Moral Scrutiny Research Articles

Constructing promissory futures to defer moral scrutiny: The dilemma of healthcare austerity

Constructing promissory futures to defer moral scrutiny: The dilemma of healthcare austerity

Using the classic trolley problem to teach AI students and researchers about their role as moral agents, and why they should be subject to moral scrutiny

AbstractThis commentary proposes a means of teaching students – particularly computer science students – about their role as moral agents, who, on account of this role, are necessarily subject to moral scrutiny. It utilizes the classic Trolley Problem; but instead of focusing on the morality of the decision the bystander makes, it focuses, initially, on the role of the bystander as an agent of action, capable of effecting change and then, more importantly, as a moral agent whose action capabilities are subject to moral scrutiny. I believe that using the Trolley Problem in this way provides those tasked with teaching ethics to computer science students (but also others) a practical means of drawing attention not simply to whatever guidelines (e.g., code of ethics) have been produced in relation to AI and IT research, but to the fact that students and researchers alike are moral agents, however reluctant they may be to embrace this fact in the context of their studies and/or research.

No Longer Human: How Media that Depicts World War II Fails Its Ontological Goals

This essay dissects how media that depicts World War II through the mode of realism fail to accomplish their ontological goals. It examines three pieces of media made in the late 1990s and early 2000s: the films Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Dunkirk (2017) and the Call of Duty video game franchise (2003-). I explain how the sublimated desire to view violence by watching a Nazi die collapses under moral scrutiny, and how the desire to make their death and the preceding combat as realistic as possible works counterintuitively to mask the real horror of war. The essay goes on to argue that Dunkirk succeeds in portraying the horror of war by utilizing the negative space present in audiovisual silence. The essay will conclude with an analysis of how the lack of negative space in realistic films degrades the quality of critical analysis of depictions of the most horrific moments in history.

Identity and influence

How worried should we be about how impressionable we are—how susceptible we are to being influenced and even transformed by our encounters with one another? Some moral philosophers think we should be quite worried indeed: they hold that interpersonal influence is an especially morally dangerous way to change. It calls for additional moral scrutiny as compared with vectors of change that come from within the influencee’s own psyche—their antecedent values, desires, commitments, and so forth—just because it has an external source. I argue that this heightened scrutiny of exogenous sources of change is unwarranted. Dramatic psychic changes do call for reflection and critical scrutiny, especially when they are sudden. But this scrutiny need not be concerned with the procedural issue of whether the impetus for the change came from inside or outside the changing person’s antecedent psychology. We can just evaluate the substantive changes themselves.

So Revealing: Ballerinas on Antebellum US Stages

Starting in the late 1820s, romantic ballet swept over US stages, most often presented by European ballerinas who revealed a new movement world, new theatrical expressivity, and their bodies to viewers curious, shocked, inspired, and moved by their performances. These dancers were subject to visual, aesthetic, and moral scrutiny – notable in both graphic and textual descriptions emerging from US presses. Three ballerinas are the subject of this presentation, based on their depictions in American-produced visual and verbal commentary. This essay investigates the corporeal and costume allusions in these depictions, as they reveal the technical and expressive capacities of performers, and – perhaps more so – the aesthetic exaltation and moral scruples expressed by viewers of those performances.

Possible versus desired diets: food legislation as additional stress for low-income mothers

ABSTRACT Deciding what, where, when and how much to feed a child occupies much of a mother’s time, energy, and financial resources. This study aids our understanding of the effects of legislation promoting healthier eating on mothers from low socioeconomic groups and on their families. We interview mothers and nutrition experts in Santiago, Chile – the site of the most recent and comprehensive effort to change a population’s food habits via legislation. We introduce the notions of ‘desired diets’ – ideal diets promoted by health experts and public policy discourses that moralise food consumption and promote consumer responsibilisation for health-related issues; and ‘possible diets’ – diets that mothers can adapt to and habituate in the household, considering their life realities. We argue that the notions of possible and desired diets often find themselves at odds, leading to mothers facing moral scrutiny, anxiety, and stress, which affects their sense of self, shaping notions of ‘good mothering’.

Why and When Helping Behavior Can Enable Followers to Cope with Leader Moral Scrutiny

Why and When Helping Behavior Can Enable Followers to Cope with Leader Moral Scrutiny

Human Brain Organoids: Why There Can Be Moral Concerns If They Grow Up in the Lab and Are Transplanted or Destroyed.

Human brain organoids (HBOs) are three-dimensional biological entities grown in the laboratory in order to recapitulate the structure and functions of the adult human brain. They can be taken to be novel living entities for their specific features and uses. As a contribution to the ongoing discussion on the use of HBOs, the authors identify three sets of reasons for moral concern. The first set of reasons regards the potential emergence of sentience/consciousness in HBOs that would endow them with a moral status whose perimeter should be established. The second set of moral concerns has to do with an analogy with artificial womb technology. The technical realization of processes that are typically connected to the physiology of the human body can create a manipulatory and instrumental attitude that can undermine the protection of what is human. The third set concerns the new frontiers of biocomputing and the creation of chimeras. As far as the new frontier of organoid intelligence is concerned, it is the close relationship of humans with new interfaces having biological components capable of mimicking memory and cognition that raises ethical issues. As far as chimeras are concerned, it is the humanization of nonhuman animals that is worthy of close moral scrutiny. A detailed description of these ethical issues is provided to contribute to the construction of a regulative framework that can guide decisions when considering research in the field of HBOs.

Tweeting the Holocaust: social media discourse between reverence, exploitation, and simulacra

AbstractThis article explores the uses and abuses of traumatic memory within the context of the multifaceted discursive representation of the Holocaust on social media. Combining computational, quantitative, and qualitative methodologies, the article offers a comprehensive mapping of the mnemonic spectrum extending beyond memory work conducted during official commemorative occasions. To do so, we examined a unique case: the Twitter manifestations of one Hebrew expression—“and their collaborators” (ATC)—which echoes the Israeli “Law for punishing Nazis and their collaborators.” In contrast to the complete phrase, the truncated collocation appears in a variety of contexts across Hebrew Twitter. Thus, our investigation shows that alongside traditional awe-inspiring commemorative (“good”) uses of ATC, the conjunction between social media affordances and user practices brings to the discursive forefront exploitative political (“bad”) ATC uses and misuses that contribute to political polarization; and a plethora of playful and ironic (inappropriate-“ugly”) uses, that call for moral and aesthetic scrutiny.

Morality, religious authority, and the digital edge

ABSTRACTIn Indonesian Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), access to digital media is strictly regulated, if allowed at all. Young women students are viewed as particularly susceptible to the perceived moral dangers of uncensored internet content and the unmonitored communication of social media and cell phones. At the same time, digital literacy is seen as integral to social advancement and higher education. Some young women students and recent alumnae successfully cultivate a “digital edge”—the social agility to navigate the moral challenges, scrutiny, and social surveillance they encounter online while adhering to key gender norms. This “digital edge,” paired with religious training, creates new online spaces for young women to claim religious authority over peers and even parents. These microlevel efforts have potential macrolevel effects on the changing landscape of Indonesian Islam. Young women's online practices require an analysis that moves anthropological debates about Islam, women, and morality beyond narrow questions of resistance. [digital media, morality, women, religious authority, education, Islam, Indonesia]

The Moral Authority of Consensus.

Prompted by recent comments on the moral authority of dialogic consensus, we argue that consensus, specifically dialogic consensus, possesses a unique form of moral authority. Given our multicultural era and its plurality of values, we contend that traditional ethical frameworks or principles derived from them cannot be viewed substantively. Both philosophers and clinicians prioritize the need for a decision to be morally justifiable, and also for the decision to be action-guiding. We argue that, especially against the background of our pluralistic society, it is only via unforced dialogue and properly founded argumentation, aiming for consensus, that we can ascribe rightness or wrongness in a normative fashion to dilemmatic situations. We argue that both the process of dialogue, properly constituted, and the consensual outcome itself have moral authority vested within them. Finally, we argue that the consensual decision made is able to withstand moral scrutiny and is action-guiding, without claiming absolute moral authority in other contexts.

Economic Inequality Shapes Judgments of Consumption

Economic inequality affects not only individuals’ judgments and behavior in their own lives, but also those individuals’ judgements and behavior toward others—both people and firms. First, the consumption decisions of others are often evaluated through a moral lens, such that lower‐income consumers are held to more negative, restrictive standards of what is acceptable to purchase. Second, firms that perpetuate inequality among their employees or their customers—through unequal pay or unequal services—are viewed negatively. We discuss the implications of economic inequality shaping people’s moral scrutiny of others.

Neural and self-reported responses to antisocial news stories: Entertaining versus traditional news introduction

Recently, as entertainment programs have become more prevalent in the news media, there is a growing need to understand how entertainment appeal influences viewers' sociomoral evaluation of news content. We investigated neural and self-reported moral evaluation of antisocial news content in college students who viewed real-life news reports featuring moral violations inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanner. Each news report was preceded by a traditional or entertaining style of introduction. The behavioral results showed that antisocial severity was reduced for antisocial news content that was presented following entertaining news introductions versus traditional news introductions. The fMRI results showed that entertainment news introductions tax more cognitive control resources than traditional news introductions during news processing, as indicated by greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal region; however, they diminish moral saliency, as suggested by the reduced activation in the medial prefrontal region. We also found that greater dorsolateral prefrontal activation during the early phase of news reports was associated with more lenient moral acceptability ratings in the entertainment condition. Furthermore, reduced functional connectivity of the mentalizing brain network was observed in the entertainment condition when compared with the traditional condition. These results suggest that entertainment appeal may increase resource depletion, diminish moral sensitivity, and reduce functional integration of relevant social information during news processing, thus hindering viewers' moral scrutiny. This novel study contributes to a better understanding of how entertainment features influence viewers’ sociomoral evaluation of news stories.

“Code is Law” and Smart Contracts. Embedding Ethics in Decentralized Ledger Systems

“Smart Contracts” are tools based on distributed ledger technologies deployed in order to increase the efficiency of transactions. Their adoption is growing at an exponential scale due to the undisputable advantages brought by their property of self-executing tasks, yet on the opposite it raises concerns since it does not require any sort of moral scrutiny. In our paper we first address how the current ethical discussion can be framed in Decentralized Ledger Technologies, then we unfold the evolution in legal theory of a decentralized approach – epitomized by the motto “code is law” – finally we focus on “smart contracts” discussing the application of “engineering ethics” or the implementation of “ethical oracles”. At the end we conclude with a few remarks and some perspectives for future research.

Out of Proportion? On Surveillance and the Proportionality Requirement

In this article, we critically scrutinize the principle of proportionality when used in the context of security and government surveillance. We argue that McMahan’s distinction from just warfare between narrow proportionality (cases in which a threatener is liable to suffer the harms inflicted upon him in the course of surveillance) and wide proportionality (involving harms inflicted on non-liable individuals) can generally apply to the context of surveillance. We argue that narrow proportionality applies more or less directly to cases in which the surveilled is liable and that the wide proportionality principle applies to cases characterized by ‘collateral intrusion’. We argue, however, that a more demanding criterion than the lesser-evil justification that wide proportionality frequently entails is necessary in cases characterized by intentional intrusion upon non-liable individuals (e.g. some cases of mass surveillance). The distinction between foreseeing and intending intrusion into the lives of individuals who are not liable has not previously been specifically addressed in discussions concerning surveillance ethics. This specification is thus increasingly important due to the general growing tendency for adherence to the precautionary principle and policies aimed at anticipating criminal acts before they are committed. Preventive surveillance of non-liable actors is considered an important instrument for obtaining this aim and thus calls for moral scrutiny in terms of permissibility and proportionality. We suggest the concept ‘wide proportionality +’ which applies to cases of intentional intrusion of non-liable individuals.

Lead the horse to water, but don’t make him drink: The effects of moral identity symbolization on coworker behavior depend on perceptions of proselytization

We propose that exposure to moral identity symbolization (i.e., outwardly projected displays of one’s morality) leads observers to increase their helping behavior because they perceive the symbolizer as more scrutinizing of their moral characters, especially when observers expect or have an ongoing relationship with the symbolizer. We further propose that the effect of moral identity symbolization on observer behavior is diminished when symbolization involves behaviors that threaten the autonomy of observers (i.e., moral proselytizing). Empirical data from four studies, consisting of field surveys and experiments, supports our hypotheses. Taken together, this research suggests that moral identity symbolization in the workplace leads to helping behavior in observers as a function of heightened perceptions of moral scrutiny, but that such outward display of morality is only related to helping behavior when the symbolizers avoid proselytizing and when there is an ongoing relationship between the observers and the symbolizers.

A Critique of the Cultural Defense of Animal Cruelty

Abstract I argue that cultural practices that harm animals are not morally defensible: Tradition cannot justify cruelty. My conclusion applies to all such practices, including ones that are long-standing, firmly entrenched, or held sacred by their practitioners. Following Mary Midgley, I argue that cultural practices are open to moral scrutiny, even from outsiders. Because animals have moral status, they may not be harmed without good reason. I argue that the importance of religious or cultural rituals to adherents does not count as a sufficiently good reason to harm or kill animals, since rituals are inherently symbolic, and cultures are able to adapt and change, making adherence to cruel traditions unnecessary.

From self-government to government of the self: Fiscal subjectivity, Indigenous governance and the politics of transparency

In 2013 the Canadian Parliament passed the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA). Subject to immediate controversy, the law generated legal and political resistance from Indigenous leaders and scholars. The law requires First Nations governments to post audited consolidated financial statements and the salaries of chiefs and councillors online for public consumption. The article traces the use of transparency as a technology of government to examine how disclosure acts as an organizing mechanism of commensuration and moral scrutiny. The article then shows how transparency and disclosure was directed to rescale critique of the state away from the Canadian government, and toward First Nations governments. The article concludes by examining how bureaucrats envisioned how Indigenous peoples would use transparency and disclosure to reform their political conducts into that of a calculating taxpayer citizenship.

How Would We Know If Moral Enhancement Had Occurred?

ABSTRACT The aim of this essay is to question the coherence of debates on moral enhancement by neurophysical or pharmaceutical means in the absence of a cogent conception of the object of moral scrutiny: namely, moral enhancement. I present two conceptions of moral enhancement—weak and strong—and argue that given the problem of acquiring a standard measure of moral enhancement, regardless of whether enhancement is present in its weak or strong form and regardless of whether one endorses moral realism or different forms of antirealism, presenting a cogent conception of moral enhancement is fraught with difficulty. This fact has serious implications for continuing debates on the morality of moral enhancement, insofar as it limits the extent to which we have, or it is possible to have, an agreed conception of moral enhancement that could (in principle) be empirically verified and count as an object for moral scrutiny.

Confined Live(r)s

This article traces the trope of self-infliction for the moral economy of liver transplantation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Germany, I discuss the trope of self-infliction to explore intimate uncertainties that people with an alcoholic liver disease face when looking for medical care. I claim that the moralising trope of self-infliction plays a significant role in considerations about who is deserving of a liver transplant and a ‘second chance’. As access to transplantation becomes a life-and-death matter when livers fail, I see the trope of self-infliction as a tool for triaging lives for liver transplantation. Moreover, I claim that the trope of self-infliction, with its emphasis on self-responsibility, has a gendered dimension that puts women with an alcoholic liver disease under particular moral scrutiny. Furthermore, I demonstrate how this moralising trope shapes regulatory practices, like the ‘six-month abstinence rule’, which consequently confine livers and thus, eventually, confine lives.