Artificial intelligence and robotics is pervasive in daily life and set to expand to new levels potentially replacing human decision-making and action. Self-driving cars, home and healthcare robots, and autonomous weapons are some examples. A distinction appears to be emerging between potentially benevolent civilian uses of the technology (eg unmanned aerial vehicles delivering medicines), and potentially malevolent military uses (eg lethal autonomous weapons killing human com- batants). Machine-mediated human interaction challenges the philosophical basis of human existence and ethical conduct. Aside (...) from technical challenges of ensuring ethical conduct in artificial intelligence and robotics, there are moral questions about the desirability of replacing human functions and the human mind with such technology. How will artificial intelligence and robotics engage in moral reasoning in order to act ethically? Is there a need for a new set of moral rules? What happens to human interaction when it is mediated by technology? Should such technology be used to end human life? Who bears responsibility for wrongdoing or harmful conduct by artificial intelligence and robotics? -/- Whilst Kant may be familiar to international lawyers for setting restraints on the use of force and rules for perpetual peace, his foundational work on ethics provides an inclusive moral philosophy for assessing ethical conduct of individuals and states and, thus, is relevant to discussions on the use and development of artificial intelligence and robotics. His philosophy is inclusive because it incorporates justifications for morals and legitimate responses to immoral conduct, and applies to all human agents irrespective of whether they are wrongdoers, unlawful combatants, or unjust enemies. Humans are at the centre of rational thinking, action, and norm-creation so that the rationale for restraints on methods and means of warfare, for example, is based on preserving human dignity as well as ensuring conditions for perpetual peace among states. Unlike utilitarian arguments which favour use of autonomous weapons on the basis of cost-benefit reasoning or the potential to save lives, Kantian ethics establish non-consequentialist and deontological rules which are good in themselves to follow and not dependent on expediency or achieving a greater public good. -/- Kantian ethics make two distinct contributions to the debate. First, they provide a human-centric ethical framework whereby human exist- ence and capacity are at the centre of a norm-creating moral philosophy guiding our understanding of moral conduct. Second, the ultimate aim of Kantian ethics is practical philosophy that is relevant and applicable to achieving moral conduct. -/- I will seek to address the moral questions outlined above by exploring how core elements of Kantian ethics relate to use of artificial intelli- gence and robotics in the civilian and military spheres. Section 2 sets out and examines core elements of Kantian ethics: the categorical imperative; autonomy of the will; rational beings and rational thinking capacity; and human dignity and humanity as an end in itself. Sections 3-7 consider how these core elements apply to artificial intelligence and robotics with discussion of fully autonomous and human-machine rule-generating approaches; types of moral reasoning; the difference be- tween ‘human will’ and ‘machine will’; and respecting human dignity. (shrink)

This article demonstrates a priori cosmopolitan values of restraint and harm limitation exist to establish a cosmopolitan “no-harm” duty in warfare, predating utilitarianism and permeating modern international humanitarian law. In doing so, the author exposes the atemporal and ahistorical nature of utilitarianism which introduces chaos and brutality into the international legal system. Part 2 conceptualises the duty as derived from the “no-harm” principle under international environmental law. Part 3 frames the discussion within legal pluralism and cosmopolitan ethics, arguing that divergent (...) legal jurisdictions without an international authority necessitates a “public international sphere” to mediate differences leading to strong value-commitment norm-creation. One such norm is the “no-harm” duty in warfare. Part 4 traces the duty to the Stoics, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, African traditional culture, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Parts 5 and 6 explain how the duty manifests in principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law. (shrink)

Authorship Analysis (AA) is a natural language processing field that examines the previous works of writers to identify the author of a text based on its features. Studies in authorship analysis include authorship identification, authorship profiling, and authorship verification. Due to its relevance, to many applications in this field attention has been paid. It is widely used in the attribution of historical literature. Other applications include legal linguistics, criminal law, forensic investigations, and computer forensics. This paper aims to provide an (...) overview of the work done and the techniques applied in the authorship analysis domain. The examination of recent developments in this field is the principal focus. Many different criteria can be used to define a writer’s style. This paper investigates stylometric features in different author-related tasks, including lexical, syntactic, semantic, structural, and content-specific ones. A lot of classification methods have been applied to authorship analysis tasks. We examine many research studies that use different machine learning and deep learning techniques. As a means of pointing the direction for future studies, we present the most relevant methods recently proposed. The reviewed studies include documents of different types and different languages. In summary, due to the fact that each natural language has its own set of features, there is no standard technique generically applicable for solving the AA problem. (shrink)

Modern bilimin kuruluş sürecinde, Grek menşeli atomcu felsefenin bir etkisinin olup-olmadığı ya da olduysa hangi bakımlardan olduğu bir tartışma konusudur. Söz gelimi E. Burtt, A. Koyré ve T. Kuhn gibi bilim filozofları, modern bilimin kuruluşunda atomcu felsefenin, bariz bir etkisinin olmadığını ileri sürerlerken, A. Chalmers ve D.C. Lindberg gibi düşünürler ise belirli bir düzeyde etkisinin olduğunu iddia etmişlerdir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, modern bilimin oluşum sürecinde Grek menşeli atomcu öğretinin ne türden bir etki ve öneme sahip olduğunu araştırmaktır. Bu maksatla öncelikle (...) Grek menşeli atomcu öğretinin temel görüş ve tezleri, kısaca ortaya konulmuş daha sonra bu görüşlerin tarihsel süreç içerisindeki seyri betimlenmiş ve nihayetinde bu öğretinin modern dönemde özellikle de P. Gassendi, R. Boyle ve I. Newton gibi düşünürler üzerinde ne türden bir etkisinin olduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Nihayetinde modern bilimi nihai formuna ulaştıran düşünürün I. Newton olduğu kabul edildiğinde, Epikuros üzerinden alınan atomcu öğretinin, Newtoncu bilim tasarımını oldukça şekillendirdiği söylenebilir. (shrink)

Bu makalenin amacı, Türkiye örnekleminde Tanrı algısı üzerine yapılmış ampirik araştırmaların sistematik bir incelemesini sunmaktır. Tanrı algısı çok boyutlu bir yapı olarak ele alınmış ve Tanrı algısının sosyodemografik ve psikolojik süreçleri içeren diğer değişkenlerle ilişkisi tartışılmıştır. Tanrı algısı ile psikopatoloji ve manevi bakım arasındaki ilişki de gözden geçirilmiştir. İnceleme sonucunda Tanrı algısının yaşa göre her zaman anlamlı bir farklılık göstermediği ancak ilişkinin olumlu yönde seyrettiği, yaş ilerledikçe Tanrı algısının daha olumlu olduğu söylenebilir. Cinsiyet farklılığına bakıldığında kadınların erkeklere göre daha olumlu (...) bir Tanrı algısına sahip oldukları, gelir düzeyi ve eğitim düzeyi açısından ise anlamlı bir farklılığın olmadığı görülmüştür. Ayrıca Tanrı algısının okul türüne göre (dini ve seküler okullar) farklılık gösterebildiği, Tanrı algısının oluşumunda anne baba tutumlarının önemli olduğu görülmüştür. Çalışmalar baskıcı, otoriter veya ilgisiz/ ihmalkar anne baba tutumları ile büyüyen insanların Tanrı algılarının daha korku yönelimli olduğunu, demokratik anne baba tutumları ile büyüyenlerin ise daha sevgi yönelimli Tanrı algıları olduğunu göstermiştir. Öznel dindarlık ve olumlu dini başa çıkmanın Tanrı algısı ile pozitif ilişkili olabildiği sonucuna varılmıştır. Sosyodemografik değişkenlere ek olarak, sevgi yönelimli Tanrı algısının daha iyi psikolojik sağlık, daha yüksek iyi oluş, etkili ve olumlu başa çıkma, olumlu benlik saygısı, daha düşük depresyon ve daha düşük psikopatolojik belirtilerle pozitif yönde ilişkili olduğu söylenebilir. Gözden geçirilen 55 çalışma içerisinde pek çok bulguya ulaşılmış olsa da incelenen değişkenlerin çok çeşitli olduğu, ancak her değişken hakkında genel bir çıkarım yapmak için yeterli çalışma olmadığı, bu nedenle halen Türkiye örnekleminde Tanrı algısı ile ilgili çalışmaların artırılması gerektiği düşünülmektedir. Son olarak, daha fazla araştırmaya ihtiyaç duyulan alanlar tartışma bölümünde ele alınmıştır. (shrink)

As research on ethical consumers and consumption practices has continued to grow, a complimentary body of work concerned less with ethical consumption but more with ethics in consumption has emerged. Problematizing the divide between ethical and non-ethical consumption, this stream of research focuses on the domain of everyday and explores the moral struggles individuals face while engaging in ordinary consumption practices. However, the attention on the ordinary runs the risk of obscuring the contribution of the ‘extraordinary’ or the transcendental to (...) the ethical concerns embedded in the mundane flow of the everyday. This study addresses this blind spot and explores the ways in which religion is implicated in everyday consumption ethics. In doing so, I go beyond a view of religion as an individual trait and emphasize its role as a major institutional structure of the contemporary political economy. The empirical context of the study is the controversy over the so-called halal nail polish. The debate over the products’ appropriateness for Muslim women provides a fertile setting to explore how an ordinary object becomes an ethical problem amid changing relations between religion and market. In order to trace and analyse the linkages between daily practices and institutional dynamics I draw from the moral economy framework and discuss the multiple and conflicting moral repertoires that shape the ethical evaluations of the object. The study offers several contributions to the existing theorizations of everyday consumption ethics and moral economies of consumption. It also highlights the potential of interdisciplinary approaches in providing a holistic understanding of the ethical and moral dimensions of consumption. (shrink)

Bioethics education has remarkably grown across the globe in the last few decades. The data of the UNESCO Global Ethics Observatory proves that bioethics education is a global phenomenon with various bioethics institutions, teaching programs, and academicians. However, this situation does not mean that bioethics education has reached a stable and flawless level. Especially, the effectiveness of bioethics programs or their quality assessment is a major area that should be analyzed through more academic works. For filling that gap, this article (...) aims to formulate a general framework to address the quality standards and indicators in bioethics education. The article adapts Donabedian’s three approaches—structure, process, and outcome— as three levels to measure quality in bioethics education. The proposed model considers the indicators the ultimate quantifiable points by creating a sequential classification as the three levels, main categories, standards, and indicators, which means that it applies an inductive approach following a path from the indicators to the standards, from the standards to the main categories, and from the main categories to the levels in order to reach a conclusion about the effectiveness of each level. (shrink)

In Plato's dialogue of the Republic, politics is a concept questioned in the context of one of the most ancient problems of philosophy, that is, the relationship between theory and practice, and formulated as a paradox. Plato finds a solution to the paradox by establishing the city-state proximate to his theory and to put forward three conditions. The last of those conditions, as Plato calls it the greatest wave of paradox in his own terms, that the rulers must be philosopher-kings, (...) contains many clues about Plato's conception of politics. The aim of this study is to examine the implications of the philosopher-king condition in Plato's political philosophy. To this end, first, it is demonstrated that the political meaning of the philosopher's exit from the cave on the way to becoming ruler is apolitical. Secondly, it will be shown how the political activity of the philosopher, contrary to the nature of politics and in a way that excludes others, is reduced to both ascetic and cognitive activity. (shrink)

We study the automorphism group of the algebraic closure of a substructure A of a pseudofinite field F. We show that the behavior of this group, even when A is large, depends essentially on the roots of unity in F. For almost all completions of the theory of pseudofinite fields, we show that over A, algebraic closure agrees with definable closure, as soon as A contains the relative algebraic closure of the prime field.

Corporate social responsibility is often framed in terms of opposing constructions of the firm. These reflect, respectively, different accounts of its obligations: either to shareholders or to stakeholders. Although these opposing constructions of corporate responsibility are diametrically opposed, they are also much more fluid and mobile in certain contexts, since they can act as discursive resources that are deployed and brought into play in the struggle over shaping what responsibility means. They are less the fixed, ideological “signposts” they might appear, (...) and more like “weathervanes” that move alongside changing rhetorical currents. To show this, we analyse the Securities and Exchange Commission consultation process, and legislation, relating to the provenance of “conflict minerals”. We identify two dialectically opposed camps, each seeking to influence final legislation and with end goals in keeping with the shareholder/stakeholder dichotomy. One camp lobbied for firms to scrutinize their entire supply chain, constructing the firm as a “global citizen” with very wide social responsibilities. The second camp lobbied for a lighter touch approach, constructing the firm as a “trader”, with much narrower social responsibilities. We analyse the complex interplay between these two opposed camps, our contribution being to show how both deploy competing conceptions of the corporation as discursive resources. (shrink)

Is uncertainty, often brought about by loss, collapse, interruption, or disturbance in life, an entirely negative state that must be resolved as soon and as fully as possible by resettlement? Or, can we view uncertainty and loss as affective states that might open up new possibilities for friendships, solidarities, collectivities, and hope? As a response to Carla J. Maier’s ‘The Table and the Dancer’ this essay attends to affective and emotional registers of migration. It attempts to rethink the senses of (...) loss, uprootedness, and uncertainty as possible sources for affinities and hope, with a particular focus on the new migration from Turkey. (shrink)

The principle of respect for autonomy requires informing patients adequately and appropriately about diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses. However, some clinical cases may cause ethical dilemmas regarding telling the truth. Under the existence especially of certain cultural, social, and religious circumstances, disclosing all the relevant information to all pertinent parties might create harmful effects. Even though the virtue of telling the truth is unquestionable, sometimes de facto conditions compel physicians to act paternalistically to protect the patient/patients from imminent dangers. This article, (...) which aims to study the issue of whether a physician should always tell the truth, analyzes an interesting case that represents the detection of misattributed paternity during pre-transplant tests for a kidney transplant from the son to the father in Turkey, where social, cultural, and religious factors have considerable impact on marital infidelity. After analyzing the concept of telling the truth and its relationship with paternalism and two major ethical theories, consequentialism and deontology, it is concluded that the value of the integrity of life and survival overrides the value of telling the truth. For this reason, in the case of a high possibility of severe and imminent threats, withholding some information is ethically justifiable. (shrink)

The Scottish historical novelist, John Galt assumed that the origins of law rested on the anarchistic and primitive nature of human beings, who formed a society on a contractual basis out of the need for security. Although generally agreeing with enlightenment thinkers on the formation of society, law and human nature a divergence in Galt's thought appeared in the secular treatment of crimes. Adhering to prevalent Christian notions about sin and crime, Galt rejected a clear distinction between the two, and (...) between morality and law, such as were upheld by such enlightenment figures as Cesare Beccaria. Such a clear distinction failed in its analysis of the phenomena. He was at one with Enlightenment-influenced thought in its criticism of cruel punishments and advocated a humanitarian approach to the criminal, but he also emphasised education in Christian morality as the most appropriate means of deterrence. This divergence from more radical enlightenment views sprang from his lack of confidence in the capacities of human reason. Nevertheless, a fundamentally humanist philosophy and a belief in the importance of learning linked his conservatism with an enlightenment belief in human progress. (shrink)

Emerged as a movement within the evangelical wing of Protestantism in the 20th century, Pentecostal Christianity is a mystical religious movement that seeks holiness in a purely individual experience and emphasizes spiritual unity. This movement, assumed an important role in spreading Christianity to the world is claimed to be the second largest group after Roman Catholicism with its different discourse and organization structure. Its mystical aspect, especially affects churches in the northern hemisphere as well as the southern hemisphere and the (...) movement's activities are considered a harvest of new souls collected by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this situation raises the question of what is the place of the movement within the Christian unity. For this reason, it is important to examine the participation of the movement in the issues of ecumenical unity since its emergence in the North of America.This article aims to reveal the relationship between Pentecostal Christianity and the global ecumenical movement and tends to provide a way of thinking about ecumenism encouraging Pentecostal participation in the ecumenical mission. Although Pentecostal movement defined as an ecumenical spirit has shown a negative attitude towards formal ecumenical processes in the early period, it has recently changed the way of approaching regional and international ecumenical negotiations. The aim of bilateral dialogues between Pentecostals and other historical churches seems to be on developing mutual respect and understanding rather than structural unity. The next will show whether these visible associations for now will become a realistic dialogue goal that includes structural unity in the future, or to form a spiritually invisible unity that moves freely in spirit without the need for a structural unity. (shrink)

The model companion of the theory of fields with valuation and automorphism exists. A counterexample shows that the theory of models of ACFA equipped with valuation is not this model companion.

The main thesis I put forward in this article is that the democratic theory needs an anthropological perspective which defines the human in plurality and signifies the possibility of achieving a fully inclusive rational consensus. I argue that a model of democracy in terms of cosmopolitan anthropology can help us to better envision the main challenge facing universal norms and principles today. How to create democratic forms of living together? I think we can answer this question by interpreting Hannah Arendt’s (...) theory of political action on a philosophical anthropological basis. It is common knowledge that Hannah Arendt is suspicious of ethics and warns that ethics and conscience alone cannot produce the conditions for peace. In the present paper, I examine Arendt’s philosophical project together with Kant’s philosophical anthropology and try to demonstrate its importance for plurality and living together in peace. (shrink)