The relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance has long been a central and contentious debate in the literature. However, prior empirical studies provide indefinite conclusions. The purpose of this study is to review systematically and quantify the CSR–CFP link in a meta-analytic framework. Based on 119 effect sizes from 42 studies, this study estimates that the overall effect size of the CSR–CFP relationship is positive and significant, thus endorsing the argument that CSR does enhance financial (...) performance. Furthermore, this work sheds light on the causal relationship between CSR and CFP. Subsequent financial performance is associated with prior social responsibility, while the reverse direction is not supported. This finding supports the instrumental stakeholder theory. As predicted, the meta-analysis results indicate that the measurement strategies of the two key constructs of CSR and CFP explain some variations of the CSR–CFP relationship. Last, this study examines the moderating effect of the environmental context on the CSR–CFP link. This work proposes that CSR in the developed world, with a relatively mature institutional system and efficient market mechanism, will be more visible than CSR in the developing world. The results show that the CSR–CFP relationship is stronger for firms from advanced economies than for firms from developing economies. (shrink)

Although principles-based approaches have long been a cornerstone of bioethics and remain well-suited to many aspects of medical ethics, their reliance on deductive reasoning and emphasis on individualistic interpretations of autonomy often fall short in addressing the nuanced complexities of end-of-life (EOL) issues. The Ethics of Care (EoC) provides a comprehensive anthropological and ethical framework that is well-suited for EOL decision-making, including treatment limitations. This article explores the application of EoC to EOL care, proposing that decisions should prioritize care, compassion, (...) relational networks, and context-sensitive judgements rather than the deduction of abstract principles. The inherent tension between EoC as a theoretical framework and its strong orientation toward concrete, relational practice is also discussed. While EoC cannot provide prescriptive steps, it offers valuable insights to complement traditional approaches to ethics. Following it, we propose eight practical guides for improving EOL decision-making. They represent an interpretation of EoC’s core elements, interpreted for the specific challenges of treatment limitation. The practical guides are as follows: (1) building a trusting relationship with the patient, (2) identification of the patient’s needs and values, (3) respect for the patient’s relational part of autonomy, (4) identifying good treatment for the patient, (5) recognition of HCP’s own inclinations and interests, (6) weighing different responsibilities, (7) shared decision-making towards best care, and (8) ensuring continuity of care and openness to change. Integrating the EoC perspective into clinical practice can enhance healthcare professionals’ ability to navigate the ethical challenges at the EOL. (shrink)

Fundamental beliefs about free will and moral responsibility are often thought to shape our ability to have healthy relationships with others and ourselves. Emotional reactions have also been shown to have an important and pervasive impact on judgments and behaviors. Recent research suggests that emotional reactions play a prominent role in judgments about free will, influencing judgments about determinism’s relation to free will and moral responsibility. However, the extent to which affect influences these judgments is unclear. We conducted (...) a metaanalysis to estimate the impact of affect. Our meta-analysis indicates that beliefs in free will are largely robust to emotional reactions. (shrink)

What capacities must an AI system possess to be held responsible for its actions? I argue that AI systems can be accountable agents when they possess sufficiently strong commitments to relevant norms (ethical, rational, or conventional). This paper articulates empirically determinable necessary and sufficient conditions for possessing such commitments. Specifically, I argue that what I term a meta-reflective capacity toward a goal is both necessary and sufficient. Meta-reflection is the capacity to maintain resource-optimal performance by appropriately changing one’s (...) cognitive strategy in response to changes in internal constraints. A commitment’s strength can be characterized by the constraints under which a system fails to maintain resource-optimality. The path forward for a theory of AI responsibility requires articulating which qualitative internal system limitations are excusable, forgivable, or competence-undermining. Considerations of the mutability of constraints offer a partial way to delineate such classes. This framework connects philosophical theories of responsibility to cognitive processes and provides a path toward identifying and engineering normative commitments in biological and artificial systems. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the contribution of meta-regulation in responding to the regulatory needs of a field beset by significant uncertainties concerning risks, benefits and development trajectories and characterised by fast development. Meta-regulation allows regulators to address problems when they lack the resources or information needed to develop sound “discretion-limiting rules”; meta-regulators exploit the information advantages of those actors to be regulated by leveraging them into the task of regulating itself. The contribution of meta-regulation to the (...) governance of nanotechnologies is assessed in terms of responsibilisation. Responsibilisation is regarded as a pre -requisite for regulatory actors to internalise social values (such as consumer safety and occupational health) and to ensure that these values are built into regulatory practice. In order to explore the potential of responsibilisation, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies Research launched by the European Commission in 2008 is evaluated. The Code is a good case of meta-regulation that aims to steer the self-regulation of nanotechnological business and research organisations. The paper concludes that, while efforts were made on the part of meta-regulators and self-regulators to contribute to responsibilisation, important opportunities for responsibilisation such as dissemination and promotion of the Code, trust-building activities, and failure to provide rewards, incentives and stakeholder guidance were not taken up. In order to foster responsibilisation within the meta-regulatory instrument of the EC Code, a number of crucial activities to be undertaken by meta-regulators are recommended. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSIR) impact firm risk in complex, dynamic ways, rather than as mere opposites. In a meta-analysis of 197 empirical studies, we find asymmetric patterns in which CSIR’s risk-generation effects outweigh CSR’s risk-mitigation effects. These impacts vary across dimensions of social outcomes, risk types, and contextual moderators. Moreover, CSR’s risk-mitigation effects are influenced by indirect paths related to CSIR, whereas CSIR’s risk-generation effects are not associated with indirect paths. Our findings highlight the nuanced (...) interplay among CSR, CSIR, and risk, offering new insights for future research on theoretical mechanisms, contexts, measurements, and methods. (shrink)

In this chapter, we discuss the centrality of personal connections and trust in the authoritarian field. We consider our relations with local collaborators, the responsibility we have towards them, and the consideration of risk in such relations. We also discuss relations with interview respondents, the ways in which we approach them to try and maximize our chances of building trust, and how we ‘work with what we have’ in terms of our ascriptive characteristics, presenting a version of ourselves that (...) helps us get information. We reflect on having been subject to manipulation by local contacts and respondents. Finally, we consider the debt we owe collaborators and respondents in the field, and the limited ways in which we can do something in return. (shrink)

The article examines the new discourse on medical professionalism and responsibility through the prism of conflicts among moral values, especially with regard to truth-telling. The discussion is anchored in the renaissance of English-language writing on medical ethics in the 18th century, which paralleled the rise of humanitarianism and the advent of the word “responsibility”. Following an analysis of the meanings of the value of responsibility in general and in medical practice in particular, it is argued that, similarly (...) to the Aristotelian notion of equity, responsibility of care is a second-order value, which corrects virtues, laws and norms in exceptional circumstances. Virtues and practices of the second order, such as responsibility and deliberation, bear especially on professional doctoring, which includes a commitment to give priority to the good of the patient over one’s own good. It is argued that, in situations of conflict, and particularly conflicts between personal moral identity and the good of patients, the fundamental professional commitment is to critical and rational deliberation and to the cultivation of psycho-moral flexibility. This leads indirectly to moral growth and strengthening of professional character. (shrink)

Paradox theory offers a unique approach through which the complex and often conflicting aspects of corporate sustainability (CS) can be addressed. Although a growing body of literature has focused on the organizational-level outcomes of a paradox approach to sustainability, we know less about how such an approach creates business contributions to sustainable development beyond the organization (societal sustainability). The present study addresses this gap in research through a qualitative meta-analysis of 32 empirical case studies. While the analyzed studies confirmed (...) the effectiveness of a paradox approach to managing CS tensions from an organizational perspective, indications of contributions to societal sustainability were ambiguous. This finding led to the creation of a typology of response–outcome pathways. These pathways illustrate variations in the societal sustainability outcomes of CS paradox responses based on the moderating effects of three factors: level of commitment to sustainability, the approach to stakeholder engagement, and the level of strategy–practice alignment. This analysis contributes to the CS paradox perspective by offering important boundary conditions to the commonly held assumption that a paradox approach leads to superior business contributions to sustainability and highlights the need for research that examines outcomes of extant CS approaches beyond the organization. (shrink)

I am glad that David Chalmers has now come round to the view that explaining the 'problem intuitions' about consciousness is the key to a satisfactory philosophical account of the topic. I find it surprising, however, given his previous writings, that Chalmers does not simply attribute these intuitions to the conceptual gap between physical and phenomenal facts. Still, it is good that he doesn't, given that this was always a highly implausible account of the problem intuitions. Unfortunately, later in his (...) paper Chalmers slides back into his misguided previous emphasis on the conceptual gap, in his objections to orthodox a posteriori physicalism. Because of this he fails to appreciate how this orthodox physicalism offers a natural solution to the challenges posed by consciousness. (shrink)

Acquisition and purchase of counterfeit and pirated products are illicit and morally questionable consumer behaviors. Nonetheless, some consumers engage in such illicit behavior and seem to overcome the moral dilemma by justification strategies. The findings on morality effects on consumer responses to counterfeit and pirated products are diverse, and the underlying theories provide no clear picture of the process that explains how morality and justification lead to particular consumer responses or why consumers differ in their responses. This study presents a (...) meta-analysis of 788 effect sizes from 207 independent samples provided in 196 manuscripts that synthesizes the research on the influence of morality on attitudes, intentions, and behavior toward counterfeit and pirated products. The meta-analysis tests competing theoretical models that describe the morality-justification processes, and identifies the deontological–teleological model as the superior one. The meta-analysis further shows that the institutional and social context of consumers explains the differences in morality effects on justifications and responses to counterfeit and pirated products, and provides evidence for the context-sensitivity of the underlying theories. (shrink)

Boards of directors affect corporate strategy and decision-making through monitoring of management and resource provision. Recently, an increasing number of studies have examined the relationships between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This article therefore reports the results of a study applying meta-analytical techniques to a sample of 82 empirical studies to help clarify the relationships between board characteristics and CSR. Although prior research has tended to apply relatively simplistic models investigating (...) the impact of individual board characteristics independently and only directly, we adopt a more complex perspective to shed new light on the board characteristics–CSR nexus. Specifically, we use a meta-analytic path model that accounts for the potential interplay between board characteristics in determining CSR and tests whether the presence of a CSR committee plays a meditating role. Our findings suggest that board size, board independence, and female board representation are partially interrelated with each other and jointly influence CSR directly as well as indirectly via the presence of a CSR committee. In addition, we find that country-level institutional factors act as moderators and that the relationships differ with regard to the specific dimension of CSR (i.e., social, environmental, or aggregate). (shrink)

Establishing credibility and trustworthiness is essential in Economic Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), where clear epistemic standards cannot be defined a priori. In this paper, we first review the notions of trustworthiness and credibility in modeling. We then introduce a framework that emphasizes the modeler's epistemic responsibility to ensure coherence between modeling purposes, strategies and targets. We examine the challenges in assessing model reliability that arise from the interaction of conceptual, algorithmic and computational constituents, and we propose a meta-analytical approach (...) to enhance model consistency by conceptualizing agent-based simulations as iterated analogies. Our analysis outlines strategies for improving model accessibility and reliability while highlighting the modeler's role in preventing mistargeting and misuse. This research provides a normative basis for justifying the credibility of both idealized and targetless models by promoting transparency and consistency between model design and intended purposes. (shrink)

Public health nursing is grounded in public health ideologies and fundamental nursing values. Researchers have argued that ethical responsibility from the perspective of the nurse is an understudied phenomenon. This meta-ethnography provides in-depth knowledge of how public health nurses (PHNs) experience ethical responsibility when working to prevent injury and disease, and promote health and well-being in children, young people and their families. There are reciprocal findings across the 10 included studies. The findings reveal that these nurses often (...) feel alone, have worries and uncertainties and are afraid of doing wrong. They describe unclear boundaries in their work, creating a heightened sense of responsibility. PHNs fight lonely battles. Yet they show courage and commitment and are ready to stand up and fight for children and families who do not receive adequate care. A line of argument is developed and the metaphorical phrase Chivalrous knights in moral armour is used to express the authors’ overall interpretations of the findings. Reflection on the findings shows how the different dimensions of ethical responsibility are interconnected. The nurses’ ethical sensitivity enables them to feel compassion for others and they show indignation when vulnerable others are not treated with dignity and respect. Indignation and compassion are interrelated, and when human life and dignity are threatened, the ethical demand to respond emerges. Indignation is a precursor to moral courage, and the nurses’ moral sensitivity and respect for their clients emboldens them to stand up for vulnerable others. The findings also illustrate the paradoxical nature of freedom. Freedom of choice due to unclear boundaries heightens the nurses' sense of responsibility. This research is an important step in theory development and has implications for further research, education and practice. (shrink)

Although there is much research on the relationships of corporate social responsibility and employee-related outcomes, a systematic and quantitative integration of research findings is needed to substantiate and broaden our knowledge. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of the relations of different types of CSR on several different outcomes, for example to learn what type of CSR is most important to employees. From a theoretical perspective, social identity theory is the most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research, so we (...) aim to investigate identification as a mediator of the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes in a meta-analytical mediation model. This meta-analysis synthesizes research findings on the relationship between employees' perception of CSR (people, planet, and profit) and employee-related outcomes (identification, engagement, organizational attractiveness, turnover (intentions), OCB, commitment, and job satisfaction), thereby distinguishing attitudes and behavior. A total of 143 studies (N= 89,396) were included in the meta-analysis which was conducted according to the methods by Schmidt and Hunter (except of the meta-analytical structural equation model). Mean effect sizes for the relationship between CSR and employee-related attitudes and behaviors were medium-sized to large. For attitudes, the relationships were stronger than for behavior. For specific types of CSR, average effect sizes were large. Identification mediated the relation between CSR and commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, respectively. Based on our results, we give recommendations concerning the design of CSR initiatives in a way that benefits employees. (shrink)

Animal agriculture faces increasing moral and societal scrutiny. The GEroNIMO project aims to address challenges such as sustainability, welfare, and genetic diversity through genomic innovations. The ongoing debate about genome editing is mostly driven by experts from few disciplines with an emphasis on technical and science-based arguments resembling consequentialist reasoning without making systematic comparisons. To increase the range of arguments and stakeholders, we conducted eight focus groups (n = 70) in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Slovenia, representing rural and urban (...) groups. Furthermore, we discussed alternative or complementary technologies to genome editing such as cultivated meat to both allow for systematic comparisons and to scrutinise the extent to which attitudes towards specific food technologies rely on general attitudes towards food technology. Guided by Critical Applied Ethics and Moral Foundation Theory, we identified underlying moral intuitions of the participants without uncritically adopting their arguments. Across all groups, benefits for animal welfare, fairness and transparency in economic motives, and trust in institutions emerged as key conditions for responsible use of genome editing in animal agriculture. While these concerns were broadly shared, participants from the Netherlands and Germany expressed relatively more openness towards technological food innovation, compared to those from France and Slovenia, within the scope of this qualitative study. Our findings highlight the need to understand the cultural and intuitive dimensions of moral reasoning for effective public engagement and responsible development of emerging food and breeding technologies. In particular, concerns rooted in feelings of disgust deserve deeper scrutiny rather than being addressed with harm-based arguments, which fail to address the moral roots of disgust. (shrink)

Sprint interval training is characterized by intensity of “all-out” effort and superior time-efficiency compared to traditional moderate-intensity continuous training and has been proposed as one viable solution to address the commonly reported barrier of lack of time for physical activity. While substantial physiological benefits of participation in SIT have been well-documented, the psychological responses to SIT are less clear. No systematic review has been conducted thus far to respond to the assumption that its supramaximal intensity will induce adverse feelings. Therefore, (...) the aim of the present study was to synthesize studies analyzing affective and enjoyment responses to SIT and to compare the responses to SIT with MICT and other high intensity interval training protocols with lower intensities. After searching relevant databases up until 22nd March 2021, twenty-five studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the present review. Random effect meta-analysis using the pooled data demonstrated that SIT induced similar post-exercise affective valences during the training compared to MICT and HIIT, but lower affective valences immediately post-exercise compared to MICT. Moreover, affective responses during SIT decreased to negative valences according to the results from most included studies, while low-volume SIT protocols with shorter sprint duration and repetitions induced more positive affective responses. Level of enjoyment after SIT were positive and were comparable to MICT or HIIT. Overall, the results from the existing literature indicate that SIT might cause unpleasant feelings during the training and be perceived less pleasurable than MICT immediately post training but could be a comparably enjoyable modality for healthy individuals in relation to MICT or HIIT, despite its supramaximal intensity. Low-volume SIT may be a realistic option for individuals seeking a time-efficient workout with comparable affective responses to MICT or HIIT.Systematic Review Registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO], Identifier [CRD42021284898]. (shrink)

Jacob Busch's, ‘Entity Realism Meets the Pessimistic Meta-Induction – The World is not Enough’ (2006) criticizes my discussion, in Realism and Truth (Devitt, Princeton University Press, 1997), of scientific realism in general and of the pessimistic meta-induction (PMI) in particular (1997). I start my response with a discussion of the problem of defining scientific realism. I then argue that Busch's criticisms contain two major mistakes. First, he is wrong to think that Bertolet showed my basic abductive argument for (...) realism to be faulty. Second, in discussing PMI, Busch places the onus in the wrong place. It is up to the proponent of PMI to establish the truth of its premise and the soundness of its inference. I don't think that the proponent has accepted this onus. It is up to the realist to show only that the truth of the premise and the soundness of the inference have not been established. I claim to have accepted that onus. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic has been analysed and discussed from many disciplinary perspectives. An aspect that still needs critical exploration is the role—that is, the modes and forms—of regulatory interventions during the pan- demic. It is interesting to note in this regard that, in many studies, regulatory measures are labelled “non-pharma- ceutical interventions”, as if they do not have any specificity on their own and only represent a theoretically residual category. The main aim of this article is instead to focus on (...) the distinctive features of normative measures as such. As regards the article’s focus, it centres on the normative interventions in the first period of the pandemic—that is, 2020—with particular reference to Italy. We have chosen to focus on this period because the most extensive and severe restrictions introduced to combat Covid-19 were established at that time. And we have chosen to con- sider Italy because it was the first country, after China, to be hard hit by the virus and to react in a draconian manner. As regards the methodology, the article is based, in general and primarily, on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review. With reference to the Italian case, the study is additionally based on: first-hand data collection and analysis (especially concerning Italian normative measures mainly issued at the national level: their type, frequency, target, hierarchical relationships); second-hand data and analysis (for instance as regards the effectiveness of Italy’s and other countries’ regulatory measures). In discussing the Italian response to the Covid-19 pandemic, certain weaknesses have been identified; and possible lessons have been highlighted, in terms of both “planning” (i.e. the necessity to better pre-define concrete and circumscribed sets of actions) and of “meta-planning” (i.e. the necessity of better planning the way in which public authorities could and should plan and act). Although this article is mainly based on the Italian situation, what we can learn from this case is largely generalizable. (shrink)

Empirical studies, which analyze the performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) funds relative to conventional funds, find contradictory results. The aim of this paper is to investigate, with the help of a meta-analysis, how selected primary study characteristics influence the probability of a significant under- or outperformance of SRI funds compared with conventional funds. 25 studies with more than 500 observations are included in the meta-analysis. The results of this paper suggest that the consideration of the survivorship bias (...) in a study increases (decreases) the probability of a significant outperformance (underperformance) of SRI funds relative to conventional funds. The focus on United States (US) SRI funds increases (decreases) the probability of a significant outperformance (underperformance) too. The time period influences the probability of a significant under- and outperformance of SRI funds as well, but based on the results of this paper, it is not possible to draw general conclusions on this variable. (shrink)

Predictive modeling in education draws on data from past courses to forecast the effectiveness of future courses. The present effort sought to identify such a model of instructional effectiveness in scientific ethics. Drawing on data from 235 courses in the responsible conduct of research, structural equation modeling techniques were used to test a predictive model of RCR course effectiveness. Fit statistics indicated the model fit the data well, with the instructional characteristics included in the model explaining approximately 85% of the (...) variance in RCR instructional effectiveness. Implications for using the model to develop and improve future RCR courses are discussed. (shrink)

Even though Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a widely accepted concept promoted by different stakeholders, business corporations' internal strategies, known as corporate self-regulation in most of the weak economies, respond poorly to this responsibility. Major laws relating to corporate regulation and responsibilities of these economies do not possess adequate ongoing influence to insist on corporate self-regulation to create a socially responsible corporate culture. This book describes how the laws relating to CSR could contribute to the inclusion of (...) CSR principles at the core of the corporate self-regulation of these economies in general, without being intrusive in normal business practice. It formulates a meta-regulation approach to law, particularly by converging patterns of private ordering and state control in contemporary corporate law from the perspective of a weak economy. It proposes that this approach is suitable for alleviating regulators' limited access to information and expertise, inherent limitations of prescriptive rules, ensuring corporate commitment, and enhance the self-regulatory capacity of companies. This book describes various meta-regulation strategies for laws to link social values to economic incentives and disincentives, and to indirectly influence companies to incorporate CSR principles at the core of their self-regulation strategies. It investigates this phenomenon using Bangladesh as a case study. (shrink)

In Western countries a considerable number of older people move to a residential home when their health declines. Institutionalization often results in increased dependence, inactivity and loss of identity or self-worth (dignity). This raises the moral question as to how older, institutionalized people can remain autonomous as far as continuing to live in line with their own values is concerned. Following Walker's meta-ethical framework on the assignment of responsibilities, we suggest that instead of directing all older people towards more (...) autonomy in terms of independence, professional caregivers should listen to the life narrative of older people and attempt to find out how their personal identity, relations and values in life can be continued in the new setting. If mutual normative expectations between caregivers and older people are not carefully negotiated, it creates tension. This tension is illustrated by the narrative of Mr Powell, a retired successful public servant now living in a residential home. The narrative describes his current life, his need for help, his independent frame of mind, and his encounters with institutional and professional policies. Mr Powell sees himself as a man who has always cared for himself and others, and who still feels that he has to fulfil certain duties in life. Mr Powell's story shows that he is not always understood well by caregivers who respond from a one-sided view of autonomy as independence. This leads to misunderstanding and an underestimation of his need to be noticed and involved in the residential community. (shrink)

This article aimed to investigate the effects of menstrual cycle phases on perceptual responses in athletes by means of systematic review and meta-analysis. The search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Sport Discus databases considering articles with two or more menstrual phases for comparison. The PECO criteria were used for the keywords “menstrual cycle,” “athletes,” and “perceptual responses” with their respective entry terms. Of 1.165 records identified, 14 articles were available for the final evaluation, while eight (...) articles were eligible for a meta-analysis. The perceptual responses evaluated in the studies were: motivation, competitiveness, sleep quality, stress, muscle soreness, fatigue, perceived effort, mood, menstrual symptoms, perceived endurance, and readiness. The meta-analysis was conducted for perceived effort only. The results showed that the level of perceived exertion does not differ two phases of the menstrual cycle, whereas RPE was 19.81 ± 0.05 and 16.27 ± 0.53 at day 1–5 and day 19–24, respectively. Two studies found statistically significant changes in motivation and competitiveness during the cycle, with better outcomes in ovulatory phase compared to follicular and luteal. One study found an increase in mood disturbance in the pre-menstrual phase ; one decreased vigor in the menstrual phase ; one increased the menstrual symptoms in the follicular phase, and one study reported increased fatigue and decreased sleep quality on luteal phase. The remaining studies and variables were not affected by the menstrual cycle phase. Based on the results from the studies selected, some perceptual responses are affected in different menstrual cycle phases. A “favorable” subjective response in athletes was noticed when the ovarian hormones present an increase in concentration levels compared to phases with lower concentration. Different perceptual variables and methodological approaches limit the generalization of the conclusion. (shrink)

It is popular to hold that our primary epistemic access to specific response-dependent properties like the fearsome or admirable (or so-called ‘affective properties’) is constituted by the corresponding emotion. I argue that this view is incompatible with a widely held meta-ethical view, according to which affective properties have deontic force. More specifically, I argue that this view cannot accommodate for the requirement that deontic entities provide guidance. If affective properties are to guide the formation of the corresponding emotion, our (...) primary access to them cannot be provided by that same emotion. (shrink)

Responsibility, Complexity, and Abortion: Toward a New Image of Ethical Thought draws from feminist theory, post-structuralist theory, and complexity theory to develop a new set of ethical concepts for broaching the thinking challenges that attend the experience of unwanted pregnancy. Author Karen Houle does not only argue for these concepts; she enacts a method for working with them, a method that brackets the tendency to take positions and to think that position-taking is what ethical analysis involves. This book thus (...) provides concrete evidence of a theoretically-grounded, compassionate way that people in all walks of life, academic or otherwise, could come to a better understanding of, and more complex relationship to, difficult ethical issues. On the one hand, this is a meta-ethical book about how people can conceive and communicate moral ideas in ways that are more constructive than position-taking; on the other hand, it is also a book about abortion. It testifies from a first-person female perspective about the life-long complexity that attends fertility, sexuality and reproduction. But it does not do so in order to ratify abortion as a woman’s issue or a private matter or as feminist work. Rather, its aim is to excavate the ethical richness of the situation of unwanted pregnancy showing that it connects to everyone, affects everyone, and thus gives everyone something unique and new to think. (shrink)

Pure causal theories of reference cannot account for cases of theoretical term reference failure and do not capture the scientific point of introducing new theoretical terminology. In order to account for paradigm cases of reference failure and the point of new theoretical terminology, a descriptive element must play a role in fixing the reference of theoretical terms. Richard Boyd's concept of theory constituitive metaphors provides the necessary descriptive element in reference fixing. In addition to providing a plausible account of reference (...) failure and success, a metaphor approach to reference fixing provides the basis for a plausible realist account of the progress of science. Indeed, the metaphor approach undermines the sceptical force of the meta-induction and Laudan's objections to scientific realism. (shrink)

Big Tech companies such as Meta, the owner of Facebook, are increasingly accused of enabling human rights violations. The proliferation of toxic speech in their digital platforms has been in the background of recent episodes of mass atrocity, the most salient of which recently transpired in Myanmar and Ethiopia. The involvement of Big Tech companies in mass atrocity raises multiple normative and conceptual challenges. One is to properly conceptualize Meta’s responsibility for the circulation of toxic speech. On (...) one view, endorsed by the corporation itself, Meta can be absolved from any significant share of responsibility for these atrocities because toxic speech is the speech of some (rogue) users, hosted but neither created nor endorsed by the company; if anything, Meta is responsible for failing to anticipate and swiftly remove that speech. I will argue that this view is misleading, as it misses the underlying forces crafting toxic speech. Meta’s business model relies on what one might call the algorithmic capture of attention, which it achieves by manipulating its users and by creating an environment in which manipulative practices of some users thrive over others. This fact alone turns the company into a co-creator of toxic speech rather than a mere conduit of the toxic speech of others. As a result, it is safe to claim that Meta bears significant causal responsibility and sufficient moral responsibility for the dissemination of toxic speech, such that it justifies its inclusion in transitional justice processes and grounds its moral obligation to act in ways that advance these processes. (shrink)

Response to critics for a book symposium on Agency and the Foundations of Ethics (OUP, 2013).

The increased use of AI for warfighting has given rise to worries about the so-called responsibility gap, namely the worry that when things go wrong (e.g., a disproportionate number of civilians are killed by an AI-enabled weapon) we might not know who to hold responsible for that failure or, more precisely, that no individual or group involved in the AI system’s life cycle (from design to deployment) may meet the conditions for attributing responsibility when failures occur. This has (...) led some scholars to argue that such weapons (ones that have a responsibility gap) cannot be justifiably deployed. This paper, following recent work in the field, challenges the assumption that the responsibility gap is a singular, univocal problem, arguing instead that multiple, distinct responsibility gaps exist, and that they can be categorized along different conceptual, meta-theoretical, and normative lines. The paper specifically argues that the meta-theoretical/pre-theoretical question is essential and that the first question we need to ask is what is the purpose of trying to attribute responsibility for a particular outcome or action—is it so that we can assign blame, justify punishment, determine liability to defensive harm, ground accountability of some type, or something else. Being clear about the purpose of assigning responsibility can profoundly shape how we understand, and ought to respond to, potential responsibility gaps. Ultimately, the paper argues that the justified deployment of warfighting AI requires understanding which types of gaps are relevant, why they matter, and how they might be addressed through tailored socio-technical implementation mechanisms. (shrink)

This article presents a challenge concerning the causal efficacy of causal processes, distinct from the much-discussed causal-exclusion problem. The new challenge is to consciousness theories that require conscious processes to involve causation patterned in some specific way. This broad, diverse class includes prominent theories such as the Integrated Information Theory, Global Workspace theories and a type of Higher-Order Thought theory. The challenge arises because the causal pattern is not itself required for the effects the processes have on the organism’s other (...) aspects. Hence, the processes’ property of being conscious is dispensable in accounting for those effects. The theories are challenged to show how this does not constitute an operational problem for individual organisms or a problem as regards explaining the evolution of consciousness. The paper explains how the challenge can be met by the radical move of introducing meta-causation: causation that acts on causation instances themselves. This allows the instances of causation in conscious processes, as entities in their own right, to be causes of effects elsewhere. The paper also summarizes the author’s previously published motivation for proposing meta-causation, as the basis of consciousness itself. The present paper further supports this view. (shrink)

This essay replies to four critics of In Defense of Kant’s Religion (IDKR). In reply to Gordon E. Michalson, Jr., I argue that the best pathway for understandingKant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (Religion) is to conduct close textual analysis rather than giving up the art of interpretation or allowing meta-considerations surrounding Kant’s personal and political circumstances to govern one’s interpretation. In response to George di Giovanni, I contend that his critique is dismissive of theologically robust readings (...) of Kant for reasons that have very little to do with what Religion actually asserts. Pamela Sue Anderson’s essay, I argue, reads Kant on God according to an empirically-biased stream of British interpretation which makes Kant’s transcendental philosophy appear foreign to its rationalist heritage. Lastly, in response to Stephen R. Palmquist, I suggest that his reading of Kant’s two experiments is done not only in a vacuum, but also according to a perspectival interpretation of Kant that goes beyond what Kant’s writings actually maintain. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to catch up with a conjecture designated by the term ‘responsive self-preservation’. This term appears neither strikingly beautiful nor intuitively understandable. Obviously it is a convoluted terminus technicus in need of conceptual clarification. The reasons for introducing it should therefore be good. That this is the case cannot be guaranteed from the outset. What can be offered here is a substitution of good reasons with high ambitions: the concept of ‘responsive self-preservation’ is designed to (...) illuminate the conditio humana. In all brevity the claim is that human beings are responsive beings. This means that they do not just exist. In order to do so, they must respond to their existence. On the one hand the inner drive and utmost aspiration in human responsiveness therefore lies in self-preservation. On the other hand self-preservation is thoroughly transformed when embedded into human responsiveness. The article will thus use the concept of responsiveness and the concept of self-preservation to mutually clarify each other – in order to open the possibilities and avoid the pitfalls in each of them. In doing so, it aspires to intervene in contemporary philosophical anthropology. (shrink)

With a meta-analysis of 85 studies and 190 experiments, the authors test the relationship between socially responsible investing and financial performance to determine whether including corporate social responsibility and ethical concerns in portfolio management is more profitable than conventional investment policies. The study also analyses the influence of researcher methodologies with respect to several dimensions of SRI on the effects identified. The results indicate that the consideration of corporate social responsibility in stock market portfolios is neither a (...) weakness nor a strength compared with conventional investments; the heterogeneous results in prior studies largely reflect the SRI dimensions under study. (shrink)

Based on economic ethics, this paper reflects on and aims to improve the semantics of responsibility. The traditional concept of responsibility is threatened with erosion when responsibility is attributed to an actor who is unable to exercise individual control over the outcome of his actions. In the modern world-society this is increasingly the case. The concept of ordo-responsibility is helpful in identifying a suitable approach for the attribution and acceptance of responsibility. The perspective of economic (...) ethics systematically differentiates between the initial basic game of business and the related meta-games of politics and public discourse. In this way, the focus shifts to the rule-setting processes and rule-finding discourses for which the actors can accept governance responsibility and discourse responsibility, respectively. These two forms of ordo-responsibility demonstrate a characteristic which is extremely important for processes of New Governance: they can be attributed to corporative actors, and they can be perceived by them in their own well-reflected interests. (shrink)

Scientists working within a paradigm must play by the rules of the game of that paradigm in solving problems, and that is why incommensurability arises when the rules of the game change. If we deny the thesis of the priority of paradigms, then there is no good argument for the incommensurability of theories and thus for taxonomic incommensurability, because there is no invariant way to determine the set of results provable, puzzles solvable, and propositions cogently formulable under a given paradigm.

No one has done more than John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza to advance our understanding of the important dispute in the theory of responsibility between structuralists and historicists. This makes it all the more important to take the measure of Responsibility and Control, their most recent contribution to the historicist side of the discussion. In this paper I examine some novel features of their most recent version of responsiblity-historicism, especially their new notions of "moderate reasons-responsiveness" and "ownership-of-agency." (...) Fischer and Ravizza intend these new elements to solve two problems untouched by earlier versions of their theory: the "problem of strange preference patterns" and the "reasons-responsiveness problem of induction." I argue that they cannot solve these problems within the theoretical strictures they place upon themselves, namely a minimalist meta-ethics of value and practical reason, and attention only to certain formal features of preference-acquisition. I conclude that historicist compatibilists cannot hope to meet the challenge of structuralist compatibilism, from the one side, and of incompatibilism, from the other, unless they take on the full task of accounting for the difference between the child's acquisition of autonomous substantive preferences and values and her acquisition of heteronomous ones. (shrink)

En este libro, el autor examina un amplio abanico temático y de fuentes en el campo moral y filosófico. La propuesta se concentra en delinear la concepción de un humanismo responsable en el seno de la comunidad. Despejar el camino hacia esa meta, irse abriendo paso teóricamente entre las nociones y corrientes que el pensamiento ha hilado a lo largo de los siglos sobre la cuestión, dialogar con ellas y presentar una visión que nos interpela por su novedad y (...) actualidad es su gran contribución. (shrink)

_A look at an economic disaster from a philosophical perspective_ A decade after the financial crisis, this publication considered the event from the standpoint of philosophy. _Moral Responsibility and the Financial Crisis_ is a _Midwest Studies in Philosophy_ volume that applies analytic philosophy to finance. The issue discusses the normative and meta-ethical challenges brought to light by the crisis. It also explores the individual and collective responsibility for the harm caused during the global economic event.