scholarly journals On Algorithmic Opacity and Moral Certainty

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg Litvinski
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Virtue Ethic ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Moral Issue ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Moral Certainty

In modern society, algorithms play an important role in social and cultural realms, in political and economic spheres. In spite of algorithmic pervasiveness in many areas and wide diffusion in digital life, algorithmic opacity is still poorly understood compared to other ethical issues (e.g., fairness, accountability, and transparency). In this essay, we try to elucidate the relation between algorithmic opacity and moral certainty from the individualistic standpoint and through the virtue ethic perspective. For doing so, we follow hermeneutic tradition and rely on interpretation of recent authors and impactful papers. We summarize our argument as follows: if the algorithm is understood as the combination of rules and numbers we create for simplifying our lives and sharing with others, then our present activities and future actions as imagined, realized or missed, ascertain if algorithmic opacity become a moral issue or problem for us and others. Among the implications, we emphasize that sometime dormant and hard to anticipate, algorithmic opacity becomes an apparent during executions, deployments and prolonged uses of algorithmic systems. Moreover, our lived experience and disharmony between our unrealized expectations and unanticipated algorithmic behavior may lead to moral issues and problems for us and others. Overall, algorithmic opacity may constantly evade the formalization efforts (e.g., outlining as guidelines, principles) or quantification exercises (e.g., assigning numerical values to symbols or signs), both of which are essentially social practices.

scholarly journals LAW, RELIGION, AND SAME-SEX RELATIONS IN AFRICA

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-71
Author(s):  
M. Christian Green
Keyword(s):  
Moral Issue ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
International Conference ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Political Act ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Ghana

Some years back, around 2013, I was asked to write an article on the uses of the Bible in African law. Researching references to the Bible and biblical law across the African continent, I soon learned that, besides support for arguments by a few states in favor of declaring themselves “Christian nations,” the main use was in emerging debates over homosexuality and same-sex relationships—almost exclusively to condemn those relationships. In January 2013, the newly formed African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) held its first international conference at the University of Ghana Legon. There, African sexuality debates emerged forcefully in consideration of a paper by Sylvia Tamale, then dean of the Makarere University School of Law in Uganda, who argued pointedly, “[P]olitical Christianity and Islam, especially, have constructed a discourse that suggests that sexuality is the key moral issue on the continent today, diverting attention from the real critical moral issues for the majority of Africans . . . . Employing religion, culture and the law to flag sexuality as the biggest moral issue of our times and dislocating the real issue is a political act and must be recognised as such.”

scholarly journals Ethnisierung als Ressource und Praxis

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (120) ◽  
pp. 399-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Scherr
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Collective Identities

Forms of doing ethnicity question an understanding of modern society as a society of free and equal individuals as well as the idea, that membership of social class determines social identities. What kind of a challenge the obversation of processes of ethnicitation represents in regard of the theories of contemporary society should discuss more precisely. In front of this background it is supposed to see ethnicitation as an indeterminate collective name for intern heterogene social practices of social construction of collective identities. It is argued, that even so processes of ethnicitation often indicate conflicts between majorities and minorities and the structural and manifested discrimination of the latter, it can not be sufficiently and exclusively explained in this way.

scholarly journals Responsible leadership in management education: A design-based research study

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saskia Raatz ◽  
Dieter Euler
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Management Education ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Structured Learning ◽  
Responsible Leadership ◽  
Mba Programs ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Executive Mba

In recent years, the quality of management education in general, and particularly of MBA and Executive MBA programs, has been called into question. There are serious doubts about universities’ ability to give students the competencies they need to deal with complex problems in modern society. One part of the discussion focuses on ethical issues and the process through which students develop values and attitudes. In line with the economic crisis, there has been increasing interest in the development of learners’ attitudes to responsibility. We report the results of a study that starts with an ambitious and yet ill-structured learning goal in a demanding educational practice area: How can pedagogical interventions in management education be designed to promote learners' attitudes to responsible leadership? As a starting point, there are neither consensual definitions of responsible leadership nor substantial theories available to design promising interventions. De-sign-based research (DBR) provides a structured process to deal with research problems, starting with innovative but imprecisely defined objectives and unknown ways to reach them. We introduce the DBR design and describe the research process and results from a project conducted at St.Gallen University’s Executive MBA program. In close collaboration with practitioners, interventions evolved through multiple cycles of development, testing and refinement with the pursuit of theory-building and practical innovation.

Identifying stakeholder opinion regarding access to “high-cost medicines”: A systematic review of the literature

Open Medicine ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Wahlster ◽  
Shane Scahill ◽  
Sanjay Garg ◽  
Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
System Level ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Patient Groups

AbstractObjective: To identify the viewpoints and perceptions of different stakeholders regarding high cost medicines (HCMs). Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed to identify original research articles. Using predefined categories, data related to the viewpoints of different stakeholders was systematically extracted and analyzed. Results: Thirty seven original research articles matched the criteria. The main stakeholders identified include physicians, patients, public and health funding authorities. The influence of media and other economic and ethical issues were also identified in the literature. A large number of stakeholders were concerned about lack of access to HCMs. Physicians have difficulty balancing the the rational use of expensive drugs while at the same time acting as “patients’ advocate”. Patients would like to know about all treatment options, even if they may not be able to afford them. The process and criteria for reimbursement should be transparent and access has to be equitable across patient groups. Conclusion: Access to HCMs could be improved through transparency and involvement of all stakeholders, especially patients and the public. Moral issues and the “rule of rescue” could influence decision-making process significantly. At system level, objectivity is important to ensure that the system is equitable and transparent.

Why literature students should practise life writing

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Cardell ◽  
Kate Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Creative Space ◽  
Writing Practice

This article considers our experiences teaching a hybrid literature/creative writing subject called “Life Writing.” We consider the value of literature students engaging in creative writing practice—in this instance, the nonfiction subgenre of life writing—as part of their critical literary studies. We argue that in practicing life writing, our literature students are exposed to and gain wider perspective on the practical, critical, creative, and ethical issues that arise from working with literary texts. Such an approach is not with risk. As we discuss in this article, life writing texts can often narrate difficult or traumatic material. However, we want to show how life writing, with its particular focus on actual lives and lived experience, creates a particularly conducive ethical, intellectual, and creative space for learning about and practicing writing.

The Ethics of Medical Tourism

2015 ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Nader Ghotbi
Keyword(s):  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Medical Tourism ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Therapeutic Massage ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Almost All

Medical tourism is rapidly growing. There are various reasons for this form of travel; from having life-saving surgery, receiving organ transplants and other vital operations, to therapeutic massage, using hot spas, and cosmetic surgery, and from receiving assistance with infertility to assisted suicide services at particular destinations. Some forms of medical tourism have strong ethical issues attached to them, but there are also ethical issues that may apply to almost all cases, and these can be discussed in a general way. This chapter discusses fundamental definitions of the concepts and general ethical issues in medical tourism, and then explains in more detail some of the moral issues in medical tourism that need to be examined from an ethical standpoint. The chapter establishes common ground for discussion based on broadly accepted principles that can be used almost universally as general guidelines for ethical decision-making in medical tourism activities.

Introduction: human blood and social policy

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Richard M. Titmuss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Human Blood ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the study of the beliefs, attitudes, and values concerning blood and its possession, inheritance, and use and loss in diverse societies. The study originated and grew over many years of introspection from a series of value questions formulated within the context of attempts to distinguish the ‘social’ from the ‘economic’ in public policies and in those institutions and services with declared ‘welfare’ goals. As such, this book centres on human blood: the scientific, social, economic, and ethical issues involved in its procurement, processing, distribution, use, and benefit in Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, South Africa, and other countries. Ultimately, it considers the role of altruism in modern society. It attempts to fuse the politics of welfare and the morality of individual wills.

WhatsApp guidelines – what guidelines? A literature review

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 524-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Mars ◽  
Christopher Morris ◽  
Richard E Scott
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Professional Communication ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Record Keeping

Introduction Instant messaging (IM) is pervasive in modern society, including healthcare. WhatsApp, the most cited IM application in healthcare, is used to share sensitive patient information between clinicians. Its use raises legal, regulatory and ethical concerns. Are there guidelines for the clinical use of WhatsApp? Can generic guidelines be developed for the use of IM, for one-to-one and one-to-many healthcare professional communication using WhatsApp as an example? Aim We aimed to investigate if there are guidelines for using WhatsApp in clinical practice. Method Nine electronic databases were searched in January 2019 for articles on WhatsApp in clinical service. Inclusion criteria: paper was in English, reported on WhatsApp use or potential use in clinical practice, addressed legal, regulatory or ethical issues and presented some form of guideline or guidance for WhatsApp use. Results In total, 590 unique articles were found and 167 titles and abstracts met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-one articles identified the need for general guidelines. Twelve articles provided some form of guidance for using WhatsApp. Issues addressed were confidentiality, identification and privacy (eight articles), security (seven), record keeping (four) and storage (three). Mandatory national guidelines for the use of IM for patient-sensitive information do not appear to exist, only advisories that counsel against its use. Conclusion The literature showed clinicians use IM because of its simplicity, timeliness and cost effectiveness. No suitable guidelines exist. Generic guidelines are required for the use of IM for healthcare delivery which can be adapted to local circumstance and messaging service used.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keng Siau ◽  
Weiyu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Machine Ethics ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Ai Ethics ◽  
Self Driving Cars

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology has achieved many great things, such as facial recognition, medical diagnosis, and self-driving cars. AI promises enormous benefits for economic growth, social development, as well as human well-being and safety improvement. However, the low-level of explainability, data biases, data security, data privacy, and ethical problems of AI-based technology pose significant risks for users, developers, humanity, and societies. As AI advances, one critical issue is how to address the ethical and moral challenges associated with AI. Even though the concept of “machine ethics” was proposed around 2006, AI ethics is still in the infancy stage. AI ethics is the field related to the study of ethical issues in AI. To address AI ethics, one needs to consider the ethics of AI and how to build ethical AI. Ethics of AI studies the ethical principles, rules, guidelines, policies, and regulations that are related to AI. Ethical AI is an AI that performs and behaves ethically. One must recognize and understand the potential ethical and moral issues that may be caused by AI to formulate the necessary ethical principles, rules, guidelines, policies, and regulations for AI (i.e., Ethics of AI). With the appropriate ethics of AI, one can then build AI that exhibits ethical behavior (i.e., Ethical AI). This paper will discuss AI ethics by looking at the ethics of AI and ethical AI. What are the perceived ethical and moral issues with AI? What are the general and common ethical principles, rules, guidelines, policies, and regulations that can resolve or at least attenuate these ethical and moral issues with AI? What are some of the necessary features and characteristics of an ethical AI? How to adhere to the ethics of AI to build ethical AI?

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