Ethics in Religion Commons^™

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

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 …

Earth: "Un-Human Me", Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Peace and Justice Studies Faculty Publications

He took a rib from your side and made others.

So you considered Others your children, forever.

He told you to go forth and produce and multiply so you made capitalism.

He told you to go forth and conquer and pillage and mark your name and plant your flag where-ever you wanted.

So now the moon is yours. Jupiter, beware! [excerpt]

The Search For Microbial Martian Life And American Buddhist Ethics, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Multiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default nonharm toward potential living beings, default nonharm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default nonharm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative …

Paper: An Ecowomanist View On The Dakota Access Pipeline, Ariana Raya

Womanist Ethics

This paper examines the Dakota Access Pipeline using ecofeminist and ecowomanist philosophies, provides a brief historical background of African American and Native American communities, explains the dangers of the pipeline to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and offers constructive alternatives.

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 …

Card Tricks: A Workflow For Scalability And Dynamic Content Creation Using Paper2d And Unreal Engine 4, Owen Gottlieb, Dakota Herold, Edward Amidon

Presentations and other scholarship

In this paper, we describe the design and technological methods of

our dynamic sprite system in Lost & Found, a table-top-to-mobile

card game designed to improve literacy regarding prosocial

aspects of religious legal systems, specifically, collaboration and

cooperation. Harnessing the capabilities of Unreal Engine’s

Paper2D system, we created a dynamic content creation pipeline

that empowered our game designers so that they could rapidly

iterate on the game’s systems and balance externally from the

engine. Utilizing the Unreal Blueprint component system we were

also able to modularize each actor during runtime as data may be

changed. The technological approach behind Lost …

The Moral Implications Of Software Piracy, Kyle Hamrick

Student Scholarship – Computer Science

Computer software is integrated into almost every aspect of our professional and personal lives. Much of this software requires payment for use and is legally protected by the copyright system. This paper examines and analyzes the arguments pertaining to the moral use of protected software (digital piracy). The three arguments presented are the “victimless crime” argument, the “noble justification” argument, and the “willing but unable argument.” These three arguments claim that piracy is morally justified in certain cases, and claim that software providers are not harmed in such situations. The three arguments are tested against counter-arguments, and it is discovered …

Earth Ethics, James Martin-Schramm, Daniel Spencer, Laura A. Stivers

Laura Stivers

A Taste Of Armageddon: When Warring Is Done By Drones And Robots, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Discusses the increasing use of drones and weaponized robots. Argues that the international community must put firm ethical guidelines in place before the technology becomes rampant.

Biblical Environmental Protection: Seven Keys For Christian Leaders, Rejoice Muwadzuri

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project examines Christian environmentalism and espouses the need for the principles of environmental stewardship to be fanned into flame among Christians through the ministry and influence of Christian leaders. It has become apparent that America and the rest of the world face an environmental crisis as is reflected by climate change, high air and water pollution, land and habitat degradation, depletion of forests and issues of waste management. However, this reality has not been matched by a corresponding level of practical action and activism to protect and restore the environment in Christian circles. This thesis project will provide …

Ecological Issues: A Daoist Confucian Perspective, Pamela Herron

Pamela Herron

Abstract: The Dao De Jing is the foundation of Daoism while the Lun Yu, or the Analects of Confucius, is the central text for Confucianism. The Dao De Jing in particular has long been a popular text within the new age spiritual movement in Western culture. Both classic Chinese texts emphasize working toward a harmony with nature without the assumption of man set above plants, animals, mountains, water and other aspects of nature; rather man is a part of this greater whole. This paper explores specific references in both classic texts that reinforce this idea of man being simply part …

Thinking Through The Environmental Crisis: Are We Doomed?, Anthony Paul Smith

Explorer Café

No abstract provided.

Justified By Faith: The Upper Susquehanna Lutheran Synod And The Pennsylvania Natural Gas Fracking Controversy, Lena R. Connor

Pomona Senior Theses

An exercise in applied Christian ecotheology, this thesis focuses on a community of Lutheran church bodies (ELCA) in North Central Pennsylvania as they grappled with natural gas hydraulic fracturing in the summer of 2012. In the paper, I employ a combination of theological, environmental, historical, and ethnographic research methodologies to ground my analysis of how this synod of Lutherans to date has approached the fracking boom. My primary research question is: How might the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the ELCA--as a representative body of 131 Lutheran churches that are steeped in tradition--use its history, community involvement, theology, and church structure …

Children In God's House: Teaching Cosmology At A Nazarene University, Stephen Case

Faculty Scholarship – Geology

This is one of a collection of essays that attempts to articulate the common “center pole” around which Nazarene higher educators stand and the theological and pedagogical commitments that draw them together. It is one of a series of values documents for Nazarene educational institutions and was produced and reviewed by 51 faculty at 16 institutions from six countries. The title of the collection, Telos, comes from the Greek term used in the New Testament to address the perfect end, or destination, for which Christians are designed. This essay sets out how understanding and engaging with contemporary theories regarding the …

A Scientific Rationale For Belief In God?, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

This paper presents a concise scientific rationale for the existence of God. The works of Ray Kurzweil and the many other artificial intelligence researchers provide a backdrop to the central thesis. An entity (computers or humans, it not mattering which) will eventually approach all-knowing. How much time passes before this occurs is not important. All-knowing is likely to be all-powerful insofar as knowledge leads to power, as has been our experience. One would suspect that this would be inclusive of time travel. The methods by which knowledge grows require “seed” facts to begin working. The seed facts can easily be, …

A Study Of The Relationship Between American Evangelicals And Human Rights, Amy Rachel Timmons Stumpf

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Human rights violations and abuses affect every region of the globe. The most recent Amnesty International Annual Report details violations in 149 countries. While there are no simple solutions to a problem of this magnitude and complexity, the support of powerful social groups can help in providing relief to the victims, pressure on abusive governments, legal consequences for abusers, and other resources in combating the violence that seems to chronically plague over our world. One of the most powerful groups, with tremendous social capital, is American evangelicals. Evangelicalism, even given the loose and informal organizational structures, is one of the …

Session 2 - Societal-Consciousness In The Computing Curricula: A Time For Serious Introspection, Daniel Moix, Srini Ramaswamy

International Symposium on Technology and Society

This paper addresses the growing need for inculcating appropriate ethics within the computing curriculum by fostering the development of a societally-conscious ethical framework among our students to address the use of information technology vis-à-vis government, business and society. We propose a new integrated model based approach (IDEA) and suggest its adoption to encourage students on reflecting upon the social and ethical ramifications of technology, beyond the narrow, project focused tunnel vision that currently (subliminally) exists in many computing curricula, and in particular, in today’s profit-focused, consulting and contract-based software industry.

Tao How? Asian Religions And The Problem Of Environmental Degradation, Philip Novak

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

"Twenty-five years ago, Huston Smith wrote an article called Tao Now ¹ to enlist the help of traditional Chinese attitudes toward nature in expanding the West's environmental awareness. If my interrogative betrays a greater diffidence than his imperative, it is only because China, the land of the Tao, lacks an enviable environmental record. Sadly, it seems that the existence of noble cultural ideals regarding the environment, in India as well as China, have not been a sufficient gurantee of good stewardship." ~ from the article