Cyborg ethics and regulation: ethical issues of human enhancement

Author(s):  
Liza Ireni-Saban ◽  
Maya Sherman

Abstract Contemporary technological developments undermine the core pillars defining the human self, under the emergence of cyborgs and super-empowered individuals. The pre-determined boundaries between humans and machines may turn obsolete with the consolidation of the new hybrid humanity. This may foster an innovative approach to the traditional understanding of human ethics and the establishment of cyborg norms and regulations. In this article, the primordial nexus between cyborg ethics and the eugenics movement is further analyzed, hence as enhancing catalysators of mankind. Moreover, the article raises an ethical decision-making diagram, in which the normative cyborgs debate is framed in terms of positive and negative eugenic regimes. This analysis aims at providing a clearer understanding of cyborg-related ethical decision-making and the ways it magnifies eugenic features. As technological components become an inherent part of the human body, the international community should adhere to reshaping the notion of cyborg ethics and its ethical and regulatory implications.

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 2247-2258
Author(s):  
Mobolaji Famuyide ◽  
Caroline Compretta ◽  
Melanie Ellis

Background: Neonatal nurse practitioners have become the frontline staff exposed to a myriad of ethical issues that arise in the day-to-day environment of the neonatal intensive care unit. However, ethics competency at the time of graduation and after years of practice has not been described. Research aim: To examine the ethics knowledge base of neonatal nurse practitioners as this knowledge relates to decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit and to determine whether this knowledge is reflected in attitudes toward ethical dilemmas in the neonatal intensive care unit. Research design: This was a prospective cohort study that examined decision making at the threshold of viability, life-sustaining therapies for sick neonates, and a ranking of the five most impactful ethical issues. Participants and research context: All 47 neonatal nurse practitioners who had an active license in the State of Mississippi were contacted via e-mail. Surveys were completed online using Survey Monkey software. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the University of Mississippi Medical Center Institutional Review Board (IRB; #2015-0189). Findings: Of the neonatal nurse practitioners who completed the survey, 87.5% stated that their religious practices affected their ethical decision making and 76% felt that decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment for a neonate should not involve consultation with the hospital’s legal team or risk management. Only 11% indicated that the consent process involved patient understanding of possible procedures. Participating in the continuation or escalation of care for infants at the threshold of viability was the top ethical issue encountered by neonatal nurse practitioners. Discussion: Our findings reflect deficiencies in the neonatal nurse practitioner knowledge base concerning ethical decision making, informed consent/permission, and the continuation/escalation of care. Conclusion: In addition to continuing education highlighting ethics concepts, exploring the influence of religion in making decisions and knowing the most prominent dilemmas faced by neonatal nurse practitioners in the neonatal intensive care unit may lead to insights into potential solutions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 946-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Robert Valentine ◽  
David Hollingworth ◽  
Patrick Schultz

Purpose Focusing on ethical issues when making organizational decisions should encourage a variety of positive outcomes for companies and their employees. The purpose of this paper is to determine the degree to which data-based ethical decision making, lateral relations and organizational commitment are interrelated in organizations. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from business professionals employed at multiple locations of a financial services firm operating in the USA. Mediation analysis (based on structural equation modeling) was used to test the proposed relationships. Findings Results indicated that employees’ perceptions of data-based ethical decision making were positively related to perceived lateral relations, and that perceived lateral relations were positively related to organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications Given that information was collected using only a self-report questionnaire, common method bias could be an issue. In addition, the study’s cross-sectional design limits conclusions about causality. Another limitation involves the study’s homogenous sample, which decreases the generalizability of the findings. Finally, variable responses could have been impacted by individual frames of reference and other perceptual differences. Practical implications Results suggest that information flow enhancements should support or be consistent with horizontal information flow enhancements, and that together these factors should increase employee commitment. Originality/value Given the dearth of existing research, this interdisciplinary investigation is important because it fills gaps in the management literature. This study is also important because the results could inform decisions regarding the use of data analysis in ethical decisions and lateral forms of organizational structuring to improve work attitudes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-26
Author(s):  
Rebecca Calvert-Giddings

What failed in order to cause the 'perfect storm' that lead to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis? Did the leaders, managers and employees of financial institutions have a complete disregard for regulation, a breakdown in human ethics, a contempt for customers, or in fact ignorance to anything apart from profit and bonuses? If so, is increased regulation going to prevent this from happening again? Or is increasing regulation causing a dissociation in staff from ethical decision making and placing an almost co-dependent and ultimately unrealistic reliance on complance and legal departments, which is in turn setting the industry up to fail again?


Author(s):  
Patricia Larres ◽  
Martin Kelly

AbstractThis paper contributes to the contemporary business ethics narrative by proposing an approach to corporate ethical decision making (EDM) which serves as an alternative to the imposition of codes and standards to address the ethical consequences of grand challenges, like COVID-19, which are impacting today’s society. Our alternative approach to EDM embraces the concept of reflexive thinking and ethical consciousness among the individual agents who collectively are the corporation and who make ethical decisions, often in isolation, removed from the collocated corporate setting. We draw on the teachings of the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, to conceptualize an approach to EDM which focuses on the ethics of the corporate agent by nurturing the universal and invariant structure that is operational in all human beings. Embracing Lonergan’s dynamic cognitive structure of human knowing, and the structure of the human good, we advance a paradigm of EDM in business which emboldens authentic ethical thought, decision making, and action commensurate with virtuous living and germane to human flourishing. Lonergan’s philosophy guides us away from the imposition of over-arching corporate codes of ethics and inspires us, as individual agents, to attend to the data of our own consciousness in our ethical decision making. Such cognitional endowment leads us out of the ethics of the ‘timeless present’ (Islam and Greenwood in Journal of Business Ethics 170: 1–4, 2021) towards ethical authenticity in business, leaving us better placed to reflect upon and address the ethical issues emanating from grand challenges like COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Bonnie Rogers ◽  
Anita L. Schill

Work has become increasingly technologically driven and fast paced, with long work hours, new/emerging hazards, and rising health care costs. Threats to worker safety, health, and well-being including non-traditional work arrangements and practices, precarious work, uncertain hazardous exposures, and work organization issues, such as heavy workloads, design of work, uneven work hours, and difficult interpersonal relationships among workers and managers are apparent. Furthermore, the relationship between personal health risk factors and workplace risks and exposures has drawn increased attention and concern. As employer economic pressures continue to build, it is anticipated that ethical dilemmas for practitioners will become increasingly complex. A review of relevant Total Worker Health (TWH) literature, related ethical constructs and competencies, an examination of codes of ethics for occupational safety and health and health promotion/education disciplines was conducted. A case study for TWH utilizing an ethical decision-making model for the analysis of key ethical issues and solutions was completed. TWH approaches to protecting safety, promoting health, and advancing well-being are increasingly being adopted. These approaches can reveal ethical dilemmas, and ethical constructs are needed to guide decision-making. A core set of proposed ethical competencies for TWH professionals are identified as a transdisciplinary framework to support workplace ethical culture.


Author(s):  
Charles R. Feldhaus ◽  
Julie Little ◽  
Brandon Sorge

As an introduction to recognizing individual and organizational conflict as well as ethical issues within global firms, the goals of this chapter are to equip Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professionals, especially those in engineering, with solid decision-making tools, including self-awareness, ethical perspectives and theories, ethical decision-making models, and various conflict resolution approaches. Given the current challenges in business and industry that have often led to unethical practices, and ultimately conflict, it is critical that both organizational leaders and followers possess the necessary tools and perspectives to create an ethical climate that deals appropriately with various types of conflict. This chapter examines new trends in conflict coaching and the delivery of ethics training in an effort to provide the aforementioned tools and perspectives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Klopotan ◽  
Ana Aleksić ◽  
Nikolina Vinković

AbstractBackground: Research in business ethics shows that individual differences can influence one’s ethical behaviour. In addition, variability in attitudes towards ethical issues among different generations is emphasized. Still, results are inconclusive and call for an additional examination of possible generational differences with regard to ethics and ethical values.Objectives: Our objective is to test if the perception of the importance of business ethics, attitudes towards ethical issues and aspects influencing ethical behaviour, differ among the four generations currently present in the workforce.Methods/Approach: Theoretical implications are empirically tested on a sample of 107 individuals, members of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z.Results: In general, the results indicate that there are little or no generational differences related to the analysed aspects of business ethics. The significant difference is present only in the importance given to factors that influence ethical decision-making: (i) formal rules and procedures, (ii) performance management system and (iii) job pressures, between the members of Generation Z and older generations.Conclusions: In spite of employee diversity, ethics continues to present an important aspect of the business environment. Thus, organizations need to be oriented towards creating ethical leaders and a positive ethical climate that ensures that ethical values and behaviours are present throughout the organization.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 298-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Reid

Health leaders in Canada face a myriad of challenges with healthcare philanthropy—not just the practical question of how to be successful but also ethical questions. Is fundraising in partnership with companies that are implicated in the so-called lifestyle diseases appropriate? When does appropriate recognition for donors or volunteers cross the line into facilitating preferential access to care? Ethical decision-making in health philanthropy considers appropriate recognition or partnership in donor relations in the context of the public good with which healthcare institutions are entrusted and the fiduciary responsibilities of hospitals and clinicians to patients.


2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Reid ◽  
Connie J. McReynolds

One of the hallmarks of a profession is attention to ethical standards; therefore, the purpose of this article is to increase awareness of current ethical issues related to Rehabilitation Counselingpractice, and to identify toolsfor addressing those issues in an ethically sound manner. Examples of ethical dilemmas involving disability in a counseling relationship are presented, and a review of literature related to ethics in this area is provided. An approach to addressing potentially hidden counselor bias and its effect on ethical decision-making processes is discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document