Suchergebnisse

"Ethical Aspects of Migration Flows" published on by Oxford University Press.

Despite the main attention being given within the economic activity to the issues of efficiency and competitiveness, one shouldn't oversee the ethical aspects of business and economic policy. Quite important are also the matters of truth and false in economic research. Several phenomena and processes - subsidies, dumping, weapons trading, fiscal system and policy - do have also their moral dimension, not just the economic one. Hence, the issues of ethics should be considered and discussed in a wider context. From this perspective there is still a lot to be done, especially in the countries with weak market institutions and relatively lower quality of market culture, including post-socialist countries in transition to market system.

The history of humankind is full of examples that indicate a constant desire to make human beings more moral. Nowadays, technological breakthroughs might have a significant impact on our moral character and abilities. This is the case of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. The aim of this paper is to consider the ethical aspects of the use of VR in enhancing empathy. First, we will offer an introduction to VR, explaining its fundamental features, devices and concepts. Then, we will approach the characterization of VR as an "empathy machine," showing why this medium has aroused so much interest and why, nevertheless, we do not believe it is the ideal way to enhance empathy. As an alternative, we will consider fostering empathy-related abilities through virtual embodiment in avatars. In the conclusion, however, we will examine some of the serious concerns related to the ethical relevance of empathy and will defend the philosophical case for a reason-guided empathy, also suggesting specific guidelines for possible future developments of empathy enhancement projects through VR embodied experiences. ; Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government FFI2016-79000-P PID2019-104943RB-I00 ; INPhINIT Retaining Fellowship of the La Caixa Foundation LCF/BQ/DR20/11790005

Abstract
The article deals with the philosophical and ethical implications of transhumanism and human enhancement techniques. It considers how enhancement and therapy are two different types of biomedical intervention. It then looks at the implementation of these ideas in the military sector. It analyses various standpoints and views on transhumanism, the benefits and risks of using newly acquired scientific knowledge to improve and alter naturally deficient human nature. The need for ethical reflection and argumentation is emphasized; new scientific discoveries can dramatically change our experience of the world around us and may present a huge risk to mankind if left unchecked and not critically discussed. The article reflects on the dangers and risks of human enhancement and its possible consequences on the battlefield as well as the broader contexts and implications. The article also considers which criteria would be suitable to ensure beneficial and less controversial enhancements are carefully selected and to enable these to be distinguished from more dangerous practices that change the human body and/or mind. The aim is to consider and evaluate the possible benefits (positive consequences) and risks (negative consequences) of using enhancements for military purposes and to identify possible criteria for their justification and/or rejection.

These considerations of civilizational and ethical aspects of environmental safety start by a reference to the conceptual determination of this safety, and its foundation on a conception of the Planet Earth as a political and geological space, originating in the development of life forms. In this sense, the author understands the structures of the Earth's ecosystem, its unity, and the disruption of this unity with consequences for its survival and the survival of the human civilization itself. In the context of this approach, the author points to the need to preserve the environmental safety from the standpoint of equality and justice, stressing that justice is a legal category, especially when it is associated with the laws of nature, laws which are also associated with man as a natural being.

Environmental health involves the assessment and control of environmental factors that can potentially affect human health, such as radiation, toxic chemicals and other hazardous agents. It is less commonly understood that environmental health also requires addressing questions of an ethical nature. Bringing together work from experts across a range of sub-disciplines of environmental health, this collection of essays discusses the ethical implications of environmental health research and its application, presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Ethics of Environmental Health held in August 2016 in the Czech Republic. In doing so, it builds upon the insights and ideas put forward in the first volume of Ethics of Environmental Health, published by Routledge in early 2017.This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental health, applied ethics, environmental ethics, medical ethics and bioethics, as well as those concerned with public health, environmental studies, toxicology and radiation.

The Polish Episcopate critically assessed the social and economic situation in Poland in the period of the transition from communism to democracy and a freemarket economy. Privatisation led to production being stopped and to an increase in unemployment. Profit and not human dignity became the measure of labour. The economic and social reality was dominated by the treatment of economics and financial success as of the highest values and the dissemination of the opinion that in politics and economics there are no values. The political elites showed an inability to develop long-term strategies for getting out of the crisis. The disappearance of the morality of many representatives of public life, which was manifested in universal corruption and the aspiration to improve social status as soon as possible, contributed to this state of affairs. As a result, there was a crisis of the idea of the common wealth and an increase in crime. The social crisis was particularly visible in moral attitudes, social behaviour, and in the economic sphere, public finance, on the labour market, and in the quickly progressing social stratification.

The Polish Episcopate critically assessed the social and economic situation in Poland in the period of the transition from communism to democracy and a freemarket economy. Privatisation led to production being stopped and to an increase in unemployment. Profit and not human dignity became the measure of labour. The economic and social reality was dominated by the treatment of economics and financial success as of the highest values and the dissemination of the opinion that in politics and economics there are no values. The political elites showed an inability to develop long-term strategies for getting out of the crisis. The disappearance of the morality of many representatives of public life, which was manifested in universal corruption and the aspiration to improve social status as soon as possible, contributed to this state of affairs. As a result, there was a crisis of the idea of the common wealth and an increase in crime. The social crisis was particularly visible in moral attitudes, social behaviour, and in the economic sphere, public finance, on the labour market, and in the quickly progressing social stratification. ; Publication of English-language versions of the volumes of the "Annales. Ethics in Economic Life" financed through contract no. 501/1/P-DUN/2017 from the funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education devoted to the promotion of scholarship.

Surrogacy is an initiated process, whereby intended parents wish to have a child by having an embryo carried in another woman's womb and, after the birth, the baby is given to the intended parents. In Israel, giving birth and motherhood are perceived to great extent as a significant, essential and natural component of female identity and the existence of children is perceived as a vital and central element of couple-hood and family. The Israeli society encourages fertility and family expansion. This is illustrated by the support of surrogacy and fertility treatments pursuant to the Israeli Embryo Carrying Agreement Law (Agreement Authorization and Status of the Newborn Child) legislated in 1996. On the other hand, the government limits the supply of contraceptives that are included in the authorized list of medicines, pursuant to the State Health Insurance Law (Ministry of Health, 1994). Surrogacy constitutes a solution for people who wish to give birth to a child but they are unable to do so. The issue raises ethical dilemmas in the global village in which we are living. This dilemma has become more prominent in the present age, due to the corona virus crisis that entailed cancelling all flights and forcing each country to close its borders to foreign travelers. In this study, the aim is to explore and comprehend the process of surrogacy according to the economic sociological theory, called the agency theory; the relationships between the parties to the agreement; and the ethical issues stemming from this issue.

Rare diseases are a heterogenic group of disorders with a little in common
except of their rarity affecting by less than 5 : 10.000 people. In the world
is registered about 6000-8000 rare diseases with 6-8% suffering population
only in the European Union. In spite of rarity, they represent an important
medical and social problem due to their incidence. For many rare diseases
have no treatment, but if it exists and if started on time as being available
to patients, there is a good prognosis for them to be able for normal life.
The problems of patients affected by rare diseases are related to the lack of
diagnosis and timely undergoing as well as their treatment or prevention.
Orphan drugs are products intended for treatment, diagnosis or prevention of
rare diseases, but for their development and marketing the industry has not
been interested in yet because of their marketing reasons. Patients suffering
from a rare disease although belonging to the vulnerable group for their
specific health needs, is becoming invisible in the health care system due to
their additional needs un properly recognized. Ethical problems faced by
patients, but also health care professionals are related to the allocation of
medical diagnostics, unequal approach to health care, inappropriately
specialized social services as well as therapy and rare orphan drugs
unavailability. Ethical questions related to clinical trails on orphan drugs,
population screening and epidemiology testing on rare diseases will also be
discussed in this paper.

This article considers the ethical dimension of technological science (technoscience), namely, the problem of the applicability of the categories of 'good' and 'evil' to the functioning of new technologies. Aspects of evil brought about by the introduction of new technologies (i.e. lack/scarcity of resources, devaluation of human labour, ignorance of/inability to use technical tools, violations of the measure and harmony of life, etc.) are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to a new form of evil, namely artificial/technological evil. The article argues that the emergence of such evils is associated with the growing scale of human intervention in the natural course of things and with recent advances in technology. Dangers related to the uncontrolled development of technological science along many axes of human existence are analysed. The authors conclude that overcoming artificial evil is possible via a transition from a man-made to an anthropogenic (intellectual and humanistic) form of civilisation in which the achievements of technoscience serve not the self-destruction of mankind but the discovery of essential human forces.

"Coercion is one of the most fascinating and controversial subjects in psychiatry. It is a highly sensitive, and hotly debated topic in which clinical practice, ethics, the law and public policy converge. This book considers coercion within the healing and ethical framework of therapeutic relationships and partnerships at all levels, and addresses the universal problem of how to balance safety versus autonomy when dealing with psychiatric treatment"--EBL