Digital Commons Network^™

Politics For Angels, William Kanwischer

Honors Projects

How many idealizing assumptions may we make when doing political philosophy? May we assume our citizens more rational than they are, or our governments more efficient than in reality? These questions lie at the center of the debate between ideal and non-ideal theorists. Ideal theorists believe it permissible to engage in counterfactual assumptions about citizens and states when doing political philosophy, and non-ideal theorists think the opposite. In this paper, I will argue against a particular defense of ideal theory given by David Estlund, who argues that the low probability that a standard of justice will be met does not …

Testimony To The Cuny Board Of Trustees In Opposition To The Resolution To Approve A Contract With Turnitin For Plagiarism Detection Software, December 14th, 2020 Meeting, Luke Waltzer, Lisa M. Rhody, Roxanne Shirazi

Publications and Research

This statement was drafted in response to the Board of Trustee's consideration of a resolution to approve CUNY's contract renewal with Turnitin in 2020. The authors circulated the petition on December 3, 2020, and submitted the final version -- signed by 1065 members of the CUNY community -- to the Board of Trustees on December 7, 2020 for consideration at their meeting on December 14th, 2020.

Temembe And Sven: The Ethics Of Racist Mirth, Stephen Wilke

Masters Theses

You walk past a crowd of people at a bar, grouped around one person. He’s in the middle of telling a joke, the kind you wouldn’t tell your parents but is often told in the amenable company of close friends. You realize that the butt of the joke, the punchline, assumes that people of color are lazy and entitled. This is not an assumption you agree wit, but you find yourself with a feeling of mirth while scoffing at the comedian. His timing is well executed, and the turn of phrase is witty. The joke was racist, and yet emotionally …

Autonomous Vehicles And The Ethical Tension Between Occupant And Non-Occupant Safety, Jason Borenstein, Joseph Herkert, Keith Miller

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Given that the creation and deployment of autonomous vehicles is likely to continue, it is important to explore the ethical responsibilities of designers, manufacturers, operators, and regulators of the technology. We specifically focus on the ethical responsibilities surrounding autonomous vehicles that these stakeholders have to protect the safety of non-occupants, meaning individuals who are around the vehicles while they are operating. The term “non-occupants” includes, but is not limited to, pedestrians and cyclists. We are particularly interested in how to assign moral responsibility for the safety of non-occupants when autonomous vehicles are deployed in a complex, land-based transportation system.

Human Rights And Social, Economic, & Environmental Justice: Ethics Of Samfundssind & Agape, Claire L. Dente

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Moral Continuity Is A Social-Philosophical, Historical Phenomenon, Matlyuba Qaxxarova, Mavluda Raximshikova

The Light of Islam

The purpose of the article is to study specifc aspects of the pattern of continuity, its place and role in the formation of moral values and social development, as well as to determine the importance of the continuity of moral values in the life of modern society based on spiritual and moral heritage. The issues of social development and continuity, dialectical and synergetic development according to inheritance law are covered. One of the main types of inheritance is the inheritance of moral values; on the basis of the spiritual and moral heritage, its essence, patterns of development and signifcance in …

The Urgency Of Ethics In Political Leadership, President Vicente Fox

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.

Why There Is No Ethical Reason Not To Vote (Unless You Come Down With Covid-19 On Election Day), Scott Davidson

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

'I don't like the candidates,' 'I don't know enough to make a decision,' 'I don't want to give this election legitimacy' – an ethicist takes on nonvoters.

Earthkeeping And Character: Exploring A Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic (Book Review), Jeff Ploegstra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Reviewed Title: Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic by Steven Bouma-Prediger. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020. 198 pp. ISBN: 9780801098840.

Beast-Gods, Bandits, And Beggar-Kings: The Traveler In Political Thought, Nader Sadre

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I use texts by Plato, Locke, Homer, and Gandhi to explore the political dimension of travel. I argue that travel is a proxy for practices and conditions that exceed “normal” politics. In this capacity, travel reveals what normal politics is, or is assumed to be. Travel marks a boundary of the political realm in a double sense: it may conceal or point to a pre-political source of authority; and it may provide an intimation of new political modes and orders. My analyses suggest that there is no single or consistent relationship between travel and politics. Rather, the …

A Just Peace Ethic Primer: Building Sustainable Peace And Breaking Cycles Of Violence, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Space Opera: The Aesthetics Of Personhood In The Works And Worlds Of Philip K. Dick, Gabriel Francis Mamola

English Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine the major novels of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick in light of his non-fictional and speculatively mystical writings. After establishing an approach to science fiction in general and Dick in particular, grounded in the Aristotelian mimetic theory of Stephen Halliwell and the ambient rhetorical theory of Thomas Rickert, I argue that Dick came more and more, as his career progressed and his body of work developed, to understand his oeuvre as a unified art-work—unified not only by its themes but by the fictional world it portrayed. More to the point, I argue that Dick’s …

From The Tree Of Knowledge And The Golem Of Prague To Kosher Autonomous Cars: The Ethics Of Artificial Intelligence Through Jewish Eyes, Nachshon Goltz, John Zeleznikow, Tracey Dowdeswell

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article discusses the regulation of artificial intelligence from a Jewish perspective, with an emphasis on the regulation of machine learning and its application to autonomous vehicles and machine learning. Through the Biblical story of Adam and Eve as well as Golem legends from Jewish folklore, we derive several basic principles that underlie a Jewish perspective on the moral and legal personhood of robots and other artificially intelligent agents. We argue that religious ethics in general, and Jewish ethics in particular, show us that the dangers of granting moral personhood to robots and in particular to autonomous vehicles lie not …

Living With Machines. Ethical Implications And Imaginative Agency As Local Tactics Of Dwelling And Resistance In Everyday Interactions With Artificial Intelligence, Ester Toribio-Roura

Articles

With the widespread of the Internet of things (IoT), algorithms are increasingly managing our everyday life. From navigating our way in cities to keeping track of our health, artificial intelligence has been beneficial to us in many ways. However, its algorithms can also be detrimental as a consequence of biased human programming. The result is that while technological progress delivers more and more human-like artificial intelligence, humans become dehumanised and therefore, disempowered in their everyday interactions with artificial intelligence.The solution(s) is not single-handed and calls for combined interventions at the macro and micro levels. Whilst reviewing recent top-down developments on …

Humanism In The Americas, Carol W. White

Faculty Contributions to Books

This chapter provides an overview of select trends, ideas, themes, and figures associated with humanism in the Americas, which comprises a diversified set of peoples, cultural traditions, religious orientations, and socio-economic groups. In acknowledging this rich tapestry of human life, the chapter emphasizes the impressive variety of developments in philosophy, the natural sciences, literature, religion, art, social science, and political thought that have contributed to the development of humanism in the Americas. The chapter also features modern usages of humanism that originated in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century. In this context, humanism is best viewed as a contested …

Homo Ludens Moralis: Designing And Developing A Board Game To Teach Ethics For Ict Education, Damian Gordon, Dympna O'Sullivan, Ioannis Stavrakakis, Andrea Curley

Conference papers

The ICT ethical landscape is changing at an astonishing rate, as technologies become more complex, and people choose to interact with them in new and distinct ways, the resultant interactions are more novel and less easy to categorise using traditional ethical frameworks. It is vitally important that the developers of these technologies do not live in an ethical vacuum; that they think about the uses and abuses of their creations, and take some measures to prevent others being harmed by their work.

To equip these developers to rise to this challenge and to create a positive future for the use …

Mindfulness And The Need To Minimize The Risk Of Harm: A Proposal To Implement And Enforce Standards For Secular Mindfulness Practice, Michael Falick

Mindfulness Studies Theses

While Western mindfulness practice is indeed beneficial for many participants, the research now clearly demonstrates that for some meditators, there are attendant potential risks. These potential risks to practitioners require a level of care from those individuals (and corporations) that disseminate mindfulness practice. Historically, in traditional Buddhist practice, mindfulness was but one of the eight factors on the Noble Eightfold Path. An important component of traditional practice strongly relies on ethics in the delivery of the practice. A formalized standard of care for modern, secular mindfulness practices, and a method to implement and enforce that standard, will greatly enhance safety …

Social Justice: A Catholic Autistic Perspective, Rebecca Schneider

Honors Projects

This is a collection of short stories about social injustices impacting the autistic community and how Catholic Social Teaching supports a more just approach. It is written from an autistic perspective and informed by the stories of people who are actually autistic. Each story is followed by an analysis that explains the choices made, which are backed by both research and the experiences of the autistic writer and the autistic community. This collection also includes information on how justice can be attained on the individual level by allies and on the institutional level by organizations.

Friendship In The Digital Age: Implications From A Philosophy Of Communication Approach, Tiffany Petricini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friendship is a central relationship-style that grounds us. Much of the literature on the effects of technology on our relationships, especially friendship, has taken a skeptical approach. The notion of friendship is historically-situated, thus, it requires attention in each era and has prompted questions throughout human history. Our time is no exception. Changing cultures and redefinitions of basic human institutions have led us to our current moment, in which we are experiencing a loud and continuing debate on the effect of technology on our lives. Advancements in science have allowed us to understand our past and present in new ways. …

Textures Of The Ordinary: Doing Anthropology After Wittgenstein [Table Of Contents], Veena Das

Philosophy & Theory

Textures of the Ordinary: Doing Anthropology After Wittgenstein is an exploration of everyday life in which anthropology finds a companionship with philosophy. Based on two decades of ethnographic work among low-income urban families in India, Das shows how the notion of texture allows her to align her ethnography with stunning anthropological moments in Wittgenstein and Cavell as well as in literary texts from India. Das poses a compelling question – how might we speak of a human form of life when the very idea of the human has been put into question? The response to this question, Das argues, does …

Argumentative Synthesis Essay On Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, Gwendolyn D. Wheatley

The Downtown Review

This essay discusses enhanced interrogation techniques. For reference, enhanced interrogation techniques are interrogation techniques that involve “physically coercive interventions” (Duke & Puyvelde, 2017). The U.S. government supported these techniques after the attacks on September 11, 2001. This essay argues that enhanced interrogation techniques should not be used in interrogations because they are unethical, ineffective, and negatively impact the mental health of the interrogators using these techniques. Additionally, the essay references articles on the varied viewpoints as well as explains information on these interrogation techniques. Also, the essay argues that enhanced interrogation techniques encourage people to be cruel and inhumane. Moreover, …

Ethics Of Dental Marketing, Min Son

Philosophy and Religious Studies Presentations

While dentistry does not deal with immediate life and death situations like the mainstream medicine, preserving oral health is crucial to protect the people’s overall health. Then, is dental marketing morally impermissible because it is selling people’s opportunity for good health? It is important to note that skills and knowledge of dentists are not the only “products” sold from dental offices, and not all products are related to basic healthcare needs. For example, consider teeth whitening services. While whitening teeth may be necessary to better one’s self-esteem and improve one’s social life, it is not a basic healthcare need—whiter teeth …

Painted Nails: The Gender(Ed) Performance Of Queer Sexuality, Justin Rudnick

Communication Studies Department Publications

In this essay, I interrogate my own experiences performing my queer identity through my painted nails. I attest to the ways queer bodies might performatively challenge and/or reinforce rigid norms of sexuality through mundane performances of (gendered) identity. To accomplish this, I engage in an autoethnographic exploration of queer performativity. I recount and analyze a series of anecdotes that illustrate how performances of queer identity in everyday life are accomplished—and policed—in mundane situations. In turn, I reflexively investigate the ways in which these performances situate me within a nexus of aesthetic, embodied, and ethical social interaction and performative resistance. I …

Geneva Statement On Heritable Human Genome Editing: The Need For Course Correction, Roberto Andorno, Françoise Baylis, Marcy Darnovsky, Donna Dickenson, Hille Haker, Katie Hasson, Leah Lowthorp, George J. Annas, Catherine Bourgain, Katherine Drabiak, Sigrid Graumann, Katrin Grüber, Matthias Kaiser, David King, Regine Kollek, Calum Mackellar, Jing-Bao Nie, Osagie K. Obasogie, Mirriam Tyebally Fang, Gabriele Werner-Felmayer, Jana Zuscinova

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

As public interest advocates, policy experts, bioethicists, and scientists, we call for a course correction in public discussions about heritable human genome editing. Clarifying misrepresentations, centering societal consequences and concerns, and fostering public empowerment will support robust, global public engagement and meaningful deliberation about altering the genes of future generations.

Evolution Of Views On Ethics, Ethical Criteria And Ethical Standards, Matlyuba Qaxxarova, Baxtiyor Mamarasulovich Absattorov

The Light of Islam

This article is dedicated to a comparative analysis of such concepts as “morality”, “moral criteria” and “moral norms” from a philosophical point of view. It describes in detail the essence of the views of philosophers of East and West that morality is the norm in streamlining the relationship between people in society and ensuring unity and stability, which serve the interests and needs of people and society as a primary criterion.

Important in determining moral criteria and moral standards is the concept of justice. Which last represents a peculiar moral category and occupies an important place in social life, in …

Archaeology And The Philosopher's Stance: An Advance In Ethics And Information Accessibility, Dina Rivera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ancient Greek scholars have scaffolded ethical examination for several fields beyond philosophy, providing essential guidance for management and practicum within professions. From the Society of Antiquaries of London (1718) to the Society of American Archaeology (1934), the professional study has continued to evolve as new translations of the past and new models for predicting human behavior in the future would underpin the development of ethics in academic archaeology. Database enabled study creates opportunities for open research, expanding data pools and scientific perspectives and becomes essential for providing inclusivity, respect, and cooperation in order to build and rebuild paradigms.

Disease Mongering: How Sickness Sells, Vanessa C. Iroegbulem

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

“Disease mongering” is the practice of widening diagnostic boundaries of an illness and promoting their public awareness to expand the markets for treatment and to increase profits. This tactic typically used by pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, insurance companies, and even some doctors and patient groups, has become a great concern. Disease mongering has since increased in parallel with “medicalization,” which attempts to label normal human conditions as medical problems, thus becoming the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. This paper first seeks to examine how an increasing amount of life’s natural conditions and ailments are being seen …

Mental Health Chaplaincy: A Guide For Geriatric Psychiatric Chaplains, Deena Anne Martinelli

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Veterans Administration (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) evaluated the expanding roles of chaplains in mental health and identified the prevalent need for additional training among chaplains when integrating chaplaincy and mental health services. Literature revealed that chaplains were lacking in the skillsets and pastoral care practices needed to effectively care for elderly patients with mental health disorders. A gap remains in literature regarding the reported level of training and preparedness of chaplains who ministered to geriatric mental health patients within clinical settings, which this project sought to examine. Harter’s competence motivation theory and the Holy Bible served as …

Ethics Advising A Wells Fargo Whistleblower: A Story Of Early Wrongdoing, Thomas Creely

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.

My Country, Right Or Wrong: If The Cause Is Just, Is Anything Allowed?, David Whetham

The International Journal of Ethical Leadership

No abstract provided.