Applied Ethics Commons^™

Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction, Daniel R. Denicola

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction is a compact yet comprehensive book offering an explication and critique of the major theories that have shaped philosophical ethics. Engaging with both historical and contemporary figures, this book explores the scope, limits, and requirements of morality. DeNicola traces our various attempts to ground morality: in nature, in religion, in culture, in social contracts, and in aspects of the human person such as reason, emotions, caring, and intuition.

Documents And Moral Knowledge: Art In Yellowstone National Park, Tim Gorichanaz

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Documents have traditionally been conceptualized as representations of reality. Recently, scholars have been exploring how documents can also construct reality. In this paper, I follow this thread, discussing how documents can supply moral knowledge, showing what people ought to value in the world, thereby guiding action. Specifically, I discuss two works of art depicting Yellowstone National Park: a painting by Thomas Moran, done in the 19th century; and a photograph by Michael Nichols, from the 21st. Both of these works respond to a dualism in the human relationship to the wilderness, dating back at least to the European colonization of …

Neuroethics Guiding Principles For The Nih Brain Initiative, Henry T. Greely, Christine Grady, Khara M. Ramos, Winston Chiong, James Eberwine, Nita A. Farahany, L. Syd M. Johnson, Et. Al.

Department of Humanities Publications

Neuroscience presents important neuroethical considerations. Human neuroscience demands focused application of the core research ethics guidelines set out in documents such as the Belmont Report. Various mechanisms, including institutional review boards (IRBs), privacy rules, and the Food and Drug Administration, regulate many aspects of neuroscience research and many articles, books, workshops, and conferences address neuroethics. (Farah, 2010; https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcsbi/studies.html; http://www.neuroethicssociety.org/annual-meeting). However, responsible neuroscience research requires continual dialogue among neuroscience researchers, ethicists, philosophers, lawyers, and other stakeholders to help assess its ethical, legal, and societal implications. The Neuroethics Working Group of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative …

Swiping Your Life Away Failing To Find Love Through Dating Apps, Jesus A Ramirez Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This essay focuses on examining the dating experience and interactions in the age of digital technology, specifically where social disempowered users of dating applications tend to reinforce systemic social oppression. This research draws from literature about communication ethics, critical theory studies, digital media studies and includes personal observations and experiences. Even though some apps have allowed minorities; the LGBTQ community, people of color (POC) and other groups, to interact in a platform where they share common interests, there are still some dating apps which are more mainstream. Dating within the same platform where ethical communication and intent has been swayed …

Did Hollywood Take Theatre "By Hook Or By Crook?", Catherine S. Wright

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Hollywood and Theatre have been partners in producing entertainment for over 100 years. The relationship was fruitful for both parties, but Hollywood moguls and playwrights battled over ownership of the work and crafting of its creative nucleus, story and character. Theatre was the dominant entertainment right before the rise of motion pictures. Once Hollywood’s talkies closed the curtain on silent films, playwrights had a high creative worth to movie makers. In the cinema, story and dialogue were essential for its survival and growth. Playwrights were courted by the Hollywood studio heads but were not offered equal partnership as they were …

The Impact Of The Concepts Of 'Common Good', 'Justice' And 'Diversity' In The Natural Law Of Our Time, Gines Marco

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

In this article we have projected three central objectives: first, to delimit the scope and limits of the recognition granted by the Aristotelian-Thomist tradition to the centrality of the common political good in life and in the fullness of the human being; Secondly, to specify the nature of the present difficulties that has the same possibility of the common reaches, by virtue of the valuation of the diversity projected by the liberal tradition inherited from Modernity; Thirdly, to analyze the impact that the dichotomy common good/diversity has had and continues to have on the way in which intra-organizational conflicts and …

Euthanasia, Assisted-Suicide, And Palliative Sedation: A Brief Clarification And Reinforcement Of The Moral Logic, Peter A. Depergola Ii

Journal of Health Ethics

A persistent misunderstanding of the moral distinctions between the practices of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and palliative sedation suggests a critical need to revisit the relationship each shares with licit medical practice in the context of palliative care. To that end, this essay grounds its arguments in two, straightforward premises: (i) the licitness of medical practice is largely determined by the balance between (a) good ends, (b) proportionate means, (c) appropriate circumstances, and (d) benevolent intentions; and (ii) whereas palliative sedation employs criteria A-D (above), both euthanasia and assisted suicide fail to secure criteria A-C. Drawing from this syllogism, the aim …

Foregrounding Morality: Encouraging Parental Media Literacy Intervention Using The Tares Test For Ethical Persuasion, Kevin Pearce, Stanley Baran

Communication Faculty Journal Articles

In the United States, children are exposed to literally hundreds of thousands of television commercials a year and virtually every aspect of kids’ lives are replete with commercial messages. The negative effects of this exposure are well documented. Yet, there remains very little regulation or limit on advertising to children beyond that which exists for adults. Additionally, only about 1/3 of U.S. parents wish for stronger controls. This presents a challenge for media literacy scholars and practitioners. Research has shown that, when presented with information about the negative effects of commercial messages, parents are more likely to adopt some form …

Augmented Reality, Augmented Ethics: Who Has The Right To Augment A Particular Physical Space?, Erica L. Neely

Philosophy and Religion Faculty Scholarship

Augmented reality (AR) blends the virtual and physical worlds such that the virtual content experienced by a user of AR technology depends on the user’s geographical location. Games such as Pokémon GO and technologies such as HoloLens are introducing an increasing number of people to augmented reality. AR technologies raise a number of ethical concerns; I focus on ethical rights surrounding the augmentation of a particular physical space. To address this I distinguish public and private spaces; I also separate the case where we access augmentations via many different applications from the case where there is a more unified sphere …

Physician Assisted Dying As An Extension Of Healing, Zoe I. Marinacci

Student Publications

The role of a physician is to provide care for those who seek their assistance. Lisa Yount attributes the most ancient statement about this activity to the Hippocratic Oath. Many doctors, in fact, still take this oath, part of which reads, “I will [not] give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to that effect,” (8). This vow is still widely considered to be the ultimate statement of the physician’s moral creed (Yount 8). Debate over whether active physician assisted dying is an extension of healing ability or a violation of their …

Solicitude: Towards A Heideggerian Care Ethics-Of-Assistance, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

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 …

Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives In An Age Of Crisis By Molly Wallace And David Carruthers, Bryant Scott

The Goose

Review of Molly Wallace and David Carruthers' Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis.

Reducing Extreme Suffering For Non-Human Animals: Enhancement Vs. Smaller Future Populations?, Magnus Vinding

Between the Species

This paper argues that ethical views that place primary importance on the reduction of extreme suffering imply that, at least in theory, it can be better to allow enhanced non-human animals to come into existence rather than unenhanced non-human animals. Furthermore, they imply that it would be even better if no non-human animals came into existence at all. However, it is unclear, from the perspective of these ethical views, whether enhancement or reduction of future populations is the more effective strategy in practice, and whether it might even be better to instead pursue a seemingly more robust and less controversial …

Potential For Participatory Big Data Ethics And Algorithm Design: A Scoping Mapping Review, Madisson Whitman, Chien-Yi Hsiang, Kendall Roark

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Ubiquitous networked data collection and algorithm-based information systems have the potential to disparately impact lives around the planet and pose a host of emerging ethical challenges. One response has been a call for more transparency and democratic control over the design and implementation of such systems. This scoping mapping review focuses on participatory approaches to the design, governance, and future of these systems across a wide variety of contexts and domains.

A Zoopolean Look At Animal Research Ethics, Andrew T. Fenton

Between the Species

I will discuss how animal laboratory research can be ethically analyzed using Donaldson and Kymlicka’s political theory of animal rights. To accomplish this, I will not presuppose their strong animal rights framework. Donaldson and Kymlicka’s approach revolves around some basic human-animal relationships, reflecting the relational turn in applied ethics writ large. However, they do not discuss laboratory animal research in any detail, and so an extension to that domain of animal use is in order. Donaldson and Kymlicka’s emphasis on human-animal relationships is useful for reminding ourselves that in laboratories various staff or personnel can develop bonds with captive animals …

An Ethical Framework For Library Publishing, Jason Boczar, Nina Collins, Rebel Cummings-Sauls, Terri Fishel, Valerie Horton, Harrison W. Inefuku, Sarah Melton, Joshua Neds-Fox, Wendy C. Robertson, Charlotte Roh, Melanie Schlosser, Jaclyn Sipovic, Camille Thomas, Monica Westin

LPC Publications

Inspired by discussions at the 2017 Library Publishing Forum, An Ethical Framework for Library Publishing 1.0 was created by the members of the Ethical Framework for Library Publishing Task Force, with the assistance of many community members who served as peer reviewers and workshop participants, as well as the staff of the Educopia Institute. The Framework introduces library publishers to important ethical considerations in a variety of areas and provides concrete recommendations and resources for ethical scholarly publishing. As the version number in the title suggests, the document is meant to evolve - to be updated and expanded over time. …

Application Of Fraser’S “Practical” Ethic In Veterinary Practice, And Its Compatibility With A “One Welfare” Framework, Anne Fawcett, Siobhan Mullan, Paul Mcgreevy

Professional Veterinary Ethics Collection

Ethically challenging situations are common in veterinary practice, and they may be a source of moral stress, which may in turn impact the welfare of veterinarians. Despite recognition of the importance of ethical reasoning, some veterinary students may struggle to apply theoretical ethical frameworks. Fraser developed a “practical” ethic consisting of four principles that can be applied to ethically challenging situations. We apply Fraser’s “practical” ethic to three cases that veterinarians may encounter: animal hoarding, animal neglect, and treatment of wildlife. We argue that Fraser’s “practical” ethic is consistent with a One Welfare framework, and may have increasing currency for …

Ethical Accountability Of Licensed Professional Counselors: A Comparative Study Of State Regulations And The Effects On Ethical Behavior, Kelly J. Doolan

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Accountability is an integral aspect of occupational regulation and professional licensure and helps to promote ethical behavior within professional occupations. States have the autonomy to implement laws and enact sanctions against professionals who are in violation of the regulations and professional norms of the field. This research explores accountability and ethical behavior in the licensed professional counselor occupation. The purpose is twofold, it examines how states vary in their approach to setting legal and professional accountability measures as defined by minimum requirements for education and practice and it explores the relationship between ethical outcomes as defined by disciplinary violations and …

An Uber Ethical Dilemma: Examining The Social Issues At Stake, Florence Chee

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

This paper aims to engage with the social issues emerging from the increasing reliance upon app-driven services, as they pertain to precarious labor and ethical standpoints in a digital era. Popular ride services such as Uber have been lauded for bringing much needed transportation services that are superior to expensive taxis or unpleasant or inaccessible public transit.

Design/methodology/approach

As a result of over three years of ongoing research and analysis, this paper is a comprehensive assessment of a number of social issues facing the integration of practices both signified and enacted in an economy driven by apps such as …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

The Vanishing Line, Jacopo Mazzoni

Graduate School of Art Theses

This thesis is an exploratory effort to bridge the rift that political and monetary powers created between art and technology. In my practice, these socio-political motivations are exposed through the creation of non-utilitarian inventions that use different technologies as charged metaphors. I research mass media language and construct interactive pieces while borrowing strategies from the entertainment industry to make environmental, social, and political issues more palatable than documentary films or raw data could. In my work, technology is regarded as a semidivine entity with supernatural powers that can both elevate and reduce the human experience. My work functions differently according …

Greenbeards And Signaling: Why Morality Isn't Indispensable, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher, Julian García

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

We argue that although objectivist moral attitudes may facilitate cooperation, they are not necessary for the high levels of cooperation in humans. This is implied by evolutionary models that articulate a mechanism underlying Stanford's account, and is also suggested by the ability of merely conventional social norms to explain extreme human behaviors.

Key Components For An Ethics Consultation Curriculum, Joseph Bertino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to a lack of formal credentials for clinical ethics consultants, the professionalization of clinical ethics as a normative discipline in contemporary American health care is diminished amongst other health care professionals. While medical specialties, organizational leadership positions, and other miscellaneous health care occupations possess governing bodies that posit credentials that justify these roles, clinical ethics consultants lack a standard of competence. While this gap has been temporarily reconciled by individual employer criteria, a national standard that attempts to educate and demonstrate a clinical ethicist’s abilities does not exist. Still, various attempts have been made to establish a certification program …

Enhancing Quality Ethics Consultations In Pediatric Medicine, Ariel Clatty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Medical ethics consultations occur predominantly in the adult realm of medicine, alternatively in Pediatric Medicine there is a widespread lack of training and skilled professionals to service these requests. Most of the literature in pediatric ethics consultations revolves around mirroring adult ethics consultations. This dissertation seeks to identify and address the issues related to quality of ethics consultations in a clinical setting regarding the organizational and research settings for Pediatric Medicine, and how adopting and applying the guiding standards for ethics consultation using the Core Competencies of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities will better assist all parties to …

Bodies On The Margins: A Multitude Of Voices, Kevin Timpe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Kevin Timpe Reviews Elizabeth Barnes’ The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability

The Core Relation Between Hospitality (Philoxenia), Dignity And Vulnerability In Orthodox Christian Bioethics: A Contribution To Global Bioethics, Rabee Toumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a pluralistic world, reaching consensus in matters of bioethics has proved to be difficult, especially with the political polarization that nurtures inimical differences. This dissertation argues that a middle ground can be identified between the plurality of value systems in contemporary bioethics based on an anthropological approach. This middle ground that reflects commonalities of the human condition can be explored in relation to the foundational principles of Orthodox Christian anthropology. To identify this middle ground the analysis discusses the core relation between hospitality, dignity, and vulnerability as a contribution to global bioethics.

In general, based on Orthodox Christian theology …

A Martin Luther King Jr. Amendment To The U.S. Constitution: Toward The Abolition Of Poverty, Theodore Walker

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prescribed that we add an economic bill of rights to the U.S. Constitution. A King-Inspired bill of rights should include a constitutional amendment that enumerates a natural human right to be free from economic poverty, and appropriate enforcement legislation.

For the sake of abolishing slavery, the Thirteenth Amendment says:

(Section 1) Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

(Section 2) Congress shall have power to enforce this article by …

The Ethical Principle Of Vulnerability And The Case Against Human Organ Trafficking, Peter A. Depergola Ii

Journal of Health Ethics

An increasingly blurred understanding of the ethical significance of global "transplant transactions" - a curious combination of altruism and commerce, consent and coercion, gifts and theft, science and sorcery, care and human sacrifice - suggest a critical need to revisit the fundamental moral normlessness of the trafficking enterprise. This essay grounds its arguments in two, straightforward premises: (i) the ethical principle of respect for human vulnerability is an indispensable measure of the licitness of most, if not all, moral actions; and (ii) human organ trafficking violates the ethical principle of respect for human vulnerability. Drawing from this syllogism, the aim …

Some Ethical Issues In Treating And Caring For People With Dementia, Robert Scott Stewart Ba, Ma, Ph.D.

Journal of Health Ethics

This paper explores several issues regarding the treatment and care for patients suffering from dementia, including a discussion of the relatively low time and money spent on dementia research compared to research on cancer and cardio-vascular disease. It will also discuss the special relationship between the person suffering from dementia and their carer, who is often a loved one. The paper employs principlism and so examines these issues from a consideration of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice.