Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Ethics (4)
- Veganism (4)
- Kant (3)
- Moral Philosophy (3)
- Rights (3)
-
- Children (2)
- Compassion (2)
- Deception (2)
- Fairness (2)
- Justice (2)
- Thomson (2)
- Utilitarianism (2)
- Virtue Ethics (2)
- Virtue ethics (2)
- Abortion (1)
- Animal ethics (1)
- Animal rights (1)
- Animal suffering; Vegetarianism; Veganism; Aesthetic; Gustatory; Non-violence (1)
- Aristotle (1)
- Artificial intelligence (1)
- Autopsy (1)
- Best interests standard (1)
- Bioethics (1)
- Blame (1)
- Blame and Forgiveness (1)
- Bodily Autonomy (1)
- Bok (1)
- Borderline personality disorder (1)
- Burial (1)
- Cadaver (1)
- Publication Year
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 30 of 35
Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
Ethical Subjectivism: A Lost Cause, Carlo Alvaro
Ethical Subjectivism: A Lost Cause, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
Individual relativism, also known as ethical subjectivism, is an attractive theory about morality. It argues that morality is a matter relative to the individual in a way akin to personal taste. For example, subjectivists regard the ethical judgment ‘Stealing is wrong’ as comparable with the judgment of taste ‘I dislike Brussels sprouts’. Yet, subjectivism is not nihilism. While nihilism denies the existence of moral value, duties, principles and truths, subjectivism claims that they exist, but they are subjective like taste. In this paper, I argue that ethical subjectivism ought to be rejected as it is an incoherent, undefendable, and a …
Salty: A Diffractive Inquiry Of Visceral Knowing And Embodied Aesthetics, Mei Ling Chua
Salty: A Diffractive Inquiry Of Visceral Knowing And Embodied Aesthetics, Mei Ling Chua
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation takes a diffractive, onto-epistemological approach to everyday practices with salt in order to articulate an expanded understanding of meaning making and knowledge production. This research reckons with and challenges dominant modes of knowing that engage a Cartesian perspective to situate knowing as the exclusive domain of the mind in both form and topic of inquiry. This research acts simultaneously as both a direct practice of and metacognition about knowledge production by examining 1. the embodied (including sensory and emotional aspects) and 2. the relational (including interpersonal and socio-cultural) dimensions of experience as visceral knowing. This articulation of …
Computer Ethics In Curriculum, Tiya Williams
Computer Ethics In Curriculum, Tiya Williams
Publications and Research
Ethics specifically in Computer Curriculum is a growing problem that has yet to be widely addressed. Although, start of computer ethics being taught has been traced back to the early 1940’s it has not been standardized or implemented in all computer curriculum. The objective of this research is to diagnose the reasons why ethics is so crucial in computer curriculum at all levels. I used surveys to investigate whether students were taught ethics in their computer curriculum. I also conducted surveys for professors at universities and colleges if they were taught ethics while obtaining their degree, as well as if …
A Virtue-Ethical Approach To Cultured Meat, Carlo Alvaro
A Virtue-Ethical Approach To Cultured Meat, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
The proposed benefits of cultured meat fail to track our moral intuitions because they are focused on the practical aspect of cultured meat production and consumption. A virtue-oriented approach can show cultured meat in a different light.
Epistemic Priors, Social Justice, And The Ethics Of Humor, Paul Butterfield
Epistemic Priors, Social Justice, And The Ethics Of Humor, Paul Butterfield
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
In this dissertation I set out a theory of humor ethics and, in particular, I establish what difference humorousness makes to an instance of speech’s moral value. I set out by making the case for this approach to the topic, demonstrating that focusing on how humorous speech differs, morally, from non-humorous speech allows us to avoid getting caught up in prior ethical debates that are not strictly about humor itself – a shortcoming that is common to many treatments of humor ethics in the existing literature. I show that, in cases of humorous speech, we typically do not assert the …
Phil 2103, Ethics, Syllabus, D. Robert Macdougall
Phil 2103, Ethics, Syllabus, D. Robert Macdougall
Open Educational Resources
No abstract provided.
Righting Health Policy: Bioethics, Political Philosophy, And The Normative Justification Of Health Law And Policy, D. Robert Macdougall
Righting Health Policy: Bioethics, Political Philosophy, And The Normative Justification Of Health Law And Policy, D. Robert Macdougall
Publications and Research
In Righting Health Policy, D. Robert MacDougall argues that bioethics needs but does not have adequate tools for justifying law and policy. Bioethics’ tools are mostly theories about what we owe each other. But justifying laws and policies requires more; at a minimum, it requires tools for explaining the legitimacy of actions intended to control or influence others. It consequently requires political, rather than moral, philosophy. After showing how bioethicists have consistently failed to use tools suitable for achieving their political aims, MacDougall develops an interpretation of Kant’s political philosophy. On this account the legitimacy of health laws does …
Meat May Never Die, Carlo Alvaro
Meat May Never Die, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
The goal of ethical veganism is a vegan world or, at least, a significantly vegan world. However, despite the hard work done by vegan activists, global meat consumption has been increasing. Vegan advocates have focused on ethics but have ignored the importance of tradition and identity. And the advent of veggie meat alternatives has promoted food that emulates animal products thereby perpetuating the meat paradigm. I suggest that, in order to make significant changes toward ending animal exploitation, ethical vegans give more attention to tradition and identity. Furthermore, I propose that raw veganism is the most ethical diet and can …
Must Consent Be Informed? Patient Rights, State Authority, And The Moral Basis Of The Physician's Duties Of Disclosure, D. Robert Macdougall
Must Consent Be Informed? Patient Rights, State Authority, And The Moral Basis Of The Physician's Duties Of Disclosure, D. Robert Macdougall
Publications and Research
Legal standards of disclosure in a variety of jurisdictions require physicians to inform patients about the likely consequences of treatment, as a condition for obtaining the patient’s consent. Such a duty to inform is special insofar as extensive disclosure of risks and potential benefits is not usually a condition for obtaining consent in non-medical transactions.
What could morally justify the physician’s special legal duty to inform? I argue that existing justifications have tried but failed to ground such special duties directly in basic and general rights, such as autonomy rights. As an alternative to such direct justifications, I develop an …
Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski
Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Since its advent in the 20th century, informed consent has become a cornerstone of ethical healthcare, and obtaining it a core obligation in medical contexts. In my dissertation, I aim to examine the theoretical underpinnings of informed consent and identify what values it is taken to protect. I will suggest that the fundamental motivation behind informed consent rests in something I’ll call bodily self-sovereignty, which I argue involves a coupling of two groups of values: autonomy and non-domination on the one hand, and self-ownership and personal integrity on the other. I will then go on to consider two 'case …
Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski
Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski
Publications and Research
Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …
Phil 302: Ethics In The Workplace, Cuny School Of Professional Studies
Phil 302: Ethics In The Workplace, Cuny School Of Professional Studies
Open Educational Resources
Introduces the philosophical frameworks used to guide ethical practice in the workplace. Using a case study approach, the course provides an analysis and critique of significant moral issues existing throughout business and industry in both domestic and international markets. Topics covered include classical and contemporary ethical theories, codes of professional conduct, issues such as consent and privacy, and environmental and social responsibilities at the personal, managerial, and organizational level.
Legal Purgatory: Why Some Animals Are Neither Persons Nor Property, Sharisse Kanet
Legal Purgatory: Why Some Animals Are Neither Persons Nor Property, Sharisse Kanet
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
All animals with non-borderline sentience are deserving of certain legal considerations independent of their use and relationship to human beings. That is, all sentient beings should have some rights. Given the current organization of the U.S. legal system, which divides all entities into property or persons, it is not surprising that animals are relegated to property status. I put forth a proposal to fix this whose central suggestion is that we create a third legal designation, legal patient, into which all non-person sentient animals (those which do not properly belong on either current category) would fit. These animals would receive …
Murderer At The Switch: Thomson, Kant, And The Trolley Problem, James E. Mahon
Murderer At The Switch: Thomson, Kant, And The Trolley Problem, James E. Mahon
Publications and Research
In this book chapter I argue that contrary to what is said by Paul Guyer in Kant (Routledge, 2006) Kant's moral philosophy prohibits the bystander from throwing the switch to divert the runaway trolley to a side track with an innocent person on it in order to save more people who are in the path of the trolley in the "Trolley Problem" case made famous by Judith Jarvis Thomson (1976; 1985). Furthermore, Thomson herself (2008) came to agree that it would be wrong to throw the switch, just as it is wrong to push the person off the bridge to …
Vegan Parents And Children: Zero Parental Compromise, Carlo Alvaro
Vegan Parents And Children: Zero Parental Compromise, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
Marcus William Hunt argues that, when co-parents disagree over whether to raise their child (or children) as a vegan, they should reach a compromise as a gift given by one parent to the other out of respect for his or her authority. Josh Millburn contends that Hunt’s proposal of parental compromise over veganism is unacceptable on the ground that it overlooks respect for animal rights, which bars compromising. However, he contemplates the possibility of parental compromise over “unusual eating,” of animal-based foods obtained without the violation of animal rights. I argue for zero parental compromise, rejecting a rights-oriented approach, and …
The Ends Of Medicine And The Experience Of Patients, D. Robert Macdougall
The Ends Of Medicine And The Experience Of Patients, D. Robert Macdougall
Publications and Research
The ends of medicine are sometimes construed simply as promotion of health, treatment and prevention of disease, and alleviation of pain. Practitioners might agree that this simple formulation captures much of what medical practice is about. But while the ends of medicine may seem simple or even obvious, the essays in this issue demonstrate the wide variety of philosophical questions and issues associated with the ends of medicine. They raise questions about how to characterize terms like “health” and “disease”; whether medicine’s goals should be extended to include enhancement beyond normal human function; and whether the ends of medicine are …
Raw Veganism: The Human Diet, Carlo Alvaro
Raw Veganism: The Human Diet, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
In this chapter, I present some compelling evidence that points to the conclusion that the human species has a specific diet, which is a raw vegan diet of fresh fruit, tender leafy greens, and a moderate amount of nuts and seeds. Out of the hundreds of thousands of species in the world, the only one—ours—cooks food. Not surprisingly, our species is the only one that suffers from numerous maladies. In other words, the argument is that the consumption of cooked food (especially animal-based) is unhealthful and undermines our nature. I present undeniable evidence, from evolutionary science to nutrition science, showing …
Introduction To Biomedical Ethics, Katherine Mendis
Introduction To Biomedical Ethics, Katherine Mendis
Open Educational Resources
This course introduces students to issues in the field of biomedical ethics, the theoretical tools bioethicists use to analyze them, and methodology for resolving clinical ethical dilemmas.
Intervention Principles In Pediatric Health Care: The Difference Between Physicians And The State., D. Robert Macdougall
Intervention Principles In Pediatric Health Care: The Difference Between Physicians And The State., D. Robert Macdougall
Publications and Research
According to various accounts, intervention in pediatric decisions is justified either by the best interests standard or by the harm principle. While these principles have various nuances that distinguish them from each other, they are similar in the sense that both focus primarily on the features of parental decisions that justify intervention, rather than on the competency or authority of the parties that intervene. Accounts of these principles effectively suggest that intervention in pediatric decision making is warranted for both physicians and the state under precisely the same circumstances. This essay argues that there are substantial differences in the competencies …
Is Animal Suffering Really All That Matters? The Move From Suffering To Vegetarianism, Carlo Alvaro
Is Animal Suffering Really All That Matters? The Move From Suffering To Vegetarianism, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
The animal liberation movement, among other goals, seeks an end to the use of animals for food. Philosophers who write against animal exploitation agree on the goal but differ in their approaches: Deontologists argue that rearing animals for food infringes animals’ inherent right to life. Utilitarians claim that discontinuing the use of animals for food will result in the maximization of utility. Virtue-oriented theorists argue that using animals for food is an unvirtuous practice. Despite their different approaches, arguments for vegetarianism or veganism have a common step. They move from the notion of suffering to the conclusion of vegetarianism or …
Sometimes Merely As A Means: Why Kantian Philosophy Requires The Legalization Of Kidney Sales, D. Robert Macdougall
Sometimes Merely As A Means: Why Kantian Philosophy Requires The Legalization Of Kidney Sales, D. Robert Macdougall
Publications and Research
Several commentators have tried to ground legal prohibitions of kidney sales in some form of Kant’s moral arguments against such sales. This paper reconsiders this approach to justifying laws and policies in light of Kant’s approach to law in his political philosophy. The author argues that Kant’s political philosophy requires that kidney sales be legally permitted, although contracts for such sales must remain unenforceable. The author further argues that Kant’s approach to laws, such as those governing kidney distribution, was formed in part by considering and rejecting an assumption frequently employed in the bioethics literature, namely, that legal duties can …
Who Needs Blame?: Answerability Without Expressed Blame, Sarah Gokhale
Who Needs Blame?: Answerability Without Expressed Blame, Sarah Gokhale
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation argues that we can hold other agents morally responsible without expressing blame and, more strongly, that doing so is preferable. I first argue that blame is fundamentally retributive, and that blame’s retributive foundation is incipiently present even in civilized guises. As such, even though some forms of expressed blame are quite civilized, expressed blame always involves a risk of emotional damage, entrenchment, and escalation. To make things worse, I argue that anger is an exacerbating feature of blame’s retributive foundation. I then argue that, generally speaking, cases of public blame involve higher stakes than cases of private judgments …
Lab‐Grown Meat And Veganism: A Virtue‐Oriented Perspective, Carlo Alvaro
Lab‐Grown Meat And Veganism: A Virtue‐Oriented Perspective, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
The project of growing meat artificially represents for some the next best thing to humanity. If successful, it could be the solution to several problems, such as feed- ing a growing global population while reducing the environmental impact of raising animals for food and, of course, reducing the amount and degree of animal cruelty and suffering that is involved in animal farming. In this paper, I argue that the issue of the morality of such a project has been framed only in terms of the best conse- quences for the environment, animals, and humans, or in terms of deontic princi- …
Demystifying The Placebo Effect, Phoebe Friesen
Demystifying The Placebo Effect, Phoebe Friesen
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation offers a philosophical analysis of the placebo effect. After offering an overview of recent evidence concerning the phenomenon, I consider several prominent accounts of the placebo effect that have been put forward and argue that none of them are able to adequately account for the diverse instantiations of the phenomenon. I then offer a novel account, which suggests that we ought to think of the placebo effect as encompassing three distinct responses: conditioned placebo responses, cognitive placebo responses, and network placebo responses. Next, I consider implications of the placebo effect’s role in complementary and alternative medicine for discussions …
A Multi-Functional View Of Moral Disengagement: Exploring The Effects Of Learning The Consequences, C. Justice Tillman, Katerina Gonzalez, Marilyn V. Whitman, Wayne S. Crawford, Anthony C. Hood
A Multi-Functional View Of Moral Disengagement: Exploring The Effects Of Learning The Consequences, C. Justice Tillman, Katerina Gonzalez, Marilyn V. Whitman, Wayne S. Crawford, Anthony C. Hood
Publications and Research
This paper takes us beyond the unethical act and explores the use of moral disengagement as a multi-stage, multi-functional regulatory, and coping mechanism that not only allows individuals to engage in unethical behavior, but also manage the negative emotions (i.e., guilt and shame) from learning the consequences of such behavior. A resource-based lens is applied to the moral disengagement process, suggesting that individuals not only morally disengage prior to committing an unethical act in order to conserve their own resources, but also morally disengage as a coping mechanism to reduce emotional duress upon learning of the consequences of their actions, …
Secrets Vs. Lies: Is There A Moral Asymmetry?, James E. Mahon
Secrets Vs. Lies: Is There A Moral Asymmetry?, James E. Mahon
Publications and Research
In this chapter I argue that the traditional interpretation of the commonly accepted moral asymmetry between secrets and lies is incorrect. On the standard interpretation of the commonly accepted view, lies are prima facie or pro tango morally wrong, whereas secrets are morally permissible. I argue that, when secrets are distinguished from mere acts of reticence and non-acknowledgement, as well as from acts of deception, so that they are defined as acts of not sharing believed-information while believing that the believed-information is relevant, the correct interpretation of the commonly accepted moral asymmetry between secrets and lies is that secrets are …
Ethics And Bias In Machine Learning: A Technical Study Of What Makes Us “Good”, Ashley Nicole Shadowen
Ethics And Bias In Machine Learning: A Technical Study Of What Makes Us “Good”, Ashley Nicole Shadowen
Student Theses
The topic of machine ethics is growing in recognition and energy, but bias in machine learning algorithms outpaces it to date. Bias is a complicated term with good and bad connotations in the field of algorithmic prediction making. Especially in circumstances with legal and ethical consequences, we must study the results of these machines to ensure fairness. This paper attempts to address ethics at the algorithmic level of autonomous machines. There is no one solution to solving machine bias, it depends on the context of the given system and the most reasonable way to avoid biased decisions while maintaining the …
Ethical Veganism, Virtue, And Greatness Of The Soul, Carlo Alvaro
Ethical Veganism, Virtue, And Greatness Of The Soul, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
Many moral philosophers have criticized intensive animal farming because it can be harmful to the environment, it causes pain and misery to a large number of animals, and furthermore eating meat and animal-based products can be unhealthful. The issue of industrially farmed animals has become one of the most pressing ethical questions of our time. On the one hand, utilitarians have argued that we should become vegetarians or vegans because the practices of raising animals for food are immoral since they minimize the overall happiness. Deontologists, on the other hand, have argued that the practices of raising animals for food …
Veganism As A Virtue: How Compassion And Fairness Show Us What Is Virtuous About Veganism, Carlo Alvaro
Veganism As A Virtue: How Compassion And Fairness Show Us What Is Virtuous About Veganism, Carlo Alvaro
Publications and Research
With millions of animals brought into existence and raised for food every year, their negative impact upon the environment and the staggering growth in the number of chronic diseases caused by meat and dairy diets make a global move toward ethical veganism imperative. Typically, utilitarians and deontologists have led this discussion. The purpose of this paper is to pro- pose a virtuous approach to ethical veganism. Virtue ethics can be used to construct a defense of ethical veganism by relying on the virtues of compassion and fairness. Exercising these values in our relations with animals involves acknowledging their moral value, …
Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro
Walking As Ontological Shifter: Thoughts In The Key Of Life, Bibi (Silvina) Calderaro
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
With walking as ontological shifter I pursue an alternative to the dominant modernist episteme that offers either/or onto-epistemologies of opposition and their reifying engagements. I propose this type of walking is an intentional turning towards a set of radical positions that, as integrative aesthetic and therapeutic practice, brings multiplicity and synchronicity to experience and being in an expanded sociality. This practice facilitates the conditions of possibility for recurring points of contact between the interiority perceived as ‘body’ and the exteriority perceived as ‘world.’ While making evident the self’s at once incoherence with it-self, it opens to a space beyond the …