scholarly journals Designing AI with Rights, Consciousness, Self-Respect, and Freedom

2020 ◽  
pp. 459-479
Author(s):  
Eric Schwitzgebel ◽  
Mara Garza
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Consideration ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Ethical Design ◽  
Rights Consciousness ◽  
Substantial Uncertainty

This chapter proposes four policies of ethical design of human-grade AI. Two of the policies are precautionary. Given substantial uncertainty both about ethical theory and about the conditions under which AI would have conscious experiences, the chapter argues that we should be cautious in our handling of cases where different moral theories or different theories of consciousness would produce very different ethical recommendations. The other two policies concern respect and freedom. The chapter argues that if we design AI that deserves moral consideration equivalent to that of human beings, then AI should be designed with self-respect and with the freedom to explore values other than those we might impose.

Legalism and Humankind

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-208
Author(s):  
Frank I. Michelman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Human Good ◽  
Good For ◽  
Normative Argument

Prescriptive political and moral theories contain ideas about what human beings are like and about what, correspondingly, is good for them. Conceptions of human “nature” and corresponding human good enter into normative argument by way of support and justification. Of course, it is logically open for the ratiocinative traffic to run the other way. Strongly held convictions about the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, of certain social institutions or practices may help condition and shape one's responses to one or another set of propositions about what people are like and what, in consequence, they have reason to value.

Acknowledging Others

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talbot Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Value

It is widely affirmed that human beings have irreplaceable valuable, and that we owe it to them to treat them accordingly. Many theorists have been drawn to Kantianism because they think that it alone can capture this intuition. One aim of this paper is to show that this is a mistake, and that Kantianism cannot provide an independent rational vindication, nor even a fully illuminating articulation, of irreplaceability. A further aim is to outline a broadly Aristotelian view that provides a more fitting theoretical framework for this appealing conception of human value. The critique of Kantianism is extended to contemporary theorists with a broadly Kantian orientation. The paper closes with an outline of a virtue-theoretic ethical theory that follows Aquinas in taking love to be a master virtue—one that refines the other virtues so as to provide a continuous practical sensitivity to the irreplaceable value of fellow human beings.

Levinas’s Humanism and Anthropocentrism

2018 ◽  
pp. 708-730
Author(s):  
Peter Atterton
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Moral Consideration ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Naturalistic Approach ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Absolute

This article attempts to broaden the scope of Levinas’s ethics beyond the narrow anthropocentric limits that Levinas himself set for it. It adopts a highly naturalistic approach that relies essentially on the Darwinian view that there is no single, definitive line between humans and animals. It argues that the logic of Levinas’s own arguments concerning the absolute alterity of the Other should have led him to construe the requirements for moral consideration more broadly to include not just human beings but certain nonhuman animals. The argument is not intended to apply to all animals, but only to those that have the capacity to suffer and to express that suffering by way of what Levinas calls “the face.”

Ethics and Extraterrestrials

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-208
Author(s):  
Adam Potthast
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Ethical Obligations

This chapter examines how classical ethical theory might apply to the kind of alien life humans are most likely to encounter: nonrational, nonsentient life. Humans are unlikely to have basic ethical obligations to extraterrestrial life because it is very unlikely that extraterrestrial life could have moral status, by the lights of leading moral theories. Furthermore, even if extraterrestrial life did have moral status, consistency with moral practices on Earth would suggest that humans have very few basic ethical obligations to this life. However, it does not follow that humans could treat extraterrestrial life in any matter human beings see fit, because extraterrestrial life may require protection as humans follow through on basic ethical obligations to themselves. In sum, humans would not have ethical obligations to such life per se but the obligations people clearly do have to their fellow humans entail that people cherish, promote, and protect extraterrestrial life.

A Liberdade e a Justiça: horizontes para uma racionalidade socioambiental

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Sepúlveda Ferriz
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
The World ◽  
Authentic Development ◽  
Sense Of Justice

Freedom and Justice have always been challenged. Since the most remote times, and in the most varied circumstances of places and people, human beings have tried to clarify and put into practice these two controversial concepts. Freedom and Justice, in effect, are words, but also dreams, desires and practices that, not being imperfect, are less sublime and ambitious. Reflecting on them on the basis of an ethics of development and socioenvironmental sustainability is still a great challenge in our contemporaneity. This book is born from the need that we all have to reflect, understand what our role is in relation to the OTHER, understood as the other as Environment. Doing this from such disparate areas and at the same time as current as Economics, Philosophy and Ecology, is still a great opportunity to discuss complexity, transdisciplinarity and the inclusion of diverse themes, but which all converge in the Human Being and its relationship with the world. Endowing human beings with Freedom and a sense of Justice means RESPONSIBILITY. To be free and to want a better and fairer world is to endow our existence with meaning and meaning. Agency, autonomy, functioning, dignity, rights, are capacities that must be leveraged individually and collectively for authentic development to exist. Development as Freedom is a valid proposal for thinking about a socio-environmental rationality that interferes in the controversial relations between economics, ethics and the environment.

فلسفة العقوبة في الشريعة الإسلامية والقانون الوضعي عرض وموازنة Exposition and Comparison of the Philosophy of Punishment in Islamic and Positive Laws

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
عبد المجيد قاسم عبد المجيد (Qasim Abdulmajid) ◽  
محمد ليبا (Liba)
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Penal System ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
New School ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Philosophy Of Punishment ◽  
Emerging Issues

تناولت هذه الورقة فلسفة العقوبة في الشريعة الإسلامية، وفلسفتها في القانون الوضعي، وتمت الموازنة بين الفلسفتين، وخلص العرض والموازنة إلى نتائج ملخصها أن مسألة عصمة الشريعة وسموها تعد علامة فارقة بين الشريعة الإسلامية والقانون الوضعي، هذه العلامة نتج عنها فروق كثيرة أولها أن العقوبة في التشريع الوضعي تكون تابعةً للهدف، فالهدف يوضع أولاً ثم تصاغ على ضوئه العقوبة، ولذلك كلما ظهرت مدرسةٌ جديدةٌ تؤسس لفكرٍ جديدٍ ظهر اختلافٌ في التشريع العقابي. بينما النظام العقابي الإسلامي ثابتٌ ومعصوم، وقد وُجدت الحاجة إلى معرفة أهدافه وفلسفته ليتسنى السير على مقتضاها فيما يستجد من وقائع، وأن سمو فلسفة العقوبة في الشريعة الإسلامية ينبع من سمو مصدرها، فواضع هذه العقوبات هو خالق البشر. بينما العقوبة في القانون الوضعي تعتمد في فلسفتها على خبرة واضعيها، وهي خبرة محدودة وأحكامها نسبية، لذا كان تطبيق العقوبات الشرعية أجدر حتى وإن لم يُدرَك كنه هذه العقوبات وفلسفتها. الكلمات الرئيسية: فلسفة العقوبة، القانون الإسلامي، القانون الوضعي، التشريع العقابي.******************************In this paper light is shed on the philosophy of punishment in Islamic and positive laws and a comparison between them is accomplished. In brief, the conclusion of the exposition and comparison is that issue of infallibility of SharÊ‘ah and its nobleness are the distinguishing marks between Islamic and positive laws. This led to further differences. The first difference is that the punishment in positive laws is in accordance with the stipulated goal, that is, the goal is set first and then the punishment is formulated in that light. That is why whenever any new school of thought appears based on some ideology, differences emerge in punitive legislation. Islamic penal system is, however, immutable and infallible. There is a need to know its objectives and wisdom so as to in order to tackle new emerging issues. The nobility of the philosophy of punishment in Islamic law stems from the nobility of its source and that is no one but the Creator of human beings. The punishment in the positive law, on the other hand, relies on the philosophy that is based on the experiences of the authors of these laws. And these experiences are limited and their rulings are relativistic. Applying Islamic legal punishments are, therefore, more legitimate, even though their essence and philosophy are not fully grasped.Key words: Philosophy of Punishment, Islamic Law, Positive Law, Punitive Legislation.

A study on the design of a wardrobe, for patients bed-ridden with cancer, applying the knowledge of anonymous design

Impact ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (7) ◽  
pp. 45-47
Author(s):  
Naoko Fujii
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Stay ◽  
Nursing Care ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Prolonged Hospital Stay ◽  
Hospital Patients ◽  
Hospital Gowns ◽  
Hospital Stays ◽  
Prolonged Hospital

The majority of human beings will be admitted to hospital at some point over the course of their lives. For the more fortunate among us, these hospital stays will be brief and will barely register as a significant experience. However, for others, being admitted for weeks or months at a time will be necessary in order to combat and recover from whatever it was that made admittance to hospital necessary. While it is easy to think of many reasons why a prolonged hospital stay might be undesirable, one that may escape our attention is the clothes that are worn by patients during their stay. Once a patient has been assigned a bed, they are often given a gown which they put on without thought and then lie down. The gowns that are given to patients are generally designed with healthcare professionals in mind. For example, in Japan pyjamas and yukata (bathrobes) are used as hospital gowns because they have a front opening that is easy to use during treatment and nursing care. In addition, the other gowns can be opened from the ankle to the crotch using the zip. Dr Naoko Fujii has focused her career on designing clothes for hospital patients and believes that there is a way to satisfy the practical needs of a hospital and the care it gives at the same time as satisfying the requirements of patients. She is now focusing her attention on this challenge.

Impact of Job Stress and Social Support on Job Satisfaction among Academic Staff

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumari Kumkum ◽  
R. N. Singh ◽  
Yogershi Rajpoot
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Four Dimensions

There may be so many negative consequences of stress for human beings and dissatisfaction among employees happens to be one of the major problems. It indicates negative feelings that individuals have regarding their jobs or its facets. On the other hand, social support is assumed to be mitigating the relationship between negative aspects of the work environment and job satisfaction. Job stress is said to be associated with job dissatisfaction as well as experience of strain. In view of the above, this study examined the role of job stress and social support in job satisfaction. The sample consisted of 30 school teachers from different school of Varanasi (U.P.). The job stress, job satisfaction and social support scales were administered on the participants. The responses of the participants were converted into scores for statistical analyses. The scores of participants on the scales were correlated. The findings revealed that job stress led to increased job satisfaction. It is against the proposed hypothesis and it appears as if the social support received by the participants is a factor behind it. Two of the four dimensions of social support were found to exert positive impact on job satisfaction but the other two dimensions were not found to be correlated with it. The findings are thoroughly discussed and interpreted.

Kant, Marginal Cases, and Moral Standing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Korsgaard
Keyword(s):  
Life Stage ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Identity Problem ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Moral Difference

According to the marginal cases argument, there is no property that might justify making a moral difference between human beings and the other animals that is both uniquely and universally human. It is therefore “speciesist” to treat human beings differently just because we are human beings. While not challenging the conclusion, this chapter argues that the marginal cases argument is metaphysically misguided. It ignores the differences between a life stage and a kind, and between lacking a property and having it in a defective form. The chapter then argues for a view of moral standing that attributes it to the subject of a life conceived as an atemporal being, and shows how this view can resolve some familiar puzzles such as how death can be a loss to the person who has died, how we can wrong the dead, the “procreation asymmetry,” and the “non-identity problem.”

Fellow Creatures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Korsgaard
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Good For ◽  
Treat All ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

This book argues that we are obligated to treat all sentient animals as “ends in themselves.” Drawing on a theory of the good derived from Aristotle, it offers an explanation of why animals are the sorts of beings who have a good. Drawing on a revised version of Kant’s argument for the value of humanity, it argues that rationality commits us to claiming the standing of ends in ourselves in two senses. As autonomous beings, we claim to be ends in ourselves when we claim the standing to make laws for ourselves and each other. As beings who have a good, we also claim to be ends in ourselves when we take the things that are good for us to be good absolutely and so worthy of pursuit. The first claim commits us to joining with other autonomous beings in relations of reciprocal moral lawmaking. The second claim commits us to treating the good of every sentient animal as something of absolute importance. The book also argues that human beings are not more important than, superior to, or better off than the other animals. It criticizes the “marginal cases” argument and advances a view of moral standing as attaching to the atemporal subjects of lives. It offers a non-utilitarian account of the relationship between the good and pleasure, and addresses questions about the badness of extinction and about whether we have the right to eat animals, experiment on them, make them work for us, and keep them as pets.

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