Ethics for Human Interactions with AI
Hannah Thomason
Pacific University
A Kant-Inspired Feminist Approach to Sex Robots
Eric Flores
California State University, Northridge
In this paper I revise Immanuel Kant’s ethical theory within a feminist framework in order to create an approach to the problem of consent and Sex Robots. I do a revision of Kant’s ethics using Dilek Huseyinzadegan’s constructive complicity theory, in order to make his ethics more inclusive. I argue that widespread practice of non-consensual sex with Sex Robots inevitably can translate into society and increase violence against women. Therefore, I construct Kant’s ethics to treat Sex Robots as Conditional Being in order to emphasize the practice of consent within society. By Conditional Beings, I mean treating Sex Robots as temporary people during a sexual act, in order to implement the practice of consent. I conclude, with offering three maxims, and argue that the practice of these maxims can help reduce the rate of sexual violence.
The Threat of Philosophy: The Relationship Between Oppression and Ignorance
Hannah Welch
University of North Carolina
Historically and currently, systems of oppression are largely sustained by preserving the ignorance of people existing under them. When power is heavily contingent on keeping subjects compliant and uninformed, philosophy is not merely an intellectually liberating discipline, but also an imminent threat to the political and social systems from which power is derived. To analyze the epistemic crisis we continue to be steeped in today, we will look at three philosophical perspectives regarding ignorance as an epistemic, political, and social phenomenon. Charles Mills’ exploration of white epistemologies of ignorance thoroughly explains the concept of ignorance in a racial context; Mills also sheds light upon the ways in which dominant systems rely on cultivated environments of collective ignorance as a means of preserving privilege and compliance. Achille Mbembe, in a compelling investigation of our world through the lens of brutalism, highlights the acceptance of ignorance as an outstanding condition of dehumanization. Miranda Fricker’s work on epistemic injustice stresses the marginalization and silencing of oppressed groups through invalidation or hinderance of their positions as knowers. Epistemic injustice, as Fricker and other scholars prove, is deeply intertwined with the concept of ignorance. To expand and develop our analysis, there are multiple other works we will draw from. Every work that is referenced illuminates the threat philosophy poses, with each providing layers of nuance and different frameworks for investigation. Additionally, we will draw from several other scholars to identify what instruments of philosophical work weaken control; in other words, why it is the case that philosophy is perceived as a threat by entities that weaponize ignorance. The following essay argues that philosophy—by instrumenting analyses of ignorance and utilizing processes that delegitimize controlling narratives- destabilizes systems dependent on epistemic control and is, therefore, seen as a threat by those in power.
Where Skepticism Leaves Us
Gabe Sarrategui
Bridgewater State University
In this paper I argue a solution to escaping the meaninglessness of Skepticism using a pragmatic approach to form certainty in beliefs. I will demonstrate that Skepticism’s requirements of certainty don’t allow it to be disproven within its own terms, yet Skepticism offers humanity no meaning without certainty in beliefs. By assessing various philosophers’ unfruitful attempts in responding to Skepticism, and constructing an alternative pragmatic response to forming certainty, one can see the importance of certainty in beliefs for humanity’s function. Evaluating belief justification criteria in this paper demonstrates Skepticism’s shortcoming to enable functioning of humanity.
Bioethics and Legality Behind Type 2 Diabetes Interventional Research in the United States
Amoun Ghorayeb
SUNY Oneonta
Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic that can be seen in every corner of the United States. With the large number of people living with this disease there is a large number of research projects that come along with it. That being said, there are a number of completed research projects that won’t release their data leaving a trail of participants facing research injustice. Through an empirical data search of the ClinicalTrials.gov there was a discovery of over 57 trials with unreported results and 18,184 participants who went through research injustice. This paper looks at the bioethics and legality behind all 57 of these unreported projects. There is an analysis and review on the fundings that supported these projects, as well as a look at the bill these projects have endured instead of releasing the data they collected.
Emmanuel Levinas’ Face Theory: With a Focus on Warfare
Christine Gutierrez
Pacific University
This essay examines the philosophical work of Emmanuel Levinas’ “Useless Suffering” within warfare, which emphasizes the ethical response to human suffering as a call to action. Levinas argues that when witnessing the suffering of the Other, there is a call to action that transcends logic and rationality. The essay explores this ethical theory through a case study during World War I with PFC Desmond Doss at Hacksaw Ridge. The case study features moments when an individual, faced immense suffering, yet prioritized the ethical obligation to protect and preserve life. By reflecting on this historical event, the essay will uphold that the ethical response to the vulnerability of the Other is not only a moral imperative but a fundamental expression of shared humanity.
Exploring the Dynamic Interplay Between Being and Becoming
Michel Ghorayeb
SUNY Oneonta
This paper explores the dynamic interplay between Being and Becoming, advocating for a process-oriented understanding of existence. While traditional metaphysics prioritizes Being as static, this study argues that Becoming is essential to moments of change. Drawing from Heidegger, Whitehead, Barad, and Deleuze, it examines how reality unfolds through discrete transformations rather than continuous progression. Using analogies and interdisciplinary insights, this paper challenges conventional notions of identity and time, proposing that Being is inseparable from instances of Becoming. By rethinking this relationship, we expand our understanding of reality, identity, and the nature of existence itself.
A Mind In the Material
Nick Aliani
SUNY Oneonta
In A Mind in the Material, I intend to show that the extended mind, and everything that it produces, does not exist in an a priori way. I claim that abstraction necessarily relies on the implications (and referential framework) of the material world; thus, even if the [human] mind is an abstract entity, it is still directly contingent on the physical realm (i.e. brain, body, etc.). More precisely, I will be arguing that the abstract mind (mental substance), relies on the physical brain’s processing of the material world, to produce it. Although I dance with the idea of mental independence, the point of this paper is not to decide whether the mind has any amount of control over the physical body. The goal of this paper is simply to argue for the necessity of a physical body to exist prior to the existence of the abstract mind.
Art Overcoming Value in the Later Heidegger
Sawyer Alford
University of New Mexico
This paper seeks to compare Martin Heidegger’s conception of art within the “Them Origin of the Work of Art” with how he understands Friedrich Nietzche’s art as the dispensation of the values determined by will to power. This includes Heidegger’s discussion of Nietzsche’s philosophy as the culmination of metaphysics within ‘Nietzsche’s Word: God is Dead’. This comparative process seeks to gain clarity on the place of art in the modern epoch (which Heidegger understands as informed by Nietzsche’s will to power and eternal return) and how it can be understood philosophically.
On Creating a Comprehensive Definition of Life
Brianna Liao-Greene
SUNY Oneonta
There is currently no collective consensus on what the definition of life is. The current research aims to create a comprehensive definition of life so that it may be applied to laws and eradicate inconsistencies. Perspectives on the definition of life that were incorporated into the comprehensive definition were the scientific, psychological, philosophical, religious, and legal perspectives using a modified requirement analysis method. Various existing definitions were then analyzed and compiled into the final definition and subsections. The ramifications of this study can potentially solve legal issues surrounding abortions and animal rights.
The Productive Cause as an Aspect of a Discriminatory Nous
Samuel Zuckerman
Union College
The nature of Aristotle’s “productive cause of understanding” (ποιητικόν) remains a subject of continuous scholarly debate. One camp views it as belonging to the human soul, but separate from other types of intellect, whereas the other relates it to divine intellect, such as the unmoved mover. This paper argues that the productive cause is as an aspect of a singular, discriminating capacity of nous. Thus, the productive cause remains a part of our human intellect, and leaves us with just one faculty that’s both passive and active. This interpretation makes better sense of the text in DA III.5.
Codependence, Intuition, and Religious Experience
Nathan Phillips
York University
We tend to have certain intuitions about religious thought systems. But sometimes we want greater descriptive precision than intuition offers. To this end, Robin Horton highlights humanity’s dependence on religious entities as a key feature of religion. This paper challenges Horton by discussing two religions that fit his definition but clash with our intuitions. These religions do not place humans in a purely dependent role. Rather, they are codependent relationships. This unintuitive codependence nullifies one of the two pillars that support Horton’s notion of dependence, leaving his definition in a precarious position vulnerable to further critique.
Agentive Modality in the Dialogical Roots of Deduction
Saam Nasseri Mashhadi
University of California, Ridgewater
Novaes has attempted to capture the essence of deductive reasoning in her book The Dialogical Roots of Deduction. In this essay I argue that by introducing the vocabulary of agentive modals, Novaes account would better explain the dialogical and agential roots of deduction. Agentive modals divide into ability modals and their duals, compulsion modals. Ability modals express what an agent can, or is able to do, while compulsion modals express what an agent cannot but do. Ascriptions of ability modals are relevant to understanding the moves the prover and skeptic can, or, are able to, make, and that ascriptions of compulsion modals are relevant to understanding what it means for the skeptic to be in a position such that they cannot but accept the conclusion of an argument if they have accepted the premises and have no counter.
The Value In Pragmatic Detachment
Maxwell Curran
Hawaii