Moral Considerations Research Articles

INFAMIA IN THE SIGHT OF ROMAN LAW

The research identifies “Infamia” as a pervasive legal construct, intricately linked with notions of reputation, honor, and societal standing. The concept significantly influenced various aspects of Roman jurisprudence, spanning from contractual relations (such as fiducia, societas, depositum, tutela, and mandatum) to inheritance laws, and even marital unions. This study underscores the intricate interplay between legal regulations and moral considerations, illustrating how Roman society intertwined religious beliefs, trust, and conscientiousness in shaping legal conduct.Examining the inheritance laws, the research delineates the pivotal role of “Infamia” in determining the transfer of rights and responsibilities following an individual’s demise. The inheritance process becomes a crucial juncture where societal values are intertwined with legal mandates, influencing the distribution of familial assets. Notably, the Roman institution of “pater familias” vested nearly absolute authority over familial members, restricting their ownership rights. Furthermore, the study traces the evolution of inheritance practices through distinct historical periods, including the legislative reforms introduced by Justinian. These amendments aimed to rectify perceived injustices, providing mechanisms for disinherited heirs to contest their exclusion through the querella inofficiosi testamenti. The research also scrutinizes “Infamia” within the realm of marital law, discerning its presence in the dissolution of marriages through practices like “divoritum” and “repudium.” These terminations, whether consensual or unilateral, bore financial and reputational consequences, with the latter potentially resulting in societal disgrace. In conclusion, this comprehensive review illuminates the intricate and dynamic role of “Infamia” in Roman legal and societal frameworks. It underscores how this concept permeated various facets of Roman life, serving as a potent tool for regulating conduct, shaping social relations, and upholding moral values. By synthesizing a diverse range of scholarly works, this study offers a holistic understanding of “Infamia” and its far-reaching implications in ancient Rome.

Moral consideration for AI systems by 2030

AbstractThis paper makes a simple case for extending moral consideration to some AI systems by 2030. It involves a normative premise and a descriptive premise. The normative premise is that humans have a duty to extend moral consideration to beings that have a non-negligible chance, given the evidence, of being conscious. The descriptive premise is that some AI systems do in fact have a non-negligible chance, given the evidence, of being conscious by 2030. The upshot is that humans have a duty to extend moral consideration to some AI systems by 2030. And if we have a duty to do that, then we plausibly also have a duty to start preparing now, so that we can be ready to treat AI systems with respect and compassion when the time comes.

Letters to stakeholders: An emerging phenomenon of multi‐stakeholder engagement

AbstractWe explore a new phenomenon of multi‐stakeholder orientation and engagement in corporate communication: letters to stakeholders. By applying content, semantic, and quantitative analyses to standardized corporate communication among the 100 largest multinational companies worldwide, our study reveals that approximately one‐third of the examined companies have begun to utilize what could be considered letters to stakeholders. We demonstrate that letters to stakeholders adopt a multi‐stakeholder orientation, which describes the ability to speak a language that is widely comprehensible by a diverse audience. Letters to stakeholders are positively related to firm willingness to display multi‐stakeholder engagement activities by embracing stakeholder recognition, support, and dialog. Our findings position letters to stakeholders as a promising tool for and approach to corporate communication that improves the legitimacy and moral consideration of stakeholders.

Understanding the Potentiality of Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Disorders Detection and Diagnostics

Today, the advancement of assessment, forecasting, and therapy or medical attention for psychological healthcare is already using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, particularly machine learning, due to the introduction of digital tools to treat mental health conditions. In mental health treatment, the present and the future of artificial intelligence technologies hold both enormous promises and potential dangers. With the current global scenario, psychological disorders like clinical depression, general anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or bipolar disorder are being reported at an alarming rate. Nonetheless, from the perspective of artificial intelligence, we see a shifting trend in diagnosing and early detection of such disorders. The deep learning models and power of machine learning, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forest, and deep learning models like Natural Language Processing, Neural Networks, etc., have been committed to helping experts build techniques and prediction models for the same. This article presents an eagle-eye view of the work being done in this field. It focuses on the four major psychological disorders mentioned above, artificial intelligence technology and its current applications in diseases, and a discourse on how artificial intelligence can complement patient care while considering its inherent challenges, limitations, and moral considerations. Artificial intelligence is a rapidly emerging and continuously expanding field of research, which offers many prospects to the healthcare sector along with the challenges.

Software Engineering and Ethics: Navigating the Ethical Landscape in the Digital Age

In the unexpectedly evolving landscape of software engineering, moral considerations have emerged as an important cornerstone, guiding the moral compass of professionals in the digital age. This summary encapsulates a comprehensive assessment exploring the difficult dating between software engineering and ethics. It navigates through the moral challenges faced by software engineers, inclusive of privateer’s issues, safety vulnerabilities, algorithmic biases, and intellectual property problems. Delving into established moral choice-making frameworks, inclusive of utilitarianism and deontology, this overview analyzes their application in actual global software engineering situations. Through insightful case studies, this paper sheds mild on historic and contemporary moral dilemmas, providing treasured classes for the software program engineering community. The assessment additionally emphasizes the significance of promoting ethical practices within businesses, advocating for transparency, responsibility, and a tradition of obligation. Looking in advance, the paper discusses the future of software engineering and ethics, exploring the moral dimensions of emerging technology like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. By supplying a roadmap for ethical software program development, this evaluation underscores the vital for software engineers to navigate the ethical complexities, fostering a moral virtual ecosystem for present-day and future generations.

Legal Philosophy's View of the Role of Advocate Professional Ethics as an Honorable Profession in Carrying Out Good Law Enforcement

The lawyer profession plays a crucial role in maintaining integrity and justice in the legal system. From the perspective of legal philosophy, the professional ethics of advocates is a deep and complex foundation. Several philosophical views, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and contractualism, provide a framework for understanding advocate ethics. The utilitarian view emphasizes the importance of achieving the best outcome for society as a whole, which can create ethical dilemmas when advocates are faced with controversial cases. In contrast, deontology emphasizes the moral obligations that advocates must follow, which can give rise to conflicts between obligations to clients and society. Contractualism links the ethics of advocates to the moral agreements that underlie the legal system, emphasizing their responsibility for better social change. Advocate ethics is also closely related to the concept of social justice, where advocates must ensure that the law is applied fairly, regardless of individual background. In addition, in dealing with ethical conflicts in practice, advocates must refer to the ethical principles of their profession as a guide. Advocates' ethics not only underlie their duties as legal representatives, but also involve moral considerations about how their actions may affect society as a whole. This is a very important foundation in maintaining professionalism and carrying out their role as law enforcers

“We Are All in This Together”: Which Memorable Moral Messages Guided Student Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed lessons about the moral bases of student compliance with pandemic health messaging, which is a vital concern for educational institutions where students learn and live in close proximity. Existing theoretical and empirical work suggests that audiences may be receptive when prescribed behavior aligns with memorable moral messages (MMM) received from family members or other valued sources. We report the results of two studies that examined the nature of MMM that students found relevant in the fall of 2020 and the moral values they appeared to invoke. In the first, focus group interviews and qualitative thematic analysis were used to identify underlying moral themes. Findings indicated that students were influencegd by MMM focused on empathy/caring, those that addressed communal versus individual responsibilities, and messages that prioritized virtues that were needed (e.g., patience) during the pandemic. During this first phase of the research, we also collected a verbatim list of MMM that students reported recalling and using. To determine if quantitative evidence supported the three-part categorization scheme, a second study asked a sample of 327 students to rate the influence of the MMM reported in Study One. Exploratory factor analysis largely confirmed Study One, with consideration for others, self-determination, and communal responsibility emerging as primary moral considerations. Findings of the two studies are interpreted as partial support for moral foundations theory and consistent with the expectations of negotiated morality theory. Recommendations for health educators and experts are offered, including framing compliance guidelines in a manner consistent with MMM received from family members and helping students navigate the moral tension between self and communal interests.

Nudge Transparency Is Not Required for Nudge Resistibility

In discussions of nudging, transparency is often taken to be important; it is often suggested that a significant moral consideration to take into account when nudging is whether the nudge is transparent. Another consideration taken to be relevant is whether the nudge is easy to resist. Sometimes, these two considerations are taken to be importantly related: if we have reason to make nudges easy to resist, then we have reason to make them transparent, insofar as a nudge’s transparency is relevant to whether the nudge is easy to resist. In this paper, we critically scrutinize this view. First, we draw out the purported connections between transparency and resistibility, combining them into what we call the Resistibility-to-Transparency Argument (RTA). Then, we do some conceptual groundwork elaborating on different forms of transparency mentioned in the debate. With this in place, we argue that in order to be plausible, the RTA must appeal to certain forms of transparency; those on which the transparency of a nudge depends on the nudgee’s ability to become aware of the relevant facts about the nudge. We then argue against the common assumption that in order for a nudge to be easy to resist for an individual, that individual needs to have the capacity to easily become aware of the relevant nudge facts. We conclude that the connection between the easy resistibility of a nudge and its transparency is, at best, a weak one.

The moral landscape of biological conservation: Understanding conceptual and normative foundations

Biological conservation practices and approaches take many forms. Conservation projects do not only differ in their aims and methods, but also concerning their conceptual and normative background assumptions and their underlying motivations and objectives. We draw on philosophical distinctions from the ethics of conservation to explain variances of different positions on conservation projects along six dimensions: (1) conservation ideals, (2) intervention intuitions, (3) the moral considerability of nonhuman beings, (4) environmental values, (5) views on nature and (6) human roles in nature. The result is a map of the moral landscape of biological conservation, on which these six dimensions are layered. This map functions as a heuristic tool to understand conceptual and normative foundations of specific conservation projects, which we will illustrate with four paradigmatic examples: the Pisavaara Strict Nature Reserve, Predator Free New Zealand, the Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve and the Great Green Wall Project. With this map as a heuristic tool, we aim to conceptually illuminate disagreement and clarify misunderstandings between representatives of different environmental protection strategies and to show that the same project can be supported (or criticised) on different grounds.

Big data in insurance contracts - a tool for good, or bad?

Big data is changing the way many companies conduct business on a day-to-day basis. Insurers are notorious for utilising data in the risk assessment of prospective and current policyholders. The use of such risk assessment mechanisms in insurance has resulted in some discrimination between various policyholders but this has been held to be justifiable due to the fact that it is based on actuarial science and is therefore viewed as fair. However, the advent of big data, data analytics, algorithms, and artificial intelligence is providing insurers with far more sophisticated data about potential policyholders. This may prove to be beneficial to insurers in many ways, but it also brings about additional possibilities of exclusion within the industry. This use of big data has the potential to increase social injustices within our country, which is something that needs to be avoided as much as possible. Discrimination, through the use of big data, is a reality that needs to be addressed by insurers and regulators alike. Achieving social justice as far as possible in the insurance industry is crucial and also requires considerations in the areas of morality and ethics. The reason for this is that the very nature of big data is integrally linked to the assessment of the policyholder's moral risks and hazards for the benefit of the insurer is often linked to personal circumstances and, sometimes, the financial circumstances of the policyholder, and may even speak to the policyholder's integrity. Although potentially beneficial for the insurers from a risk assessment perspective, the use of big data has ethical and moral considerations within the insurance context. After all, the insurance industry's collection, storage, and use of big data raises ethical and moral concerns and casts a shadow on the manner it is used to assess policyholders. This discussion highlights the need for regulatory oversight of big data, an aspect that is notably missing in the South African legislative framework.

AI-Driven Learning Analytics in STEM Education

In recent years, the integration approach of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is called for many disciplines, it also STEM education has paved the way for transformative advancements. This paper provides an example of AI-driven learning analytics within the context of STEM education. It provides a thorough analysis of the AI-driven STEM curriculum and its associated paradigm. Additionally, it highlights the obstacles and possible threats that educators and institutions face when implementing technological innovations in the classroom. The serves as a valuable resource for educators, researchers, and policymakers seeking to harness the power of AI-driven learning analytics to enhance STEM education. The transformative potential of AI is now shaping the future of STEM learning environments while advocating for a responsible and ethical approach to data-driven education. Ethical concerns and moral considerations should be discussed in school AI and STEM education.

Moral geographies and their application among diasporic Somalis’

ABSTRACT This article explores the moralities behind some diasporic Somalis’ high mobility. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork among diasporic Somalis who have migrated from western countries and relocated to Turkey. Drawing on mobility studies, the analysis shows that the reasons behind their mobility relate to the protection of their second-generation children from ‘bad moral behaviour’ by exposing them to stronger traditional cultural values. The study applies the notion of ‘moral geography’, which is mobility motivated by moral considerations, and the choice of geographical location that is aligned with migrants’ moral values. In this article, I argue that the (hyper)mobility of diasporic Somalis creates particular moral geographies that cannot be reduced to a question of either nomadism or sedentarism. I look at the first-generation diasporic Somalis’ mobility patterns and the meanings they attribute to it.

Modern pillories: Overdue debts of the poor

AbstractWe model the consequences of the soft budget constraint in the context of retail borrowers. While János Kornai formulated the term of “soft budget constraint” mainly for organizations (firms, banks, municipalities, NGOs, etc.), we show that it can be applied to individual borrowers as well. We derive the feasibility conditions for private and public debt relief programs in a utilitarian framework and find that lenders have no interest in offering payment reductions if non-performing borrowers are few, have small debts, and are difficult to reach – precisely the characteristics of the poor. In this situation, poor debtors serve better as deterrents, similarly if we put them into a pillory. We calibrate the model parameters to survey data on poor households struggling with overdue debts in small villages in a disadvantaged rural region in Hungary. We find that in normal economic circumstances, private debt relief programs are not feasible. State intervention can be justified by positive externalities and moral considerations.

Rethinking the Environmental Virtue of Ecological Justice from the Interdependencies of Non-Human Capabilities and Synergetic Flourishing

The capabilities approach has largely addressed individual capabilities via a liberal framework common in its literature. However, a growing number of scholars concerned with sustainable human development are analyzing theories and methodologies that are both suitable for human flourishing and display a respect for nature. This paper explores several forms of considering the value of non-animal and non-individual natural entities, such as ecosystems. I first expose some instrumental reasons why we may care about the flourishing of ecosystems and then other reasons based on the assumption that they have integrity and their own capabilities and, therefore, deserve moral consideration. I argue that despite the possible moral conflicts that may emerge between human and ecosystemic autonomy, they could be avoided by adopting an ecological justice virtue. I present this ecological justice characterized by some contributions of decolonial thought and environmental virtue ethics. I propose that if the capabilities approach was not anchored only in an individualistic ontology, it could better assume a multi-level axiology from which the inherent and instrumental value of ecosystems would be interconnected. And, to this end, I find the concept of synergetic flourishing helpful to accept an interdependent and non-human-centered recognition of the capabilities.

No Peace for the Wicked? Immorality Is Thought to Disrupt Intrapersonal Harmony, Impeding Positive Psychological States and Happiness.

Why do people think that someone living a morally bad life is less happy than someone living a good life? One possibility is that judging whether someone is happy involves not only attributing positive psychological states (i.e., lots of pleasant emotions, few unpleasant emotions, and satisfaction with life) but also forming an evaluative judgment. Another possibility is that moral considerations affect happiness attributions because they tacitly influence attributions of positive psychological states. In two studies, we found strong support for the second hypothesis. Moral considerations only appear to affect happiness attributions when they also affect attributions of positive psychological states. Additionally, both studies supported a hypothesis about why moral judgments have these effects. Specifically, we found that when people judge that someone is living a bad life, they infer that the person is not at peace with themselves. However, when this inference is blocked, moral considerations do not affect attributions of happiness or positive psychological states. In sum, although "happiness" appears to be a purely psychological concept, happiness judgments are sensitive to moral considerations because people often assume that immorality disrupts intrapersonal harmony.

No legal personhood for AI

As AI technologies grow to encompass more human-like generative capabilities, discussions have begun regarding how and when AIs may merit moral consideration or even civil rights. Brandeis Marshall argues that these discussions are premature and that we should focus first on building a social framework for AI use that protects the civil rights of all humans impacted by AI.

Where have the ethical and moral standards landed? Consumer self-congruency and psychological distance in the context of AI-based services

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide insights and guidance for practitioners in terms of ensuring rigorous ethical and moral conduct in artificial intelligence (AI) hiring and implementation.Design/methodology/approachThe research employed two experimental designs and one pilot study to investigate the ethical and moral implications of different levels of AI implementation in the hospitality industry, the intersection of self-congruency and ethical considerations when AI replaces human service providers and the impact of psychological distance associated with AI on individuals' ethical and moral considerations. These research methods included surveys and experimental manipulations to gather and analyze relevant data.FindingsFindings provide valuable insights into the ethical and moral dimensions of AI implementation, the influence of self-congruency on ethical considerations and the role of psychological distance in individuals’ ethical evaluations. They contribute to the development of guidelines and practices for the responsible and ethical implementation of AI in various industries, including the hospitality sector.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the importance of exercising rigorous ethical-moral AI hiring and implementation practices to ensure AI principles and enforcement operations in the restaurant industry. It provides practitioners with useful insights into how AI-robotization can improve ethical and moral standards.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by providing insights into the ethical and moral implications of AI service robots in the hospitality industry. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between psychological distance and acceptance of AI-intervened service, which has not been extensively studied in the literature.

Addressing Historical Injustices: Advancing Indigenous Rights in Legal System of Pakistan and Beyond

This article delves into the critical issue of defining and defending indigenous peoples' and ethnic minorities' rights within the larger human rights framework. Because of a long and complex history of marginalization and centuries of discrimination and injustice, these communities are entitled to government protection based on ethical and moral considerations under international human rights law. The review study investigates the far-reaching implications of their enslavement, which have a significant impact on their social, economic, cultural, and general well-being, particularly in Pakistan. Although significant progress has been made through law amendments, reconciliation processes, and international initiatives, there is still much work to be done. This paper underlines the need for comprehensive measures, such as enacting legal reforms, raising public awareness, and creating global solidarity, in achieving true equality and justice for all people, regardless of ethnic or indigenous ancestry.

A Kantian Approach to the Moral Considerability of Non-human Nature

A Kantian Approach to the Moral Considerability of Non-human Nature

Disability, Agency, and Moral Qualms

This paper explores how disability is built into the functionality of industrialized farming practices but is not discussed in disability justice discourse. By analyzing works by Sunaura Taylor, Thomas Bretz, Temple Grandin, and Cary Wolfe, I examine ways to condemn the disability-causing functions of industrialized agriculture as well as address the rift between the animal rights and disability justice community caused by Singer’s Animal Liberation without detracting from the work done by disability activists to destigmatize disability. The driving question for this article grapples with how to celebrate disability while simultaneously acknowledging that disability-causing structures like factory farming are bad. Through a posthumanist approach, this paper contends that by rejecting human exceptionalism and moving past agency as a qualifier for moral consideration, the two communities can be reconciled and ensure their rights.