Lessons From Miniature Brains: Cognition Cheap, Memory Expensive (Sentience Linked To Active Movement?),
2020
Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento
Lessons From Miniature Brains: Cognition Cheap, Memory Expensive (Sentience Linked To Active Movement?), Giorgio Vallortigara
Animal Sentience
Studies on invertebrate minds suggest that the neural machinery for basic cognition is cheap, and that bigger brains are probably associated with greater memory storage rather than more advanced cognition. Sentience may be linked to feedforward mechanisms (Reafferenzprinzip) that allow organisms with active movement to distinguish active and passive sensing. Invertebrates may offer special opportunities for testing these hypotheses.
Correlations To Financial Performance In The Pharmaceutical Industry,
2020
Walden University
Correlations To Financial Performance In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Fred Mcclellan
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
There exist conflicting priorities for leaders when considering ethical leadership behaviors and organizational financial performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine correlations between top manager ethical leadership levels and organizational financial performance, within the pharmaceutical industry. The Ethical leadership theory was used to frame the study. Relationships between top managers’ perceived ethics levels and organizational financial performance were studied, as well as, whether top managers’ practices, purposes, and virtues acted as mediators. A goal of 184 participants were recruited from 338 pharmaceutical companies. Five top managers and 17 of their direct report team members took part in …
A Qualitative Study Of Peer Reporting Of Attorney Ethical Misconduct,
2020
Walden University
A Qualitative Study Of Peer Reporting Of Attorney Ethical Misconduct, Jason Alan Helm
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Attorney misconduct affects the victims, the justice system, and the reputation of the entire legal profession. The legal profession suffers from a negative public perception because of a perceived lapse of ethical conduct. This study was designed as a general qualitative study and its purpose was to understand the processes attorneys experience regarding peer reporting of attorney ethical misconduct. The questions examined in this study was whether attorneys were willing to report their peer's ethical misconduct and why those attorneys decided to report or not report their peer's ethical misconduct. Twenty open-ended questionnaires were collected from a sampling of active, …
International Law And Theories Of Global Justice: Remarks,
2020
University of Michigan Law Schoo
International Law And Theories Of Global Justice: Remarks, Steven R. Ratner, James Stewart, Jiewuh Song, Carmen Pavel
Articles
International law (IL) and political philosophy represent two rich disciplines for exploring issues of global justice. At their core, each seeks to build a better world based on some universally agreed norms, rules, and practices, backed by effective institutions. International lawyers, even the most positivist of them, have some underlying assumptions about a just world order that predisposes their interpretive methods; legal scholars have incorporated concepts of justice in their work even as their overall pragmatic orientation has limited the nature of their inquiries. Many philospophers, for their part, have engaged with IL to some extent—at a minimum recognizing that …
It Might Not Matter Very Much Whether Insects Are Conscious,
2020
Macquarie University
It Might Not Matter Very Much Whether Insects Are Conscious, Neil Levy
Animal Sentience
In common with most other authors, Mikhalevich & Powell assume that phenomenal consciousness is a “precondition” of moral standing. Although the evidence they present makes it much more likely than usually thought that arthropods are phenomenally conscious, scepticism in the face of this evidence remains intellectually respectable. I suggest that we best make progress here by rejecting the notion that phenomenal consciousness is necessary for moral standing. Mental states that may lack phenomenal properties can do a lot of work in grounding moral standing, and there is less room for scepticism about these mental states than about phenomenal consciousness.
Ethical Considerations For Invertebrates,
2020
Deakin University
Ethical Considerations For Invertebrates, Scarlett R. Howard, Matthew R.E. Symonds
Animal Sentience
Mikhalevich & Powell (2020) have built on the discussion about which species deserve inclusion in animal ethics and welfare considerations. Here, we raise questions concerning the assessment criteria. We ask how to assess different species for their ability to fulfill the criteria, which criteria are most important, how we quantify them (absolute or on a continuum), and how non-animals such as fungi and plants fit into this paradigm.
Invertebrate Welfare In The Wild,
2020
University of Otago
Invertebrate Welfare In The Wild, Asher Soryl
Animal Sentience
Mikhalevich & Powell argue that certain cognitive-affective biases might distort people’s consideration of invertebrate minds and that the moral risks of false negatives in sentience research deserve greater consideration under precautionary frameworks. In this commentary, I draw comparisons between biases that concern wild animals and conditions in nature, arguing that the moral risks of disregarding the possible mental welfare of invertebrates are compounded by facts about their lives in the wild.
Sentience In Evolutionary Context,
2020
University of Idaho
Sentience In Evolutionary Context, Jon Mallatt, Todd E. Feinberg
Animal Sentience
We appreciate the goals of Mikhalevich & Powell (M&P) and largely agree with their conclusions but we differ on some of their definitions and terms. Affects (emotional feelings) should be part of sentience. Although the evidence presented for insect sentience is strong, we list some of the counterevidence that should be considered. Our own research supports M&P’s choice of arthropods, cephalopods, and vertebrates as the only sentient organisms with moral status.
Rethinking Rewilding Through Multispecies Justice,
2020
University of Sydney, Australia
Rethinking Rewilding Through Multispecies Justice, Danielle Celermajer
Animal Sentience
Baker & Winkler’s argument that some humans, especially some Indigenous peoples, neither conceive of themselves as ontologically distinct from nature, nor do they organize their lives as such, is an important one. However, one needs to understand how colonialism and global capitalism have drawn Indigenous peoples and animals into new political economies. The new situation and the constrained opportunities available may have introduced a range of injustices or forms of violence that did not previously exist. This commentary proposes how a multispecies justice lens might assist in evaluating the most just arrangement for all parties, human and non-human.
Let’S Get Radical: Extending The Reach Of Baylean (And Forstian) Toleration,
2020
Singapore Management University
Let’S Get Radical: Extending The Reach Of Baylean (And Forstian) Toleration, Chandran Kukathas
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In The Right to Justification Rainer Forst tells us that that social context in which humans find themselves is called ‘political’ when it is ‘an order of justification’ – an order which consists of norms and institutions that are to govern their lives together in a justified or justifiable way.² The most important normative concept that applies to this order, he tells us, is that of justice. Justice ‘overarches’ every form of political community, demanding reasons why some have rights, and asking how it is determined who possesses what claims, and how persons stand in relation to one another as …
Bachelor Of Social Work Students’ Experience Of Moral Reasoning At An Evangelical Christian University,
2020
Walden University
Bachelor Of Social Work Students’ Experience Of Moral Reasoning At An Evangelical Christian University, David Scott King
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Scholars have documented a lack of effective education and training for integrating faith and social work practice. Also, researchers have identified challenges regarding conflicting philosophical paradigms in social work and cultural changes among emerging adults affecting evangelical Christian universities teaching faith integration. However, little information is available regarding the experiences of students and conflicts between social work values and their religious beliefs. This study was an investigation of the experiences of social work students when considering value conflicts between their religious beliefs and social work practice. The research questions examined the moral reasoning of students at an evangelical university considering …
Clinician Experiences With Religious, Spiritual, And Nonreligious Beliefs In Psychotherapeutic Interactions,
2020
Walden University
Clinician Experiences With Religious, Spiritual, And Nonreligious Beliefs In Psychotherapeutic Interactions, Carolyn Rochelle Cowl-Witherspoon
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Psychologists are ethically bound to respect the belief systems of their clients while practicing within appropriate boundaries of competence regardless of whether they hold different beliefs than their clients. Further, though there may be a disparity between cliniciansâ and clientsâ beliefs, most clients expect meaningful integrations of religious and spiritual beliefs, values, and traditions into psychotherapeutic interactions. To meet the needs and expectations of a religiously or spiritually oriented client base, psychologists must maintain appropriate levels of competency within this complex domain. But clinicians are hindered by inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent levels of education and training specific to the ethically …
Conceptualising, Implementing, And Teaching Ethical Leadership For Nigerian Public Officials,
2020
Walden University
Conceptualising, Implementing, And Teaching Ethical Leadership For Nigerian Public Officials, Stella Benaiah Georgeson-Agege
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Unethical behavior of some Nigerian public officials has resulted in poverty of citizens and a lack of infrastructure such as shelter, electricity, and roads in the country. Researchers have noted that ethical leadership frameworks could address these issues. In Nigeria, there are no such frameworks. The aim of this study was to explore the views of experts on conceptualizing, implementing, and teaching ethical leadership for Nigerian Public officials. Using the Brown et al. ethical leadership theory as a conceptual framework, and the Delphi method, 3 rounds of questionnaires and interviews were administered to 20 experts. The research question included curriculum …
Implementation Considerations For Mitigating Bias In Supervised Machine Learning,
2020
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
Implementation Considerations For Mitigating Bias In Supervised Machine Learning, Bardia Bijani Aval
CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis
Machine Learning (ML) is an important component of computer science and a mainstream way of making sense of large amounts of data. Although the technology is establishing new possibilities in different fields, there are also problems to consider, one of which is bias. Due to the inductive reasoning of ML algorithms in creating mathematical models, the predictions and trends found by the models will never necessarily be true – just more or less probable. Knowing this, it is unreasonable for us to expect the applied deductive reasoning of these models to ever be fully unbiased. Therefore, it is important that …
Moral Education In The Classroom: A Lived Experiment,
2020
Calvin University
Moral Education In The Classroom: A Lived Experiment, Rebecca Konyndyk Deyoung
University Faculty Publications and Creative Works
What would a course on ethics look like if it took into account Alasdair MacIntyre’s concerns about actually teaching students ethical practices? How could professors induct students into practices that prompt both reflection on their cultural formation and self-knowledge of the ways they have been formed by it? According to MacIntyre, such elements are prerequisites for an adequate moral education. His criticism of what he terms “Morality” includes the claim that most courses don’t even try to teach the right things. He charges that academic teaching has little if anything to do with character formation, whereas thick practices can transform …
Ethical Eating: Overcoming Alienation In The Industrial Food System By Aligning Our Practices With Our Principles,
2020
University of Montana
Ethical Eating: Overcoming Alienation In The Industrial Food System By Aligning Our Practices With Our Principles, André Kushnir
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
This thesis arose out of a moment of discord, while an environmental philosopher was eating blackberries in the middle of a blizzard in Missoula, Montana. What follows is an attempt to bridge the gap between our principles and our practices, by asking the questions: What does ethical eating look like? Is it possible within our current industrial food system? and If not, what needs to change? Responding to the publication of the 2019 EAT-Lancet report, this essay moves beyond thinking of ethical eating as “healthy” and “sustainable” and challenges the networks of suffering and labour that we take for …
Group Stereotypes: Human And Nonhuman,
2020
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Group Stereotypes: Human And Nonhuman, Verónica Sevillano
Animal Sentience
Treves et al.’s target article emphasizes the importance of including nonhuman animals in the scope of conservation frameworks, countering an anthropocentric orientation in conservation biology. In support, I discuss how stereotypes of other animal species may bias our behavior toward them.
Conventional Science Will Not Do Justice To Nonhuman Interests: A Fresh Approach Is Required,
2020
New York University
Conventional Science Will Not Do Justice To Nonhuman Interests: A Fresh Approach Is Required, Becca Franks, Christine Webb, Monica Gagliano, Barbara Smuts
Animal Sentience
Treves et al. (2019) make a convincing case that conservation efforts need to go beyond an anthropocentric worldview. Implementing that vision, however, will require human advocates to represent nonhuman interests. Where will the knowledge of those interests come from? How can humans know what is in the best interest of another animal, a plant, or an ecosystem? We discuss how the values embedded in current scientific practices may be ill-suited to representing nonhuman interests and we offer some ideas for correcting these shortcomings.
Preserving Nature For The Benefit Of All Sentient Individuals,
2020
University of Minho
Preserving Nature For The Benefit Of All Sentient Individuals, Eze Paez
Animal Sentience
I agree with Treves et al.’s proposal for a preservation ethics based on the principle that nonhuman well-being is a matter of justice and compassion. In this commentary, I advance two objections. First, only sentient beings, rather than all life, belong in the moral community. Second, given that nature is probably harmful overall for sentient individuals, preserving it for the benefit of future human and nonhuman generations requires us to modify it as far as practicable.
The Wholeness Of Nature,
2020
Centre d'Eco-Etho Recherche et Education.
The Wholeness Of Nature, Marthe Kiley-Worthington
Animal Sentience
The target article outlines various positions on conservation and preservation but ignores practical considerations of management since there is no wild habitat left. Population controls, either human or nonhuman mammals, are not discussed. The suggestions for legal changes are vague and will require much more thinking about how to integrate animal welfare with wildlife conservation concerns. “Freedoms” as outlined in the human bill of rights might help with decision making for improving animal welfare. Other commentators have made anthropocentric judgements concerning animal welfare, ignoring the importance of developing other ways of seeing and understanding the “multiplicity within unity,” combining empirical …
