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Practical Ethics
... The RMV orientation in this paper is presented in the backdrop of the preference utilitarianism (Singer, 2011) principle. Singer (2011) emphasized the core idea in preference utilitarianism as the philosophy of equal consideration of interests: i.e. "The essence of the principle of equal consideration of interest is that it gives equal weight in our moral deliberations to the like interest of all those affected by our action…an interest is an interest whoever's interest it may be" (p. ...
... The RMV orientation in this paper is presented in the backdrop of the preference utilitarianism (Singer, 2011) principle. Singer (2011) emphasized the core idea in preference utilitarianism as the philosophy of equal consideration of interests: i.e. "The essence of the principle of equal consideration of interest is that it gives equal weight in our moral deliberations to the like interest of all those affected by our action…an interest is an interest whoever's interest it may be" (p. 20). ...
... A teleological approach is better exemplified by utilitarianism principles. Most modern business ethical perspectives are rooted in classic utilitarian theory, which is largely credited to the writings of three English philosophers; namely, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick (Singer, 2011). Utilitarianism principles are the same as hedonic utilitarian mentioned above as pleasure seeking and pain avoidance behavior. ...
Ethical behavior is increasingly becoming an essential part of business and marketing. Nonetheless, in many instances organizations fail to comply with certain ethical standards in relation to marketing practices. Despite the importance of ethical marketing practices, most of theories and practices in marketing discipline pertaining to ethics, are too idealistic in nature. A more simple and practical approach is to make marketing ethics easy to understand and, better still, effectively practiced. This conceptual paper proposes a simple but practical approach to marketing ethics based on the utilitarian philosophy propagated by Peter Singer (2006). The paper calls the new ethical value dimension in marketing as Righteous Marketing Value (RMV). We propose an Integrated Righteous Marketing Value (IRMV) Framework that presents a simple phase gate process model. RMV proposes three phase gates in this ethical value creation process rooted in three ethically sensitive spaces in marketing, namely, environmental safety, consumer health and wellbeing, and consumption. The paper also proposes a triangulation model that stresses equal weighting to consumer value, shareholder value and righteous value, and a Voluntary, Incentive and Punishment (VIP) approach to aid its implementation. The paper concludes that a simple comprehensive approach such as RMV would help inspire thinking in lines of marketing ethics and ethical value integration with other values created by marketing.
... Act in such a way so that it will become a universal law of nature and is applicable on each and every individual [4]. Kant said that if I cannot will the maxim of my action to be a universal law, then it must be wrong Singer P, et al. [5]. In this first formulation, Kant divides duties into two parts such as duties towards us and duties towards others. ...
... Euthanasia is defined as mercy killing or good death. According to Dictionary, 'euthanasia' refers to 'a gentle and easy death', but it is now used to refer to the killing of those who are incurably ill and in great pain or distress, in order to spare them further suffering or distress Singer P, et al. [5]. It has been formally said that person A ends the life of person B for the sake of person B. This is done to bring about a good death of person B for the sake of B. It is important to stress on the fact that the motive behind euthanasia is the ultimate benefit that is welfare of the patient Budic M, et al. [6]. ...
... We argue, following (Persson, 2013), that ethical concepts may be universal, not constrained to humans alone. Ethics has been extended toanimalsnon-human species on Earth, by Peter Singer, even though, he does not reason in terms of rights (Singer, 1993). ...
We discuss in the context of astrobiology three aspects of the possible evolution of humanity. In addition, from astrobioethics -the study of the moral implications in astrobiology- we ask whether it is necessary to develop new concepts. Thus, it is concluded that we have already started our transition towards an interplanetary humanity; that our actions in the face of the discovery of extraterrestrial life will depend on the context in which we find ourselves; and that it is important to develop new and updated concepts for the scenarios to be faced by the eventual evolution of humanity in space.
... Recording capabilities allow for the collection of NAD as a key component of the closed-loop systems these researchers aim to develop. In light of the centrality of various cognitive capacities for prominent theories of personhood (Singer, 1993;Korsgaard, 1996;McMahan, 2002) and recent discussions about how the idea of the brain as the basis of the self applies to issues in DBS in particular (Byram and Reiner, 2014;Mecacci and Haselager, 2014;Racine et al., 2017), a natural question to ask about NAD is whether it may be especially sensitive on this or some other basis. This issue forms part of the broader question of neuro-exceptionalism: ...
The expansion of research on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises important neuroethics and policy questions related to data sharing. However, there has been little empirical research on the perspectives of experts developing these technologies. We conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with aDBS researchers regarding their data sharing practices and their perspectives on ethical and policy issues related to sharing. Researchers expressed support for and a commitment to sharing, with most saying that they were either sharing their data or would share in the future and that doing so was important for advancing the field. However, those who are sharing reported a variety of sharing partners, suggesting heterogeneity in sharing practices and lack of the broad sharing that would reflect principles of open science. Researchers described several concerns and barriers related to sharing, including privacy and confidentiality, the usability of shared data by others, ownership and control of data (including potential commercialization), and limited resources for sharing. They also suggested potential solutions to these challenges, including additional safeguards to address privacy issues, standardization and transparency in analysis to address issues of data usability, professional norms and heightened cooperation to address issues of ownership and control, and streamlining of data transmission to address resource limitations. Researchers also offered a range of views on the sensitivity of neural activity data (NAD) and data related to mental health in the context of sharing. These findings are an important input to deliberations by researchers, policymakers, neuroethicists, and other stakeholders as they navigate ethics and policy questions related to aDBS research.
... Importantly, the dichotomy between loyalty to one's group and extending concern to others evident in the current data on whistleblowing decisions also lies at the heart of many key moral issues beyond the domain of whistleblowing. Over-prioritizing ingroup concerns relative to the needs of others beyond the group may similarly act as a barrier to fostering equality and cooperation across individuals (Napier & Luguri, 2013), diminishing intergroup conflict (Cohen, Montoya, & Insko, 2006), extending empathy to outgroups (Cikara, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011), and widening the moral circle (Singer, 2011). Understanding how whistleblowers are willing and able to set aside group obligations, risking personal well-being and safety for the sake of treating others fairly, will thus aid the larger goal of building moral courage and fostering prosocial behavior more generally. ...
Whistleblowers risk great personal cost to expose injustice. While their actions are sometimes deemed morally courageous, existing evidence that whistleblowers are primarily motivated by moral concerns is mixed. Moreover, little is known about the extent to which moral concerns predict whistleblowing relative to other organizational and situational factors. To address these gaps, we present two studies demonstrating the power of moral concerns in predicting whistleblowing decisions. Study 1 uses a large cross-sectional dataset of federal employees (N = 42,020) to test how moral concerns predict real-world whistleblowing decisions relative to other factors. Study 2 provides a more controlled replication of the association between moral concerns and whistleblowing decisions in an online sample of the U.S. workforce. Results revealed that moral concerns consistently predicted whistleblowing decisions above and beyond other organizational and situational factors. Specifically, whistleblowing decisions were associated with a tradeoff between moral concerns; whereby, concerns for the fair treatment of others beyond one's organization were associated with reporting unethical behavior, while loyalty to one's organization was associated with not reporting unethical behavior. Organizational factors, such as whether the organization educates its employees about how to disclose wrongdoing, showed a somewhat weaker association with whistleblowing decisions across studies. However, they were the only significant predictors of how people blew the whistle; that is, reporting unethical behavior through internal versus external channels. Together, these findings reveal important psychological motivations underlying whistleblowing, highlighting the power of moral concerns in these decisions and supporting conceptualizations of whistleblowing as an important example of moral courage.
... Peter Singer (b. 1946), for example, has been key to a regeneration of awareness in applied ethics in a variety of contexts (see Singer 2008). However, the old 62 A. Knight 62 utilitarianism has evolved into what is now broadly termed consequentialism, this shares the focus on consequences with the original utilitarian theories but removes the assumption of hedonism, i.e. things other than pleasure can be the optimisation target, such as freedom or human dignity. ...
... Researchers have argued that (1) education is an ethical activity, (2) academic honesty and integrity are ethical behaviors that are relevant for both students and teachers, and (3) ethics provides guidance in terms of what people ought to do and ought not to do (Campbell, 1997;Mahony, 2009;Singer, 1993Singer, , 1994. To examine the challenges of ethics in education, some writers and researchers studied ethical dilemmas that teachers experience in their profession (e.g., Campbell, 1997;Ehrich, Kimber, Millwater, & Cranston, 2011;Johns, McGrath, & Mathur, 2008;Millwater, Ehrich, & Cranston, 2004;Pope, Green, Johnson, & Mitchel, 2009). ...
The purpose of this study was to compare pre-service teachers’ views of ethical issues in assessment practices in the US and China. Focus group interviews were conducted among 16 pre-service teachers from the US and 15 pre-service teachers from China. Results indicated that the inclusion of effort in grading is a key issue for the pre-service teachers in both the US and China. American pre-service teachers have more consistent views with experts regarding using multiple assessment methods and Communications about grading. Pre-service teachers in both countries appeared to have consistent views with experts regarding the confidentiality and standardized test preparation. The findings of this study can help build guidelines regarding ethical issues in classroom assessment.
... The Foucauldian perspective, for example, challenges us to perceive institutional settings and bureaucratized systems of a hospital, school, or workplace as ethical issues themselves, to gain awareness of the larger abuse of knowledge supporting stigmas and "spoiled identities," to grasp inherent gender or ideological bias in psychological theories, to recognize practices pathologizing different forms of disobedience, to reveal the medicalization of social control (excessive widening of the realm of medical with the effects of disciplining, governing, ordering etc.) as existing ethical problems, and so forth. Building upon this viewpoint and other contemporary approaches, we are nowadays urged to consider how discourses of dignity regard children, the incapacitated, strangers, the unborn, and even non-human animals (Singer, 1999), or how the discourse on normality bears the ambivalence of "normal" as meaning, potentially, statistically average or ideal, and how this discourse is being reflected in our "hiding from humanity" (Nussbaum, 2004, book title). ...
Education in ethics and professional regulation are not alternatives; education in ethics for psychologists should not be framed merely as instruction regarding current professional regulation, or “ethical training.” This would reduce ethics to essentially a legal perspective, diminish professional responsibility, debase professional ethics, and downplay its primary purpose – the continuous critical reflection of professional identity and professional role. This paper discusses the meaning and function of education in ethics for psychologists and articulates the reasons why comprehensive education in ethics for psychologists should not be substituted by instruction in professional codes. Likewise, human rights education for psychologists should not be downgraded to mere instruction in existing legal norms. Human rights discourse represents an important segment of the comprehensive education in ethics for psychologists. Education in ethics should expose and examine substantial ethical ideas that serve as the framework for the law of human rights as well as the interpretative, multifaceted, evolving, even manipulable character of the human rights narrative. The typically proclaimed duty of psychologists to protect and promote human rights requires a deepening and expounding of the human rights legal framework through elaborate scrutiny of its ethical meaning. The idea of affirming and restoring human dignity – the concept often designated as the legal and ethical basis, essence, and purpose of human rights – represents one approach to framing this duty by which the goals of psychology on the professional and ethical levels become unified.
... Yet, this selective conformism effect is very meaningful in and of itself. As we have mentioned before, at least from a societal level, there is a good argument to be made in favor of more consequentialist policies (Singer, 2011;Greene, 2013 (6) ...
... A number of positions in normative ethics currently assume the principle of equal consideration, as formulated by Singer (1979), following Bentham. This principle states that the equal interests of different individuals count the same, regardless of the individual attributes of those whose interests they are. ...
The mainstream discussion regarding climate change in politics, public opinion and the media has focused almost exclusively on preventing the harms humans suffer due to global warming. Yet climate change is already having an impact on free-living nonhumans, which raises unexplored ethical concerns from a nondiscriminatory point of view. This paper discusses the inherent ethical challenge of climate change impacts on nonhuman animals living in nature and argues that the media and communication ethics cannot avoid addressing the issue. The paper further argues that media ethics needs to mirror animal ethics by rejecting moral anthropocentrism.
... It is therefore important to clarify the parameters of preference utilitarianism in this study, as the remarks above take us a long way from certain established forms of utilitarianism. Certain versions of particularly contemporary utilitarianism, includ-ing that of Peter Singer, demand a strong universality (Singer 2011). On such a flat universal account, we should be as attentive to the preferences of a child on the other side of the world as to those of our own children. ...
This chapter considers new localism from a specifically economic perspective. It begins by considering the major economic and political trends of recent decades: so-called neoliberal corporate economics, Marxism and nationalism of various stripes. The recent trend within some totalitarian states towards harnessing capitalism for ultimately state-controlled ends is also discussed. The tendency within economics generally has been to see individuals as rational utility maximisers. However, this assumes a degree of homogeneity and consistency that is at odds with the principle of new localism. The remainder of the chapter therefore develops suggestions based on the idea of people as arational utility maximisers, taking ‘utility’ in a very broad sense, and stressing that ‘arational’ implies ‘more than merely rational’ rather than ‘irrational’. The argument is explored further through some concrete suggestions relating to the delivery of public services, specifically in the areas of health, policing and transport. In all of these, there could be moves towards greater local control and responsibility.
... It is therefore important to clarify the parameters of preference utilitarianism in this study, as the remarks above take us a long way from certain established forms of utilitarianism. Certain versions of particularly contemporary utilitarianism, includ-ing that of Peter Singer, demand a strong universality (Singer 2011). On such a flat universal account, we should be as attentive to the preferences of a child on the other side of the world as to those of our own children. ...
This chapter explores the specifically ethical dimensions of new localism. First, it considers the differences and overlaps between forms of consequentialist and deontological ethics, arguing that falling back on universal prescriptions can, by default, lead to a failure to take individual and collective responsibility. The argument is then developed through considering this in relation to the public sphere of political arrangements and the private sphere of life choices and attitudes. In relation to the former, the case is made for a partial move back from representative democracy to participatory democracy at the local level, with national policy in certain areas becoming the aggregate of local policies, rather than the present situation in which national governments expect local communities to implement policies with very limited space for interpretation. Existentially, examples of immanent transcendentalism, including forms of Buddhism and Thoreau’s Walden experiment, are cited as ways of increasing awareness and appreciation of the local environment, human and non-human. In light of this, issues of waste management are discussed, as well as the broader social issues of borderless crime and the role of the local in maintaining a healthy balance between production and consumption.
... It is therefore important to clarify the parameters of preference utilitarianism in this study, as the remarks above take us a long way from certain established forms of utilitarianism. Certain versions of particularly contemporary utilitarianism, includ-ing that of Peter Singer, demand a strong universality (Singer 2011). On such a flat universal account, we should be as attentive to the preferences of a child on the other side of the world as to those of our own children. ...
The first chapter takes an overview of the argument, explaining its origins in terms of both theory and recent political events. The central ethical premise is explained: that of the Welcome Principle as a feature of a move towards a more place-based ethics, aesthetics, economics and politics. The problematic role of the nation state as a meso level structure between the macro level structures of global corporatism and the micro level structure of the local community is discussed. Four aspects of globalisation, partly intentional and partly not so, are defined: standardisation, impersonalism, a mechanistic approach to life, and universal ethics. Problems arising from these positions include narrow performativity, a sense that many people and communities have been ‘left behind’ and a democratic deficit, whereby local voices are increasingly ignored. The argument also considers the limiting effects of humanism and the need for ecological awareness and action. The theoretical influences on the argument are also explained, particularly its debt to semiotic pragmatism.
... 10 The ethical considerations of affording moral status to nonhuman beings is perhaps most eloquently, and impactfully, evaluated by Peter Singer. His counterargument against the supposed misplaced moral privilege of human beings is spurious in his view 11 , instead of arguing that the blanket attribution of moral status to humans should be replaced with conditions for the perception of pain as the relevant considerations for moral attribution [106]. Situating pain as the locus for evaluating the moral status of entities, Singer's condition rank-orders the intensity of pain as scale by which moral considerations can be weighed. ...
Strong arguments have been formulated that the computational limits of disembodied artificial intelligence (AI) will, sooner or later, be a problem that needs to be addressed. Similarly, convincing cases for how embodied forms of AI can exceed these limits makes for worthwhile research avenues. This paper discusses how embodied cognition brings with it other forms of information integration and decision-making consequences that typically involve discussions of machine cognition and similarly, machine consciousness. N. Katherine Hayles’s novel conception of nonconscious cognition in her analysis of the human cognition-consciousness connection is discussed in relation to how nonconscious cognition can be envisioned and exacerbated in embodied AI. Similarly, this paper offers a way of understanding the concept of suffering in a way that is different than the conventional sense of attributing it to either a purely physical state or a conscious state, instead of grounding at least a type of suffering in this form of cognition.
... Source: Own presentation; for deeper insights see Anderson 2014; Francione and Garner 2010;Grimm and Wild 2016; Kant 1870;Lund et al. 2004;Regan 1983;Singer 2011 ...
In recent decades, the demand for ethically acceptable treatment of animals – especially in case of livestock animals – has increased significantly in western societies and can thus have a significant impact on the consumption of animal products. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the influence and the mode of action of animal-ethical values. In consumer research, the consumer value-attitude system consisting of global values, domain-specific values and attitudes is essential in many studies. However, there have been no attempts so far to operationalise domain-specific values in the context of human-animal relationship empirically. This means that an essential component for the analysis of animal product consumption behaviour is missing. Therefore, the present study includes animal ethics into the consumer value-attitude system as domain-specific values. The aim is, to analyse the influence of animal-ethical values on consumer behaviour concerning animal products. As a concrete example, the consumption of game meat is chosen in this study, because the consumption of game meat is often judged in a contradictory way in terms of animal welfare. This offers the possibility to cover the entire spectrum of societal animal-ethical values. The study is based on a virtually representative online survey with 523 German participants. A structural equation model is used for analysis. It was found, that animal ethics can be perfectly integrated into the value system as domain-specific values. Furthermore, the results show that especially the two extreme positions in animal ethics, original anthropocentrism and abolitionism, have a significant influence on consumer behaviour – in this case on the consumption of game meat. Overall, this first study on domain-specific values in the context of human-animal relationship contributes to a deeper understanding of which animal-ethical values affect the behaviour of consumers. This is of great importance for marketing and consumer theory concerning animal products.
... This means, in order to have moral standing, one has to have some kind of subjective perspective from which things can go better or worse (see, e.g. Bernstein 1998;Clark 1977;de Grazia 1996;Helm 2002;Jamieson 1998;Levine 1997;O'Neil 1997;Persson 2008Persson , 2012Regan 2001Regan , 2004Singer 2009Singer , 2011. The ability to feel pleasure and pain is often set as a minimum criterion. ...
Some authors argue that we have a moral obligation to leave Mars the way it is, even if it does not harbour any life. This claim is usually based on an assumption that Mars has intrinsic value. The problem with this concept is that different authors use it differently. In this chapter, I investigate different ways in which an uninhabited Mars is said to have intrinsic value. First, I investigate whether the planet can have moral standing. I find that this is not a plausible assumption. I then investigate different combinations of objective value and end value. I find that there is no way we can know whether an uninhabited Mars has objective end value and even if it does, this does not seem to imply any moral obligations on us. I then investigate whether an uninhabited Mars can have subjective end value. I conclude that this is very plausible. I also investigate whether an uninhabited Mars can have objective instrumental value in relation to some other, non-Mars related end value. I find also this very plausible. It is also highly plausible, however, that spreading (human or other) life to a presently uninhabited Mars can also have subjective end value, as well as objective instrumental value. I mention shortly two ways of prioritising between these values: (1) The utilitarian method of counting the number of sentient beings who entertain each value and determining the strength of the values to them. (2) Finding a compromise that allows colonisation on parts of the planet while leaving other parts untouched. These methods should be seen as examples, not as an exhaustive list. Also, I do not take a definitive stand in favour of any of the two approaches, though it seems at least prima facie that the second approach may have a better chance of actually leading to a constructive result.
... Recién en los debates relativos al colonialismo este fenómeno empieza a ocupar un lugar sistemáticamente más relevante 5 . Si bien en la actualidad, ya temprano, las posiciones dominantes en la filosofía contemporánea y en el Derecho internacional respecto de la inmigración fueron filosóficamente criticadas (Nett, 1971;Ackerman,1980;King, 1983;Hudson, 1986), con algunas excepciones, sobre todo provenientes del universo teórico libertario y economicista (Block, 1998), así como utilitarista (Singer, 1979(Singer, y 1997, los tratamientos y cuestionamientos sistemáticos y la estructuración teórica de alternativas son recientes, multiplicándose en los últimos años 6 . Los tratamientos 4 Por ejemplo, Platón, Las Leyes (causas de migración IV, 708b; homogeneidad cultural 708c-d; obligaciones hacia extranjeros 729e-730a); Seneca, Lucious, Annaeus: Ad Helviam matrem de consolatione (referencias a la migración de individuos y pueblos en VII,1); Agustinus, La ciudad de Dios (sobre asilo en I,4-7, 34). ...
El artículo examina teorías institucionales domésticas de justicia, así
como teorías comunitarias de justicia y teorías nacionalistas liberales,
y sostiene que ninguno de estos marcos teóricos puede justificar la
potestad hoy reconocida por los Estados para controlar sus fronteras
en el caso de la inmigración según aquellos criterios que prefieran.
En el caso de la inmigración, hay argumentos de justicia que limitan
esta potestad. El texto articula una concepción de justicia distributiva
global y sostiene que los Estados debiesen ser mucho menos restrictivos en el acceso de inmigrantes que lo que son en la actualidad, en razón de las exigencias que la justicia distributiva global impone.
... Too frequently, policy scholars mix ethical arguments in with other kinds of arguments, with the result that the ethical arguments either play no real role or play a merely rhetorical role. Long lists of mutually inconsistent principles as old as Aristotle (fourth century BCE) or as recent as Peter Singer (Singer, 1979) populate the "ethics" sections of policy papers, only to be referred to opportunistically as they support the paper's pragmatic arguments. If you want to know whether a policy conforms to ethical principles, it is essential to be clear and consistent about the ethical principles in question. ...
This working paper investigates the question of how, in a principled way, New Zealanders
should share the risks of sea-level rise. After surveying the adaptation justice literature, the
paper uses critical description methodology to analyze the New Zealand status quo in sea-level
rise policy. Taking the values of equality and agency as consensus ethical norms, we identify
changes to our policy processes and outcomes that could realise those values.
... The nineteenth century British philosopher Leslie Stephen observed: 'The pig has a stronger interest than anyone in the demand for bacon. If all the world were Jewish, there would be no pigs at all' [32]. Peter Singer responds to Stephen's observation by appealing to the bad consequences of pig farming, including all the human lives a vegetarian diet could save and the suffering involved in factory farming, which eliminates any interest pigs could have in being alive under such conditions [33]. ...
Xenotransplantation is often deemed morally objectionable because of the costs it imposes on the organ donor and the risks it imposes on the recipient. For some, involving human–pig chimeras as donors makes the practice more objectionable or even abhorrent from the start. For others, by contrast, using such chimeras weakens recipient-based objections because it reduces the risk of organ rejection and malfunctioning, and cancels donor-based objections because the practice does not harm chimeras but instead gives them valuable lives they would not otherwise have. The paper examines and eventually rejects the latter defense. It also discusses the additional risks of chimeric xenotourism in countries with less demanding procedural guidelines and reflects on two very different futures for humanity that may emerge from supporting or rejecting chimeric xenotransplantation.
Abolitionism in animal ethics focuses on the idea that, if animals matter morally, humans are obligated to recognize that animals have a prelegal, moral right not to be used as property. Recognizing this right requires the abolition, and not the regulation, of animal use. Central to abolition is adoption of veganism, or the rejection of eating, wearing, or using animals exclusively as resources. Abolitionism also recognizes the connections between human rights and the rights of nonhumans, and rejects violence.
Most of us are partial to our friends and loved ones: we treat them with special care, and we feel justified in doing so. In recent years, the idea that good friends are also epistemically partial to one another has been popular. Being a good friend, so‐called epistemic partialists suggest, involves being positively biased towards one's friends – that is, involves thinking more highly of them than is warranted by the evidence. In this paper, I outline the concept of epistemic partiality and its relation to non‐epistemic partiality and explore some considerations that speak in favour of and against such partialism in friendships. I finish by suggesting some directions in which this debate could go next.
It is perhaps inevitable that the academic study of learning disabilities is often undertaken by established scholars with little lived experience of the condition. So, what has it been like for someone from outside the academy, with a long career in the arts, who is also the father of a severely learning‐disabled young man, to write a book‐length history of learning disabilities in culture and society? How is it possible to reconcile such a biological reality with the many caveats about the social construction of the condition? How can we retain a belief in scientific analysis when the categorisation of learning‐disabled people seems to have caused as many problems as it solves? Furthermore, how can such an account be attempted when so much of the written record is by people who are placed in positions of power over learning‐disabled people and when the true voice of experience is so often silenced, or, like the author's son, silent? The attempt to answer these questions reveals a field rich with contradiction. Despite some advances, much of the social and cultural history of learning disabilities tells a tale of neglect, abandonment and abuse, with confused cultural attitudes too often shaping practice. When the telescope is reversed, however, severe learning disabilities provide us with a kind of Brechtian “alienation effect” which reveals the fault lines running through so many progressive movements and helps us to frame them historically, while also challenging assumptions about how those with severe learning disabilities are regarded and can best be given the support and freedom that they need.
There is much public scepticism about the way science and statistics are used within government, says Ian L. Boyd, a former scientific adviser. But rather than close ranks against scepticism, the science professions within government should embrace it, he argues, and use it to test their own assumptions and motivations There is much public scepticism about the way science and statistics are used within government, says Ian L. Boyd, a former scientific adviser. But rather than close ranks against scepticism, the science professions within government should embrace it, he argues, and use it to test their own assumptions and motivations
Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is an environmental movement which carries out radical direct actions, making it distinct from the mainstream environmental movements which implements peaceful methods in articulating their voices. Although its radical actions encounter negative responses, ELF still uses direct actions as their main tactic. In this writing, the writer seeks to uncover the reasons behind the use of radical actions by ELF. The writer uses three main concepts to arrive at the answer: civil disobedience, violence, and terrorism by Peter Singer; Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock; and new radicalism in social movements by David Solnit. Through interviews, qualitative content analysis, and network approach, four main reasons behind the use of direct actions by ELF are found: (1) ELF fights for its environmental norms; (2) commitment to uproot capitalist system; (3) urgency to stop environmental degradation; and (4) its actions are aimed to protect the earth. The key finding in this research is anonymity within ELF, which turns out to be the most important aspect for ELF to maintain the sustainability of its movement.
Planetary protection is not just a matter of science. It is also a matter of value. This is so independently of whether we only include the protection of science or if we also include other goals. Excluding other values than the protection of science is thus a value statement, not a scientific statement and it does not make planetary protection value neutral. It just makes the axiological basis (that is, the value basis) for planetary protection more limited in a way that is inconsistent with the axiological grounds for back contamination, ethically questionable and strategically unwise. However we look at it, we cannot get away from the conclusion that the axiological dimension of planetary protection is a task that needs to involve experts on value theory as well as experts from a range of different sciences and also include opinions from outside the academic community.
Societies change over time. Chattel slavery and foot-binding have been abolished, democracy has become increasingly widespread, gay rights have become established in some countries, and the animal rights movement continues to gain momentum. Do these changes count as moral progress? Is there such a thing? If so, how should we understand it? These questions have been receiving increasing attention from philosophers, psychologists, biologists, and sociologists in recent decades. This survey provides a systematic account of recent developments in the understanding of moral progress. We outline the concept of moral progress and describe the different types of moral progress identified in the literature. We review the normative criteria that have been used in judging whether various developments count as morally progressive or not. We discuss the prospects of moral progress in the face of challenges that claim that moral progress is not psychologically possible for human beings, and we explore the metaethical implications of moral progress.
There is almost no theoretical discussion of non‐human animal well‐being in the philosophical literature on well‐being. To begin to rectify this, I develop a desire satisfaction theory of well‐being for animals. I contrast this theory with my desire theory of well‐being for humans, according to which a human benefits from satisfying desires for which she can offer reasons. I consider objections. The most important are (1) Eden Lin's claim that the correct theory of well‐being cannot vary across different welfare subjects and (2) his objection against theories of human well‐being that require exercising a sophisticated capacity such as reason giving.
Concerns over the unethical conduct of leaders and public officials have led to the renaissance of interest in public service ethics and values. Although national and organizational systems and structures have been instituted to either eradicate or ameliorate unethical behaviours in the public service of countries, the practice still persists with devastating consequences. As one way forward, spirituality has been touted as having the potential of stimulating the moral thoughts of individuals who are dealing with ethical issues, thereby reducing unethical behaviour and generating positive organizational behaviour. Drawing from the perspectives of developing and transitional countries, this special issue empirically examines the extent to which ethics, values and spirituality can reduce unethical behaviours.
Here is a prima facie plausible view: since the metaethical error theory says that all positive moral claims are false, it makes no sense for error theorists to engage in normative ethics. After all, normative ethics tries to identify what is right or wrong (and why), but the error theory implies that nothing is ever right or wrong. One way for error theorists to push back is to argue for “concept preservationism,” that is, the view that even though our ordinary moral discourse is deeply flawed, we should nevertheless continue to engage in moral thought and talk. However, in this article, I pursue a different strategy. I argue that even if we completely abandon moral discourse, thus endorsing “concept abolitionism,” the discipline of normative ethics survives. While traditional normative ethics uses as its “starting points” moral claims and beliefs, instead, concept abolitionists can make use of alternative utterances and attitudes that share salient characteristics with moral claims and beliefs, allowing for a kind of theorizing that is practically oriented, impartial, involves the traditional subject matters and methods of normative ethics, and allows engagement with the arguments of traditional moral philosophers.
Commonsense moral thinking holds that people have doxastic, contemplative, and expressive duties, that is, duties to or not to believe, seriously consider, and express certain ideas. This paper argues that moral and political philosophers face a high risk of violating any such duties, both because of the sensitivity and difficult of the subject matter, and because of various pernicious biases and influences philosophers face. We argue this leads to a dilemma, which we will not try to solve. Either philosophers should reduce their risk by avoiding sensitive issues where they are likely to violate such duties or, for one reason or another, philosophers are to some degree exempt from such duties when doing their work. Either horn of the dilemma, we argue, has unpalatable implications.
Sacrificial moral dilemmas are widely used to investigate when, how, and why people make judgments that are consistent with utilitarianism. However, to what extent can responses to sacrificial dilemmas shed light on utilitarian decision making? We consider two key questions. First, how meaningful is the relationship between responses to sacrificial dilemmas, and what is distinctive about a utilitarian approach to morality? Second, to what extent do findings about sacrificial dilemmas generalize to other moral contexts where there is tension between utilitarianism and common-sense intuitions? We argue that sacrificial dilemmas only capture one point of conflict between utilitarianism and common-sense morality, and new paradigms will be necessary to investigate other key aspects of utilitarianism, such as its radical impartiality.
Justification ideologies include “any set of beliefs, attitudes, values, or group stereotypes which provide the moral and intellectual support for group‐based inequality”. Once scientific breakthroughs identified the various biomedical origins of conditions like blindness, dyslexia, and muscular dystrophy, a new ideological construction emerged to explain disability as an abnormality, a deviation from normal functioning. According to the socio‐political or minority model of disability, it is society that disables certain people who are excluded from participating as equals due to environmental, political, and attitudinal barriers. System justification ideologies benefit the current social order by providing ready‐made explanations of why some groups find themselves at the bottom of the social hierarchy while others have advanced. Some in the disability community consider person‐first language to be euphemistic – a softer substitute for words that seem too blunt like “oppression” or “homeless.” The term ableism emerged as part of psychological discourse.
How do we and should we decide what is morally right and what is morally wrong? For much of human history, the teachings of religion were presumed to provide either the answer, or much of the answer. Over time, two developments challenged this. The first was the establishment of the discipline of moral philosophy. Foundational texts, such as Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and the growth of coherent, nonreligious approaches to ethics, notably utilitarianism, served to marginalize the role of religion. And then, second, the twentieth century saw the rapid growth of evolutionary biology with an enthusiastic presumption that biology was the source of ethics. Here, I begin by discussing these developments and then examine the extent to which religion is still needed for a coherent account of ethics.
The research paper presents the results of the analysis of scientific sources on
theoretical, methodological and applied aspects of the range of problems. The
essence and specifics of professional communicative activities of pharmacists
are determined, their professional communicative qualities and abilities, as
well as psychological characteristics of a person, which form the communicative competence of the pharmacist are described. Theoretical and experimental approaches to the determination of the problem have been clarified. It is
emphasized that the communicative competence of a pharmacist is a professionally significant quality, since his professional activities involves communication: with patients, their relatives, doctors. It is noted that the professional
communicative qualities of pharmacists constitute a psychological portrait of
future pharmacists. The content and structure of communicative competence
is determined. It is noted that the components of professional communicative competence of future pharmacists are the motivational, cognitive and
professional communicative components that play the role of criteria for its
development. The basic conditions for the formation of the communicative
competence of the future pharmaceutical worker are determined. It is stated
that among professionally significant psychological characteristics of the personality of a pharmaceutical worker, we can single out the ability to communicate, establish and develop relationships with other people, emotional stability, balance in the absence of impulsivity, excessive emotional expressiveness,
the ability to «read» non-verbal language and use it in professional activities,
communicative tolerance, sensitivity to deviation (neglect). The parameters of
paralinguistic communication that are professionally important for a pharmaceutical worker and the peculiarities of using the means of non-verbal communication in their professional activities are outlined in the research paper
Previous research has alluded to the predominance of atheism in participant pools of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement (Galvin and Herzog 1992; Guither 1998), as well as the correlation between atheism and support for anti-speciesism (Gabriel et al. 2012; The Humane League 2014), but no study to date has independently examined this demographic. This article presents a profile of 210 atheists and agnostics, derived from a larger survey of 287 American vegans conducted in early 2017. Results demonstrate that atheists constitute one of the movement's largest demographics, and that atheist and agnostic vegans are more likely to adopt veganism out of concern for other animals. While these vegans did not register a higher level of social movement participation than religious vegans, they were more intersectionally oriented and more likely to politically identify with the far left. Given the Nonhuman Animal rights movement's overall failure to target atheists, these findings suggest a strategic oversight in overlooking the movement's potentially most receptive demographic.
A common concern regarding affirmative action is that it sanctions the selection of candidates whose qualifications are not the best overall and that this is inefficient or unjust or both. I argue that this concern is misguided, since there is no independent concern regarding qualifications with respect to the moral status of affirmative action. The only sense in which qualifications are not morally arbitrary—and the only sense in which there is a reason to select the most qualified candidate—is purely instrumental to the promotion of moral values whose fundamental concern is not qualifications.
Humans share the planet with many wonderfully diverse animal species and human-animal interactions are part of our daily lives. An important part of understanding how humans do and should interact with other animals is understanding how humans think about other animals. In this thesis, I argue that how humans think about the minds of other animals is marked by prejudice and that this prejudice fosters epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical problems related to study of, the conception of, and the conclusions we draw about animal minds. I begin by examining conceptions and representations of animals in popular culture and arguing that they exhibit and foster a problematic prejudice, what I call “animal prejudice.” I then examine how this prejudice affects the general study of animal minds and argue that it leads to epistemological problems that interfere with the aims of science. After reviewing the effects of animal prejudice on the study of animal minds generally, I more closely examine the effects of animal prejudice on the scientific study of animal problem solving, learning, tool use, language, emotion, and empathy. In addition to identifying areas where animal prejudice is negatively affecting the study of animal minds, I also offer suggestions for avoiding and mitigating these effects. To conclude, I review the ethical implications of animal prejudice and its effects on the study of animal minds. Together, these chapters offer an important philosophical contribution to the understanding of animal minds and provide a basis for further discussion on how humans should interact with other animals.
Wildland‐urban interface (WUI) fire incidents are likely to become more severe and will affect more and more people. Given their scale and complexity, WUI incidents require a multidomain approach to assess their impact and the effectiveness of any mitigation efforts. The authors recently produced a specification for a simulation framework that quantifies evacuation performance during WUI incidents including inputs from three core domains: fire development, pedestrian performance and vehicular traffic [26]. This framework could produce new insights by simulating evolving conditions of WUI incidents based on developments and interactions between the core components. Thus, it aims to overcome known limitations of previous approaches (eg, static assessment, single domain approaches, or lack of projection), as well as to provide explanatory insights into the outcomes produced by the simulation. The proposed framework would also advance geo‐spatial mapping of WUI incidents. The concept of dynamic vulnerability, , is at the core of the framework and is enabled by the integrated simulation framework and the emergent conditions predicted. This allows users to construct richer incident narratives from the perspective of specific locations or subpopulations, and also makes fewer simplifying assumptions regarding interactions between the three core domains.
This article focuses on experiences of presence and their potential to increase creativity. The question posed is about whether singular experiences of presence are constituents of creativity and innovation, and if so, what we can learn from them. The material studied includes descriptions of the experiences of presence of 418 around in Finland. Certain main characteristics were found between the experiences, such as finding new perspectives, being connected, and meaningfulness. Many experiences recalled in the descriptions, and the three main themes, seem to be related to the inner shift, which is the necessary part of the new approaches of creativity introduced in this paper. Due to the interconnectedness of the founded themes of the experiences of presence and also to the more broad and multifaceted approaches of innovation, it is possible to think that the experiences of presence could be one of the key factors towards more creative, and more sustainable future.
Agriculture is a major user of land across the world. Its potential for impact on landscapes and on all the other organisms with which we share the land is perhaps greater than for almost any other human activity. Across the globe, agriculture has adversely affected soil, landscapes and biodiversity. Not all approaches to food production have an equal environmental impact. Here we review the ways in which environmentally attuned food production can aid the restoration of biodiversity.
El artículo examina las críticas que le formulara Jane English a la obstinada apelación al concepto de persona en las discusiones sobre el aborto. Conservadores como liberales, se habría equivocado al considerar como determinante si el feto era una persona. Se dividen las criticas en una lingüística y otra moral. Respecto a la primera, defiendo que si bien identifica correctamente un problema, ignora que este es solucionable. Respecto a la segunda, sostengo que tanto su arremetida contra el conservadurismo como contra el liberalismo, son fundadas. Sin embargo, sugiero que puede acudirse a mejores analogías y a conceptos más precisos.
Why are we still studying well‐being? We have a vested interest in understanding the good life, and the relevant data seem to be accessible to us all. The challenge is to explain why well‐being is one lasting philosophical topic among others in spite of our special epistemic relationship to it. This article argues that human nature renders us well‐being blind. On one side this is due to the heterogeneous nature of our interests. Some are directly mediated by conscious thought, others are not. Some are individualistically realized, others relationally. On the other side we suffer from cognitive biases that lead us to undervalue, indeed, to miss entirely, the important aspects of human life that do not depend on conscious attention. Consequently, there is reason to think that we shall never be satisfied with a theory of well‐being.
Antrajame svarstomos temos straipsnyje (pirmasis – Bartkienė 2011) analizuojami bioetinių prieštarų sprendimo būdai, pateikti P. Singerio ir T. Engelhardto teorijose. Abu teoretikai naudoja vienaprincipinę prieigą, laikydamiesi nuostatos, kad užtenka vieno esminio principo nustatant normatyvines bioetikos
gaires. P. Singeris, plėtodamas utilitarinę poziciją, kvestionuoja tradicinę asmens sampratą. T. Engelhardtas, pabrėždamas pagarbos autonomijai principą, pasiūlo deontologinę bioetikos versiją. Viena vertus, nagrinėjami autoriai formuluoja aiškias normatyvines gaires, reikalingas sprendžiant bioetines
prieštaras. Kita vertus, jų pateikti siūlymai vertintini ypač atsargiai, nes pabrėžiant asmens sampratos reikšmę atmetamos tradicinės medicinos etikos vertybės – geradarybė ir pagarba žmogaus gyvybei. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad aptariamos teorijos, marginalizuodamos labiausiai pažeidžiamas socialines
grupes, tokias kaip protiškai neįgalūs asmenys ir maži vaikai, atveria kelią dehumanizuotai ir komercializuotai medicinai.
Pagrindiniai žodžiai: bioetika, autonomija, geradarybė, žala, teisingumas.
A Search for Methodological Basis in Bioethics (II): Monoprinciple Approach
Aistė Bartkienė
Summary
The second paper in the series (see Bartkienė 2011) is designated to disclose the ways of solving the bioethical problems proposed by P. Singer and T. Engelhardt. Both thinkers use one principle approach maintaining that a single main principle is sufficient for acquiring basic normative guides in bioethics. Singer develops a utilitarian position and is questioning traditional notion of a person. Engelhardt is emphasizes the principle of respect for autonomy and proposes deontological conception of bioethics. On one hand, these theories offer clear normative guidance for resolving bioethical controversies in the sphere of medicine. On the other hand, these proposals should be evaluated very carefully because by stressing the significance
of the notion of a person both theories reject traditional values of medical ethics, such as beneficence and respect for human life. Marginalizing the most
vulnerable groups of society, such as mentally ill and small children, they open the path for dehumanized and commercialized medicine.
Key words: bioethics, autonomy, justice, utilitarianism.
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