Moral Discourse Research Articles

Psychological insights into the research and practice of embodied conversational agents, chatbots and social assistive robots: a systematic meta-review

ABSTRACT This study presents a systematic literature search and narrative meta-review of the current state of research on conversational agents (CAs), including embodied CAs, chatbots, and social assistive robots (SARs). The investigation identifies 1,830 academic articles, of which 315 articles satisfied the inclusion criteria for the review. Systematic reviews across various fields are reported, including mental disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, dementia/cognitive impairment, other medical conditions, elderly support, health promotion, mental health, education, industrial applications, agent characteristics, and robot characteristics. The study highlights challenges in current CA research, such as the scarcity of high-quality comparative studies and the acceptance of CAs by users and caregivers, particularly in elderly support. The article also categorises ethical discussions into nine elements: privacy, safety, innovation, user acceptance, psychological attachment, care philosophy, evaluation, social systems compatibility, and rule development. It also offers insights into the development of future guidelines. The role of CAs in fostering human relationships through their conversational function is emphasised to provide guidance for subsequent CA research and social implementation. As advancements in CA technology and research continue to progress, there is an increasing demand for sophisticated psychological investigations addressing relationships, emotions, and the self.

Fraud from a CPA named Laws: missed red flags and conflict of interest

Research methodology The case uses primary source documents, such as the court cases brought forth by the SEC and US District Attorney, for the specifics about the fraud and secondary sources for further background information about the town and industry. The individuals in the case are not disguised. The authors have no connection to the case. Case overview/synopsis Thomas Laws was a CPA, a registered investment advisor and a real estate broker. Laws made a poor business investment. Instead of taking the financial hit, Laws orchestrated a complex Ponzi scheme using clients from his CPA practice and embezzling money from an employer, Santa Fe Gold Corporation. Laws’ scheme continued until his employer confronted him about missing funds. Frank Mueller, the CFO of Santa Fe, did not exercise the due diligence necessary until it was too late. Rest’s framework for ethical decision making is used to frame the ethical decisions Mueller can make. The case examines the conflict-of-interest guidance issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and allows students to examine the due diligence and controls needed by employers and prospective investors. Complexity academic level This case is designed for undergraduate accounting students taking Intermediate Accounting I, ACCT 0312 at the authors’ institution, typically junior-level students. It would be appropriate whenever you introduce the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct during an ethics discussion.

Ethical imperatives in community engagement

As the impetus for community engagement (CE) grows in higher education, it is imperative that such growth takes place within a sound ethical framework. While research-related ethics and norms are well developed, there is now a need for the development of ethical guidelines to underpin CE initiatives. We begin by framing the discussion of ethics within policy and theoretical frameworks underpinning CE in higher education in South Africa. Core concepts and values emerging from these frameworks, such as social responsibility, Ubuntu and interconnectedness, are important starting points for ethics in CE. As CE involves the exercising of leadership by universities and community partners, we explore key ethical concepts to underpin established frameworks for governance and leadership, such as the King IV report. We highlight core ethical principles such as sustainable development, integrity, and accountability. We further consider that value propositions must not narrowly focus on value to stakeholders, but also to broader systems. The discussion then narrows to the application of ethics to the specifics of CE. We apply the “four principles” of Beauchamp and Childress (non-maleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy), considering each of these principles in turn. We discuss their application in practical terms to university CE initiatives. Finally, we consider the way forward in relation to the integration of these ethical imperatives into higher education CE policies and processes. Recommendations include: the inclusion of ethical frameworks in CE policies of universities; the establishment of ethics committees/forums to guide CE; and the need to heighten ethical consciousness among CE practitioners.

Potensi Destruktif dari Kemalasan terhadap Etos Kerja Kristen Berdasarkan Amsal 18:9

Laziness is a lifestyle that no one wants, because it disrupts ethical discourse in the work culture. The aim of this research is to investigate the issue of laziness in relation to the Christian work ethic by referring to the biblical text, namely Proverbs 18:9 which shows a bad precedent for God's decrees for His human creation. The research method used is hermeneutics or biblical interpretation in order to find the meaning of the text for the current context. Related to this, the author uses primary books for exegetical studies, as well as other supporting sources from books and journal articles. The results of this research are that laziness has the potential to be destructive and is contrary to the Christian work ethic which was originally established by God to be passed down from generation to generation in the history of human life. Laziness never brings benefits in any form because its nature is to damage figures that give the image of a lazy character.

Planetary Health and Anthropocene Discourse: The Role of Muslim Religious Leaders

The Anthropocene epoch marks a critical phase in the history of humanity, where anthropogenic activities have profoundly impacted our planet. Alongside remarkable ecological crises, the Anthropocene worldview has raised existential questions, with a cultural and ethical discourse that recognizes the intrinsic value and calls for more responsible sustainable living. Addressing these collective challenges necessitates a broader perspective guided by a unified sense of purpose toward personal and planetary health. In this context, the role of religious leaders in shaping the social and environmental worldviews of their followers cannot be underestimated. Religious teachings provide a moral framework for promoting climate action, global ethics, the rights of Indigenous peoples, peace, and justice, and other aspects of planetary health. By examining the global ecological crises through the lens of Islam, the Religion of Nature, or Din al-Fitrah, and its environmental and spiritual teachings, we can gain valuable insights into humanity’s connection to the fabric of creation and its interaction with the world. These principles, rich in moral values, are intertwined with accountability and social cohesiveness. Therefore, the role of Muslim religious leaders considering the planetary-scale threats warrants further elucidation, recognizing that many other faiths and faith leaders can similarly contribute together for the common good.

Responsibility without Choice: Harare’s Baptist Christians and Normative Freedom Amidst Uncertainty

Abstract Baptists living in Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, engage with a long-standing debate in Christian theology and beyond: that of the relation between moral responsibility and human freedom. The presumption has often been that to be held morally responsible, a person must be free to choose and to act. The views of Harare’s Baptists directly challenge this understanding, with important outcomes for their political lives. I show ethnographically how they do so through the urgency of their daily moral deliberations as religious practitioners. Influenced by Augustinian theology, they treat moral responsibility as a condition of existence, irrespective of choice. I argue that they adhere to a “normative freedom” as an alternative to classically liberal perspectives or to freedom as outlined recently in anthropological discussions of ethics. I propose that attending to moral responsibility provides a key avenue for further theorizing diverse conceptions of human freedoms and the attendant political consequences.

Graduate School Professor’s Perception Towards Teaching Public Ethics

In the dynamic landscape of higher education, the teaching of public ethics in graduate programs has gained increasing significance. Graduate school professors play a pivotal role in shaping the ethical perspectives and practices of future professionals and leaders. This study delves into the attitudes, beliefs, practices, and challenges encountered by these professors in the domain of public ethics education. A mixed-method research approach was employed, encompassing surveys and in-depth interviews with a diverse group of graduate school professors. The study explored their attitudes towards public ethics education, the perceived relevance of ethics across academic disciplines, pedagogical approaches employed, and challenges faced in integrating ethics into their curriculum. The study employed thematic analysis to uncover nuanced insights from qualitative data and statistical analysis to derive quantitative trends. Quantitative analysis revealed a prevailing positive attitude among graduate school professors towards the importance of teaching public ethics. However, variations in perceived relevance across academic disciplines were observed. Professors reported diverse pedagogical approaches, ranging from case studies to ethical discussions, highlighting a rich educational landscape. Challenges included resource constraints and time limitations. The results underscore the commitment of graduate school professors to ethics education and the need for tailored approaches to address disciplinary variations. Diverse pedagogical approaches enrich the educational experience, while challenges present opportunities for institutional support and resource allocation. Interdisciplinary collaboration is recommended to bridge the gap between ethics education and various academic disciplines. This study illuminates the crucial role of graduate school professors in shaping ethical competencies among graduate students. Their positive attitudes, diverse teaching practices, and commitment to ethics education form a solid foundation for the continued integration of public ethics into graduate programs. Addressing challenges and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration will be instrumental in advancing ethics education and fostering ethically responsible professionals and leaders.

The Moral Discourse in the Contemporary World Starting from the Ontological Vulnerability of the Creature

The vulnerability, as an onto-anthropological condition of the human, in the posture of fragility and limitation tends man towards the things of the world. It is, therefore, an ontological condition of finitude and fragility, but it is also an ethical posture. The intention is to outline the ambivalence of vulnerability: a permanent and inevitable contingent condition, that exposes man to fortune (tyche) and at the same time projects him into the horizons of value. Through Martha Nussbaum’s reading of Aristotle’s thought, we intend to reflect on the nous of the concept of vulnerability, as ontological prius of every universal principle.

Palliative care for cardiovascular patients: description of motives for referral and actual care provided

Abstract Background Palliative care (PC) for cardiovascular patients remains suboptimal, whereby only a small proportion of patients are referred to specialist palliative care, and often too late in the disease course. We investigated the reasons that prompted cardiologists to request an intervention from the PC team, and we describe the actions implemented by the PC in response to referrals from the cardiology department. Methods This retrospective study included all patients with cardiovascular disease who were referred to the mobile palliative care team of a large University Hospital in France between 2010 and 2020. All data were extracted from the medical hospital files. For all patients referred to PC during the study period, we recorded the original motive for requesting assistance, as cited in request sent from cardiology to PC. We also recorded the types of services provided by PC, the date of the first and last consultation of the patient with PC, and the number of PC consultations per patient. Results From a total of 142 cardiology patients for whom PC assistance was requested, 136 (95.8%) died, while 6 (4.2%) are still alive. In 42 patients (29.6%), there was a generic request for intervention without indicating any particular domain where specific assistance was needed. In other cases, a motive for referral to the PC mobile team was provided by cardiologists, with ethical dilemmas (35 patients; 24.6%), symptom management (23 patients; 16.2%), and discussion about where the patient could live (11 patients; 7.7%), as the most common motives (see Figure 1). In response to these referrals, the PC team provided assistance with ethical dilemmas in 69 patients (48.6%), symptom management in 28 patients (19.7%), discussion about where the patient could live in 15 patients (10.6%), 2 or more of these issues in 16 patients (11.3%), and other issues in 14 patients (9.8%) (e.g. reorientation to oncology or family support). The majority of patients had 1 (n=90, 63.4%) or 2 PC consultations (n=27, 19%), while 10 patients (7%) had 3, 9 patients (6.4%) had 4, and 6 (4.2%) had 5 or more PC consultations. Among those who died, the median number of days between the first and the last PC consultation was 0 (quartile 1=0, quartile 3=3). Conclusion This study shows that cardiologists do not necessarily have a specific motive in mind when referring patients to PC. Because many more patients received assistance with ethical dilemmas than was requested, this indicates that cardiologists may not be aware of the ethical issues at stake in the care of cardiology patients, or that they only refer patients to PC when they have no other solution or do not know what else to do for the patient. There is clearly a need to raise awareness among cardiologists about ethical issues and about the services that the PC team can provide.

Individuality and the collective in AI agents: Explorations of shared consciousness and digital homunculi in the metaverse for cultural heritage

<p class="a">The confluence of extended reality (XR) technologies, including augmented and virtual reality, with large language models (LLM) marks a significant advancement in the field of digital humanities, opening uncharted avenues for the representation of cultural heritage within the burgeoning metaverse. This paper undertakes an examination of the potentialities and intricacies of such a convergence, focusing particularly on the creation of digital homunculi or changelings. These virtual beings, remarkable for their sentience and individuality, are also part of a collective consciousness, a notion explored through a thematic comparison in science fiction with the Borg and the Changelings in the Star Trek universe. Such a comparison offers a metaphorical framework for discussing complex phenomena such as shared consciousness and individuality, illuminating their bearing on perceptions of self and awareness. Further, the paper considers the ethical implications of these concepts, including potential loss of individuality and the challenges inherent to accurate representation of historical figures and cultures. The latter necessitates collaboration with cultural experts, underscoring the intersectionality of technological innovation and cultural sensitivity. Ultimately, this chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of the technical aspects of integrating large language models with immersive technologies and situates these developments within a nuanced cultural and ethical discourse. By offering a comprehensive overview and proposing clear recommendations, the paper lays the groundwork for future research and development in the application of these technologies within the unique context of cultural heritage representation in the metaverse.</p>

Best Practices in Tele-Forensic Methods of Gathering Data

Data collection changed in the wake of COVID-19. This article begins with advantages and disadvantages of remotely gathering data via telehealth. The article then provides a discussion of ethics in the form of best practices, sufficient practices, and insufficient practices. A thorough discussion of the support for gathering data through interviewing parents, interviewing children, testing, and collecting collateral data follows.

Creation and the Great Parent: The Thought of Yang Tingyun, a Chinese Christian in Late Ming China

The paradigm shift from missiology to the study of the Chinese indigenous context has driven scholars in the area of Christianity in late imperial China to the Chinese reactions to the Catholic missions, either positive or negative. As an influential yet controversial model, Jacques Gernet's approach to Chinese responses to Catholicism in late imperial China has been recognised as an essentialist analysis of both Christianity and China, which are treated in that approach as two confrontational and monolithic entities. This article, by contrast, explores the dynamics of Chinese Christians' reception of Christian teaching by focusing on the interiorisation of creation theology in Yang Tingyun, one of the earliest Chinese Catholics in Late Ming China. While accepting the Christian idea that God created the world out of nothing ( ex nihilo), Yang has to respond to the cosmogonic discourses advocated by Song Confucians, who exerted considerable influence on Confucianism in the Ming dynasty. Moreover, his way of expounding the Great Parent, Dafumu, as the Creator and Sustainer further shows an active engagement with both the Christian idea of creation and Chinese traditional discourses of cosmology and ethics. Approaching this concept of the Great Parent will provide a window into Chinese Catholic theology in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 1

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Islamic Ethics: Towards Pluralist Ethical Benchmarking for AI

This paper explores artificial intelligence (AI) ethics from an Islamic perspective at a critical time for AI ethical norm-setting. It advocates for a pluralist approach to ethical AI benchmarking. As rapid advancements in AI technologies pose challenges surrounding autonomy, privacy, fairness, and transparency, the prevailing ethical discourse has been predominantly Western or Eurocentric. To address this imbalance, this paper delves into the Islamic ethical traditions to develop a framework that contributes to the global debate on optimal norm setting for designing and using AI technologies.The paper outlines Islamic parameters for ethical values and moral actions in the context of AI's ethical uncertainties. It emphasizes the significance of both textual and non-textual Islamic sources in addressing these uncertainties while placing a strong emphasis on the notion of "good" or "maṣlaḥa" as a normative guide for AI's ethical evaluation. Defining maṣlaḥa as an ethical state of affairs in harmony with divine will, the paper highlights the coexistence of two interpretations of maṣlaḥa: welfarist/utility-based and duty-based. Islamic jurisprudence allows for arguments supporting ethical choices that prioritize building the technical infrastructure for AI to maximize utility. Conversely, it also supports choices that reject consequential utility calculations as the sole measure of value in determining ethical responses to AI advancements.

Care in emergencies and disasters: Can it be person-centered?

ObjectivesWhile person-/patient-centered care aims to influence policymakers’ rules and regulations to improve the care of individuals worldwide, exploration of the concept in the context of disaster and public health emergencies as an alternative ethical approach is lacking. This study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the advantages and challenges of diverse ethical approaches in emergencies, to improve patient care. MethodsA survey, created after several rounds of Delphi methodology, with 22 statements, was applied to 39 participants from nine different countries. The questionnaire’s results, including participants’ comments, were analyzed. ResultsThe results show that practitioners chose to use a combination of diverse ethical approaches in managing victims of disasters and public health emergencies. ConclusionThe selection of an approach is context- and situation-dependent and seems to primarily respond to the nature of underlying etiology, creating a possibility to use diverse approaches to offer individualized care on a later occasion and when a flexible surge capacity is available. Practice ImplicationsThe outcomes of this study will enhance the future ethical discussion in person/patient-centered care during situations with limited resources and help to develop necessary ethical and educational guidelines.

Дискурсивные маркеры категории достоверности англоязычных новостных медиатекстов

The study aims to identify the discourse markers of the credibility category in contemporary English-language news media texts, applying the discourse-dictemic model of communication. The scientific novelty of the study lies in describing credibility as a discourse category and identifying its markers at the proposematic and the dictemic level. As a result, it has been found that the credibility category is modelled in media texts in three ways: firstly, the use of ethical or formal discourse markers, such as quotations, utilisation of proper names, presentation of numerical data, photos and videos, only ensures ethical or formal credibility of news media texts; secondly, within the field of problematic credibility, different pragmatic orientations of news media texts can be realised in dictemas; thirdly, credibility is realised in narrative and argumentative dictemas through textual (dictemic) cohesion, forming a specific semantic space where specific syntactic language means serve as discourse markers of credibility.

Семантический аспект деконструкции морали (на материале немецкого языка)

The study aims to determine the semantic features of the transforming morality and its discourse. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the author’s approach to identifying and describing the semantics of morality and moral discourse, taking into account the most typical collocations of the keyword ‘Moral’ acting as a subject. As a result of the study, it was found that metaphors, metaphtonymies and intertextuality serve as the semantic markers of the transforming morality as a subject in the type of discourse under consideration. The analysis of examples of moral discourse, in which ‘Moral’ acts as a subject, has shown that intertextuality is manifested in the use of precedent phenomena in moral discourse referring to moral issues. Aphorisms can undergo formal transformations and receive occasional components without changing the negative axiological vector of moral discourse. It is determined that the sports metaphor ‘auf der Strecke bleiben’, which is based on the metaphorical model LIFE is A SPORTS COMPETITION, is actualised in moral discourse. The conceptual vector of rivalry reflects the real worldview and the place that morality occupies in it: morality appears as a loser, a player who has lost the race, who has conceded victory to politics, art, profit and economic progress. The metaphtonymies ‘Moral verlangt’, ‘Moral herrscht’ have negative evaluativeness. Metaphors and metaphtonymies in moral discourse emphasise the secondary nature of morality at the present stage of societal development.

Exploring Environmental Ethics: From Exclusion of More-than-Human Beings Towards a New Materialist Paradigm

Environmental ethics deals with discussing the ethical framework of environmental values, their organization and regulation, and their ethical premises. One of the main cul-de-sacs that environmental ethics has is its anthropocentrism that can be observed through its diverse ethical approaches—even ecocentric ones, developed as non-anthropocentric egalitarian alternatives. This article aims to question the exclusiveness of Anthropos, the practices, values, and discourses that determine the scope and course of environmental ethics, and the exclusion of nonhuman animals or more-than human beings from its focus. It first examines the main approaches in environmental ethics (land ethic, deep ecology, social ecology, and postmodern environmental ethics)—biocentric, ecocentric, anthropocentric, socialist, postmodern—and reveals that they are but limited to the human perspective, deeply rooted in human exceptionalism. All of these approaches provide us with a critical frame that still needs to be deconstructed so that they will not project an anthropocentric orientation. This article posits that the compass of environmental ethics, recently aligning itself to embrace the more-than-human world in its ecocentric attitude, still needs to be revisited for its discourses of exclusion. At this point, new materialism functions as a prolific theoretical site as it diminishes the classical boundaries between human and animal or subject and object that anthropocentric environmental ethics relies on. With such concepts as “agential realism” (Barad), “transcorporeal ethics” (Alaimo), “vibrant matter” (Bennett), or “storied matter” (Oppermann and Iovino) the new materialist view of the human and the nonhuman evolves to end set dualities in the discourses of environmental ethics. This article concludes that the new materialist theory destabilizes any anthropocentric position in environmental ethics and includes more-than-human beings in its ethical focus, discarding any dualities that serve anthropocentrism or human exceptionalism.

Moving to Mars: The Feasibility and Desirability of Mars Settlements

The on-going space settlement debate has raised questions whether it is possible to settle other planets, and if it was, is it something humans should do. The problem with this space ethical discussion is that it can easily become too vague. To avoid this problem, we suggest a framework for identifying relevant variables that affect the feasibility constraints and desirability factors of establishing space settlements. The variables we focus on include the settlement stage, scale and time frame. Based on the relevant literature, we take mission cost, survival, habitation, water, in situ resources for food, oxygen and fuel energy and dependence on Earth as feasibility constraints that are relevant for the framework. None of them are hard constraints, but rather soft feasibility constraints that make it difficult to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in the near- to medium-term future. However, in the past, humanity has achieved goals that first seemed infeasible. To justify the costs and effort, the goal must be highly morally desirable. We discuss five different desirability factors that could help justify the effort but as each framework has unique feasibility constraints, not all of these factors are sufficient or necessary to justify this effort. We argue that some of the desirability factors prominent in space ethical literature are not sufficient or necessary in our framework, and thus, we conclude that the normative grounds for establishing a permanent Mars settlement in the foreseeable future are weak.

How Has Gamification in the Production Sector Been Developed in the Manufacturing and Construction Workplaces?

This paper investigates how gamification in the workplace has developed from 2016 to 2023 in the production sector and what ethical safeguards have been adopted. The paper presents a state-of-the-art Systematic Literature Review (SRL) performed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases to identify empirical studies involving the adoption of gamification solutions in the manufacturing and construction industries. Twenty-three articles were found and examined regarding the problems evidenced in each workplace, the methodological perspective, the gamification elements considered, the reported psychological and organizational impacts, and the ethical aspects of the research. The SRL highlighted two research gaps: the lack of ethical discussion around the gamification of workplaces and the lack of gamification applications in the construction industry. Only four studies mention ethical issues concerning the participants, and only four studies are related to construction. On the other hand, there is a tendency to use collaborative platforms to share knowledge and increase engagement.

Consumer Morality Formation on Social Media Platforms: The Case of Guns in Brazil

Moral disputes regarding consumption issues are increasingly mediated by social media platforms. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research explaining how social media platforms shape consumer morality. Thus, this article combines large-scale quantitative text analysis with qualitative methods to explain the construction of moral discourses concerning guns on YouTube and Twitter among Brazilian users. We contribute to theory on consumer morality by proposing the Process of Morality Formation on Social Media Platforms, which explains how moral discourses are fueled by social actors displaying and commenting about news pieces and political events; how the expressive and connective affordances of social media platforms mediate the dynamics of moral discourses; and how social actors differently appropriate content, frame and justify their public positions by adopting different “worlds of justification” (Boltanski and Thévenot 2006). The implications of this work for marketing and society are discussed, and government and corporate initiatives are suggested.