Ethical Lens Research Articles

Ethical considerations of preconception and prenatal gene modification in the embryo and fetus.

The National Academies of Sciences and Medicine 2020 consensus statement advocates the reinstatement of research in preconception heritable human genome editing (HHGE), despite the ethical concerns that have been voiced about interventions in the germline, and outlines criteria for its eventual clinical application to address monogenic disorders. However, the statement does not give adequate consideration to alternative technologies. Importantly, it omits comparison to fetal gene therapy (FGT), which involves gene modification applied prenatally to the developing fetus and which is better researched and less ethically contentious. While both technologies are applicable to the same monogenic diseases causing significant prenatal or early childhood morbidity, the benefits and risks of HHGE are distinct from FGT though there are important overlaps. FGT has the current advantage of a wealth of robust preclinical data, while HHGE is nascent technology and its feasibility for specific diseases still requires scientific proof. The ethical concerns surrounding each are unique and deserving of further discussion, as there are compelling arguments supporting research and eventual clinical translation of both technologies. In this Opinion, we consider HHGE and FGT through technical and ethical lenses, applying common ethical principles to provide a sense of their feasibility and acceptability. Currently, FGT is in a more advanced position for clinical translation and may be less ethically contentious than HHGE, so it deserves to be considered as an alternative therapy in further discussions on HHGE implementation.

Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on vulnerable populations in Malaysia through an ethical lens: A study of NGOs and organizations involved in aid distribution

Background: Globally, vulnerable populations have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent responses, such as lockdown measures and mass vaccinations. Numerous ethical challenges have arisen at different levels, be it at the policy-making level or on the ground. For example, policymakers have to contain a highly contagious disease with high morbidity using scarce resources, while minimizing the medium- to long-term social and economic impacts induced by containment measures. This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations in Malaysia by using an intersectional framework that accounts for overlapping forms of marginalization. Methods: This study utilizes in-depth qualitative data obtained from 34 individuals and organizations to understand the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on vulnerable populations in Malaysia. We utilize four principles of ethics to guide our coding and interpretation of the data - namely beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy. We utilize a frequency analysis to roughly understand the types of ethical issues that emerged. Using hermeneutic content analysis (HCA), we then explore how the principles interact with each other. Results: Through the frequently analysis, we found that although beneficence was very prevalent in our dataset, so was a significant amount of harm - as perpetuated through injustice, the removal or lack of autonomy and maleficence. We also unearthed a worrying landscape of harm and deep systemic issues associated with a lack of support for vulnerable households - further exacerbated during the pandemic. Conclusions: Policy recommendations for aid organizations and society to mitigate these ethical problems are presented, such as long overdue institutional reforms and stronger ethical practices rooted in human rights principles, which government agencies and aid providers can then use in the provision of aid to vulnerable populations.

The Transformation of Data Marketing: How an Ethical Lens on Consumer Data Collection Shapes the Future of Marketing

With a mass of customer data at our fingertips and the ability to use it to individualize promotion strategies, marketing communications, and product offerings, marketing activities are becoming more and more tailored to the individual customer. However, as concerns about online privacy and the handling of personal data take on an ever-increasing significance, marketers must increasingly evaluate and adapt their personalization and data collection methods. As a result, there is an increasing demand to take a critical look at the collection of data for personalization processes from an ethical perspective and to consider implications for further initiatives to maintain consumers’ trust. This research study utilizes a systematic literature review approach to investigate the current state of knowledge on the tradeoff between personalization and customer privacy by synthesizing and integrating extant knowledge. From the results of the present study’s search process, 20 articles were selected and analyzed for this review. Findings emphasize the importance of strengthening consumer relationships by increasing consumer trust, loyalty, confidence, and emotional attachment through specific organizational activities. The adaptation of marketing-related activities can thereby create a competitive advantage for data-collecting companies, as consumer backlash and privacy concerns decrease, and the willingness to disclose data increases. The current research contributes to the field of marketing by reviewing the issue of increasing personalization at the cost of customer privacy and explores how the resulting ethical considerations may affect the future of marketing practices. It thereby serves to help marketeers to implement effective strategies to ensure customer relationships and the resulting willingness to disclose personal data for personalization processes.

Bodily Pathos and Virtue Ethics: On Miki Kiyoshi’s Logic of Imagination

This paper revisits Miki Kiyoshi’s moral philosophy through the lens of virtue ethics, with a focus on the logic of imagination (構想力の論理). Having paid specific attention to pathos for his philosophy of action (行為の哲学), Miki would proceed to highlight the importance of feeling, pathos or sentiment for morality, which echoes a feature of contemporary virtue ethics. More importantly, Miki constructs his moral philosophy by emphasizing the body in conjunction with pathos. I therefore suggest that the uniqueness of Miki’s moral philosophy lies in the concept of bodily pathos. In order to unpack this claim, I shall begin by first examining why and how pathos plays an indispensable role for morality. Subsequently, I will consider how Miki focuses on the body in particular with respects to pathos. From there, I shall outline the ways in which virtue ethics can help rearticulate Miki’s concept of bodily pathos in a systematic and effective manner. Through exploring this subject, I aim to show that Miki is a pioneer with respects to the emphasis he places on the body for virtue ethics. For Miki, feeling must be exemplified by the body. He views the two as interconnected, and vital for morality. While there is an extensive body of scholarship on Miki’s philosophy of history, religion, humanism and so forth, his work on moral philosophy has been comparatively neglected. Yet, if we peruse his writings, it is easy to notice that many of his works actually include the Japanese terms for morality (dōtoku, 道徳) and ethics (rinri, 倫理), not to mention those concerned with action and poesis. Miki’s moral philosophy is without doubt an area deserving of thorough research, especially with respects to its relationship with virtue ethics.

Reducing the Use of Antimicrobials as a Solution to the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): Approaching an Ethical Dilemma through the Lens of Planetary Health

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Controlled dispensation of antimicrobial drugs is the most echoed solution among many that have been postulated to counter this problem. However, the life-impacting significance of antimicrobials makes this approach a very complex one, which must be considered under the lens of health and planetary ethics. As the problem of AMR is not peculiar to only a few people, the right to know the risk, as well as decisions as to when and how antimicrobials are used should, not be granted to only a few decision makers, but be used as drivers to advance planetary health knowledge in a way that benefits individuals, society, and future generations. Within an ethical framework, implementing policies that extend the efficacy period of antimicrobials should be considered in a way that balances range, choice, and quality of drugs against stewardship activities. The challenge of AMR cannot be eliminated completely by reduced use of antimicrobials only; understanding how, where and when reduction is necessary, and social structures and patterns (as well as existing health and government systems) are required if any global/national intervention would be successful and equitable. We may well have gone past the stage of adopting precautionary principles as the danger we face presents no iota of uncertainty. The measures to control AMR’s emergence and its spread are well presented. Nevertheless, we must not ere from the path of justice and equity even in the face of certain danger.

Germline genome modification through novel political, ethical, and social lenses.

Much has been written about gene modifying technologies (GMTs), with a particularly strong focus on human germline genome editing (HGGE) sparked by its unprecedented clinical research application in 2018, shocking the scientific community. This paper applies political, ethical, and social lenses to aspects of HGGE to uncover previously underexplored considerations that are important to reflect on in global discussions. By exploring 4 areas—(1) just distribution of HGGE benefits through a realist lens; (2) HGGE through a national interest lens; (3) “broad societal consensus” through a structural injustice lens; and (4) HGGE through a scientific trustworthiness lens—a broader perspective is offered, which ultimately aims to enrich further debates and inform well-considered solutions for developments in this field. The application of these lenses also brings to light the fact that all discussions about scientific developments involve a conscious or unconscious application of a lens that shapes the direction of our thinking.

Evidence-based practice and the ethics of care: ‘What works’ or ‘what matters’?

This article considers why and how evidence-based practice has become distorted in practice, and what to do about it. We present qualitative data from an action research project in policing to highlight tensions between the rhetoric and reality of evidence-based practice, and the ways in which evidence-based practice’s seductive catchphrase ‘what works’ is being understood and applied. Through the lens of care ethics, we integrate ‘what matters’ with ‘what works’, and ‘what matters/works here’ with ‘what matters/works everywhere’. This approach recognizes relational expertise, practical reasoning and critical inquiry as vital for evidence-based practice in practices of social intervention. Drawing on key care ethics motifs, we suggest that care is the ethical scaffolding upon which social justice relies, and hence crucial to organs of security, peacekeeping and law enforcement. From this position, we argue that policing might renegotiate its difficult relationship with the particular, recasting it from something uncomfortably discretionary (the maverick cop) and shameful (an individualized blame culture) into something that underpins and enhances police professionalism. While developed in a policing context, these reflections have a broader relevance for questions of professional legitimacy and credibility, especially within the ‘new professions’, and the costs of privileging any one type of understanding over others.

The Ethics of Board Perseverance

Christopher Gilbert, Ph.D., is co‐founder of NobleEdge Consulting, a leadership development company that specializes in organization and management leadership ethics. In this article, he examines board communication using the same ethical lenses we use to examine our other actions.

Applying an Ethical Lens to Sifting through Sepsis Research.

Applying an Ethical Lens to Sifting through Sepsis Research.

Healing Salves: Contingent Knowledge and Satisfying Surprises in Kiribati<br />  

Through the creative analytic practice of autoethnography and systematic sociological introspection, the author engages the subjectivity of narrative self in relation to a story involving treatment by an indigenous healer in the Republic of Kiribati. Through the lens of narratology, existential introspection, and ethics the author informs the moving vantage of the present through reflection on the micro personal and macro socio-cultural educational processes that bear influence on the narration and perception of a lived experience in hindsight. Through storying and reflecting through these lenses, this process problematizes the present story, but also yields degrees of greater awareness. This process of systematic sociological introspection is framed by Freeman’s (1997) notion of narrative integrity. That is, through reflection and reframing of the past, the author hopes to focus upon the possibilities of wider metacognitive perspective for both himself and the reader in the future.

Artificial Intelligence and People Management: A Critical Assessment Through the Ethical Lens

The dramatic increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in workplaces around the world can be attributed to the potential for increased profitability. While AI has numerous useful applications and can help speed up business processes or transform systems, its use in human resources (HR) processes and systems presents a complex series of pros and cons requiring organizational leaders to tread with caution. AI is helping transform the nature of jobs and workplace employment relationships. Robots can replace humans as employees, while platforms are able to supervise human employees. However, organizations employing AI to manage their people will need to be accountable for improving the employee experience, increasing investments in their skill development, building organizational competency, and enhancing transparency to ensure responsible usage. In this paper, we discuss the possible misuses of AI algorithms and argue that these could adversely impact the organization’s human resources, if not devised and implemented with caution. In reviewing the literature linking AI and HR through the ethical lens, we discuss how AI is now an integral part of the HR architecture, and why it must be deployed with caution. If AI is to co-exist with humans, organizations will need to assure that their corporate philosophies honor their obligations to the social contract with stakeholders by implementing responsible HR policies and practices.

Raising the Volume on Fairness in Speech Technology

Voice recognition has become the dominant tool for communication in our daily life by replacing the keyboard. Not surprisingly, however, this extraordinary technology comes with great risks and moral responsibilities. Over the past decade, the computer science literature has made great strides in advancing the accessibility and capability of speech technology, but lacks an understanding of the ethical implications of such tools for users and organizations. We argue that management scholars should consider how speech technology impacts fairness and ethical behavior in today’s organizations. In this paper, we provide an ethical analysis of potential risks to fairness in speech technology in the workplace. By analyzing these risks through the lenses of behavioral ethics and three dimensions of organizational fairness – distributive, procedural, interactional – this paper identifies several concerns relevant to the use of speech technology. We discuss these concerns and provide practical recommendations for promoting fairness in this context. Keywords: speech technology; distributive fairness; procedural fairness; interactional fairness; biometrics; deep fakes

Intergenerational ethics in Africa: Duties to older adults in skipped generation households.

This paper examines individual and societal duties to older adults in sub-Saharan Africa who reside in skipped generation households, which are households in which a young and old generation live together with the middle generation absent. As they age, older adults in skipped generation households may lack the prospect of social and economic support from offspring, making their situation precarious. If ill health results in an older adult's inability to work, who will support them? If they need assistance with basic activities of daily living, who will provide it? This paper addresses these questions through the lens of African ethics. Section I appeals to the African ethic of ubuntu ('humanness') to identify normative conceptions of persons and moral character relevant to skipped generation ethics. Section II elaborates this focus by means of the virtues of gratitude and reciprocity, discussing their conditions, requirements, and limits and comparing surrogate parent-child to parent-child cases. Section III explores the application of an ubuntu ethic to society as a whole and defines societal duties toward older adults by appealing to African conceptions of dignity and justice.

Theorizing the “Home” in Homeschooling: Pragmatist Analyses of the Family, Education, and Civic Belonging

AbstractOver the past twenty‐five years, homeschooling has been growing in popularity. Conventionally, the actions of homeschoolers are understood as a rejection of the public school — and, by extension, a rejection of participation in the public sphere writ large. Yet such interpretations are made without due attention to the meaning of both “home” and “school” in larger social discourses. This article explores the wisdom of such analyses through an examination of the place and function of home and school in pragmatist views of democracy. Using the thought of John Dewey and Jane Addams, Kyle Greenwalt shows how the relationship between household and school was reconfigured at a key moment in the history of American public education. After demonstrating how this is so, Greenwalt extends his outlook by considering pragmatic thought as it interacts with the Chinese tradition — through the lens of Confucian role ethics. In particular, he argues that Confucian role ethics provides a way of thinking about the family household that emphasizes its civic potential through the promotion of relationships that are fluid, sustainable, and educative. In short, Greenwalt argues for a new way to think about the educative potential of family‐centered, community‐based living.

Kinship Politics: Political Elite’s Desire for Power Versus the Ethics of Consequentialism

Kinship Politics as a form of control of political space by the elites makes it easier for their family members to win an election against other candidates. Kinship Politics is prone to abuse of power that benefits just a few people. The author studied this problem using philosophical reflection. Humans have a relentless desire to achieve success or felicity (as Hobbes stated) that requires humans to continue accumulating power. Power must be attained and defended, although it means forgoing the ethical foundation. For this reason, this study aimed to analyse the moral consequences of the desire for power of the political elites in the 2020 Regional-Head Election (Pilkada) through an ethical lens. This study used descriptive and literature study method, as well as a qualitative approach, and the results of the study showed that the kinship politics in the 2020 Pilkada should not be continued in the perspective of consequentialism ethic that emphasizes the goal of happiness for as many people as possible, since Kinship politics that concentrated the power in one person supported by the circle of power will benefit only a handful of people.

Colombian Adolescents’ Perceptions of Autonomy and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Services: An Ethical Analysis

There are conceptual and ethical challenges to defining adolescents’ autonomy to access health care, and these can lead to health care norms and practices that could be maladjusted to the needs and preferences of adolescents. Particularly sensitive is access to sexual and reproductive health care services (SRHS). Yet, while there has been substantial conceptual work to conceptualize autonomy (e.g., as independence), there is a lack of empirical research that documents the perceptions of adolescents regarding on how they access or wish to access health care services. The main objectives of this research were to (a) understand how adolescents in Colombia interpret the concept of “autonomy,” (b) describe how these adolescents articulate their autonomy (i.e., preferences) in accessing SRHS, and (c) analyze the ethical issues emerging from these data. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants aged 14 to 23 years old in the Departments of Antioquia and Valle del Cauca in Colombia. Our study showed that participants’ understanding of autonomy was context-based and highly dependent on personal experiences, and these influenced their choice in how to access SRHS. Seen through the ethical lens of a reproductive justice framework, our results highlight the unequal opportunities for adolescents in terms of autonomy to access SRHS.

Cultural heritage and environmental ethical values in governance models: Conflicts between recreational fisheries and other maritime activities in Mediterranean marine protected areas

The seas as the next economic frontier have led to conflicts at the intersection of resource conservation and exploitation; a space where cultural values and social practices overlap. Underpinned by a literature review, surveys and personal interviews, this study identifies the main policy, socio-economic, environmental and cultural drivers of conflicts arising from the coexistence of recreational fishing -a major maritime activity in Mediterranean marine protected areas- and other maritime users. Results show that the constant paradoxes arising from the conflict stem from different concepts of heritage, appropriation of resources and preservation. Recreational fishing lacks a common definition and governance institution, but nevertheless regards itself as a fishing community and has behavioural traits which challenge other maritime activities, particularly small-scale fishing. This study highlights the importance of fostering socio-ecological relational values, which must necessarily be evaluated through the lens of environmental ethics, and contends that this is almost as relevant as the governance system. Given the divergent values of the different stakeholders and the high degree of scientific uncertainty found, we conclude that the main challenge in attaining a solid governance of multiple recreational and professional activities in marine reserves is to adopt a "middle ground" approach that combines top-down and bottom-up governance approaches.

Impact of a Novel Method of Ethics Education on Nurse Leaders’ Capacity for Moral Decision-Making:: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

This 2018–2019 study assessed the impact of a novel educational intervention on the moral decision-making process of nurse leaders. Utilizing Rest’s model of decision-making, we used a grounded theory approach to examine the impact of the Ethical Lens Inventory on the moral decision-making of 30 nurse leaders at a large, tertiary medical center. Three larger themes emerged: the perspectives-based theoretical framework, the need for restraint in ethical deliberation, and the perceptions of organizational support. The Ethical Lens Inventory and accompanying lecture proved helpful in developing the first 2 stages of Rest’s model of decision-making, as well as in demonstrating organizational support. This 2018–2019 study assessed the impact of a novel educational intervention on the moral decision-making process of nurse leaders. Utilizing Rest’s model of decision-making, we used a grounded theory approach to examine the impact of the Ethical Lens Inventory on the moral decision-making of 30 nurse leaders at a large, tertiary medical center. Three larger themes emerged: the perspectives-based theoretical framework, the need for restraint in ethical deliberation, and the perceptions of organizational support. The Ethical Lens Inventory and accompanying lecture proved helpful in developing the first 2 stages of Rest’s model of decision-making, as well as in demonstrating organizational support. Brooklyn Aaron, BA, is a WellStar Religion and Public Life Fellow at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She can be reached at [email protected] . Avery Glover, MA, is an MD/MBA Candidate at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts and Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Evelina Sterling, PhD, MPH, MCHES, is the Director of Research Development & Strategic Initiatives at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. Stuart Downs, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, CPHQ, FACHE, FAONL, is the Director of Critical Care Services at Northside Hospital Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Jason Lesandrini, FACHE, LPEC, HEC-C, is the VP of Ethics, Advance Care Planning, Spiritual Health, and Interpretive Services at WellStar Health System in Atlanta, GA.

Virtue and Risk Culture in Finance

This article considers financial risk management practice using a virtue ethics lens, in response to ongoing critiques of risk management from within business ethics. Risk management should be seen as embedded within a complex system of cultures, organizations and regulations that are underpinned by a quantitatively reductive or ‘mechanistic’ economic paradigm, where dominant logics of self-interest, profit maximization and short-termism prevail. Building on recent work applying virtue ethics in finance, an alternative to the values, normative expectations and priorities in financial risk management is presented in the form of a refined ‘taxonomy’ of the virtues that can be applied to individuals and organizations engaged in financial risk management. This article aims to contribute to and extend debate on the ethical aspects of risk management and presents an alternative to more technically based critiques which do not engage with the underlying socially constructed foundations of risk management practice. It thereby provides a basis to critique the mechanistic and narrow approach used in the current regulation of the sector.

The Legal Aspect of Consumers' Protection from Pop-Up Advertisements in Indonesia

Pop-up advertisements have become prevalent on websites. When users click on the banner, they navigate a separate window; banner and pop-up advertisements contain attractive audio-visual and animated graphics. This intrusive advertising has not explicitly regulated Indonesia's current legislation, including Electronic Transaction and Information Law 11/2008 (ITE Law). Also, it is exempted in the Indonesian Pariwara Ethics, guidelines for advertising ethics and procedure in Indonesia. This study aimed to revisit consumers’ protection toward pop-up advertisements in Indonesia, with two main discussions. First, it discussed online consumers' perceptions of pop-up advertisements and the classification of their responses. Second, it enquired to what extent the legal and ethics protection for online consumers in Indonesia. By using empirical legal research, this study concluded that the ITE Law prohibits anyone from spreading online information with content that violates immorality and gambling, as it often contains in pop-up advertisements. Through the lens of business ethics, pop-up advertisements are new media and they should not be installed in such a way as to interfere with the freedom of internet users, given that pop-up advertisements do not reflect the ethics of honesty, trust, and advice in business.
 KEYWORDS: Consumers’ Protection, Online Advertisements, Business Ethics.