Moral Responsibility Research Articles

How policy advocacy promotes regulated antibiotic use: Evidence from meat duck farmers of China

Antibiotic residues resulting from the misuse of veterinary antibiotics pose a serious threat to global food safety and the ecological environment. Regulating the use of antibiotics is currently a major concern; however, existing literature on this issue remains insufficient. Therefore, to advance research in this area, this study utilizes data from 988 questionnaires collected across 9 provinces in China and employs the 3SLS systematic estimation method. It constructs an analytical framework to explore the mechanisms through which policy advocacy (PA) influences regulating antibiotics use (RAU) among meat duck farmers. Specifically, the study examines two pathways: “ PA - public opinion pressure perception (POPP) - RAU” and “ PA - moral responsibility (MR) - RAU.” Additionally, it explores the potential mechanisms through which PA impacts RAU among farmers. The results show that PA (Coef = 0.070, SE = 0.014) can promote RAU by increasing the level of POPP (Coef = 0.173, SE = 0.091). PA (Coef = 0.351, SE = 0.028) can also promote RAU by enhancing MR (Coef = 0.239, SE = 0.035). Meanwhile, this study introduces Internet use (IU) and reputational incentives (RI) as moderating variables to analyze their role in moderating the impact of PA on RAU. It was demonstrated that IU (Coef = 0.088, SE = 0.016) significantly enhances farmers' awareness of the value of RAU and amplifies the impact of PA on MR. However, IU (Coef = −0.017, SE = 0.008) was found to inhibit the effect of PA on POPP. RI fully satisfies farmers' need for “ honor “ and enhances the effectiveness of PA in promoting both POPP (Coef = 0.009, SE = 0.002) and MR (Coef = 0.058, SE = 0.004). Finally, the study proposes that the government expand PA channels, innovate methods, and combine online outreach with demonstrations to improve farmers' awareness of antibiotic use and address their reputational needs.

In Defense of an Account of Degrees of Epistemic Responsibility

This article explores the concept of degrees of epistemic responsibility by examining the debate between Michael Bishop and Katherine Puddifoot on the internalist perspective on epistemic responsibility. While Bishop’s empirical evidence challenges internalism, Puddifoot argues it can be supportive. The author presents an account of degrees of epistemic responsibility, drawing inspiration from Martin Montminy’s idea of moral responsibility. The central argument suggests that an agent is epistemically responsible only if her reasoning strategy aligns with her epistemic abilities, a concept referred to as epistemic par performance. The paper discusses how the Bishop-Puddifoot debate contributes to this perspective, presents Montminy’s view on moral responsibility, and applies it to epistemic responsibility, emphasizing the importance of matching reasoning strategies with individual abilities. The article ultimately highlights the contextual, ability-dependent, and effort-inclusive nature of epistemic responsibility and offers a framework to recognize and credit agents based on their contributions and endeavors in expanding our epistemic horizons. Philosophy and Progress, Vol#73-74; No#1-2; Jan-Dec 2023 P 95-112

“If two people say you are drunk, you better go to bed”: Interview with Gyula Gyulyás

This article explores bio documentary cinema, an often overlooked biographic genre that, unlike its “big brother,” the biopic focusing on the lives, achievements, and legacy of people from the past, prefers to investigate living people through interviews and other forms of interaction. In order to understand the challenges, methods and human dynamic shaping talking heads documentaries, the article prioritizes the first-hand experience of the filmmaker, more specifically, that of Gyula Gulyás, a Hungarian director of documentaries for over five decades. After a general introduction to his career path, preferred topics and shared interests with local and regional documentary filmmakers, the interview covers areas relevant to the biographic documentary such as generic labels, professional standards and the usefulness of cinematic portraits for academic research, choice of subject, methods of interviewing and structuring recorded material, moral responsibility and intimacy as a well as general and specific questions about financing and distributing biographic documentaries, their reception, and the struggle with political and non-political censorship.

Moral Risk, Moral Injury, and Institutional Responsibility: Ethical Issues in HUMINT

Intelligence is morally unique—means and ends that are typically morally problematic are rendered justifiable by reference to the special purpose that national security intelligence serves. This is particularly the case with human intelligence (HUMINT), where operators and handlers might have to violate normal ethical principles as part of their job. Lying, coercion, and/or exploitation may feature as part of a HUMINT operation. This creates a moral risk, where individuals and institutions are excepted from normal moral constraints. Rather than looking at the immediate moral risks of HUMINT operations, this article looks at the relation between the moral risks encountered as part of HUMINT and moral injury. Moral injury may refer to two complementary phenomena: when a person is exposed to immoral activities and suffers psychologically because of dissonance between those immoral activities and normal moral behaviors, and when a person’s moral character is “numbed” because of them engaging in immoral activities. HUMINT exposes intelligence officers to both kinds of moral injury. There is a moral responsibility of intelligence institutions to be both aware of, and seek to mitigate, moral injury, while operating in a context where such moral risk is at times justifiable.

Exploring the Practiced Values of Asta Brata Leadership Style: A Phenomenological Study

In the ever-evolving landscape of today's world, the realm of leadership finds itself confronted with a tapestry of intricate challenges, each thread contributing to the fabric of modern leadership style dilemmas. In this study, we aimed to explore the integrated values of Asta Brata’s leadership style within the leadership practices of school principals in Bali Provinces, Indonesia. We employed a phenomenological research design and interviewed a cohort of 50 principals from various elementary schools. We subjected the obtained data to thematic analysis and determined four themes: harmony, transformative inclusivity, professional integrity, and moral responsibility. The findings of this study not only deepen our understanding of leadership values and practices but also offer actionable insights that can benefit both theoretical discourse and practical leadership applications. It underscores the importance of aligning leadership styles with cultural contexts and highlights the potential for enriching leadership development programs through the integration of culturally relevant values.

Moral responsibility of russian citizens for aggression against Ukraine as a factor of pressure on their political will

The article focuses on the need to actualize the issue of bringing russian citizens to moral responsibility for violation of universal human values and other moral obligations of a person, which is expressed in their support for a large-scale war against Ukraine and the aggressive policy of the russian federation in general. In this vein, the author rethinks the concept of moral responsibility, argues for the inclusion of both individual and collective moral subjects, and highlights the impact of the means of moral responsibility on the formation of consciousness and, especially, the political will of the moral subject. In the discussion with other scholars, the author proposes that the subjects of collective responsibility include those structures, communities, and social groups that act as a collective actor, demonstrate their internal identity and are mutually responsible. The article argues that the russian public, which politically supports the current regime, is objectively a direct subject of the war and, accordingly, bears the full measure of direct political and moral guilt for the actions of its state and their consequences. It is proposed to call the supporters of the war “agents of war”, which will highlight their moral culpability. Therefore, it is important that not only the leadership of the russian federation, but also the entire russian public realise their part of the blame for the russian-Ukrainian war. It is proposed to incriminate moral and political culpability of russian citizens for the military aggression against Ukraine and to carry out information activities in order to make them aware of their personal and solidarity share of guilt and responsibility for this aggression. In order to give the moral condemnation of russian citizens a targeted and universal impact, the author argues for the establishment of a special international moral tribunal to encourage moral actors to fulfill their moral obligations, which will simultaneously contribute to the improvement of the security sphere of humanity. It is not about creating an official administrative structure, but about introducing a single humanistic information space that will counter this aggression. It is believed that it is in the form of a moral and ethical tribunal that the efforts of civilized countries, political, national and religious movements can be effectively united in the general condemnation of the russian aggression, its violation of human norms of goodness and justice, peace and secure existence. The central paradigm of the tribunal should be the phenomenon of safe human existence, human life as a value that excludes aggressive state policy and encroachment on human rights and freedoms. We believe that today, in counteracting russian information and psychological operations, we should focus more on the moral collective guilt and responsibility of all russian citizens who still stand in the position of not resisting evil.

Restoring a natural skeleton of a premature infant from the early twentieth century

Traditional anatomical preparations as they are often found in university collections are both historical treasure and moral responsibility of the hosting institutions. These remains not only represent the tradition and history of anatomical science and education, but above all are the remains of human beings and thus should be treated with dignity. While the discussion on public display of historical human remains is ongoing, the responsibility to keep them in an optimal state of preservation is not in question. However, most time-honored anatomical collections do or did not have the financial and/or technical capacity to keep these high standards, underlining the need for exchange of technical know-how between anatomical institutes and the support of restoration/conservation professionals. Here, we present a state-of-the-art conservation and restoration of a fetal natural skeleton from the early twentieth century along with the professional documentation of restoration-measures. Therefore, we used modern photo- and video documentation, including photogrammetry, as well as UV- and x-ray-examinations to record historical and new restoration procedures. We carried out measures to reconstitute the structural stability of the skeleton. Moreover, we replaced lost parts of the left foot skeleton, and critically discuss the legitimacy of body part replacement in historical specimens. We are convinced, that similar cases of insufficiently preserved specimens can be found in most anatomical collections. Therefore, this article is not only intended to document the state-of-the-art conservation and restoration of a natural skeleton, but also serve as an inspiration for similar campaigns in other institutions in the future.

Environmental Ethics Relevance in Theology Perspective: An overview from Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucian

Environmental ethics is an important issue in the context of sustainability and environmental protection. This research aims to discuss Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucian religious perspectives regarding environmental ethics and its importance in the context of sustainability. This research method uses literature study and analysis of sacred texts and religious teachings according to religious perspective. This research found that each religion has different views, but emphasizes the same important aspect of protecting and caring for the environment as the moral responsibility of religious communities. The concept of stewardship is emphasized considering the role of humans as managers and protectors of the universe. Environmental ethics in this religious perspective has similarities in teaching the importance of protecting and caring for the natural environment. This view can be the basis for individuals and communities to develop awareness and responsibility for environmental sustainability. Understanding and practicing religious-based environmental ethics is very relevant to overcoming the environmental challenges facing humanity in this century.

Body integrity dysphoria and moral responsibility: an interpretation of the scepticism regarding on-demand amputations

A patient who requests an amputation deemed medically unnecessary by professionals is disqualified per se from being regarded as having medical decision-making capacity. This decision is based on the assumption...

Drone Form and Techno-Futurities

Abstract: What does it mean for humanity to inhabit a techno-planetary system in which it is not central? This essay will address a facet of this question by exploring the aesthetics of drone warfare. The drone features in my reading as a metonym for a techno-human continuum in which the human as an autonomous subject with interiority and capacity for ethical action appears as eminently dispensable. Aesthetic forms not only are informed by but also shape a mode of perception by means of which we apprehend the world. What happens to such apprehension when both the mode of perception and subjecthood defy human-centered assumptions about aesthetic form? How does one novelize the scalar complexity of distributed vision beyond the human? When decisions about life and death are ceded to a machinic vision, do questions of moral agency and responsibility recede into a posthuman realm or do they gain even more urgency? The essay pivots around questions such as these.

Perempuan dan Hak Asasi Manusia dalam Lensa Filsafat: Dilema Etika dan Implementasi

Human rights in the context of women through a philosophical lens brings us into deep reflection about the rights, dignity and role of women in society. In philosophy, women are considered as equal individuals to men, eliminating discrimination based on gender. The concepts of bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and protection against violence are at the center of ethical and moral debates about women's human rights. Philosophical thinking also emphasizes that women have an active role in raising social and political awareness to achieve gender equality. This involves the moral responsibility and collective action of women in fighting for their rights. Through a philosophical lens, understanding women's human rights encourages us to see women not only as objects receiving rights, but also as subjects who are empowered to shape a more just future. Therefore, the philosophy provides a strong foundation for advocacy for gender equality and social change that is more inclusive and has equal rights to live with dignity and freedom.

Flickers of Freedom, Action Individuation, and the Transfer of Moral Responsibility

Flickers of Freedom, Action Individuation, and the Transfer of Moral Responsibility

Learning from the Experience of COVID-19 Pandemic in Tanzania

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly influenced social, economic, and public health landscapes globally, and Tanzania is no exception. This article examines the moral implications its moral response to the crisis and what the government should do for future pandemics.It explores the multifaceted moral responses elicited by the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania, emphasizing the origin, meaning, and significance of human life within the context of both a culture of life and a culture of death. It delves into the stewardship of life, analyzing the moral responsibilities individuals and societies hold in safeguarding health and well-being. The article starkly highlighted the Covid 19 as one of the many causes of deaths in Tanzania and Africa at large, and other causes like those that are manmade like abortion. Hence presenting a complex picture that intertwines healthcare access to pandemics, economic stability, and social cohesion.The impacts of lockdowns are scrutinized, revealing the intricate balance between public health measures and their socioeconomic repercussions, particularly on vulnerable populations in Tanzania. The article also addresses the death tolls, the puzzling nature, effectiveness of vaccine rollouts, and the perceived worth of life amid such crises. Through these discussions, the narrative underscores the fear of death that has paralyzed many, stifling the courage to live fully.Ultimately, this reflection seeks to project a message of hope beyond the grave, urging an understanding of life’s intrinsic value and the importance of resilience in such times of crisis. By learning from the COVID-19 experience, Tanzania and Africa can cultivate a more profound appreciation for life, encouraging proactive measures to preserve health with an African approach and vitality in future crises. This moral examination invokes a collective call to transcend fear and embrace a renewed commitment to life, fostering a culture anchored in hope and human dignity.

Accountability, reasons-responsiveness, and narcos’ moral responsibility

A prominent position about moral responsibility claims that a necessary condition on accountability blame is that, at the time of action, the agent must be sufficiently reasons-responsive so as to be capable of acting differently by following the pertinent moral reasons and thus avoid wrongdoing. Call this the Accountability with Avoidability view (or AWA). In this paper I aim to show that AWA is false by doing three things. First, I argue that it badly contradicts moral commonsense concerning the moral responsibility of a particularly egregious kind of wrongdoer. Second, I show that AWA’s three most prominent rationales—based on the notions of desert, demands, and excuses—all fail to support a robust reasons-responsiveness requirement on accountability. Finally, I sketch an alternative conception of accountability—accountability without avoidability—that dispenses with robust reasons-responsiveness and appeals instead to the capacity of agents to convey moral meaning through their conduct as the key element in the moral psychology of responsible agency.

“Trustworthy AI” Cannot Be Trusted: A Virtue Jurisprudence-Based Approach to Analyse Who Is Responsible for AI Errors

Erroneous results generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have opened up new questions of who is responsible for AI errors in legal scholarship. I support the prevailing academic view that human subjects should be held responsible for AI errors. However, I argue that the underlying reason is not pertained to the reliability of AI, but rather the inability of humans to establish a trusting relationship with AI. The term ‘Trustworthy AI’ is just a metaphor, which presents a sense of trust; AI itself is not trustworthy. The first section outlines the academic debate on the responsibility of AI. It contends that the perspective of these debates has shifted from the characteristics of AI, such as autonomy and explainability, to a human-centred perspective, which is how humans should develop AI. The assumption of responsibility depends on the existence of a trust relationship because when people believe that an individual can fulfil his or her responsibilities, they are willing to hand over power, resources or tasks to that individual. It applies a virtue jurisprudence-based approach to explain why humans cannot establish a trust relationship with AI To establish such a relationship, one subject must indicate to the other that its behaviour is based on specific moral motivation and that it can be held moral responsibility. Nevertheless, AI lacks moral motivation and moral responsibility. The third section reconsiders the scope of responsible subjects for AI errors. It posits that accountability should be limited to the individuals who are direct beneficiaries of the AI product. Finally, it argues that the scope of responsibility for AI errors should be disparate pursuant to the risk level of the AI. For high-risk AI, responsible subjects must fulfil both the obligations under the AI Act and the obligation to provide technical authentication. Keywords: AI Law, Trustworthy AI, AI Act, Legal Responsibility, Virtue Jurisprudence

The Relationship Between Moral Sensitivity, Missed Nursing Care and Moral Distress Among New Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study.

To explore the relationships among moral sensitivity, missed nursing care and moral distress in the context of new nurses in China. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted. A total of 228 new nurses were recruited from three tertiary hospitals in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Participants provided their sociodemographic and professional information and completed the Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire-Revised Version, the Chinese Missed Nursing Care Survey Version and the Chinese Moral Distress Scale-Revised Version. The data were analysed using Spearman's correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The means and standard errors of moral sensitivity, missed nursing care and moral distress were 40.71 (0.39), 9.82 (0.78) and 34.87 (2.41), respectively. The variable of missed nursing care exhibited a significant negative relationship with moral sensitivity and a significant positive relationship with moral distress. Regression analysis revealed that the main factors influencing new nurses' moral distress were educational background, nature of job, current unit, frequency of night shifts and the dimensions of moral strength and responsibility. These factors can explain 14.9% of the total variation. The findings revealed that higher rates of missed nursing care were associated with lower moral sensitivity and greater moral distress among new nurses. Therefore, developing interventions to reduce missed nursing care may be a promising strategy for improving moral sensitivity and preventing moral distress among new nurses. In hospitals, moral distress can be improved by focusing on modifiable factors such as staffing resources, leading to better promoting new nurses' health and improving the quality of care. This study can highlight practices accounting for moral sensitivity and missed nursing care in nursing research and training programmes. Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) statement. No patient or public contribution.

Technical debt, a double-edged sword that can damage moral responsibility

Technical debt, a double-edged sword that can damage moral responsibility

Agent regret and the moral responsibility for the misuse of research results

An increasing number of research fields must expect that their projects will be classified as susceptible to misuse or otherwise security relevant, even if the reasons or criteria for this classification have not yet been uniformly developed. Research institutions will commonly distribute the obligation to predict and prevent misuse across multiple members and structures including ethics committees. However, cases of misuse occur even in spite of these precautions, raising the question of the type and distribution of responsibility for the resulting harm. This question becomes even more pressing if research ethics committees in their decisions ask researchers to provide a misuse- specific risk assessment or risk mitigation plan and thereby shift back a part of their responsibility on the researchers. While this kind of requirement may be considered as unsatisfactory by researchers, members of research ethics committees or boards and third-party funders, will argue that it fulfils two important functions. On the one hand, it makes use of the best available source for misuse risk-assessment available to most committees; on the other hand, it guarantees that the researchers at least try to take responsibility. If researchers, committee members and others involved discharge their obligation to predict and mitigate misuse risks with due diligence, any backward-looking responsibility they retain is to show agent regret for the results of their work having been misused.

Corporate Weakness of Will

AbstractProponents of corporate moral responsibility take certain corporations to be capable of being responsible in ways that do not reduce to the responsibility of their members. If correct, one follow-up question concerns what leads corporations to fail to meet their obligations. We often fail morally when we know what we should do and yet fail to do it, perhaps out of incontinence, akrasia, or weakness of will. However, this kind of failure is much less discussed in the corporate case. And, where it is discussed, the view is that corporations are less prone to weakness. Here, I argue that proponents of corporate responsibility should say that corporations can and often do instantiate weakness of the will, and that this is important to recognize. Weakness of the will requires certain capacities that these proponents typically take corporations to have. And once this is appreciated, we can assess how corporate weakness might proceed differently than how it does for individuals. We can also begin a conversation about how best to meet the distinctive challenges for recognizing and correcting corporate weakness, using a number of resources from management scholarship.

Framing Collective Moral Responsibility for Climate Change: A Longitudinal Frame Analysis of Energy Company Climate Reporting

AbstractResponding to climate change and avoiding irreversible climate tipping points requires radical and drastic action by 2030. This urgency raises serious questions for energy companies, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in terms of how they frame, and reframe, their response to climate change. Despite the majority of energy companies releasing ambitious statements declaring net zero carbon ambitions, this ‘talk’ has not been matched with sufficient urgency or substantive climate action. To unpack the disconnect between talk and action, this paper draws on the literature on framing, organisational hypocrisy, and collective moral responsibility. We conduct a longitudinal qualitative content analysis of the framing of climate change used by the ten largest European investor-owned energy companies and the actions they have taken to shift their business practices. Our findings reveal three main categories of energy companies: (i) deflecting, (ii) stagnating, and (iii) evolving. We show key differences in the relationship between framing and action over time for each category, revealing how deflecting companies have larger and persistent gaps between green talk and concrete action and how stagnating companies are delaying action despite increased green talk, while evolving companies exhibit a closer link between talk and action that tends to be realised over time. Our analysis reveals how competing approaches to framing collective moral responsibility help understand the trajectories of talk and action across the different categories of energy companies. This research makes several contributions to the literature on organisational hypocrisy and collective moral responsibility in the context of climate change. Our analysis highlights the complex relationship between collective moral responsibility, organisational hypocrisy and climate action, revealing how different collective framings—diffuse, teleological, or agential—can both enable and offset substantive climate action. The study also enriches our understanding of the performative nature of collective moral responsibility by examining its temporal dimensions and showing how an agential, backward-looking focus is associated with more meaningful climate action.