We argue that students have moral reasons to refrain from using chatbots such as ChatGPT to write certain papers. We begin by showing why many putative reasons to refrain from using chatbots fail to generate compelling arguments against their use in the construction of these papers. Many of these reasons rest on implausible principles, hollowed out conceptions of education, or impoverished accounts of human agency. They also overextend to cases where it is permissible to rely on a machine for something (...) that once required human cognition. We then give our account: you have a moral obligation to respect your own humanity (i.e., your capacity to set and pursue your own ends), and the process of writing a humanities paper is important for the cultivation of your humanity. We conclude by considering objections and offering replies. In the end, we argue that the moral reasons students have to refrain from using chatbots depend crucially on instructors’ ability to make writing assignments worthwhile. This relies on instructors having the right kind of institutional support, which sheds light on implications that this duty has for administrators, legislators, and the general public. (shrink)

The harms associated with wireless mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) are well documented. They have been linked to anxiety, depression, diminished attention span, sleep disturbance, and decreased relationship satisfaction. Perhaps what is most worrying from a moral perspective, however, is the effect these devices can have on our autonomy. In this article, we argue that there is an obligation to foster and safeguard autonomy in ourselves, and we suggest that wireless mobile devices pose a serious threat to our capacity to fulfill (...) this obligation. We defend the existence of an imperfect duty to be a ‘digital minimalist’. That is, we have a moral obligation to be intentional about how and to what extent we use these devices. The empirical findings already justify prudential reasons in favor of digital minimalism, but the moral duty is distinct from and independent of prudential considerations. (shrink)

Algorithms influence every facet of modern life: criminal justice, education, housing, entertainment, elections, social media, news feeds, work… the list goes on. Delegating important decisions to machines, however, gives rise to deep moral concerns about responsibility, transparency, freedom, fairness, and democracy. Algorithms and Autonomy connects these concerns to the core human value of autonomy in the contexts of algorithmic teacher evaluation, risk assessment in criminal sentencing, predictive policing, background checks, news feeds, ride-sharing platforms, social media, and election interference. Using these (...) case studies, the authors provide a better understanding of machine fairness and algorithmic transparency. They explain why interventions in algorithmic systems are necessary to ensure that algorithms are not used to control citizens' participation in politics and undercut democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core. (shrink)

When agents insert technological systems into their decision-making processes, they can obscure moral responsibility for the results. This can give rise to a distinct moral wrong, which we call “agency laundering.” At root, agency laundering involves obfuscating one’s moral responsibility by enlisting a technology or process to take some action and letting it forestall others from demanding an account for bad outcomes that result. We argue that the concept of agency laundering helps in understanding important moral problems in a number (...) of recent cases involving automated, or algorithmic, decision-systems. We apply our conception of agency laundering to a series of examples, including Facebook’s automated advertising suggestions, Uber’s driver interfaces, algorithmic evaluation of K-12 teachers, and risk assessment in criminal sentencing. We distinguish agency laundering from several other critiques of information technology, including the so-called “responsibility gap,” “bias laundering,” and masking. (shrink)

Algorithmic systems and predictive analytics play an increasingly important role in various aspects of modern life. Scholarship on the moral ramifications of such systems is in its early stages, and much of it focuses on bias and harm. This paper argues that in understanding the moral salience of algorithmic systems it is essential to understand the relation between algorithms, autonomy, and agency. We draw on several recent cases in criminal sentencing and K–12 teacher evaluation to outline four key ways in (...) which issues of agency, autonomy, and respect for persons can conflict with algorithmic decision-making. Three of these involve failures to treat individual agents with the respect they deserve. The fourth involves distancing oneself from a morally suspect action by attributing one’s decision to take that action to an algorithm, thereby laundering one’s agency. (shrink)

The attention economy — the market where consumers’ attention is exchanged for goods and services — poses a variety of threats to individuals’ autonomy, which, at minimum, involves the ability to set and pursue ends for oneself. It has been argued that the threat wireless mobile devices pose to autonomy gives rise to a duty to oneself to be a digital minimalist, one whose interactions with digital technologies are intentional such that they do not conflict with their ends. In this (...) paper, we argue that there is a corresponding duty to others to be an attention ecologist, one who promotes digital minimalism in others. Although the moral reasons for being an attention ecologist are similar to those that motivate the duty to oneself, the arguments diverge in important ways. We explore the application of this duty in various domains where we have special obligations to promote autonomy in virtue of the different roles we play in the lives of others, such as parents and teachers. We also discuss the consequences of our arguments for employers, software developers, and policy makers. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: So far in this book, we have examined algorithmic decision systems from three autonomy-based perspectives: in terms of what we owe autonomous agents (chapters 3 and 4), in terms of the conditions required for people to act autonomously (chapters 5 and 6), and in terms of the responsibilities of agents (chapter 7). -/- In this chapter we turn to the ways in which autonomy underwrites democratic governance. Political authority, which is to say the ability of a government to exercise (...) power, may be justifiable or not. Whether it is justified and how it can come to be justified is a question of political legitimacy. Political legitimacy is another way in which autonomy and responsibility are linked. This relationship is the basis of the current chapter, and it is important in understanding the moral salience of algorithmic systems. We will draw the connection as follows. We begin, in section 8.1, by describing two uses of technology: crime predicting technology used to drive policing practices and social media technology used to influence elections (including by Cambridge Analytica and by the Internet Research Agency). In section 8.2 we consider several views of legitimacy and argue for a hybrid version of normative legitimacy based on one recently offered by Fabienne Peter. In section 8.3 we will explain that the connection between political legitimacy and autonomy is that legitimacy is grounded in legitimating processes, which are in turn based on autonomy. Algorithmic systems—among them PredPol and the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook-Internet Research Agency amalgam—can hinder that legitimation process and conflict with democratic legitimacy, as we argue in section 8.4. We will conclude by returning to several cases that serve as through-lines to the book: Loomis, Wagner, and Houston Schools. -/- The link below is to an open-access copy of the chapter. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: One important criticism of algorithmic systems is that they lack transparency. Such systems can be opaque because they are complex, protected by patent or trade secret, or deliberately obscure. In the EU, there is a debate about whether the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains a “right to explanation,” and if so what such a right entails. Our task in this chapter is to address this informational component of algorithmic systems. We argue that information access is integral for respecting (...) autonomy, and transparency policies should be tailored to advance autonomy. -/- To make this argument we distinguish two facets of agency (i.e., capacity to act). The first is practical agency, or the ability to act effectively according to one’s values. The second is what we call cognitive agency, which is the ability to exercise what Pamela Hieronymi calls “evaluative control” (i.e., the ability to control our affective states, such as beliefs, desires, and attitudes). We argue that respecting autonomy requires providing persons sufficient information to exercise evaluative control and properly interpret the world and one’s place in it. We draw this distinction out by considering algorithmic systems used in background checks, and we apply the view to key cases involving risk assessment in criminal justice decisions and K-12 teacher evaluation. -/- The link below is to an open access version of the chapter. (shrink)

Anecdotal evidence has long lamented the status of social studies in elementary classrooms as observed by preservice teachers. As standardized testing has risen for mathematics and language arts, social studies has been pushed aside. In the aftermath of accountability legislation such as No Child Left Behind, research indicates that social studies is less visible in elementary classrooms due to an instructional focus on tested content areas (e.g. math, language arts, reading). In this study, approximately 90 elementary preservice teachers enrolled in (...) a social studies methods course responded to a survey and indicated the frequency and quality of lessons they observed over the course of a single semester. Findings report that preservice elementary teachers witnessed few, if any, lessons in social studies in the elementary classroom. Implications for teacher education are discussed. (shrink)

In this chapter, we turn our attention to the effects of the attention economy on our ability to act autonomously as a group. We begin by clarifying which sorts of groups we are concerned with, which are structured groups (groups sufficiently organized that it makes sense to attribute agency to the group itself). Drawing on recent work by Purves and Davis (2022), we describe the essential roles of trust (i.e., depending on groups to fulfill their commitments) and trustworthiness (i.e., the (...) property of a group that makes trusting them fitting) in autonomous group action, with particular emphasis on democratic institutions (which we view as group agents) and democratic legitimacy (which depends on trust and trustworthiness). We then explain how engagement maximization promotes polarization, which is detrimental to trust and trustworthiness and, in turn, democratic legitimacy and democratic institutions. We close by considering what groups might do to protect themselves from the threat posed to them by the attention economy. (shrink)

8 March, now known as International Women’s Day, is a day for feminist claims where demonstrations are organized in over 150 countries, with the participation of millions of women all around the world. These demonstrations can be viewed as collective rituals and thus focus attention on the processes that facilitate different psychosocial effects. This work aims to explore the mechanisms involved in participation in the demonstrations of 8 March 2020, collective and ritualized feminist actions, and their correlates associated with personal (...) well-being and collective well-being, collective efficacy and collective growth, and behavioral intention to support the fight for women’s rights. To this end, a cross-cultural study was conducted with the participation of 2,854 people from countries in Latin America and Europe, with a retrospective correlational cross-sectional design and a convenience sample. Participants were divided between demonstration participants and non-demonstrators or followers who monitored participants through the media and social networks. Compared with non-demonstrators and with males, female and non-binary gender respondents had greater scores in mechanisms and criterion variables. Further random-effects model meta-analyses revealed that the perceived emotional synchrony was consistently associated with more proximal mechanisms, as well as with criterion variables. Finally, sequential moderation analyses showed that proposed mechanisms successfully mediated the effects of participation on every criterion variable. These results indicate that participation in 8M marches and demonstrations can be analyzed through the literature on collective rituals. As such, collective participation implies positive outcomes both individually and collectively, which are further reinforced through key psychological mechanisms, in line with a Durkheimian approach to collective rituals. (shrink)

The use of Requirements at Runtime (RRT) is an emerging research area. Many methods and frameworks that make use of requirements models during software execution can be found in the literature. How...

Los métodos de resolución consensuada de conflictos, sea a nivel de individuos, grupos o estados, ha existido siempre, pero en las últimas décadas han adquirido un especial interés, ante el peligroso avance de la conflictividad en todos los ámbitos. En la presentación se exploran las posibilidades de la hermenéutica analógica para apoyar los procedimientos de mediación y arbitraje, sean pre-judiciales, judiciales, vecinales (municipales) o escolares. Se parte de las siguientes asunciones: 1) El convenio entre partes, o laudo consensuado, o “reparto (...) autónomo” en la concepción de Werner Goldschmidt es ética y antológicamente superior al recurso decisionista; 2) El reparto autónomo realiza mejor el valor justicia en cuanto dirime definitivamente la controversia y porque reasume el concepto de comportamiento prudente bajo la forma de epiqueia o justicia del caso particular; 3) Puede constituirse en “modélico” con respecto a situaciones posteriores; 4) Evita y torna innecesarias las discusiones teóricas éticas y/o legales sobre las normas generales de posible aplicación, problemas estos muchas veces de difícil o imposible resolución. Se argumentará a favor de las siguientes hipótesis: 1) La hermenéutica analógica puede portar elementos para la comprensión de la lógica de la situación conflictiva; 2) Puede aportar elementos para una hermenéutica de la situación conflictiva como un todo y no solamente de cada posición por separado; 3) Puede aportar elementos heurísticos y prudenciales para ayudar a la tarea del mediador en el propósito de que cada parte “se ponga en el lugar del otro”. (shrink)

El presente artículo se propone reportar la presencia de la ley natural en los textos del Concilio Vaticano II. La ley natural es muy importante en el Magisterio contemporáneo, aun cuando se trate de un concepto filosófica y culturalmente discutido. A pesar de las pocas recurrencias del término “ley natural”, el Concilio presenta abundantes referencias y puntualizaciones que abren el camino a una formulación más rica de la ley natural y sus implicancias. A la vez, es posible poner de relieve (...) algunas consecuencias pastorales del uso actual del concepto de la ley natural. (shrink)

La Exhortación Apostólica Amoris laetitia presenta un rico cuerpo de doctrina sobre el matrimonio y la familia, en el que se destaca una propuesta de discernimiento pastoral para el tratamiento de las situaciones matrimoniales difíciles. Ello ha generado diversas preguntas, entre ellas, particularmente, la siguiente: ¿pueden los divorciados en nueva unión que viven conyugalmente acercarse al sacramento de la Comunión? En el presente trabajo se analizan los criterios ofrecidos por el Papa para intentar dar una respuesta a esa pregunta y (...) se proponen caminos pastorales para el discernimiento de las situaciones matrimoniales difíciles. (shrink)

El Concilio Vaticano II se propuso la renovación de la vida cristiana y de la teología en todas sus expresiones. En el caso particular de la teología moral, hubo diversas propuestas. En el presente artículo nos detenemos en la que fuera presentada por aquél que entonces era un joven obispo, Karol Wojtyla. En su obra “La renovación en sus fuentes” propone considerar el munus regale del cristiano como fundamento de la moral cristiana. Analizando el tratamiento de este concepto en el (...) Concilio, resulta claro que la propuesta de Wojtyla abre caminos muy interesantes para continuar la tarea nunca acabada de la expresión de la moral cristiana. Muchos años después, ya como Papa, Juan Pablo II se vale de este mismo concepto para expresar la necesidad de que los cristianos, en todos los ámbitos, promuevan activamente una cultura de la vida. (shrink)

Heidegger tries to explain our emotional life applying three schemes: causal explanation, mental internalisation of emotions and metaphorical expression. None of the three schemes explains emotion though. Either because the causal nexus does not always occur or because objects and people in the external world are carriers of emotional agents or because language is already on a metaphorical level. Moreover, how is it possible that there are presently emotions constituting our life without our being aware of their existence? From the (...) analysis of boredom in its three varieties (“bored by X”, “get oneself bored”, and “it is boring”) we will get to the depth where emotions lie, trying to rouse them and to keep them awake. Although it surfaces with the force and energy of the present, every emotion has its past and future constitution. How can we understand the future of a present emotion along with its past? (shrink)

A fenomenologia tem como objetivo analisar os momentos constitutivos de diferentes experiências, fazendo justiça às suas formas específicas de aparecimento. Ao fazer isso, ela pode tornar visíveis (e, portanto, corrigir) as suposições problemáticas consideradas válidas desde o início. Estas suposições distorcem e manipulam coerentemente os fenômenos de tal forma que os fenômenos são transformados em algo radicalmente diferente. O fenômeno do déjà vu é muito interessante, nesse sentido, por duas diferentes razões. O déjà vu é transformado em um fenômeno diferente (...) no campo da ciência cognitiva: o déjà vu é comumente entendido como um simples erro de memória. Em segundo lugar, o déjà vu implica a repetição de uma experiência única e contingente. Essa lógica de repetição não é facilmente compatível com o logos das ciências empíricas, que se concentra na identificação de relações invariantes entre termos gerais por meio de pesquisa experimental e, portanto, exige uma abordagem diferente. (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar indícios verbo-visuais de episódios de mal-estar enunciados por alunos que integram turmas da modalidade Educação de Jovens Adultos (EJA) em uma escola do interior baiano. Dedicamo-nos, especialmente, a compreender como os sujeitos semiotizam situações de embaraço social vivenciadas em salas de aula e(m) seus (d)efeitos. Como referencial teórico, partimos de pressupostos da Análise Dialógica do Discurso, da Clínica da Atividade e de outras categorias discursivas para lermos, a partir de uma dimensão axiológica, o corpus que é (...) composto por duas biograficzines. A análise dos dados registra que os (res)sentimentos dos discentes, que se deixam materializar em termos verbo-visuais, deflagram situações que ilustram a complexidade de dinâmicas que perfazem interações didáticas no ambiente escolar. Trabalhos como o nosso contribuem para tensionar a realidade escolar-profissional possibilitando a exploração de outros ângulos de nossas atividades como sujeitos sociais. (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar modos de axiologizar o bem-estar na escola em enunciados produzidos por alunos do 9º ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal do interior baiano. Interessa-nos, especialmente, compreender como os sujeitos semiotizam, em seus enunciados, o que consideram o evento mais marcante de suas experiências ao longo dos anos finais do ensino fundamental e o que isso nos informa sobre os valores ali mobilizados relativos ao papel social e institucional da escola e(m) suas modalidades de convivência (...) intersubjetiva. As análises destacam que as memórias verbo-visualmente materializadas não se limitam a registros, abrigados na consciência, mas são repositórios de experiências afetivas de e em diversos cronotopos. O fato de as memórias apresentadas recobrirem diferentes eventos interacionais oferecem-nos uma visão crítica dos estudantes de como percebem e matizam complexidades das interações por eles rememoradas e enunciadas. Trabalhos, como o nosso, que se interessam pelos afetamentos de alunos, contribuem, localmente, para que o contexto escolar seja (re)(des)coberto, tensionando como percepções sociais são semiotizadas em horizontes apreciativos de experiências. (shrink)

This study tested the direct effects of Dark Tetrad traits on organizational and interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors. We also examined the moderating effects of the three dimensions of organizational justice – distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice – on the Dark Tetrad-CWBs relationships. Based on the data from 613 employees across different occupations, the results revealed that only psychopathy and sadism had significant effects on CWBs targeted at the organization. The results also supported the direct effect of sadism on (...) interpersonal CWBs. The findings confirmed the moderating role of interactional justice but differentially, depending on the dark trait and the target of workplace deviance. Whereas low and medium levels of interactional justice moderated the relationship between Machiavellianism and CWBs directed to the organization, it did not play any role in narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism. Regarding CWBs aimed at other people, interactional justice emerged as a significant moderator in Machiavellianism and sadism. But, whereas sadistic employees performed more harmful behaviors toward other individuals whatever their level of interactional justice, if people high in Machiavellianism perceived a high fair interpersonal treatment, they did not show deviant behaviors directed at other employees. The paper concludes with some suggestions and recommendations about the relevance of organizational justice in the influence of dark personality traits on CWBs. (shrink)

Resultado de uma investigação bibliográfica, o artigo promove aproximações e evidencia afastamentos entre Paulo Freire e Jürgen Habermas, dedicando especial ênfase ao possível impacto de suas ideias para os propósitos da práxis educativa na concepção popular. As conclusões enfatizam a fragilidade da proposta habermasiana e destacam a maior consistência da perspectiva freireana na luta contra a opressão social.

Una aproximación a la concepción viquiana del Derecho Romano que, desde la "soledad" vivida por el filósofo napolitano, asume como modo original de afrontar el derecho una poética jurídica y la búsqueda de una lengua articulada universal .An approach to Vico's conception of Roman Law that, from the "loneliness" of the napolitan philosopher, assumes juridical poetics as an original way of facing law, and the search of an articulated universal language.

ISSN:1909-9711 (En línea) Misión La Revista Acta Colombiana de Psicología publica hallazgos originales de las investigaciones en Psicología y de esta disciplina en diálogo con otras, con el propósito de divulgarlas a la comunidad universitaria y a todas las personas interesadas en conocer sus nuevos avances y aplicaciones a distintos campos y necesidades de la sociedad contemporánea.

El presente artículo es el resultado de reflexiones teóricas-metodológicas alrededor del estudio del fenómeno religioso, específicamente el que concierne al de sistemas religiosos de inspiración afro en Colombia entre 2003-2023. El objetivo es analizar las problemáticas de la investigación sobre estos sistemas religiosos en diáspora dentro del contexto nacional. La discusión señala una serie de tensiones y contradicciones teóricas-metodológicas en las que se ven involucradas/os las/os investigadoras/es insertas/os en el mundo académico, las cuales inician desde el momento mismo en que (...) seleccionan su tema de investigación, los referentes teóricos-metodológicos, conceptuales y el tipo de escritura que habrán de emplear a lo largo de los distintos estudios. Así, quienes investigan sobre fenómenos religiosos son vistos con suspicacia dentro de la academia, una que persiste en oponer asuntos tales como objetividad/subjetividad, outsider/insider, ciencia/religión o verdad/creencia. Finalmente, estas discusiones devienen en cuestionamientos éticos del modo como se hace investigación sobre estas dinámicas socioculturales que adquieren relevancia en Colombia y el mundo contemporáneo. (shrink)

In his lectures on the philosophy of nature, Maurice Merleau-Ponty interprets Jakob von Uexküll’s notion of Umwelt as akin to a melody. This essay outlines von Uexküll’s perspective on the feasibility of translating non-acoustic elements (optical: colours, shapes, and figures; haptic: tactile textures, flavours, tastes, and scents) into sounds or musical notes to compose a melody. It poses several inquiries: Does the link between melody and nature render natural entities as musical notes? Do the components of an entity constitute anatomical (...) notes in the melody that defines the entity itself? Is it conceivable to distil every moment in life into a “note” symbol on a musical scale, characterised by specific duration, pitch, and volume? Melody, rhythm, and harmony are considered sophisticated “structures” that articulate and convey the essence of nature’s existence. Moreover, every human, every living creature, be it animal or plant, possesses a subjective “biological” interiority. The inner realm of each living subject, along with the objects in the external world, are enveloped within an atmosphere—a musical Umwelt. Humans exist within this musical milieu or atmosphere. (shrink)

In this contribution we suggest two simple contentions: i) that Saint Anselm’s ontological argument, as presented in the Proslogion, only makes sense if embedded in an ordered and bounded ontology; and ii) that an interpretation of the main premise of the argument, within such ontology, produces a dilemma that demands a new revision of the argument.

Nobody should have a monopoly of the truth in this universe. The censorship and suppression of challenging ideas against the tide of mainstream research, the blacklisting of scientists, for instance, is neither the best way to do and filter science, nor to promote progress in the human knowledge. The removal of good and novel ideas from the scientific stage is very detrimental to the pursuit of the truth. There are instances in which a mere unqualified belief can occasionally be converted (...) into a generally accepted scientific theory through the screening action of refereed literature and meetings planned by the scientific organizing committees and through the distribution of funds controlled by "club opinions". It leads to unitary paradigms and unitary thinking not necessarily associated to the unique truth. This is the topic of this book: to critically analyze the problems of the official mechanisms under which current science is being administered and filtered today, along with the onerous consequences these mechanisms have on all of us. The authors, all of them professional researchers, reveal a pessimistic view of the miseries of the actual system, while a glimmer of hope remains in the "leitmotiv" claim towards the freedom in doing research and attaining an acceptable level of ethics in science. (shrink)

There is a credibility decay on positive knowledge among the social scientists and particularly among the psychologists. Certainly different prejudices dwell upon this phenomenon. First and principal the usually made identity of positive and natural knowledge. This belief is also fed by many others such as that one which assumes that every quantification, which is a consequence of positive knowledge,follows the model of the Physical Sciences. We consider that all these prejudices do not keep in mind the work done in (...) the last decades on the Theories of Measure. We consider also that psychophysical methods which have been introduced by Stevens present a stimulating program for the behavioral sciences and they open a new frontiere to the positive knowledge. (shrink)