Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons^™

A Kantian Guide To Understanding Agentic Ai And Its Ethical Consequences, Amelia Wang

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

The rapid emergence of Agentic AI, which are systems capable of autonomous, multi-step decision-making with minimal human oversight, has prompted growing discourse and concern regarding whether such systems possess a form of agency comparable to that of human beings, and subsequently, what ethical responsibilities ensue if they do. This thesis argues that many of the ethical risks surrounding Agentic AI stem from a fundamental misconception, which is the tendency to describe these systems using the language of agency ("deciding," "acting," "choosing") without examining whether they satisfy the philosophical conditions for genuine rational agency. Drawing on Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the …

Aquinas In The Twenty-First Century: A Reconciliation With The Catholic Church’S Teaching On The Death Penalty, Diego G. T. Abele

Honors Theses

When the Catholic Church revised its paragraph in the Catechism that concerned the teaching on the death penalty, many believed that this seemed to contradict the Church’s traditional teaching on the death penalty, which has included the writings of thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas. However, after applying principles of his natural law theory, this apparent contradiction goes away, and the full Catholic teaching on the death penalty comes to light. Several key theses of Thomist natural law will be described, addressing the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions it seeks to answer. This will be the backbone of my paper as …

Fantasies Of Just Torture: On Violent Efforts To Navigate The Intolerable, Tonya Sims

Philosophy Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines why torture, despite being among the clearest objects of moral revulsion available to us, remains imaginable as a serious moral possibility. I begin by refining the concept of torture through an examination of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, while arguing that insufficient attention has been paid to what I take to be its paradigmatic form, namely sadistic torture. Against definitions that treat torture primarily in instrumental terms, I argue that torture is best understood as the intentional infliction of extreme pain upon an unwilling person in order to dominate or otherwise manipulate their autonomy. Drawing on …

Deportation And Death: Examining The Second Trump Administration’S Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Just War Theory, Finley W. Snyder

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

From day one of the second Trump administration, the White House has treated illegal immigration as an invasion, both rhetorically and, to a lesser extent, legally. The administration has not shied away from the use of force in this campaign, leading to the notable killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti along with countless acts of violence across the nation. This essay seeks to evaluate the ethics of the second Trump administration's immigration policy from within this "war" framing through the lens of just war theory. While there has been considerable attention to just war theory in the context of …

Game-Based Learning For Asynchronous Ai Literacy Course: Approach To Improve Students' Cognitive, Behavioural, Affective, And Ethical Learning Of Ai, Jinhee Kim, Guang Yang, Wing Sha Chan, Xi Lin, Yukyeong Song

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Educators in higher education face persistent challenges in scaling AI literacy across disciplines and helping novice learners understand abstract AI concepts. Although research on game-based learning (GBL) reports mixed outcomes, few studies have examined its large-scale use in mandatory, asynchronous AI literacy courses for diverse undergraduate populations. Addressing this gap, this study investigates a scalable GBL-based AI literacy course delivered to 4898 first-year undergraduates across disciplines. Using a mixed-methods design with 311 valid pre- and post-survey responses and 20 interviews, the study evaluates students' cognitive, behavioural, affective, and ethical learning of AI. Quantitative results show significant improvements in overall AI …

Both Studying And Protecting Octopuses “On Their Own Terms”, Jennifer Jacquet, Janelle Kaz, Becca Franks, Christine Webb

Animal Sentience

Cephalopods – indeed, all animals – “must be seen on their own terms,” with respect for their autonomy and their ecological imperatives. This will provide greater scientific insight along with a more ethical and accurate understanding of minds beyond our own.

Utilitarianism, Dune, And The Moral Problem Of Genetic Engineering, Mathias W. Alling

Quest

Moral Philosophy Essay

Research in progress for PHIL 2306: Introduction to Ethics (Honors)

Faculty Mentor: John Macready, PhD

This article began as a research essay during the Fall 2024 semester for my honors- level course, Introduction to Ethics (PHIL 2306). In this course, students are asked to research a moral issue and offer an argument for whether the issue is morally required, morally permitted, morally permissible, or morally impermissible. Mathias Alling’s philosophically ambitious article “Utilitarianism, Dune, and the Moral Problem of Genetic Engineering” examines the moral permissibility of genetic engineering through the fictional universe of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune …

Artificial Intelligence In Surveillance And Privacy, Elizabeth D. Brasher

NEXUS: The Liberty Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

This paper attempts to provide insight into the new and developing world of artificial intelligence and its integration into surveillance technologies. These technologies being implemented by the government, retail companies, healthcare organizations, and more, all raise ethical questions and implications addressed in this article; other topics, such as the integration of Christian ethics and responsibilities, are also explored.

The Ethics Of Insider Trading, Miles Morgan

Global Tides

In business ethics, insider trading has gone untouched by scholars, as the consensus is that insider trading is morally indefensible, however, questions have emerged regarding the moral responsibility of insiders. This paper engages with Analyzing Insider Trading from the Perspectives of Utilitarian Ethics and Rights Theory by Robert McGee to evaluate the relationship between applied ethics and insider trading. A satisfactory anti-insider trading account must be able to economically or philosophically explain why insider trading is morally wrong. The assumption that this is impossible may be due to a misunderstanding of how we decide what morality is or how economic …

Love Drugs: Exploring The Ethical Implications Of Relationship Targeting Biochemical Supplements, Hallie Young

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

"Love drugs" can be defined as chemical interventions that affect desire, attraction, and affection. Contemporary advancements in neurochemical interventions have increased interest in love drugs and highlighted the need for accessible love drug analyses. This project explores how love drugs will affect contemporary relationships through realistic literary scenarios informed by current philosophical literature. These scenarios consist of three vignettes compiled into a novella-length creative work. It was initially anticipated that these vignettes would reveal that introducing a meta-biological or chemical intervention into social situations where authenticity is normatively highly valued would prompt participant introspection. In practice, this work finds that …

Aristotle And Mencius, Comparisons Of The Good Life, Cormac I. O'Brien

Undergraduate Theses

Aristotle and Mencius are both renown philosophers in the field of ethics and moral teaching. Using the Nicomachean Ethics and The Works of Mencius, we can analyze their respective theories to come to a better understanding of what the good life is in the eyes of these two great philosophers, as well as how an individual can work towards achieving a fulfilling life.

The Ethics Of Gene Editing Hereditary Deafness, Jasmine Borie

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

Gene editing has been a hot topic of interest in the field of science, and many gene editing solutions for heritable diseases are in the works. In most cases, gene editing is done with good intentions, but there are some instances where it would not be favorable for reasons that may not be inherently obvious to everyone. Several forms of deafness and hearing loss can be inherited, meaning that it can be passed down from parent to offspring. Curing hereditary deafness using gene editing may seem like a good idea, but it can lead to unintentional discrimination and further stigmatization …

Classic Philosophers On Modern Issues: The Ethics Of Germline Editing, Grace O. Decostanza

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

The prospect of using CRISPR-Cas-9 technology to edit human embryos in a process called germline editing has the potential to irreparably change the world as we know it. Many pose the question: if you could save your child from having a disease, would you? But I argue that is not the only—or even, real—question we should be asking. Instead, I ask you, should we be changing humanity as we know it in ways that elude even our foremost scientists? Should we decide what disabilities make people not worth being people? Should we introduce a technology knowing full well that it …

40 Years Of Withholding Syphilis Treatment In Tuskegee, Emily Hill

CAFE Symposium 2025

This poster analyzes Bill Clinton's late given apology for the unethical nonconsensual syphilis study done on a group of African American men in secret for years. It looks at what makes an apology successful and whether or not the apology given by former President Bill Clinton was enough. The poster also briefly talks about the aftermath of this experiment, which has lasting effects even today.

Epicurus And The Buddha On Desire, Andrew Alwood

Comparative Philosophy

The philosophies of Epicurus and the Buddha aim to free us from suffering by helping us to recognize how ignorance and delusion lead us to pursue harmful desires. Since the problem lies in our attitudes, the solution is to change our attitudes. Like doctors healing the sick, they offer therapeutic practical advice, to remove the groundless opinions and the unhealthy desires that cause suffering. Although various misconceptions may lead us to conceive of these two thinkers as quite different with respect to values and ethics, there are remarkable similarities. Indeed, their practical advice for how to live has the same …

Engaging Ethics In Technology And Artificial Intelligence, Elizabeth Edenberg

Open Educational Resources

This project seeks to help students apply philosophical questions about the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence to contemporary debates about AI’s impact on society and students’ own lives. It includes a set of in-class active learning exercises and reflection assignments, along with instructions for moderating class discussion of these topics. This is designed to pair with three units in a course on the ethics of technology: privacy, consent, and algorithmic fairness. Each exercise aims to help students connect the philosophical theories studied in class to their own lived experiences with technology.

Not Exactly "Perfect," But Pretty Darn Good: A Review Of Michael Schur's Book- How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question, Justin Pepe

Management Faculty Publications

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question provides a quick-start guide to addressing ethical challenges by using humor to make complex philosophical concepts accessible. Based on the premise that traditional ethics pedagogy is often stodgy, esoteric, and depressing, the book appeals to students and professionals who find conventional texts unapproachable. By blending humor with moral philosophy, it offers a fresh way to develop ethical reasoning in students and employees. This book can help address the urgent need for managers and professionals to build the ethical capabilities necessary to tackle grand challenges.

On The Morality Of Prostitution Under Hierarchical Social Structures: A Radical Feminist Analysis, Kendra F. Ballard

Quest

Moral Philosophy Essay

Research in progress for PHIL 2306: Introduction to Ethics

Faculty Mentor: John Macready, Ph.D.

The following article represents exemplary student research produced in PHIL 2306, a sophomore-level course in ethical and moral philosophy at Collin College. PHIL 2306 introduces students to an array of ethical and moral theories, such as virtue ethics, deontology, consequentialism, and contractarianism, as well as the dominant critiques of these theories. These ethical and moral theories provide models for reasoning about ethical and moral issues, which students practice by applying these theories to specific issues like abortion, torture, capital punishment, and genetic engineering. …

When To Save The Baby: A Fundamental Conditions Approach, S. Matthew Liao, Jordan Liebman, Corine Astroth

Pace Law Review

Parents and physicians often grapple with the agonizing decision of whether to continue life-sustaining treatment for critically ill infants. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework called the Fundamental Conditions Approach (FCA) to guide these difficult choices. Building on S. Matthew Liao’s work, the FCA evaluates whether an infant possesses or can develop the fundamental capacities necessary for engaging in basic activities that constitute a good life. These capacities include the ability to think, respond to facts, develop interpersonal relationships, and interact with one’ environment. We argue that if an infant lacks nearly all of these fundamental capacities and …

Ethical Risks Of Frontier Science And Technology: An Escalating Threat, Xiao Lu, Huihui Liu, Rui Li, Jiaofeng Pan

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Science and technology (S&T) are not only powerful tools for development, but also a source of risk. The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are accelerating in current times. It deeply influences and fundamentally reshapes human production and life, which can raise a range of known and unknown ethical risks, involving individual rights and interests, social stability, national security, as well as sustainable development of mankind. This study summarizes the characteristics of ethical risks in frontier S&T, including the dependence on related fields, high uncertainty, social reconstruction, and ultimate challenge. Considering the risks in various fields, …

Ethical Responsibility In The Design Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Systems, David K. Mcgraw

International Journal on Responsibility

This article aims to provide an overview of the ethical questions surrounding the responsibilities of designers of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. First, the author delves into the philosophical underpinnings of this responsibility, examining various ethical theories to grasp the moral obligations individuals have towards others and society. The author contends that designers of technology bear the responsibility of considering the broader societal implications of their creations. Subsequently, the author scrutinizes the fundamental question of whether AI systems present unique ethical concerns compared to conventional technologies, pinpointing factors such as complexity, opacity, autonomy, unpredictability, uncertainty, and the potential for significant social …

Evaluating Bad Theology And Making A Case For The Ethical Priority Of Religious Diversity In Tolkien Studies, Nick Polk

Journal of Tolkien Research

Presented at Oxonmoot in 2024, the aim of this paper is to present a selection of theological Tolkien criticisms for the purpose of evaluating them through practical theologian Leah Robinson’s definition of bad theology. The point is argued that bad theology in Tolkien Studies needs to be identified and understood as unethical and replaced with the openness of theologian John Thatamanil’s criteria for religious diversity. Concluding will be a promotion of religious diversity as an ethical priority and evaluative tool for future theological engagements within Tolkien Studies.

Developing More Useful Equity Measurements For Flood-Risk Management, Adam Pollack, Casey Helgeson, Carolyn Kousky, Klaus Keller

Dartmouth Scholarship

Decision-makers increasingly invoke equity to motivate, design, implement and evaluate strategies for managing flood risks. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on how analysts can develop measurements that support these tasks. Here we analyse how equity can be defined and measured by surveying 167 peer-reviewed publications that explicitly state an interest in equity in the context of flood-risk management. Our main result is a taxonomy that systematizes how equity has been, and can be, defined and measured in flood-risk research. The taxonomy embodies how equity is a pluralistic and unavoidably ethical concept. Despite this, we find that most quantitative studies fail …

The Ethical Motive As Counter To Benatar’S Anti-Natalism, Eliot Cox

Global Tides

In multiple works, David Benatar defends the view that it is immoral for parents to have children under any circumstance due to the suffering inherent in human life. This essay argues that Benatar’s anti-natalist argument is not successful because of its misidentification of the proper motive humans should have if they are to exist. Instead, I argue, the benefits of an ethical motive, if such a motive is properly instilled within a child by their parents or guardians, can surmount the suffering caused by existence. An ethical motive is characterized by the goal of alleviating suffering for others before oneself. …

Logos-Sophia, Elliott Norman, Donald Wayne Viney, Keith Elliott Perkins, Addyson Kay Campbell, Hunter Hinds, Scott Squires

LOGOS-SOPHIA: The Journal of the PSU Philosophical Society

Logos-Sophia, Volume 17, Spring 2024. The Journal of the Pittsburg State University Philosophical Society has largely been a student publication with occasional faculty contribution

Other Perspectives On Animals, Their Sentience And Cognition, Joyce M. D'Silva Mrs

Animal Sentience

For those of us who work to achieve legal recognition that animals are sentient beings, and should in many cases be allotted personhood, Donald Griffin is indeed an inspiration and a true game-changer. He put paid to the narrow behaviourist interpretation of animals’ lives promoted by Skinner et al. He became a real heir to Darwin’s belief in animal emotions. He enabled campaigners for animal welfare and indeed animal rights to quote his work as a distinguished scientist to give gravitas to their calls for legal recognition and protection of animals.

Readings In Western Philosophy For Louisiana Learners, Jeff Mclaughlin, Marco Altamarino (Editor), Ryland Johnson (Editor), Peter Klubek (Editor), Michael Martin (Editor)

Open Educational Resources

It is important for students not only to get an appreciation and understanding of philosophy but also to be exposed to the very words and ideas of those who have shaped our thinking over the centuries. Accordingly, the title of this collection hints at the facts that these readings are from the original sources and that these philosophers were the originators of many of the issues we still discuss today.

Major areas of philosophy covered here are Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Sociopolitical Philosophy, and finally, Aesthetics.

The Ethics Of Involuntary Intervention, Landyn Tipton

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This is a deep ethical analysis of the act of non-consensual intervention that discusses the distinction between voluntary and involuntary intervention and explains when it would be considered appropriate and inappropriate to intervene in someone else's life. This paper presents an argument for the right to autonomy, including specific scenarios like consensual types of intervention (psychological therapy), religious intervention (specifically involving LGBTQ conversion therapy), and situations where the person is potentially harming themselves or others. There will also be an interpretation of autonomy and the claim to authority through the lens of Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics.

A More Modern Prometheus: What Frankenstein Tells Us About Genetic Modification, Allison M. Ambrose

Honors College Theses

Mary Shelley’s famous novel, Frankenstein, is often hailed as the first true science fiction novel. In my thesis, I use the premonitive lens towards creation of life provided in Frankenstein to evaluate the morality of genetic modification of children. CRISPR-Cas9 is quickly emerging as the most important development in reprogenetic technology of our time, and many argue for its merits as a method of designing our children. I argue against this trend of “designer babies,” specifically raising questions about the soundness of modifying non-disease traits in future children and encouraging a more cautious attitude in both the scientific and philosophical …

Green Is The New Black: Exploring How A Philosophical Approach To The Fashion Industry Will Reduce Its Environmental Impact, Darion A. Gibbs

Student Theses and Dissertations

The fashion industry is the third largest contributor to pollution globally, behind only oil and agriculture. It also accounts for one-fifth of the plastic produced annually. Despite its impact, it is hard to trace accountability. For example, mega-retailers often outsource production to developing countries, without strong structures of accountability for their environmental impact. In addition, companies often claim to be environmentally sustainable, but it is easy to inflate the truth, and entities designed to protect consumers have limited enforcement. In this context, who should be held responsible for the fashion industry’s contribution to climate change?

In response, this thesis delves …