliometric networks on the basis of co-citation and co-authorship relations in these items. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) the number of documents published in the European Union on EI (600) almost doubles those published on this topic in the United States (354); the United States leads the number of papers (113) published on HF, and the number of documents published on Unicorns by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries (22) almost equals the number of documents published on this issue in the United States (25); (2) research on EI during the core years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2022) is of growing interest linked to entrepreneurship education and psychological traits; (3) ethics-related entrepreneurial behavior has historically supported current HF-related research; (4) entrepreneurial ecosystems, leadership, and innovation are critical success factors for born globals to be unicorns; (5) there is a geographic disparity (Spain, India, and the US) in the most cited authors for EI, HF, and unicorns, respectively.

The proposed paper discusses how the relationships between the researchers and the 'field' in social sciences have been transformed during the last decades. It explores the concept of the 'public engagement', its ethical and conceptual boundaries, and the criteria of its 'successfulness' - in relation to the academic research, researchers, and the local communities where the research is conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most philosophers believe that a person can have an obligation only insofar as she is able to fulfil it, a principle generally referred to as “Ought Implies Can”. Arguably, this principle reflects something basic about the ordinary concept of obligation. However, in a paper published recently in this journal, Wesley Buckwalter and John Turri presented evidence for the conclusion that ordinary people in fact reject that principle. With a series of studies, they claimed to have demonstrated that, in people’s judgements, obligations persist irrespective of whether those who hold them have the ability to fulfil them. We argue in this paper that due to some problems in their design, Buckwalter & Turri’s conclusions may not be warranted. We present the results of a series of studies demonstrating the problems with their design and showing that, with an improved design, people judge that obligation depends on ability after all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comprehensive analysis dives deep into the intricate interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) and human agency, examining the remarkable capabilities and inherent limitations of large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-3 and ChatGPT. The paper traces the complex trajectory of AI's evolution, highlighting its operation based on statistical pattern recognition, devoid of self-consciousness or innate comprehension. As AI permeates multiple spheres of human life, it raises substantial ethical, legal, and societal concerns that demand immediate attention and deliberation. The metaphorical illustration of humans as 'shepherds' of AI, coupled with a thought-provoking examination of 'agency without intelligence,' engenders deep reflections on the future of human-AI interplay and the associated philosophical, ethical, and practical ramifications. The paper further elucidates critical challenges associated with AI, such as ethical dilemmas, 'agency without intelligence,' the role of human oversight, and the environmental impact of AI technologies. In the pursuit of solutions, the paper maps prospective directions, emphasizing the need for robust AI policies, improved AI literacy, sustainable AI practices, and a continued dialogue on the multifaceted issues surrounding AI. Through a holistic exploration of AI, this paper underlines the necessity for a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to chart an ethical, beneficial, and sustainable AI future, enabling society to harness the potential of AI responsibly while mitigating the associated risks., Author(s): Partha Pratim Ray [sup.1], Pradip Kumar Das [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.449234.c, 0000 0004 1761 9782, Sikkim University, , Gangtok, India In his thought-provoking editorial (Floridi, 2023), 'AI as [...]

Guillermo del Toro’s “Shape of Water” (2017) has gained praise both from critics and audiences for its themes and storyline. In particular, a lot of creative and thematic weight is carried by the creature in the film – the Amphibian Man. As a character, it fits into the recent trend of morally positive and emotionally impactful monster representations, helping, among other things, to address the themes of acceptance and embracing of otherness. The aim of this paper is to explore the construction and portrayal of the Amphibian Man, and to take a closer look at the director’s approach towards reimagination of the creature in today’s landscape of cinema. The paper delves into del Toro’s work to define him as auteur, reflects on the traditions and changes in creature cinema, and examines the portrayal of the creature in terms of language, sound, and image.

In 2017, the German ethics commission for automated and connected driving released 20 ethical guidelines for autonomous vehicles. It is now up to the research and industrial sectors to enhance the development of autonomous vehicles based on such guidelines. In the current state of the art, we find studies on how ethical theories can be integrated. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no framework for motion planning has yet been published which allows for the true implementation of any practical ethical policies. This paper makes four contributions: Firstly, we briefly present the state of the art based on recent works concerning unavoidable accidents of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and identify further need for research. While most of the research focuses on decision strategies in moral dilemmas or crash optimization, we aim to develop an ethical trajectory planning for all situations on public roads. Secondly, we discuss several ethical theories and argue for the adoption of the theory 'ethics of risk.' Thirdly, we propose a new framework for trajectory planning, with uncertainties and an assessment of risks. In this framework, we transform ethical specifications into mathematical equations and thus create the basis for the programming of an ethical trajectory. We present a risk cost function for trajectory planning that considers minimization of the overall risk, priority for the worst-off and equal treatment of people. Finally, we build a connection between the widely discussed trolley problem and our proposed framework., Author(s): Maximilian Geisslinger [sup.1], Franziska Poszler [sup.2], Johannes Betz [sup.1], Christoph Lütge [sup.2], Markus Lienkamp [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.6936.a, 0000000123222966, Institute of Automotive Technology, Technical University of Munich (TUM), [...]

In this paper, we argue that understanding and addressing the problem of poor-quality medical products requires a more interdisciplinary approach than has been evident to date. While prospective studies based on rigorous standardized methodologies are the gold standard for measuring the prevalence of poor-quality medical products and understanding their distribution nationally and internationally, they should be complemented by social science research to unpack the complex set of social, economic, and governance factors that underlie these patterns. In the following sections, we discuss specific examples of prospective quality surveys and of social science studies, highlighting the value of cross-sector partnerships in driving high-quality, policy-relevant research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morality, education and citizenship are connected, related in all streams of thought, be they ancient, classic or modern, and ideas are discovered, rediscovered, emphasized, transformed, contested or confirmed, but the need for morality and for educating human beings as social beings remains a constant and obvious concern. Character education and intelligence education must not be apart and must not be forgotten at all levels of formal education, as the only good citizens are good, virtuous, intelligent and educated human beings. This paper includes results of a pilot survey regarding aspects of moral and humanistic education as a necessity in tertiary education, as in formal education at all levels. We believe that greater attention should be paid to humanities and social sciences (philosophy, ethics, sociology, political science, anthropology, history, etc.) and they should be added in coherent and concerted programs of study at the university level, in all programs of study, including areas of interdisciplinary studies, because they are essential for forming a holistic picture of the complex functioning of society and for character education as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and democratization have long been questioned by powerful Western European countries such as the United States of America (USA), France and Britain, who regard these two movements as almost organic elements of their foreign policy. This questioning, which intensifies with the sharpening of global economic conditions, seems to have serious consequences for the future of the Western Alliance. This period comes with ethical and political dilemmas that will profoundly affect the modern individual’s view of world politics. In a system where there are no mechanisms to allow non-state actors to participate in government on a global scale, mass protest and destructive moral questioning are inevitable. This situation has become evident with the new type of corona virus epidemic (Covid 19) that has shaken the world since the beginning of 2020. The Covid crisis has demonstrated that human rights and freedoms enshrined in universal human rights conventions have not been adequately respected. Though beyond the focus of this paper, the migration crisis created by the civil war in Syria and the current state of affairs after the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan are clear cases in this respect. This paper focuses on the dilemmas that politics and ethics in the face of radical, global changes.

Why is humanity destroying its wellbeing and its habitat, Earth? The suggestion here is that the dominant culture has unnested itself from humanity's millions-year-old adaptive heritages, impairing evolved capacities and human potential in a feedback loop of greater disconnection and destruction. Humanity's heritage is to be nested horizontally, respectful of deep history and future generations, nested developmentally with evolved ways of raising children to foster thriving, and nested vertically, consciously participating in Earth-cosmos dynamism. Nestedness fosters capacities that are often missing in westernized peoples: ecological relational consciousness and knowhow, which were central to human adaptation. The dominant culture undermines their development. Mainstream western scholarship has accepted the slippage in baselines, collaborated with industrialized-capitalism culture and its intentional divorce from Nature's ways, and is now caught and caged in the limitations of its models and metaphors. Enmeshed in the dominant culture, modernist psychology largely ignores species-normal child raising, human nature and capacities found all over the world among nomadic foraging societies and other traditional societies. In order to reverse the dominant culture's destruction of planetary integrity, biological and cultural diversity, psychology must transform itself to help reestablish evolved practices and support deep nestedness, thereby helping restore human and Earth wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]