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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Role Of Empathy In Moral Inquiry, William Gray Kidder
The Role Of Empathy In Moral Inquiry, William Gray Kidder
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
In this dissertation, I defend the view that, despite empathy’s susceptibility to problematic biases, we can and should cultivate empathy to aid our understanding of our own values and the values of others. I argue that empathy allows us to critically examine and potentially revise our values by considering concrete moral problems and our own moral views from the perspective of another person. Appropriately calibrated empathy helps us achieve a critical distance from our own moral perspective and is thus tied to impartiality in moral inquiry. In defending this role for empathy in moral inquiry, I draw on empirical work …
Artificial Intelligence And Utility : Deep Problems For A.I. Ethics, Trevor Howard Groves
Artificial Intelligence And Utility : Deep Problems For A.I. Ethics, Trevor Howard Groves
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
As technology advances further, new problems arise for us to contend with philosophically. Indeed, popular media has already begun presenting the possible issues our society must deal with. One of these is A.I., and how they will challenge old notions of subjects like identity, consciousness, and ethics. It is this third category that this paper is concerned with, namely how the existence of A.I. will affect our choice of ethical theory in regards to their treatment. It is my intention to demonstrate that one particular category of ethical theory, hedonistic consequentialist ones, will be ill equipped to handle these considerations. …
What Monsters May They Be : The Moral Status Of Macabre Fascination And The Paradox Of Horror, Marius Abraham Pascale
What Monsters May They Be : The Moral Status Of Macabre Fascination And The Paradox Of Horror, Marius Abraham Pascale
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The paradox of horror poses the question, how is it possible for us to find fear pleasurable? Emotions of fear are traditionally seen as unpleasant, and viewed as that which ought to be avoided when possible. Yet individuals seek out and derive pleasure from works of horror, a genre with the explicit goal of producing fear. How is this possible, and ought we to find such works a source of pleasure? The goals of the project are twofold. First, to present a unique solution to the horror paradox. Second, to address the moral status of macabre fascination. The first section …
Toward A More Intuitive Virtue Ethics: A Perspectival View, James Fanciullo
Toward A More Intuitive Virtue Ethics: A Perspectival View, James Fanciullo
Philosophy
No abstract provided.
Attack Of The Drones : Unmanned Aerial Vehicles And Moral Problems, Tyler B. Kirk
Attack Of The Drones : Unmanned Aerial Vehicles And Moral Problems, Tyler B. Kirk
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The frequency of use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for combat by the United States has increased dramatically in recent years. Since this technology has comprised a significant portion of American counter-terror operations abroad and there are virtually no signs of this practice slowing or ceasing in the foreseeable future, it is necessary to closely examine the ethical implications of remote-control warfare. At first glance, arguments supporting the use of "drones" seem robust and sensible: in theory, they save American military lives. But upon further investigation, the use of drones in practice actually creates morally murky, problematic situations that could lead …
Motives, Reasons, And Morality : The Humean Theory Of Motivation, Reasons Internalism, And The Problem Of Objective Morality, Elliot Cross
Motives, Reasons, And Morality : The Humean Theory Of Motivation, Reasons Internalism, And The Problem Of Objective Morality, Elliot Cross
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
In this dissertation I argue that the Humean theory of motivation, and reasons internalism ought to be accepted and are compatible with moral objectivity. The Humean theory of motivation is the view that only desires, and not beliefs, are capable of motivating. Reasons internalism is the view that only those considerations capable of motivating can be reasons. The combination of these two views entails that we only have a reason for action when we have a relevant desire. Accordingly, if we hold both of these positions then we cannot have reason to be moral unless we desire to be moral. …
The Role Of Adaptation To Disability And Disease In Public Health, Meghan Mary Connors
The Role Of Adaptation To Disability And Disease In Public Health, Meghan Mary Connors
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Some patients with chronic disabilities and diseases are able to adapt to their health states and, as a result, rate their quality of life higher than hypothetical patients imagining themselves to be in such states. Due to this phenomenon of adaptation, there is much controversy surrounding the effect of adaptation on patient preferences and the role that these adapted preferences ought to play in health care resource allocation decisions. The process of adaptation affects public health debates about whether we ought to give priority to the worst off in allocation decisions because within traditional public health frameworks, it is unclear …
Phronesis After Situationism, Edward C. Dubois
Phronesis After Situationism, Edward C. Dubois
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Situationism, as put forward by John Doris' Lack of Character (2002) and several short articles by Gilbert Harman (2003, 2000, 1999), is the philosophical position that is skeptical of the existence of robust character traits of the kind that Aristotle described. Situationism posits that human beings lack robust character traits and are too easily made overconfident in their own behavioral abilities. Reams of social psychological data suggest that such 'thick' character traits do not exist. Doris and Harman suggest that subtle and potentially irrelevant situational cues may easily influence behavior. Moreover, situational pressures may cause people to deviate from expected …
The Case For Character : A Reply To Situationism, Brandon Lee
The Case For Character : A Reply To Situationism, Brandon Lee
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The notion of character is a familiar and prominent part of ethical theorizing, and of our everyday discourse. Character is used to explain how people act, to predict what they will do, to judge whether they ought to be trusted, and utilized in a multitude of other ways. A camp of philosophers dubbed the "Situationists", however, argue that research in social psychology shows the notion of character as we traditionally understand it is empirically unsupported, and consequently that all our discourse and ethical thought involving character is gravely mistaken. Instead, these philosophers contend that what influences and informs our perception …
Ethics In Action : A Study Of Ethical Decision Making In Counterinsurgencies, Marcus Schulzke
Ethics In Action : A Study Of Ethical Decision Making In Counterinsurgencies, Marcus Schulzke
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the kinds of ethical challenges soldiers encounter during counterinsurgency operations, what decision making processes or values they use to resolve these challenges, and how military institutions and culture influence soldiers' ethical reasoning. The first part of the dissertation is an assessment of various theories of applied ethics and how these can be used by soldiers during counterinsurgency operations. The second part discusses the institutions and cultures of the American Army, British Army, and Israeli Ground Forces. In the third part, I take up the problem of how soldiers from each of these …
Encounters With The Outcast : The Ethical Relation In Wordsworth And Lacan, Heewon Kang
Encounters With The Outcast : The Ethical Relation In Wordsworth And Lacan, Heewon Kang
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation examines the ethical importance of the moments in William Wordsworth's poetry when language verges on silence or presents experience as finally unintelligible, and explores the ethical dimension of outcast figures intimately connected with the problem of this void in signification, on the basis of Jacques Lacan's insights concerning psychoanalytic ethics. The question that orients the examination of the ethical issues embodied in Wordsworth's poetry is how one should encounter or represent the outcast figure as a rupture in meaning. And the ethics of subjectivity which Lacan explores in terms of his theories of the gaze, feminine jouissance, and …
Payment For Egg Donation And Surrogacy, Bonnie Steinbock
Payment For Egg Donation And Surrogacy, Bonnie Steinbock
Philosophy Faculty Scholarship
This article examines the ethics of egg donation. It begins by looking at objections to noncommercial gamete donation, and then takes up criticism of commercial egg donation. After discussing arguments based on concern for offspring, inequality, commodification, exploitation of donors, and threats to the family, I conclude that some payment to donors is ethically acceptable. Donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval. Making the distinction between compensation for burdens and payment for a product has the advantages of limiting payment, not distinguishing between donors on the basis …
Are External Reasons Impossible?, Rachel Cohon
Are External Reasons Impossible?, Rachel Cohon
Philosophy Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.