Questions tagged [ethics]
For questions about ethics, a branch of philosophy dealing with morality, justice, virtue, vice, good and evil.
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Exploring the Ethical Dimensions of Artificial Intelligence [closed]
I've been pondering a pressing question that lies at the intersection of technology and ethics: Artificial Intelligence (AI). I'm curious to know your thoughts on this matter and engage in a ...
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Does Kant think we have an imperfect duty to not take intoxicants?
I want to smoke a cigarette to feel better. I want to smoke opium to feel better.
I think we can ignore the consequences of everyone performing this action (in similar situations), mass addiction and ...
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Counter arguments to benatar's assymatry argument's defence by Elias Muusavi
Elias Muusavi published a defence of benatar's assymatry https://shorturl.at/juvAF (if you wish to read it) in it they said that the absence of pleasure is "not worse than the presence of ...
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Can a mathematician create free will, rigour, etc etc? [closed]
So I've been thinking for a while:
Can a mathematician create free will?
And for the more rigorous:
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/4773643/cardinality-in-an-instance-where-evolution-...
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Where is the Ethics in Deep Ecology?
Norwegian philosopher and activist Arne Naess (1912–2009) is credited as a pioneer of the environmental movement and the first to coin the term "deep ecology." Distinguishing between deep ...
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Does actualism imply moral nihilism?
Actualism is the view that only the actual is possible. Moral nihilism is the belief in the nonexistence of morality. My question is, does actualism imply moral nihilism? At least in my case, the ...
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Does Aristotle provide a mean for Phronesis? And if so, what is it?
From what I've tried to understand, Aristotle believed that practical wisdom (phronesis) is an intellectual virtue. And also, virtues are found at the mean between excess and deficiency. It seems to ...
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Harm Principle and the Trolley Case
My question concerns what someone following the Harm Principle does when confronted with a trolley-like situation: where causing a couple people to die would save many more lives. This specifically ...
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For Kant, how can we have moral autonomy if there's just one correct moral law?
What else then can freedom of the will be but autonomy, that is, the property of the will to be a law to itself?
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
So that in a nutshell is autonomy and freedom ...
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Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude can ground meaning and moral error theory?
Which philosophers have defended both the claim that any attitude (a pro attitude to anything) can ground meaning and moral error theory? It may even be the the received view among the population in ...
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Killing with bare hands vs Rube Goldberg killing machine: How can we connect causes to persons, and so be morally responsible for effects by us?
What brought up this question:
I was watching a television show and was thinking of how powerful individuals can obtain hired guns to do their dirty work. The police and legal system then has ...
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What is the morality of joining the military?
What is the morality of joining the military?
Clearly, military men and women can have any number of virtues, but also are trained killers. There is the argument that they are legally so, but while I ...
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What would it mean for the herd to be victorious over the overman?
What would it mean for the herd to be victorious over the overman? What would that amount to? I assume that the herd has its perverse plans, born out of ressentiment, for the ubermensch, and they will ...
user67521
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The deception clause in lying
What if I am asked a question, and respond with an untruth I know is untrue, and I don't really care if I am believed, but definitely don't want to be found out (I don't want anyone to know Ive ...
user67521
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When is ok to tell a lie?
When is ok to tell a lie? Clearly, there may well be some cases, such as hiding Anne Frank.
May we sometimes lie about our infidelity, if e.g. we think it could lead to a jealous murder? What about ...
user67521
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Is the existence of morality compatible with necessitarianism?
This is somewhat related to my previous question, here: Is the nature of morality counterfactual?. If morality is counterfactual, what would a necessitarian point of view imply about it? Since ...
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Is the nature of morality counterfactual?
I know that just because some action or state of affairs is morally right, that does not mean it will actually happen. So, does that mean morality is counterfactual in nature? Or am I misunderstanding ...
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What is the difference between morality and ethics?
Is there a difference between morality and ethics, and if so, what is it? I have seen those terms used interchangeably, but have any philosophers made a distinction between the two?
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When is personal tragedy an excuse to be immoral?
When is personal tragedy an excuse to be immoral? I think my mistake was not being able to see that certain people cannot be moral, due to their own issues.
goodbye
user67302
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Do we define 'infidelity' ourselves
I think we do, but it's a strange idea unless we think of it as passing rules, quasi laws, for ourselves, and that may go against the tenor of what it means for us (no joke intended, I"m ...
user67302
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How to justify retributive punishment?
It is said that retributive punishment is an expression of a misguided, sadistic sensibility—one that delights in controlling others, violating their human rights and making them suffer. When ...
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What does not kill me makes me stronger
"Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me
stronger."
-from the Maxims & Arrows section of aphorisms, in Die Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols) by Friedrich ...
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When is it objectively the right time to give up on someone?
Do we have an obligation to give up on some people? You know the sort of thing I mean: this person does not love you, is only here to exploit you, has no sense of fairness/justice, is shallow and self ...
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Interpretation of living dangerously
Continuing discussion of Master morality vs slave morality
My second question is how would you interpret when Friedrich Nietzsche say "live dangerously". Is it to live risky lives even its ...
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If it doesn't matter to you whether something is AI, then do you matter?
If it doesn't matter to you whether something is AI, then do you matter? I won't bother clarifying every inference (there's a few) that is being made there, if only because the conclusion is very ...
user67155
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What is wrong with not preventing an injustice when preventing it would take very little effort?
Suppose B is about to do something unjust to C and A is in a position to actively prevent B from doing this with almost no effort yet A refrains from preventing B from doing what he intends to do, ...
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How important is a lack of secrecy in judgments of wrong doing?
How important is a lack of secrecy in judgments of wrong doing? Obviously, no-one should be found guilty of a crime and punished for it, without being informed and making their case. What about e.g. '...
user67155
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Is it morally wrong to enjoy art created by a heinous criminal?
Is it morally wrong to enjoy art [co]-created by someone who later turns out to be a terrible criminal?
I see arguments both for and against:
Arguments for "wrong":
Broad appreciation of ...
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Master morality vs slave morality
I have read master morality vs slave morality through youtube and net. Every one has different interpretation.
Can some one summarize and explain what Nietzsche really tried to say ?
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Is It Ethical to Disturb a Happy Illusion for the Sake of Reality?
In 'The Matrix', Morpheus frees individuals from a simulated reality. Some of them become unhappy - Cypher wants to go back and forget everything. Neo at first isn't very unhappy either.
From a ...
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When would be justified to allow LLMS to make judgements on the real world?
A big issue when it comes to LLMS discussions these days, is figuring out when an AI should be allowed to make judgements about the real world. For example, suppose gpt-4 is trained on some medical ...
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Open Self vs. Closed Self/Society Distinction
In political philosophy and cultural studies, certain thinkers from the twentieth-century stand out for their reliance upon distinguishing between open and closed selfhood. It is a long-running theme ...
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Do any particularists allow for some generality?
Suppose that I think injustice (whatever it happens to be and how we recognise it) should never exist: does that completely defeat the tenor of particularism?
Suppose that I think the right course of ...
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Do ChatGPT and other AI bots force a rethinking of anonymity?
Many of the posts regarding AI mention the same issue regarding AI Bots: "Online, I can't tell the difference between a human and machine response.
I don't see a solution to this problem that ...
user64314
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Are there similar theory to Nikolay Bugaev's idea of "emergent morality"?
I need someone's insight to put into perspective the thoughts of an author I discovered only recently. Although this author's idea seems very intuitive - the kind of idea you might have as a child or ...
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Does the problem of non-identity make the veg vs non-veg question unanswerable?
I was having a discussion with a friend recently on whether it is beneficial, overall, for us to be vegetarian for farm animals, from a consequentialist viewpoint. Currently, farm animals are bred in ...
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The “what” determines the “how”, although in the long run the “how” determines the “what”
I recently stumbled upon a quote from Heinrich Neuhaus' book 'Art of Piano Playing' that got me thinking:
'The "what" determines the "how", although in the long run the "how&...
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What are the arguments against responsibility?
I am not asking what the arguments are for immoralism, but what arguments there are for not doing the valuable thing, when there is clearly an opportunity to right wrongs or be virtuous or impede ...
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How do people against speciesism see production chains?
Sorry in advance if this type of question isn't permitted here. This is a genuinely curious question, not teasing anyone. And I know, the following text is pretty messy, but so are my thoughts about ...
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Do moral philosophers talk about 'complicity'?
Do moral philosophers talk about 'complicity'? I don't necessarily mean in an economic system, and I certainly don't mean assisting e.g. the Nazi government to commit genocide. As an example (the ...
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Do individuals over the world expect a social system to provide "peace and abundance"?
Ludwig von Mises believes that "in general, men the world over expect a social system to provide "peace and abundance."[sic] (from "Ludwig von Mises and the Justification of the ...
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Why is egoism arbitrary?
The second theory, the theory of intrinsic value, also has roots in
ancient ethics, specifically, Plato’s theory of Forms. But unlike
Plato’s theory, the basic tenets of which include certain ...
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How is it Kant's view that lying is always wrong consistent with his view that killing in self-defense is permissable?
In his essay, "On the Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns" Kant seems to be arguing that lying is always wrong, even if it could save someone's life from a murderer. He ...
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Is the reasonableness of a belief or moral claim relative?
Is the reasonableness of a belief or moral claim relative? I found some articles on the ethical word "reasonable", but lack access. Apparently it is key to "liberal" political ...
user66697
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When is a rational and reasonable person responsible for accidentally coercing someone?
Can someone force or manipulate another person to do something - say opening a can of beans (I don't mean physically forcing a body, coercive agreement to something, anything like that - and it's not ...
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Do moral error theorists mean that something is irrational if and only if it is phrased as moral?
Suppose I decide to give someone some food for moral reasons, e.g. because I think they have a right to it. Is this irrational for the moral error theorist? What if I think that right is amoral? What ...
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Conjunctive imperatives can be in-itself imperatives?
One of Hannah Arendt's claims about the more abstract side of totalitarianism was a resistance to doing things "for their own sakes," but so where everything was made to subserve an ever-...
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Two objections against ethical egoism, one refuted and the other not
There are two objections against ethical egoism, one refuted and the other not.
The first refuted objection against ethical egoism is that, given a situation with limited resources, it is in the self-...
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What binds us to our moral duties?
I used to follow a lot of atheist vs religion debates, and I realize now that there is a typical misrepresentation from the atheist side on the concerns of theists regarding morality. Of course, the ...
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Are fairytales Immoral?
Disney and other prominent movie production studios are making a genre out of remakes of classical fairytales, like Little Mermaid or Peter Pan. The goal is to take on broader cultural contexts and ...
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