Artificial intelligence (AI) ethics is undergoing a practical shift towards putting principles into design practices in developing responsible AI. While this practical turn is essential, this paper highlights its potential risk of overly focusing on addressing issues at the level of individual artifacts, which can neglect more profound structural challenges and the need for significant systemic change. Such oversight makes AI ethics lose its strength in addressing some hidden, long-term harms within broader contexts. In this paper, we propose that the (...) reflection on structural issues should be an integral part of AI ethics. To achieve this, we develop a multi-level framework to analyze socio-ethical issues of AI at both the artifact and broader structural levels. This framework can serve as a potentially transformative approach to uncover some unspoken assumptions in current AI ethics discourses and expose some blind spots in AI guidelines, policies, and regulations. Our paper paves the way to develop a practical approach that can effectively integrate this multi-level framework into real-world AI design and policymaking, ultimately bringing about transformative change. (shrink)

First published in 1974. Despite the tendency of contemporary analytic philosophy to put logic and mathematics at a central position, the author argues it failed to appreciate or account for their rich content. Through discussions of such mathematical concepts as number, the continuum, set, proof and mechanical procedure, the author provides an introduction to the philosophy of mathematics and an internal criticism of the then current academic philosophy. The material presented is also an illustration of a new, more general method (...) of approach called substantial factualism which the author asserts allows for the development of a more comprehensive philosophical position by not trivialising or distorting substantial facts of human knowledge. (shrink)

Hao Wang was one of the few confidants of the great mathematician and logician Kurt Gödel. _A Logical Journey_ is a continuation of Wang's _Reflections on Gödel_ and also elaborates on discussions contained in _From Mathematics to Philosophy_. A decade in preparation, it contains important and unfamiliar insights into Gödel's views on a wide range of issues, from Platonism and the nature of logic, to minds and machines, the existence of God, and positivism and phenomenology. The impact of Gödel's theorem (...) on twentieth-century thought is on par with that of Einstein's theory of relativity, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, or Keynesian economics. These previously unpublished intimate and informal conversations, however, bring to light and amplify Gödel's other major contributions to logic and philosophy. They reveal that there is much more in Gödel's philosophy of mathematics than is commonly believed, and more in his philosophy than his philosophy of mathematics. Wang writes that "it is even possible that his quite informal and loosely structured conversations with me, which I am freely using in this book, will turn out to be the fullest existing expression of the diverse components of his inadequately articulated general philosophy." The first two chapters are devoted to Gödel's life and mental development. In the chapters that follow, Wang illustrates the quest for overarching solutions and grand unifications of knowledge and action in Gödel's written speculations on God and an afterlife. He gives the background and a chronological summary of the conversations, considers Gödel's comments on philosophies and philosophers, and his attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the mind's power over brains and machines. Three chapters are tied together by what Wang perceives to be Gödel's governing ideal of philosophy: an exact theory in which mathematics and Newtonian physics serve as a model for philosophy or metaphysics. Finally, in an epilog Wang sketches his own approach to philosophy in contrast to his interpretation of Gödel's outlook. (shrink)

This paper examines how professionals (N = 32) working on artificial intelligence (AI) view structural AI ethics challenges like injustices and inequalities beyond individual agents' direct intention and control. This paper answers the research question: What are professionals’ perceptions of the structural challenges of AI (in the agri-food sector)? This empirical paper shows that it is essential to broaden the scope of ethics of AI beyond micro- and meso-levels. While ethics guidelines and AI ethics often focus on the responsibility of (...) designers and the competencies and skills of designers to take this responsibility, our results show that many structural challenges are beyond their reach. This result means that while ethics guidelines and AI ethics frameworks are helpful, there is a risk that they overlook more complicated, nuanced, and intersected structural challenges. In addition, it highlights the need to include diverse stakeholders, such as quadruple helix (QH) participants, in discussions around AI ethics rather than solely focusing on the obligations of AI developers and companies. Overall, this paper demonstrates that addressing structural challenges in AI is challenging and requires an approach that considers four requirements: (1) multi-level, (2) multi-faceted, (3) interdisciplinary, and (4) polycentric governance. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming our society, offering remarkable opportunities but also raising significant Ethical, Legal, and Social Aspects (ELSA) that should be addressed for responsible development. Some existing approaches to responsible AI successfully translate ELSA into concrete AI design practices but risk overlooking power dynamics and structural issues, while others excel at fostering dialogue yet struggle to turn insights into real design changes. This paper develops the ELSA Lab approach as a promising way to bridge this gap. Building (...) on research in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), Social Labs, and Quadruple Helix (QH) collaboration, we show how this approach combines the strengths of practical, solutionist strategies with sufficient negotiation and reflexivity. We not only outline the key features of this ELSA Lab approach theoretically but also present a hands-on work process for putting it into practice. This approach aims to drive a systemic shift toward more responsible AI. (shrink)

In this first extended treatment of his life and work, Hao Wang, who was in close contact with Godel in his last years, brings out the full subtlety of Godel's ideas and their connection with grand themes in the history of mathematics and ...

Automated algorithms are silently making crucial decisions about our lives, but most of the time we have little understanding of how they work. To counter this hidden influence, there have been increasing calls for algorithmic transparency. Much ink has been spilled over the informational account of algorithmic transparency—about how much information should be revealed about the inner workings of an algorithm. But few studies question the power structure beneath the informational disclosure of the algorithm. As a result, the information disclosure (...) itself can be a means of manipulation used by a group of people to advance their own interests. Instead of concentrating on information disclosure, this paper examines algorithmic transparency from the perspective of power, explaining how algorithmic transparency under a disciplinary power structure can be a technique of normalizing people’s behavior. The informational disclosure of an algorithm can not only set up some de facto norms, but also build a scientific narrative of its algorithm to justify those norms. In doing so, people would be internally motivated to follow those norms with less critical analysis. This article suggests that we should not simply open the black box of an algorithm without challenging the existing power relations. (shrink)

Resumo: Sendo um dos tesouros da cultura chinesa, a música tradicional chinesa tem carregado ricos pensamentos morais desde os tempos antigos. sendo uma parte importante do sistema de valores da cultura tradicional chinesa. No entanto, com o desenvolvimento da sociedade e a diversificação da cultura, o rápido ritmo social e a popularidade da música popular trouxeram grande impacto à música tradicional, que foi gradualmente esquecida devido ao seu abandono. Ao explorar a aplicação e o valor da música tradicional chinesa na (...) educação moral e no cultivo da virtude neste artigo, combinamos a cultura musical tradicional com os hábitos de vida dos residentes modernos, tais como educação, eventos sociais de grande escala, competições e festivais de música. Através da educação escolar e de atividades comunitárias regulares, buscamos fornecer novas ideias e experiências práticas para a herança e inovação da cultura tradicional. Através da integração dos meios de comunicação modernos e das formas de arte, o conceito moral da música tradicional está ligado à sociedade moderna, formando uma nova ecologia cultural mais moderna e inclusiva. Ao fazer uso dos ricos recursos de pensamento moral da música tradicional chinesa, mostramos que o seu papel e valor insubstituíveis na educação moral e no cultivo da virtude. (shrink)

Because existing frameworks in the ethics of AI often miss socio-ethical aspects of AI beyond the micro-level concerns, while structural impacts at meso and macro level raise societal concerns, there is a theoretical and empirical gap in research on AI’s multi-level impacts, and even fewer approaches that can translate insights across these levels into concrete design practices and policy interventions. This chapter introduces the ELSA Lab methodology, aparticipatory, multi-level approach from the Netherlands that engages Quadruple Helix stakeholders(researchers, companies, civilsociety, and (...) policymakers) to broaden the perspectives on responsible AI. Unlike existing frameworks, ELSA Labs address not only micro-level issues but also meso- and macro- level considerations. The chapter outlines the problem and limitations of current frameworks (Sect.2), presents a state-of-the-art overview of ELSA research (Sect.3), introduces the ELSA Lab methodology with its principles and interventions (Sect.4), and concludes with a discussion of its advantages, limitations, and directions for future work. (shrink)

With the rapid expansion of parameters in large language models (LLMs) and the application of Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF), there has been a noticeable growth in the moral competence of LLMs. However, several questions warrant further exploration: Is it really possible for LLMs to fully align with human values through RLHF? How can the current moral growth be philosophically contextualized? We identify similarities between LLMs’ moral growth and Deweyan ethics in terms of the discourse of human moral development. (...) We then attempt to use Dewey’s theory on an experimental basis to examine and further explain the extent to which the current alignment pathway enables the development of LLMs. A beating experiment serves as the foundational case for analyzing LLMs’ moral competence across various parameters and stages, including basic moral cognition, moral dilemma judgment, and moral behavior. The results demonstrate that the moral competence of the GPT series has seen a significant improvement, and Dewey’s Impulse-Habit-Character theory of moral development can be used to explain this: the moral competence of LLMs has been enhanced through experience-based learning, supported by human feedback. Nevertheless, LLMs’ moral development through RLHF remains constrained and does not reach the character stage described by Dewey, possibly due to their lack of self-consciousness. This fundamental difference between humans and LLMs underscores both the limitations of LLMs’ moral growth and the challenges of applying RLHF for AI alignment. It also emphasizes the need for external societal governance and legal regulation. (shrink)

Franke Philosophy & Technology, 35(4), 1-7, (2022) offers an interesting claim that algorithmic transparency as manipulation does not necessarily follow that it is good or bad. Different people can have good reasons to adopt different evaluative attitudes towards this manipulation. Despite agreeing with some of his observations, this short reply will examine three crucial misconceptions in his arguments. In doing so, it defends why we are morally obliged to care about the manipulative potential of algorithmic transparency. It suggests that we (...) as society have a moral duty to incorporate the value of transparency into algorithmic systems while keeping algorithmic transparency itself sensitive to power relations. (shrink)

This cogent and knowledgeable critique of the tradition of modern analytic philosophy focuses on the work of its central figures -- Russell, Carnap, and Quine -- and finds it wanting. In its place, Hao Wang unfolds his own original view of what philosophy could and should be. The base of any serious philosophy, he contends, should take as its point of departure the actual state of human knowledge. He explains the relation of this new tradition to mathematical logic and reveals (...) the crucial transitions and mistakes in mainstream Anglo-American philosophy that make a new approach so compelling.Equally at home in philosophy and mathematics, Wang is uniquely qualified to take on the task of critically examining modern philosophy. He carefully traces the path of ideas from Russell and Wittgenstein through the Vienna Circle to modern British and American philosophy, and makes use of his familiarity with the profound thought of Kurt Gödel with whom he has had numerous discussions. He also presents the broader significance of Russell's philosophy, provides a comprehensive and unified treatment of Quine's work in logic and in philosophy, and delineates what is common between Carnap and Quine. (shrink)

Love is often seen as the most intimate aspect of our lives, but it is increasingly engineered by a few programmers with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Nowadays, numerous dating platforms are deploying so-called smart algorithms to identify a greater number of potential matches for a user. These AI-enabled matchmaking systems, driven by a rich trove of data, can not only predict what a user might prefer but also deeply shape how people choose their partners. This paper draws on Jürgen Habermas’s “colonization (...) of the lifeworld” thesis to critically explore the insidious influence of delegating romantic decision-making to an algorithm. The love lifeworld is colonized inasmuch as online dating algorithms encroach into our romantic relations to the extent that communicative action within romance is replaced by the technocratic rules of an algorithm. (shrink)

AI can fundamentally shape our society, raising significant ethical, legal, and social aspects that need careful consideration. Therefore, it is important to educate and train engineering students developing and using AI about ethical, legal, and social aspects. However, teaching this to engineering students with no ethics background poses unique challenges, as engineering is more focused on the development of particular technologies. In addition, engineering education often focuses on artefact-level ethical, legal, and social aspects of AI, such as data privacy and (...) transparency, while recent research shows that structural impacts (e.g., surveillance, instrumentalization, and deskilling) should also be included in responsible AI research. So, how can we effectively educate engineers about ethical, legal, and social aspects, particularly when it comes to structural impacts of AI? This article develops an Educational Intervention to help young engineers identify both artefact-level and broader structural ethical, legal, and social aspects of AI. This Educational Intervention includes a series of lectures that provide a theoretical analysis of ethical, legal, and social aspects in AI, and an in-class Product Impact Tool to help students systematically diagnose ethical, legal, and social aspects in an AI case. We suggest that the combination of active/passive learning is important to this Intervention, but what sets it apart is its use of the adjusted Product Impact Tool. This teaching tool integrates a multi-level approach to ethical, legal, and social aspects, allowing engineering students to move beyond artifact-level concerns like transparency and privacy to critically engage with AI’s institutional, sociopolitical, and ontological dimensions. (shrink)

Zest for both system and objectivity is the formal logician's original sin. He pays for it by constant frustrations and by living ofttimes the life of an intellectual outcaste. The task of squeezing a large body of stubborn facts into a more or less rigid system can be a painful one, especially since the facts of mathematics are among the most stubborn of all facts. Moreover, the more general and abstract we get, the farther removed we are from the raw (...) mathematical experience. As intuition ceases to operate effectively, we fall into many unexpected traps. The formal logician gets little sympathy for his frustrations. He is regarded as too rigid by his philosophical colleagues and too speculative by his mathematical friends. The life of an intellectual outcaste may be a result partly of temperament and partly of the youthfulness of the logic profession. The unfortunate lack of wide appeal of logic may, however, be prolonged partly on account of the fact that very little of the well-established techniques of mathematics seems applicable to the treatment of serious problems of logic. The axiomatic method is well suited to provide results which are both exact and systematic. How attractive would it be if we could get an axiom system in which all the axioms and deductions were intuitively clear and all theorems of mathematics were provable? Such a system would undoubtedly satisfy Descartes who admits solely intuition and deduction, which are, for him, the only “mental operations by which we are able, wholly without fear of illusion, to arrive at the knowledge of things.” Indeed, according to Descartes, intuition and deduction “are the most certain routes to knowledge, and the mind should admit no others. All the rest should be rejected as suspect of error and dangerous.”. (shrink)

In his doctor's thesis [1], Henkin has shown that if a formal logic is consistent, and sufficiently complex, then it must admit a non-standard model. In particular, he showed that there must be a model in which that portion of the model which is supposed to represent the positive integers of the formal logic is not in fact isomorphic to the positive integers; indeed it is not even well ordered by what is supposed to be the relation of ≦.For the (...) purposes of the present paper, we do not need a precise definition of what is meant by a standard model of a formal logic. The non-standard models which we shall discuss will be flagrantly non-standard, as for instance a model of the sort whose existence is proved by Henkin. It will suffice if we and our readers are in agreement that a model of a formal logic is not a standard model if either: The relation in the model which represents the equality relation in the formal logic is not the equality relation for objects of the model. That portion of the model which is supposed to represent the positive integers of the formal logic is not well ordered by the relation ≦. That portion of the model which is supposed to represent the ordinal numbers of the formal logic is not well ordered by the relation ≦. (shrink)

A survey is made of work since 1879 on foundational problems viewed as an analysis, by reduction and formalization, of the concepts proof, feasible, number, set, and constructivity. It is suggested that there are five domains of concepts and methods, viz., anthropologism, finitism, intuitionism, predicativism, and platonism. It is also suggested that the central problem is to characterize these domains by formalization and to determine their interrelations by different forms of reduction. Finally, the range of logic in the narrower sense (...) is discussed, and applications of mathematical logic are briefly outlined.ZusammenfassungDie Entwicklung der Grundlagenforschung seit dem Jahre 1879 wird hier im Überblick dargestellt und zwar vom Standpunkt einer Analyse durch Reduktion and Formalisierung der Begriffe Beweis, Zahl, Menge und Konstruktivität aus gesehen. Fünf Bereiche von Begriffsbildungen und Methoden werden zu Grunde gelegt, nämlich: Anthropologismus, Finitismus, Intuitionismus, Prädikativismus und Platonismus. Als zentrale Aufgabenstellung wird hier die Charakterisierung dieser Bereiche durch Formalisierung betrachtet und weiterhin die Bestimmung ihrer gegenseitigen Zusammenhänge durch verschiedene Arten von Reduktionen. Schliesslich wird das Gebiet der Logik im engeren Sinne diskutiert und Anwendungen der mathematischen Logik skizziert.RésuméL'article réexamine les travaux faits depuis 1879 sur les problèmes du fondement des mathématiques, que P'on considère comme des analyses par réduction et formalisation des concepts de démonstration, de nombre, d'ensemble, et de constructivité. On suggère qu'il existe cinq domaines de concepts et de méthodes, à savoir: anthropologisme, finitisme, intuitionisme, « predicativism » et platonisme. On suggère aussi que le problème essentiel consiste à caractériser ces domaines par formalisation et à déterminer leurs relations réciproques par différentes formes de réduction. Finalement, on étudie la portée de la logique prise dans son sens le plus étroit et on esquisse rapidement les applications de la logique mathématique. (shrink)

The essay centers on Gödel's views on the place of our intuitive concept of time in philosophy and in physics. It presents my interpretation of his work on the theory of relativity, his observations on the relationship between Einstein's theory and Kantian philosophy, as well as some of the scattered remarks in his conversations with me in the seventies — namely, those on the philosophies of Leibniz, Hegel and Husserl — as a successor of Kant — in relation to their (...) conceptions of time. (shrink)

Noted logician and philosopher addresses various forms of mathematical logic, discussing both theoretical underpinnings and practical applications. After historical survey, lucid treatment of set theory, model theory, recursion theory and constructivism and proof theory. Place of problems in development of theories of logic, logic’s relationship to computer science, more. Suitable for readers at many levels of mathematical sophistication. 3 appendixes. Bibliography. 1981 edition.

With the rapid expansion of parameters in large language models (LLMs) and the application of Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF), there has been a noticeable growth in the moral competence of LLMs. However, several questions warrant further exploration: Is it really possible for LLMs to fully align with human values through RLHF? How can the current moral growth be philosophically contextualized? We identify similarities between LLMs’ moral growth and Deweyan ethics in terms of the discourse of human moral development. (...) We then attempt to use Dewey’s theory on an experimental basis to examine and further explain the extent to which the current alignment pathway enables the development of LLMs. A beating experiment serves as the foundational case for analyzing LLMs’ moral competence across various parameters and stages, including basic moral cognition, moral dilemma judgment, and moral behavior. The results demonstrate that the moral competence of the GPT series has seen a significant improvement, and Dewey’s Impulse-Habit-Character theory of moral development can be used to explain this: the moral competence of LLMs has been enhanced through experience-based learning, supported by human feedback. Nevertheless, LLMs’ moral development through RLHF remains constrained and does not reach the character stage described by Dewey, possibly due to their lack of self-consciousness. This fundamental difference between humans and LLMs underscores both the limitations of LLMs’ moral growth and the challenges of applying RLHF for AI alignment. It also emphasizes the need for external societal governance and legal regulation. (shrink)

I propose to sketch my views on several aspects of the philosophy of mathematics that I take to be especially relevant to philosophy as a whole. The relevance of my discussion would, I think, become more evident, if the reader keeps in mind the function of (the philosophy of) mathematics in philosophy in providing us with more transparent aspects of general issues. I shall consider: (1) three familiar examples; (2) logic and our conceptual frame; (3) communal agreement and objective certainty; (...) (4) the transcommunal universality of mathematics; (5) the big jump to the potential infinite; (6) the reconciliation of local creation with the hypothesis of discovery; (7) Platonism as realism plus conceptualism; (8) foundational studies and mathematical practice; and (9) the decomposition of philosophical disagreements. The views of Gödel and Wittgenstein are emphasized in order to add specificity to the discussions. (shrink)

In the name of safeguarding public interests and ethical principles, China’s National Health Commission bans unmarried women from using assisted reproductive technology (ART), including egg freezing. Supported by local governments, the ban has restricted single women’s reproductive rights nationwide. Although some courts bypassed the ban to allow widowed single women to use ART, they have not adopted a position in favour of single women’s reproductive autonomy, but quite the contrary. Faced with calls to relax the ban and allow single women (...) to freeze eggs electively, the National Health Commission refused to amend their policy, partly to protect women’s well-being paternalistically and partly to implement the central government’s policies to boost the birthrate and maintain traditional family structures. While the government’s concerns about elective egg freezing are not entirely unfounded, they have failed to demonstrate that banning single women’s egg freezing is a suitable, necessary and proportionate means to safeguard societal interests and ethical principles. The authority’s assumptions that women cannot make rational decisions for their health even with adequate informed consent procedures, that banning egg freezing by single women promotes a culture of having children ‘at a proper age’, and that egg freezing by single women offends China’s public moralities have not been substantiated. (shrink)

This essay discusses a number of questions which arise from attempts to reduce the mental to the physical or the mental and the physical to the computational. It makes, in an organized way, several basic distinctions between different kinds of accounts of the mind. It reconstructs and elaborates many discussions between Gödel and the author on the nature of the human mind, with special emphasis on its mathematical capabilities.

The development of artificial perception technologies has surpassed the limitations of human natural senses, expanding humanity's perspectives on the world and self-awareness. However, it has simultaneously introduced new ethical challenges. These emerging challenges necessitate a philosophical reexamination of concepts such as 'nature,' 'artificial,' and ' invasiveness ' to better address associated issues. The advancement of artificial perception technologies not only involves scientific and practical applications but also profoundly influences human values, social ethics, and the future trajectory of human civilization. Amidst (...) the current transformation and transition in modes of cognition, reevaluating the relationship between technology and humanity becomes a crucial task. (shrink)