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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Building Morality: A New Strategy For Creating Human-Like Moral Psychology In Artificial General Intelligence, Christopher Barr
Building Morality: A New Strategy For Creating Human-Like Moral Psychology In Artificial General Intelligence, Christopher Barr
Lawrence University Honors Projects
Humanity seems well on its way to creating artificial general intelligence, or AGI, within the next century. Such a creation poses great existential risk to humanity, as an AGI of suitable power could conceivably wipe us all out, either by accident or through actual malevolence, and this threat has lead many to search for a solution to the “Control Problem”. Current theories propose various kinds of rule-based solutions, like Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, supposing that a rule-based system would be sufficient for creating a cooperative AGI. I argue that this is not the case; rather, what is necessary is …
Just War Thought And The Notion Of Peace, James G. Murphy
Just War Thought And The Notion Of Peace, James G. Murphy
Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works
The goal of this chapter is to explore the notion of peace appropriate to just war thought. Some just war principles generate a number of inferences about peace.
Can Neuroscientific Studies Be Of Personal Value?, Andrew Mullins
Can Neuroscientific Studies Be Of Personal Value?, Andrew Mullins
Philosophy Papers and Journal Articles
This essay reflects on the ability of neuroscientific data to be of personal value and to enrich our lives by offering insight into our capacities for self management and choice. The theory of cognitive dualism proposed by Roger Scruton seeks to preserve rationality and allow for freedom of will, but he appears reluctant to engage with the data accruing in neural studies. I contrast this approach with a Thomistic hylomorphic approach to the philosophy of mind that is founded on participation in being. It offers the potential to draw on neurobiological knowledge for insights into rationality, motivation, and eudaimonia. …
The Morality Of Corporate Persons, Ladelle Mcwhorter
The Morality Of Corporate Persons, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications
This essay provides a genealogy of corporate personhood as it exists currently in US law and places moral personhood in a similar genealogical context. This treatment demonstrates that the two are inextricably intertwined in both conception and institutionalized practices. We would do well to dismantle both; meanwhile, however, corporate personhood's implicit illiberal notion of collective mentality and responsibility may suggest possibilities for establishing collective counterforces to oppose activities of transnational for-profit corporations and mitigate their devastating political, economic, and environmental effects upon actual people and the ecosystems upon which we depend.
Jess Smith And The Design Firm, Gabriel Tenaglia
Jess Smith And The Design Firm, Gabriel Tenaglia
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
No abstract provided.
Moral Reasoning: An Intentional Approach To Distinguishing Right From Wrong, Michael Jones
Moral Reasoning: An Intentional Approach To Distinguishing Right From Wrong, Michael Jones
Faculty Publications and Presentations
This book represents a unique contribution to the study of ethics: an introductory textbook that is designed to be very readable while at the same time being deeply philosophical. It leads the reader on an exploration of the major approaches to ethics that have developed in the Western philosophical tradition: Ethical Relativism, Virtue Ethics, Natural Law Ethics, Ethical Egoism, Utilitarianism, Duty Ethics, Social Contract Theory, and Divine Command Theory. It discusses the chief strengths and weaknesses of each and opts for a modified Divine Command Theory while retaining the useful elements of each of the other theories. Written in a …
What Makes A Social Order Primitive? In Defense Of Hart’S Take On International Law, David Lefkowitz
What Makes A Social Order Primitive? In Defense Of Hart’S Take On International Law, David Lefkowitz
Philosophy Faculty Publications
The widespread antipathy to Hart's description of international law as a simple or primitive social order, one that lacks a rule of recognition and therefore does not qualify as a legal system, rests on two misunderstandings. First, the absence of a division of labor in identifying, altering, applying, and enforcing law is as much, if not more, central to Hart's understanding of what makes a society primitive as is the absence of any secondary rules at all. Second, it is primarily in terms of the presence of such a division of labor and the implications it has for the ontology …