Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 2, Page 162-169, February 2022.

Innovation processes are extremely complex and opaque, which makes it tough or even impossible to govern them. Innovators lack control of large parts of these developments and lack of foreknowledge about the possible consequences of emerging technologies. Because of these features some scholars have argued that innovation processes should be structurally reformed and the agent-centered model of responsibility for innovation should be dismissed altogether. In the present article it will be argued that such a structural idea of responsible research and (...) innovation presumes rational agents who can be motivated by reasons. Instead of dismissing the agent-centered approach to responsibility for innovation processes a virtue ethical approach will be developed. Virtues should be considered as the intellectual and moral dispositions presumed for good decision making. It will be shown that creativity and eagerness are creditable character traits that have a distinct positive value for managing the opaqueness of innovation processes. Such traits are mandatory for change and betterment. Furthermore, it will be argued that the notion of responsibility of innovators should not be understood merely as means for constraining them but also as a tool to perpetuate their integrity and happiness. Through discussing the captivating examples of Steve Jobs and the protagonist of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein it will be shown how to apply this virtue ethical framework for innovators in practice. (shrink)

The nexus of the moral luck debate is the control principle, which says that people are responsible only for things within their control. In this paper, I will first argue that the control principle should be restrained to blameworthiness, because responsibility is too wide a concept to square with control. Many deniers of moral luck appeal to the intuitiveness of the control principle. Defenders of moral luck do not share this intuition and demand a stronger defence of the control principle. (...) I will establish a defence of the control principle based on the value of simplicity for selecting a theory of blameworthiness. A simpler theory of blameworthiness is more likely to be true, and not being falsely judged blameworthy is desirable. I will conclude that simplicity advices the acceptance of the control principle over other theories of blameworthiness that embrace factors beyond control. (shrink)

The number of publications that highlight the influence of visions and futuristic narratives on the development of emerging technologies increases. Toolboxes such as “Hermeneutical Technology Assessment” and “Vision Assessment” provide methodological considerations on how to assess techno-futuristic narratives, their proponents, and their impact on technological development. Because of their contributions to the technoscientific discourse, a special responsibility for technological processes is attributed to the “visioneers” of such narratives. While such a claim naturally follows from an agential role in a process, (...) it is not clear whether visioneers should be held responsible. Some problems of this attribution will be addressed in the present paper. Particularly the following questions will be considered: Which role does autonomy play for responsibility? Is causation sufficient for the attribution of responsibility? Which role do intentions and alternatives play for the responsibility of visioneers? These questions will be discussed against the backdrop of contemporary approaches to the responsibility of visioneering and classic philosophical works in the field. Furthermore, the problem of accountability will be considered. Socio-technical systems are highly complex, which makes it hard to trace back the origins of particular developments. It will be argued that it is currently unreasonable to give visioneers the status of an important player. The article will shed light on the several dimensions of responsibility and provide a more nuanced understanding of responsibility in the context of new and emerging technologies. (shrink)

Moral luck occurs when factors beyond an agent’s control affect her blameworthiness. Several scholars deny the existence of moral luck by distinguishing judging blameworthy from blame-related practices. Luck does not affect an agent’s blameworthiness because morality is conceptually fair, but it can affect the appropriate degree of blame for that agent. While separatism resolves the paradox of moral luck, we aim to show it that it needs amendment, because it is unfair to treat two equally blameworthy people unequally. We argue (...) that separatists should conceive fairness as a pro tanto reason for blame. By locating fairness as a ground for blame within a wider axiology of blame, separatism could resolve the challenge of blaming fairly. In such an axiology, reasonable and fair blame diverge. (shrink)

Egalitarian thinkers have adopted Ronald Dworkin’s distinction between brute and option luck in their attempts to construct theories that better respect our intuitions about what it is that egalitarian justice should equalize. I argue that when there is no risk-free choice available, it is less straightforward than commonly assumed to draw this distinction in a way that makes brute-luck egalitarianism plausible. I propose an extension of the brute-luck–option-luck distinction to this more general case. The generalized distinction, called the ‘least risky (...) prospect view’ of brute luck, implies more redistribution than Dworkin’s own solution (although less than called for by some of his other critics). Moreover, the generalized brute-luck–option-luck distinction must be parasitical on an underlying non-egalitarian theory of which sets of options are reasonable. The presupposed prior theory may be inimical to the claim that justice requires equality rather than some other distributive pattern. (shrink)

Penicillin is a serendipitous discovery par excellence. But, what does this say about Alexander Fleming’s praiseworthiness? Clearly, Fleming would not have received the Nobel Prize, had not a mould accidently entered his laboratory. This seems paradoxical, since it was beyond his control. The present article will first discuss Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin as an example of moral luck in science and technology and critically assess some common responses to this problem. Second, the Control Principle that says that people are not (...) responsible for things beyond their control will be defended. An implication of this principle is that Alexander Fleming’s desert, which is based on his epistemic skills, remains untouched by luck. Third, by distinguishing different notions of praiseworthiness, a way to resolve the paradox of moral luck will be elaborated. Desert provides only a pro tanto reason to determine whether someone is an appropriate addressee of reward. Here, luck can make a difference. Forth, it will be argued that stimulating the quest for socially beneficial science provides a compelling reason to treat scientists with equal desert differently. Penicillin provides striking evidence for the importance of this quest and showcasing it incentivizes the making of socially beneficial science. Ultimately, it will be justified why Fleming deserved the Nobel Prize in at least one sense of the concept. (shrink)

Penicillin is a serendipitous discovery par excellence. But, what does this say about Alexander Fleming’s praiseworthiness? Clearly, Fleming would not have received the Nobel Prize, had not a mould accidently entered his laboratory. This seems paradoxical, since it was beyond his control. The present article will first discuss Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin as an example of moral luck in science and technology and critically assess some common responses to this problem. Second, the Control Principle that says that people are not (...) responsible for things beyond their control will be defended. An implication of this principle is that Alexander Fleming’s desert, which is based on his epistemic skills, remains untouched by luck. Third, by distinguishing different notions of praiseworthiness, a way to resolve the paradox of moral luck will be elaborated. Desert provides only a pro tanto reason to determine whether someone is an appropriate addressee of reward. Here, luck can make a difference. Forth, it will be argued that stimulating the quest for socially beneficial science provides a compelling reason to treat scientists with equal desert differently. Penicillin provides striking evidence for the importance of this quest and showcasing it incentivizes the making of socially beneficial science. Ultimately, it will be justified why Fleming deserved the Nobel Prize in at least one sense of the concept. (shrink)

Penicillin is a serendipitous discovery par excellence. But, what does this say about Alexander Fleming’s praiseworthiness? Clearly, Fleming would not have received the Nobel Prize, had not a mould accidently entered his laboratory. This seems paradoxical, since it was beyond his control. The present article will first discuss Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin as an example of moral luck in science and technology and critically assess some common responses to this problem. Second, the Control Principle that says that people are not (...) responsible for things beyond their control will be defended. An implication of this principle is that Alexander Fleming’s desert, which is based on his epistemic skills, remains untouched by luck. Third, by distinguishing different notions of praiseworthiness, a way to resolve the paradox of moral luck will be elaborated. Desert provides only a pro tanto reason to determine whether someone is an appropriate addressee of reward. Here, luck can make a difference. Forth, it will be argued that stimulating the quest for socially beneficial science provides a compelling reason to treat scientists with equal desert differently. Penicillin provides striking evidence for the importance of this quest and showcasing it incentivizes the making of socially beneficial science. Ultimately, it will be justified why Fleming deserved the Nobel Prize in at least one sense of the concept. (shrink)

An l-hemi-implicative semilattice is an algebra $$\mathbf {A} = $$ A= such that $$$$ is a semilattice with a greatest element 1 and satisfies: for every $$a,b,c\in A$$ a,b,c∈A, $$a\le b\rightarrow c$$ a≤b→c implies $$a\wedge b \le c$$ a∧b≤c and $$a\rightarrow a = 1$$ a→a=1. An l-hemi-implicative semilattice is commutative if if it satisfies that $$a\rightarrow b = b\rightarrow a$$ a→b=b→a for every $$a,b\in A$$ a,b∈A. It is shown that the class of l-hemi-implicative semilattices is a variety. These algebras provide (...) a general framework for the study of different algebras of interest in algebraic logic. In any l-hemi-implicative semilattice it is possible to define an derived operation by $$a \sim b := \wedge $$ a∼b:=∧. Endowing $$$$ with the binary operation $$\sim $$ ∼ the algebra $$$$ results an l-hemi-implicative semilattice, which also satisfies the identity $$a \sim b = b \sim a$$ a∼b=b∼a. In this article, we characterize the commutative l-hemi-implicative semilattices. We also provide many new examples of l-hemi-implicative semilattice on any semillatice with greatest element. Finally, we characterize congruences on the classes of l-hemi-implicative semilattices introduced earlier and we characterize the principal congruences of l-hemi-implicative semilattices. (shrink)

Conventional economic theory assumes that people care only about ultimate outcomes and are indifferent to the decision and allocation processes by which outcomes are brought about. Building on Sen (1997), I relax this assumption, and investigate the formal and philosophical issues that arise. I extend the formal apparatus of preference theory to analyse how processes may enter preferences, and investigate whether traditional invariance requirements like the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference are still satisfied in this new setting. I show that (...) it is, provided certain conditions of separability hold, and I discuss the plausibility of these conditions. Further, I argue that processes are often valued in a mode that diverges from the conventional modes of instrumental and intrinsic/independent valuation. I introduce the notion of dependent non-instrumental valuation, and show how processes could depend on their instrumental function for their value – making their value dependent – and yet derive their value from something else – making it non-instrumental. Dependent non-instrumental value, I argue, can be explained by symbolic and evidential relations between processes and outcomes. (Published Online July 31 2007) Footnotes1 This article is based on the third chapter of my Ph.D. dissertation (Sandbu 2003). I would like to thank Richard Tuck for many discussions over several years, which helped me develop and elaborate the ideas presented here. I am also very grateful to Amartya Sen, Nien-hê Hsieh, Luc Bovens, and Xaq Pitkow for their close readings of various versions of the paper and their incisive comments, questions, and suggestions. Further thanks go to Christopher Avery, Matthias Benz, Jerry Green, Waheed Hussain, David Laibson, Robert Sugden, Alan Strudler, Justin Wolfers, and seminar participants at Harvard University and the Wharton School of Business. Akshay Jashnani provided helpful research assistance. Most of the ideas in the present article were developed while I was the recipient of a doctoral grant from the Research Council of Norway, which I gratefully acknowledge. (shrink)

Scientific discoveries are often to some degree influenced by luck. Whether luck’s influence is at odds with common-sense intuitions about responsibility, is the central concern of the philosophical debate about moral luck. Do scientists acknowledge that luck plays a role in their work and – if so – do they consider it morally problematic? The present article discusses the results of four focus groups with scientists, who were asked about their views on luck in their fields and its moral implications. (...) The participants underscored circumstantial luck as a key dimension of luck in science. Nevertheless, most participants insisted that there are ways of executing ‘control’ in science: They believe that virtues and skills can increase one’s chances for success. The cultivation of these skills and virtues was considered a reasonable ground for pride. Prizes and rewards were rarely tied to personal desert, but instead to their societal function. (shrink)

Consequentialism, one of the major theories of normative ethics, maintains that the moral rightness of an act is determined solely by the act's consequences and its alternatives. The traditional form of consequentialism is one-dimensional, in that the rightness of an act is a function of a single moral aspect, such as the sum total of wellbeing it produces. In this book Martin Peterson introduces a new type of consequentialist theory: multidimensional consequentialism. According to this theory, an act's moral rightness depends (...) on several separate dimensions, including individual wellbeing, equality and risk. Peterson's novel approach shows that moral views about equality and risk that were previously thought to be mutually incompatible can be rendered compatible, and his precise theoretical discussion helps the reader to understand better the distinction between consequentialist and non-consequentialist theories. His book will interest a wide range of readers in ethics. (shrink)

According to standard assumptions in semantics, ordinary users of a language have implicit beliefs about the truth-conditions of sentences in that language, and they often agree on those beliefs. For example, it is assumed that if Anna and John are both competent users of English and the former utters ‘grass is green’ in conversation with the latter, they will both believe that that sentence is true if and only if grass is green. These assumptions play an important role in an (...) intuitively compelling picture of communication, according to which successful communication through literal assertoric utterances is normally effected thanks to our shared beliefs about the truth-conditions of the sentences uttered in the course of the conversation. Against these standard assumptions, this paper argues that the participants in a conversation rarely have the same beliefs about the truth-conditions of the sentences involved in a linguistic interaction. More precisely, it argues for Variance, the thesis that nearly every utterance is such that there is no proposition which more than one language user believes to be that utterance’s truth-conditional content. If Variance is true, we must reject the standard picture of communication. Towards the end of the paper I identify three ways in which ordinary conversations can be communication-like despite the truth of Variance and argue that the most natural amendments to the standard picture fail to explain them. (shrink)

The debate about Ortega’s relation to phenomenology has been continuous since the eighties of the last century. Before this date, Ortega’s manifestations that he had abandoned phenomenology at the same moment he came to know it were understood literally, without scrutinising other manifestations of his that he had made on phenomenology, or that his philosophy is similar to that of Husserl’s final works. Both manifestations seek to question the previous ones. The text clarifies first the meaning and importance of this (...) polemic for Spanish philosophy, deeply influenced by that of Ortega’s, and, secondly, I will set out what are the fundamental phenomenological concepts of Ortega’s philosophy. / El debate sobre la relación de Ortega con la fenomenología ha sido continuo desde los años ochenta del siglo pasado. Antes de esta fecha, las manifestaciones de Ortega de que había abandonado la fenomenología en el mismo momento que la conoció, fueron tomadas al pie de la letra, sin examinar otras manifestaciones que había hecho sobre la fenomenología, o la de que su filosofía es similar a la de los últimos trabajos de Husserl. Ambas manifestaciones buscan cuestionar las anteriores. El texto aclara en primer lugar el significado y la importancia de esta polémica en la filosofía española, profundamente influenciada por la de Ortega, y, en segundo lugar, se expondré cuáles son los conceptos fenomenológicos fundamentales de la filosofía de Ortega. (shrink)

This interview with Kwang?Kuo Hwang offers an introductory insight into the emergence of the field of indigenous psychologies. In the process of doing so, it attempts to illuminate the main historical factors behind its development, its key issues of debate and the important challenges it faces. It also provides details pertaining to new theories and methods that have recently emerged in connection with the indigenous approach and how they have contributed to its advancement. In addition, it outlines Hwang?s proposed strategy (...) towards the goal of developing a universal psychology. (shrink)

Indirect speech reports can be true even if they attribute to the speaker the saying of something weaker than what she in fact expressed, yet not all weakenings of what the speaker expressed yield true reports. For example, if Anna utters ‘Bob and Carla passed the exam’, we can accurately report her as having said that Carla passed the exam, but we can not accurately report her as having said that either it rains or it does not, or that either (...) Carla passed the exam or pandas are cute. This paper offers an analysis of speech reports that distinguishes weakenings of what the speaker expressed that yield true reports from weakenings that do not. According to this analysis, speech reports are not only sensitive to the informational content of what the speaker expressed, but also to the possibilities a speaker raises in making an utterance. As I argue, this analysis has significant advantages over its most promising competitors, including views based on work by Barwise and Perry : 668–691, 1981), views appealing to recent work on the notion of content parthood by Fine :199–226, 2016) and Yablo, and Richard’s : 605–616, 1998) proposal appealing to structured propositions. (shrink)

El artículo analiza la lectura de György Lukács de la segunda novela de Soljenitsin, Pabellón de cáncer. La consideración de los contextos que enmarcan la crítica del autor húngaro posee implicancias políticas, filosóficas y estéticas patentes: el proceso de desestalinización, la coexistencia pacífica, y el “Renacimiento del marxismo”, que Lukács reconoce como una tarea impostergable. En este marco conceptual, la interpretación de Lukács de obra de Soljenitsin expresa el modo en las nociones de autonomía estética y perspectiva se articulan.

An equivalence between the category of MV-algebras and the category $${{\rm MV^{\bullet}}}$$ MV ∙ is given in Castiglioni et al. :67–92, 2014). An integral residuated lattice with bottom is an MV-algebra if and only if it satisfies the equations $${a = \neg \neg a, \vee = 1}$$ a = ¬ ¬ a, ∨ = 1 and $${a \odot = a \wedge b}$$ a ⊙ = a ∧ b. An object of $${{\rm MV^{\bullet}}}$$ MV ∙ is a residuated lattice which in (...) particular satisfies some equations which correspond to the previous equations. In this paper we extend the equivalence to the category whose objects are pairs, where A is an MV-algebra and I is an ideal of A. (shrink)

A partir de la afirmación en la que Ortega dice que el científico se aloja en el ser humano, el texto pretende, por un lado y desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, abordar el vínculo entre las ciencias naturales y las ciencias humanas y sociales y, por otro lado, analizar las consecuencias de las maneras en las que estos dos grupos de ciencias se han relacionado a fin de imaginar la posición que tanto las ciencias naturales como las humanas y sociales deben (...) ocupar. From a phenomenological perspective and begining with the statement from Ortega saying that a scientist lives inside a human being, this text has a twofold structure. First, the author analyzes the relationship among natural sciences and human and social sciences. Second, the author analyzes the consequences of the different ways in which bothsciences have interrelated, in order to imagine the place that either natural sciences, and social sciences and humanities, should occupy. (shrink)

This paper deals about dualities for bounded prelinear Hilbert algebras. In particular, we give an Esakia-style duality between the algebraic category of bounded prelinear Hilbert algebras and a category of H-spaces whose morphisms are certain continuous p-morphisms.

El presente texto tiene como objetivo exponer el concepto de “cultura básica”, fundamental en la fenomenología de Lester Em-bree. En la primera parte se expondrá el contexto biográfico de ese texto. En la segunda se abordará el primer avance que hace Lester Embree, para en la tercera centrarse en el artículo fundamental sobre el mismo. El núcleo del concepto está en relación con la diferencia que Lester Embree establece entre la experiencia y la posicionalidad de uso, valoración y creencia. Estas (...) son características o determinaciones culturales que constituyen el mundo humano, que por eso es siempre un mundo cultural. Esa cultura básica se da también, al menos, en algunos animales no humanos. Aunque se alude a puntos problemáticos de esa teoría, no se entra de lleno en esos problemas.The present paper aims to expose the concept of "basic culture", fundamental in Lester Embree’s phenomenology. In the first part the biographical context of that text is explained. In the second one, the first advance made by Lester Embree is described, and in the third one the fundamental article about it will be focused on. The core of the concept is in relation to the difference that Lester Embree establishes between experience and the positionality of use, valuation and belief. These are characteristics or cultural determinations that constitute the human world, which therefore is always a cultural world. This basic culture also occurs, at least, in some non-human animals. Although problematic points of that theory are alluded to, these problems are not fully developed. (shrink)

La obra de Julia V. Iribarne se basa, entre otros, en tres conceptos centrales, intersubjetividad trascendental, ética trascendental y antropología trascendental. En este texto de homenaje a su persona y a su trayectoria intelectual, dado que nuestra autora se basa fundamentalmente en los inéditos de Husserl, aclararé, en primer lugar la posición del legado póstumo [Nachlass] husserliano en la obra de este. A continuación dedicaré un apartado a exponer el desarrollo de cada uno de esos conceptos a lo largo de (...) su trayectoria, desde la intersubjetividad, pasando por la ética, hasta antropología trascendental.Julia V. Iribarne’s lifework rests, among others, on three central concepts, transcendental intersubjectivity, transcendental ethics and transcendental anthropology. In this text in tribute to her person and intellectual trajectory, and because Julia V. Iribarne’s writings are founded basically on Husserl’s Nachlass, I shall first clarify my conception about the relation of this Nachlass to his work. Next I will dedicate a section to explain the development of each of the concepts throughout her career, from intersubjectivity,, to ethics and to transcendental anthropology. (shrink)

En un reciente y sumamente interesante Congreso organizado por Nordic Society of Phenomenology y la Lithuanian Society of Phenomenology expuse, en una de las seis sesiones plenarias, lo fundamental y básico de la fenomenología husserliana de la razón a la hora de fundar las ciencias humanas. Los dos elementos fundamentales de esa fenomenología de la razón, son, por un lado, la descripción husserliana que procede de las Ideas de 1913, de que en la donación que se da en la percepción (...) hay una fundación de la razón, porque la percepción nos da las cosas en persona, por tanto, en lo que podríamos llamar con todo derecho, en sí mismas, en lo que Ortega intetpretará correctamente, como en su ejecutividad, lo que no obsta a que, siendo lector profundo de William James, Husserl enraíce en esa percepción de la Urdoxa, la creencia originaria, porque toda percepción y todo juicio de realidad que se base en una percepción implican una creencia en que estamos en lo cierto, que lo percibido y afirmado se seguirá comportando de ese modo. [Fragmento]. (shrink)

El presente texto es un extracto de la primera lección del curso impartido en Guanajuato en la primavera del año en curso. Su objetivo es determinar los contenidos que configuraron la interpretación convencional de Husserl, para destacar lo que sería el objetivo del curso: la noción del “nuevo” Husserl. El ensayo consta de cinco apartados. En el primero se presenta el contenido global de la obra pública de Husserl. El segundo se dedica a explicar la noción del “nuevo” Husserl. El (...) apartado tres procura exponer los rasgos del Husserl convencional. El cuatro está dedicado a ver la cadena de autores que nos han transmitido al “nuevo” Husserl. Para terminar, en el apartado quinto se hace referencia a algunos textos de Gaos sintomáticos de la comprensión convencional de Husserl. (shrink)