Institutional self-deception
- Jacot-Guillarmod, Genevieve Nicole
- Authors: Jacot-Guillarmod, Genevieve Nicole
- Date: 2022-04-07
- Subjects: Self-deception , Business ethics , Social responsibility of business , Responsibility , Collective behavior Moral and ethical aspects , Attribution (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294548 , vital:57231 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/294548
- Description: There are many examples of institutions which have made false claims, or performed certain acts, that have had, to varying degrees, a negative impact on their societies. For example, many corporations go to great lengths to present themselves as being environmentally friendly when in fact they are not. Many corporations have also been forced to recall dangerous products which they at one time or another insisted were safe. Research teams have misled participants with regard to what they can expect from their participation in studies, with grave consequences. Governments throughout the world are mired in corruption, and yet deny that this is so. One possible explanation is that in such situations these institutions are simply lying. However, another possible explanation is that these institutions are self-deceived, or lying to themselves. Recently it has been suggested that self-deception is something that affects certain groups as well as individuals. Given that institutions can wield a great deal of political, social and economic power, if institutions are capable of self-deception there is room for things to go awry on a very large scale with potentially dire consequences. Yet the explanations currently on offer for group-level self-deception appear to amount to instances of individual self-deception (either to certain key individual members of those groups being self-deceived, or to all or most members of a group sharing the same self-deceptive belief), and as such I do not regard the explanations currently on offer as satisfactory. I propose that there are certain situations in which we ought to see institutions themselves as self-deceived or lying to themselves. While the terms ‘self-deception’ and ‘lying to oneself’ are often used interchangeably, I differentiate between the two and argue that both institutional self-deception and an institution lying to itself are institution-level phenomena, and do not rely on any individual within the institution being self-deceived or lying to themselves. That this is so is of relevance to our attributions of accountability, and makes changes to institutional structure and procedures the focus of concern when it comes to preventing an institution succumbing to self-deception or lying to itself. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04-07
- Authors: Jacot-Guillarmod, Genevieve Nicole
- Date: 2022-04-07
- Subjects: Self-deception , Business ethics , Social responsibility of business , Responsibility , Collective behavior Moral and ethical aspects , Attribution (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294548 , vital:57231 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/294548
- Description: There are many examples of institutions which have made false claims, or performed certain acts, that have had, to varying degrees, a negative impact on their societies. For example, many corporations go to great lengths to present themselves as being environmentally friendly when in fact they are not. Many corporations have also been forced to recall dangerous products which they at one time or another insisted were safe. Research teams have misled participants with regard to what they can expect from their participation in studies, with grave consequences. Governments throughout the world are mired in corruption, and yet deny that this is so. One possible explanation is that in such situations these institutions are simply lying. However, another possible explanation is that these institutions are self-deceived, or lying to themselves. Recently it has been suggested that self-deception is something that affects certain groups as well as individuals. Given that institutions can wield a great deal of political, social and economic power, if institutions are capable of self-deception there is room for things to go awry on a very large scale with potentially dire consequences. Yet the explanations currently on offer for group-level self-deception appear to amount to instances of individual self-deception (either to certain key individual members of those groups being self-deceived, or to all or most members of a group sharing the same self-deceptive belief), and as such I do not regard the explanations currently on offer as satisfactory. I propose that there are certain situations in which we ought to see institutions themselves as self-deceived or lying to themselves. While the terms ‘self-deception’ and ‘lying to oneself’ are often used interchangeably, I differentiate between the two and argue that both institutional self-deception and an institution lying to itself are institution-level phenomena, and do not rely on any individual within the institution being self-deceived or lying to themselves. That this is so is of relevance to our attributions of accountability, and makes changes to institutional structure and procedures the focus of concern when it comes to preventing an institution succumbing to self-deception or lying to itself. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04-07
Robot Rights, an approach appealing to Animal Rights Theory
- Authors: Millin, Murray David
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Artificial intelligence , Singer, Peter, 1946- , Dennett, D C (Daniel Clement) , Animal rights , Ethics , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992 Criticism and interpretation , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992. Bicentennial man , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992. Sally , Preference utilitarianism
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191854 , vital:45172
- Description: This thesis proposes that Peter Singer’s theory of preference utilitarianism, which is designed to be universally applicable to humans and animals, can be applied to robots of a particular kind — such as those seen in Isaac Asimov’s work. I shall do this by using Singer’s conception of interests as a framework, and appealing to Daniel Dennett’s intentional stance to deal with methodological issues about other minds. I shall then apply those theories to Isaac Asimov’s Sally and The Bicentennial Man. These two narratives show the importance of the intentional stance as an ethical tool and provide an example of how we might talk about the interests of a robot. Sally’s behaviour and ethical status is examined according to how she is perceived, and so I shall investigate how various persons engage with her and why they do so in those manners. This narrative demonstrates the value of the intentional and design stance as methods to approach other minds problems with regards to ethical status. The Bicentennial Man’s Andrew allows us to look for interests in a more concrete way. I look to see how he situates himself in his world, as well as investigate how and why he makes the demand to be morally considerable. This will be done by examining his creativity, personal development and drive for mortality throughout the narrative. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Millin, Murray David
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Artificial intelligence , Singer, Peter, 1946- , Dennett, D C (Daniel Clement) , Animal rights , Ethics , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992 Criticism and interpretation , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992. Bicentennial man , Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992. Sally , Preference utilitarianism
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191854 , vital:45172
- Description: This thesis proposes that Peter Singer’s theory of preference utilitarianism, which is designed to be universally applicable to humans and animals, can be applied to robots of a particular kind — such as those seen in Isaac Asimov’s work. I shall do this by using Singer’s conception of interests as a framework, and appealing to Daniel Dennett’s intentional stance to deal with methodological issues about other minds. I shall then apply those theories to Isaac Asimov’s Sally and The Bicentennial Man. These two narratives show the importance of the intentional stance as an ethical tool and provide an example of how we might talk about the interests of a robot. Sally’s behaviour and ethical status is examined according to how she is perceived, and so I shall investigate how various persons engage with her and why they do so in those manners. This narrative demonstrates the value of the intentional and design stance as methods to approach other minds problems with regards to ethical status. The Bicentennial Man’s Andrew allows us to look for interests in a more concrete way. I look to see how he situates himself in his world, as well as investigate how and why he makes the demand to be morally considerable. This will be done by examining his creativity, personal development and drive for mortality throughout the narrative. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Moral reform and the desiderata of responses to wrongdoing: the production of a "morally autonomous person freely attached to the good"
- Authors: Waller, Heath Frederick
- Date: 2004 , 2013-06-14
- Subjects: Victims of crimes -- Attitudes , Criminals -- Rehabilitation , Punishment -- Psychological aspects , Social ethics , Punishment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2730 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003805 , Victims of crimes -- Attitudes , Criminals -- Rehabilitation , Punishment -- Psychological aspects , Social ethics , Punishment
- Description: Moral reform is a neglected response to wrongdoing that has been incorrectly portrayed as a practice involving illegitimate treatment of wrongdoers and as totally unsatisfying to those theorists advocating backward-looking practices such as retributive punishment. A clear explanation of the ethical legitimacy and practical necessity of the reformative techniques moral reform involves has been missed, and this paper details the design of moral reform proper in order to fill this gap in punishment theory. The moral reform of an offender is identified as a desideratum of responses to wrongdoing and it is explained what moral reform ought to entail. The claim that moral reform qualifies as the overriding aim of responses to wrongdoing is argued for on the grounds that this practice is capable of achieving all the established ends of responses to wrongdoing. The legitimate desiderata of our practices are identified as those usually selected as the ends of punishment practices, and moral reform must accomplish these if it is to be accepted. Moral reform is shown to realise the goals of punishments as the fortunate effects of what is done to achieve an offender's moral improvement and of what reformees do in taking responsibility for their actions. The suffering involved in moral reform receives particular emphasis since the practice will never satisfy unless it accommodates the widely-held intuition that the offender must suffer sufficiently as a consequence of his wrongdoing. Moral reform is further portrayed as the most meaningful practice for its ability to satisfy the appropriate needs and desires victims have in response to their victimization. A central claim of the thesis is that moral reform best serves the victim, since it most effectively relieves the victim's emotional responses to wrongdoing and is as adept as punishment at the expression of these same emotions. Reformers advocate a constructive response to wrongdoing that benefits all affected parties. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Waller, Heath Frederick
- Date: 2004 , 2013-06-14
- Subjects: Victims of crimes -- Attitudes , Criminals -- Rehabilitation , Punishment -- Psychological aspects , Social ethics , Punishment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2730 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003805 , Victims of crimes -- Attitudes , Criminals -- Rehabilitation , Punishment -- Psychological aspects , Social ethics , Punishment
- Description: Moral reform is a neglected response to wrongdoing that has been incorrectly portrayed as a practice involving illegitimate treatment of wrongdoers and as totally unsatisfying to those theorists advocating backward-looking practices such as retributive punishment. A clear explanation of the ethical legitimacy and practical necessity of the reformative techniques moral reform involves has been missed, and this paper details the design of moral reform proper in order to fill this gap in punishment theory. The moral reform of an offender is identified as a desideratum of responses to wrongdoing and it is explained what moral reform ought to entail. The claim that moral reform qualifies as the overriding aim of responses to wrongdoing is argued for on the grounds that this practice is capable of achieving all the established ends of responses to wrongdoing. The legitimate desiderata of our practices are identified as those usually selected as the ends of punishment practices, and moral reform must accomplish these if it is to be accepted. Moral reform is shown to realise the goals of punishments as the fortunate effects of what is done to achieve an offender's moral improvement and of what reformees do in taking responsibility for their actions. The suffering involved in moral reform receives particular emphasis since the practice will never satisfy unless it accommodates the widely-held intuition that the offender must suffer sufficiently as a consequence of his wrongdoing. Moral reform is further portrayed as the most meaningful practice for its ability to satisfy the appropriate needs and desires victims have in response to their victimization. A central claim of the thesis is that moral reform best serves the victim, since it most effectively relieves the victim's emotional responses to wrongdoing and is as adept as punishment at the expression of these same emotions. Reformers advocate a constructive response to wrongdoing that benefits all affected parties. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
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