Notion Of Ethics Research Articles

Virtue in the Machine: Beyond a One-size-fits-all Approach and Aristotelian Ethics for Artificial Intelligence

This paper explores the application of Aristotelian virtue (arête), as quality of excellence and as a key notion of ethics, to AI systems as classified in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. It argues that while the Act’s approach based on ‘ethical data’ and ‘prima facie values’ aligns with the Rossian paradigm, such principles may not be suitable for all AI systems, particularly those in ‘limited’ or ‘minimal risk’ zones. The paper suggests that the Aristotelian concept of virtue can be effectively applied to designing, training, operating and using no-risk or low-risk AI systems. However, its application to the design and training of high-risk areas such as migration, asylum, border control, and justice, where clearly defined objectives are essential, requires ongoing consideration. The paper concludes that by distinguishing between (a) design, development, training, deployment, operation and use, (b) by stage evaluation of systems, and c) virtuous use of the systems, Aristotelian ethics can serve as a post ex evaluating method for all-risk AI systems, while further research and the potential use of regulatory sandboxes are needed to explore the integration of Aristotelian virtues into the design, development and training of such applications. Finally, we propose a virtuous-based ‘AI Seal of Excellence’ certification process, which empowers the virtuous use of AI systems.

The problem of husn (goodness) and qubh (evil) in maturidi’s thought and their reflection in the kazakh tradition

The theological interpretations and teachings of Imam Maturidi play a crucial role in the systematic formulation of the foundations of faith. In his book "Tawilat Al-Quran" and "Kitab al-Tawhid", the eminent scholar provides a comprehensive analysis of fundamental concepts essential for Islamic thought, including discussions on knowledge and wisdom, the oneness of God, the afterlife and the principles of husn and qubh (goodness and evil). The article explores the methodological foundations of the concepts of husn and qubh in the theological doctrine of Imam Maturidi, assessing their role and significance within Islamic philosophical thought. Additionally, it examines the theological basis of these concepts and their integration into the ethical value system of Islam. The study also elucidates the correlation between reason and revelation, which is a fundamental principle of Maturidi’s doctrine within this conceptual framework. In this context, the article discusses the linguistic and scientific definitions of husn and qubh, their religious and philosophical features, their recognition through reason and their discussion among different theological schools. Additionally, the role of this concept in the formation and development of ethical notions within the Islamic worldview is analyzed. Imam Maturidi’s views are analyzed in comparison with the Ash’ari and Mu’tazilah schools, highlighting both their commonalities and differences. Additionally, the understanding of husn and qubh in the Kazakh worldview is explored through the perspectives of Abai, Shakarim and Mashhur Zhusip.

Violence in the Hebrew Bible: A Review of Works by Amy C. Cottrill, Erasmus Gaß, Jacques van Ruiten and Koert van Bekkum, and Claude Mariottini

Abstract Four recent books address the ethical notion of violence in the Hebrew Bible from vastly different methodological and theological perspectives: Amy C. Cottrill’s Uncovering Violence: Reading Biblical Narratives as an Ethical Project (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021); Divine Violence and the Character of God by Claude Mariottini (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2022); Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception edited by Jacques van Ruiten and Koert van Bekkum (Oudtestamentische Studiën/Old Testament Studies, 79. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020); and Erasmus Gaß, Gott, Gewalt und die Landnahme Israels: Eine literarhistorische Analyse von Josua 9–12 (FAT 172; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023). This review summarizes and critiques how these contributions engage the topic of biblical violence by addressing four broad concerns: tensions and cooperation among various scholarly methodologies employed; the challenge of defining (biblical) violence in all its forms; the role of ancient and modern religious communities’ attempts to understand violence within the field of biblical studies; and theological anxieties about divine violence.

A multimodal membership categorization analysis of Morgan versus Youssef’s 2nd interview on the 2023 Israel – Gaza war

Abstract This study uses conversational and membership categorization analyses to explore how Piers Morgan and Bassem Youssef locally employ sequential organization and embodied social categorization work to frame public discourse around accountability and condemnation in the 2023 Israel-Gaza war (IGW). The study explores how specific membership categorization devices, categories, category-bound activities, and predicates construct and challenge social structures and interactional processes in political discourse. This study delves into the embodied categorical practices that recognize or produce social action and local accomplishments of social organizations to identify the normative power of categorization in prompting moral evaluations. Using ethnomethodology, it illustrates how social order is achieved through situated accomplishments of members’ practical actions and reasoning, using linguistic devices and commonsense knowledge in face-to-face news interviews. The findings indicate that through multimodal resources – voice, gestures, and body language – both Morgan and Youssef invoke and negotiate moral categories that frame perspectives on the Israeli-Arab conflict, highlighting dynamics of aggression, dehumanization, and social justice. They mobilize and enact membership categories through activities, predicates, and attributes that resonate with notions of morality and social justice. Contributing to the literature on multimodal organizational studies in political communication, this study addresses the underexplored role of multimodal interactional resources in the situated construction and challenge of social and moral categories to shape public perceptions of complex conflicts.

MONSTRUOSIDADE, PSIQUE E SOBRENATURAL: UMA ANÁLISE DA TRADIÇÃO GÓTICA DA LITERATURA INGLESA DOS SÉCULOS XVIII E XIX

This article proposes a critical and comparative analysis of English literature of the Gothic and horror traditions, through the works of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and H.P. Lovecraft. The main objective is to understand how these authors constructed, transformed and influenced the main themes of the imaginary of fear, such as monstrosity, madness, the double and the unknown, from the 18th century to the present day. The methodology used is based on textual analysis, historical contextualization and an interdisciplinary perspective, supported by the theoretical framework of Botting (1996), Punter (1996), and Lovecraft (2006 [1927]), among others. The works analyzed include Frankenstein (1818), The Tell-Tale Heart (1845), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and The Call of Cthulhu (1928), chosen for their aesthetic and ideological representativeness. The aim is to demonstrate that, despite being distant in time, these texts share structural elements that continue to influence contemporary literature, cinema and pop culture. Furthermore, the study seeks to highlight how notions of identity, science, morality and fear are represented in different sociocultural contexts, revealing the permanence and adaptability of the Gothic genre in the Anglophone literary tradition.

People’s Control and the Morality Quest of the Late Soviet Economy

Abstract “People’s Control” was a centrally controlled institution of economic and social regulation widespread in state socialist countries and, particularly, in the Soviet Union between 1965 and 1991. The ideology underpinning the institution, however, insisted on its vernacular nature and framed its actions in terms of a democratic approach to economic problems. The offices of people’s control proliferated as part of a system that covered the whole country, empowering controllers with an impressive array of rights codified in high-level legislation. Endorsed by the system as moral and honest citizens, controllers inspected factories, farms, grocery shops, and other production and management units to reveal acts of crime, fraud, and low-quality work. Controllers denoted these phenomena as deviations from “normal” economic behavior and explained them in terms of a purported lack of morality. This article examines the place of morality in the late Soviet Union through the lens of political regulation of socio-economic relationships. People’s control, it argues, exposed a particular notion of morality as a range of norms and obligations for revealing and struggling against what the state deemed improper individual economic behavior. It served as one political attempt to mobilize society and tackle growing problems of the planned economy, which came to be described in terms of deviation. In the end, however, the ambit of people’s control remained largely limited to nominal public criticism.

Contribution of Sports and Games to Changing Students’ Social Behaviour: A Focus on Selected Public Secondary Schools in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania

This study aimed to assess the contribution of sports and games in changing student behavior in a case of a selected public secondary school in Temeke Municipality. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate students’ preferred sports and games in relation to the behavioral change benefits of selected games, e.g., football, on teamwork enhancement among secondary school students and to determine the relationship between sports and games and academic activities. The study employed a mixed research approach and a sequential exploratory research design. Four hundred and twenty (420) participants, including sports and games teachers, students and schools heads, were sampled and exposed to question items on the interviews, documentary sources, questionnaires, and focus group discussions. The results reveal that sports activities play a significant role in fostering physical fitness and emotional well-being among children and adolescents. Engaging in sports activities elicits a range of favourable physiological adaptations, primarily enhancing the cardiovascular and muscular systems. In addition, engagement in sporting activities was found to be positively related to psychological factors related to mental well-being while also facilitating the active integration of children and adolescents into society and overall academic performance. Thus, sports teachers and educators must create environments in the playing fields that support ideal notions of ethics, moral reasoning, character and sportsmanship. In doing so, the sports teachers should have the intention of building character when they are engajing with students. This means that without intentions from students and sports teachers themselves, sports cannot build up character.

Biopunk

The paper focuses on examining the notion of ethics and ethicality of scientific research in SF concerning synthetic biology as presented in representative works of the biopunk genre. It looks into the figure of a mad and at the same time brilliant scientist, and direct references to ethics. Ultimately, it questions the underlying ethical concerns of creating new human and non-human species. In doing so, the work also discusses human exceptionalism, ethical posthumanism, and public acceptance of scientific advances. I will argue that biopunk works are rich in ethical puzzles that raise awareness of the present and illuminate the path to the future of science.

Hannah Arendt and Jan Patočka on the Ambiguities of Sacrifice

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to compare Hannah Arendt’s and Jan Patočka’s reflections on the meaning of sacrifice. In her study of totalitarianism, Arendt discerned how the concept of sacrifice was misused and manipulated by totalitarian regimes, which is why she was more skeptical about it than Patočka for whom it was a central philosophical term. Patočka took note of such distortions and introduced the important distinction between authentic and inauthentic sacrifice, the instrumental, depersonalized sacrifice utilized by ideological regimes. And yet Arendt’s concept of the political would be inconceivable without self-sacrifice, although she usually refrained from using the term itself, opting instead for the semantically close concept of courage. I argue that for both thinkers, self-transcendence was the core of self-sacrifice—the readiness to leave one’s private interests behind and enter the public realm where the common good and broader existential questions become central. Self-sacrifice was thus a way for both Arendt and Patočka to challenge the dominant technoscientific worldview of modernity. However, to avoid totalitarian excesses and manipulations, self-sacrifice had to be embedded in an ethical framework, and it was to meet this challenge, I conclude, that Arendt and Patočka formulated their own distinctive notions of political ethics.

Brentano on Normativity in Logic and Ethics

Abstract Today, Brentano’s ethics is understood as a special case of the fitting attitude account of normativity. Fitting attitude accounts explain the goodness of objects in terms of the fittingness of a positive attitude towards the object. There is an important difference, though, between standard fitting attitude accounts of moral normativity and Brentano’s meta-ethics. Brentano’s phenomenological approach to the problem of normativity makes use of the notion of the act’s inner rightness, experienced as such by the agent. It is this first-personal notion that is to give the foundation of normativity in logic and ethics. Brentano thus makes use of a notion of objectivity that is neither to be understood in Platonic, nor in naturalistic terms. G. E. Moore has rightly pointed to a problem in Brentano’s moral notion of inner rightness that also arises for his account of truth; in the end, a modification of Brentano’s theory is proposed that seems not affected by this issue.

Investigation of Binaries in Maleficent through Plumwood’s Ecofeminist Theory of Dualism: An Ecocritical Analysis

The human soul is a complex amalgamation of malice and benevolence, reflecting the duality inherent in human nature. As the most intelligent beings on Earth, humans exert control over various aspects of life, often subjugating what they dominate, thereby creating a continuum of binary relationships. Disney's 2014 production, Maleficent, eloquently captures this dualism by depicting the protagonist as a combination of ecological and feminine traits. This research study employs Val Plumwood's ecofeminist theory of dualism as the theoretical framework to explore Maleficent as an ecofeminist protagonist. Plumwood's theory is critical in that it questions the hierarchical dualisms present in Western philosophy, including the bifurcation of nature and culture and women and nature's domination by patriarchal institutions. Through this paradigm, the paper aims to reveal the manner in which the movie challenges conventional gender roles and pushes against the anthropocentric worldview. By highlighting the ways in which popular media can represent and influence notions of gender and environmental ethics and by depicting Maleficent as a figure of resistance and rebellion against ecological and gendered oppression, the research contributes to the broader discussion of ecofeminism. By this examination, the paper will illustrate how Maleficent is not only a tale of individual revenge but also an insightful commentary on the intersections between environmental and feminist issues.

Interpretation as Ethical Life: From Scriptural Hermeneutics to Tragic Responsibility in Adam Bede

Abstract: This essay discusses the role of interpretation in George Eliot's social ethics. In her first novel, Adam Bede , Eliot gives considerable space to matters of scriptural interpretation, especially Methodist hermeneutics. For Eliot, steeped in the Left Hegelian criticism of religion, these issues of interpretation are not limited to textual practice but are ultimately social in nature. This article claims that Eliot's narrative technique, her model of a "knowable" community, her conception of sympathy, and her tragic notion of social ethics should be reconsidered in light of the interpretive problems raised by religious hermeneutics.

Social Determinants of Chronic Pain Management for People Who Use Drugs: An Ethics of Care Approach.

This study explored the social determinants of chronic pain management among people who use drugs, focusing on the ethical notions shaping care-giving and the social contexts in which they operate. It draws on qualitative data from interviews with people who were currently using drugs and had chronic pain, recruited in Uyo, Nigeria. Narratives show how pain-related disability adversely impacted participants' livelihoods by hampering their ability to perform daily tasks. They also show how care-giving, informed by the ethical duty of care in nursing/healthcare professions and traditions of informal care, shaped the experience and meanings of chronic pain and helped participants overcome barriers to healthcare. Care-giving was situationally undermined by the ethics of justice where chronic pain was seen as retribution for moral deviance and participants were deemed undeserving of care. The study contributes to the literature on chronic pain management among people who use drugs by showing how stigma undermines professional and informal care ethics through reframing chronic pain as retribution and care as something to be earned, rather than an ethical duty. It concludes by reflecting on the implications for nursing and healthcare practice and calling for interventions to tackle stigma and improve pain management for these persons.

“Cleansing the Heart” in Contemporary China: A Historical Evaluation of the Psychologization of the Book of Changes

This article examines the contemporary therapeutic use of the Yijing (the Book of Changes ), a foundational text in Chinese divination and thought, from a global historical perspective. While Carl Jung viewed the Yijing as a tool to access the unconscious and treat neurosis, in China his ideas evolved into a means of reviving ancient teachings on the xin (heart) and reaffirming traditions of etiquette as alternatives to Western psychological models. My analysis focuses on the call for a “sinicization” ( Zhongguohua ) of Jungian psychology by China’s first fully trained analytical psychologist, Shen Heyong, and his students. This article argues that recovering spiritual and moral ideals of xixin (cleansing the heart) in the Yijing through the lens of analytical psychology informs a therapeutic approach that, while sidestepping the psychologization of subjectivity, supports cosmological and ethical notions of the self in China and beyond.

Contextual Factors and Their Impact on Ethical Leadership in Educational Settings

This discussion paper focuses on the notion of context and its variables and explores how context influences the attempt to practice ethical leadership in educational settings. Three major research questions underline this paper: a. What is the importance of context in the leadership research and what are the contextual factors affecting different notions of ethics, values, their degree of significance, and the way they affect attitudes and behaviors? b. To what extend do educational systems and/or communities share the same notional background about ethics, values, and ethical leadership? c. Can that which is researched and discussed in ethical leadership theory be successfully and effectively transferred into everyday school practice? Our investigation leads us to support the assumption that contextual factors should be included in (ethical) leadership research and the notion of vision and its interaction with the notions of mission and goals should be revisited in a more humanistic rather than managerial way if we wish to run ethical schools and transform them into ethical learning nests to nurture and develop new generations.

The Ethical Intersection of Biotechnology and Artistic Expression in Bio-Art

The intersection of biology, technology, and artistic expression has given rise to bioart, a field that challenges traditional notions of creativity and ethics. This study examines the scientific, ethical, and societal dimensions of bioart, exploring its implications for both artistic and scientific communities. Using a qualitative approach, data was collected through virtual focus group discussions involving 30 participants, including bioartists, bioethicists, genetic engineers, biomedical scientists, legal scholars, policymakers, and students, ranging in age from 16 to 56. The thematic analysis revealed a divergence in perspectives, with some participants viewing bioart as an innovative frontier, while others expressed ethical concerns regarding the manipulation of living organisms. Key themes identified include moral considerations, public perception, environmental risks, commercialization, and the necessity for regulatory frameworks to ensure responsible artistic and scientific practices. The findings suggest that while bi-art has the potential to redefine artistic expression, its ethical implications necessitate urgent regulatory oversight to balance innovation with integrity. As bioart continues to evolve, it remains essential to establish clear ethical boundaries to guide its development and mitigate unintended consequences.

Devil Do, Devil Don’t

Can a person change to meet societal expectations while staying true to their innate values? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Arugula, a literal demon child adopted by two human mothers, struggles to conform to societal expectations and navigate the complexities of good and evil. She does this while trying to stay true to the spirit of unconditional love she receives from her two moms and trying to stay true to her own innate nature. The story challenges conventional notions of morality and explores the power of love and acceptance.

Marx and Capitalism as Moral Tragedy

My essay argues that Marx follows Hegel in adopting a tragic meta-ethics. This stands against interpretations of Marx that deny he made moral commitments and those which argue that he saw exploitation and alienation as immoral or unjust. Moral tragedy is the view that historical circumstances can justify two or more irreconcilable moral standpoints that conflict with one another. I detail Hegel’s tragic notion of morality inspired by Oresteia and Antigone and how it opposes the Enlightenment universalism of Kant. I show how Marx’s meta-ethics takes up this tragic framework through three examples: (1) between an ascetic ethos of efficiency and an ethos of consumption and luxury; (2) between political economists and ethicists; and (3) between capitalists and workers over the length of the workday. For Marx, socialist revolution resolves moral tragedies and makes a truly universal morality possible by resolving the historical contradictions that produce them.

Deviance in a social context

This study consists of a critical presentation of deviance, focusing on an interdisciplinary investigation. With the aid of a thematic literature review, we discuss internal mechanisms of social cohesion. In this way, we observe that every domain has its own pattern of research. Deviance is a highly debated phenomenon that is strictly relevant to social functioning. On the one hand, the economists discuss the phenomenon of deviance in relation to social market regulation, stating that people’s actions can be explained through Weber’s theory of rational choice, where social order is depicted as social capital. On the other hand, the cultural approach is profoundly influenced by a metaphysical worldview, taking into consideration the religious, historical, and aesthetical experiences. Thus, their focus is the notion of morality, which is, unfortunately, not clearly defined. Another key point is the features of canon, taste, and social distinction. These are frequently criticized by sociologists, whose opinions gravitate towards the processes of norms, anomie, and social bonds. After a short portrayal of the conceptual limits of social deviance, which are reflected in the Marxist, feminist, and ecological perspectives, the paper ends with our opinion on this complex issue.

Making ‘EUrope’ through Technologised Mobility Control: Schengen, R&D, and the Imagined Community of ‘EUrope’

ABSTRACT Starting from the observation that mobility politics in the EU are increasingly shaped by notions of identity, community and values, this article sets out to unpack how EUrope is made as an ‘imagined community’ through specific practices within its mobility regime. Building on analyses of how the perceived ‘free’ mobility in the Schengen area is entangled with imaginations of the EU as space of fundamental rights, the article is interested in how these sel-imaginations are challenged through productions of mobility inequality. Against the backdrop of wide-reaching technological modes of mobility control, this article moves to interrogate how techno-politics of border security ‘make’ the EUropean mobility regime and thereby are a vital part of the ‘imagined community’ of EUrope as such. To this end, the article empirically focuses on practices of Research and Development (R&D) within the Security Research Programme (SRP) of the EU. This programme, embedded within the larger Horizon Research Framework Programmes, funds projects to the end of stabilising the Schengen regime. In this sense, R&D becomes an important site to understand how imaginaries of EUrope and mobility are perpetuated through R&D and how, in consequence, structures of mobility inequality, exclusion and violence are perpetuated. Following this argument, this article seeks to unpack the seeming ‘paradoxes’ of EUrope as a community of free mobility in opposition to producing a non-EUropean ‘Other’ as threatening. It uses the case of R&D to show how imaginaries of integration through free mobility are mutually constitutive of producing mobility inequalities through securitising non-EUropean mobilities. The case of R&D allows for an understanding how these tensions are produced in more mundane practices of border control on two levels. First, it unpacks the construction of the dichotomy through which ‘free’ mobility in Schengen is juxtaposed to securitising and racialising mobilities of the ‘Other’ and how practices of R&D are embedded in a system of mobility inequalities. Second, it delves into the self-imagination of EUrope as space of fundamental rights and how specific notions of ethics and ‘values’ are construed as a justification of exclusionary techno-politics of mobility control.