Experimental Ethics

Moral philosophy is no longer being pursued from arm-chairs. Instead, ethical questions are dissected in the experimental lab. This volume enables its readers to immerse themselves into Experimental Ethics' history, its current topics and future perspectives, its methodology, and the criticism it is subject to.

Moral philosophy is no longer being pursued from arm-chairs. Instead, ethical questions are dissected in the experimental lab. This volume enables its readers to immerse themselves into Experimental Ethics' history, its current topics and future perspectives, its methodology, and the criticism it is subject to.

In the past few decades, scientists of human nature—including experimental and cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, evolutionary theorists, and behavioral economists—have explored the way we arrive at moral judgments. They have called into question commonplaces about character and offered troubling explanations for various moral intuitions. Research like this may help explain what, in fact, we do and feel. But can it tell us what we ought to do or feel? In Experiments in Ethics, the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explores how the new empirical moral psychology relates to the age-old project of philosophical ethics. Some moral theorists hold that the realm of morality must be autonomous of the sciences; others maintain that science undermines the authority of moral reasons. Appiah elaborates a vision of naturalism that resists both temptations. He traces an intellectual genealogy of the burgeoning discipline of "experimental philosophy," provides a balanced, lucid account of the work being done in this controversial and increasingly influential field, and offers a fresh way of thinking about ethics in the classical tradition. Appiah urges that the relation between empirical research and morality, now so often antagonistic, should be seen in terms of dialogue, not contest. And he shows how experimental philosophy, far from being something new, is actually as old as philosophy itself. Beyond illuminating debates about the connection between psychology and ethics, intuition and theory, his book helps us to rethink the very nature of the philosophical enterprise.

For most of political science's history, discussions about professional ethics had nothing to do with human subjects. Professional ethics involved integrity in the classroom, fair tenure and promotion rule, and the careful avoidance of plagiarism. As most research was observational, there was little need for attention to how scholarly activities might directly affect the subjects of our work. Times have changed. The dramatic growth in the use of experiments in social science, especially overseas, is generating unexpected ethical controversies. The purpose of this volume is to identify, debate, and propose practical solutions to the most critical of these new ethical issues. A leading team of internationally distinguished political science scholars presents the first examination of the practical and ethical challenges of research with human subjects in social science and policy studies. Part 1 examines contextual challenges provided by experiments conducted overseas - questions of culture, religion, security, and poverty. Part 2 examines questions of legal constraints on research, focusing on questions of foreign review of international experiments. Part 3 tackles the critical issues in field experiments, including deception and consent, impact on elections and careers, the boundaries of the public officials' exemption, and the use of partner organizations to avoid Institutional Review Body (IRB) review. Part 4 considers strategies for the future, including training and education, IRB reform, institutional changes, and norm development.

Social scientists are unprepared for many of the ethical problems that arise in their research, and for criticisms of their ethics that seem to ignore such cherished scientific values as objectivity and freedom of inquiry. Yet, they possess method ological talent and insight into human nature that can be used to understand and resolve these problems. The contributors to this book demonstrate that criticism of the ethics of social research can stimulate constructive development of meth odology. Both volumes of The Ethics of Social Research were written for and by social scientists to show how ethical dilemmas arise in the day-to-day conduct of social research and how they can be resolved. The topics discussed in this book include ethical problems that arise in experiments and sample surveys; the companion volume deals with the ethical issues involved in fieldwork and in the regulation and publication of research. With candor and humor, many of the contributors describe lessons they have learned about themselves, their methods, and their research participants. Collectively, they illustrate that both humanists and detenninists are likely to encounter ethical dilemmas in their research, albeit different ones, and that a blending of detenninistic and humanistic approaches may be needed to solve these dilemmas. The aim of this book is to assist irwestigators in preparing to meet some of the ethical problems that await the unwary. It offers perspectives, values, and guidelines for anticipating problems and devising solutions.

Facing otherness in everyday interpersonal relations, making decisions within demanding contexts, living with the plenitude of values - all of these experiences permanently challenge one's moral cognition. Neither a single moral agent nor ethics itself can pretend omniscience when dealing with complex, real world situations. In this book, author Ewa Nowak presents her own research findings to account for the experimental nature of ethics. Nowak questions a popular conviction that declaring values and following norms is a sufficient condition to be moral. She applies Georg Lind's dual-aspect theory of morality to all sorts of spectacular contexts. (Series: Development in Humanities - Vol. 6)

This volume presents new research on the use of experimental methodologies in moral and social philosophy. The contributions reflect the growing plurality of methodologies and strategies for implementing experimental work on morality to new domains, problems, and topics. Philosophers are exploring the ways in which empirical approaches can transform our idea of the good, our understanding of the social nature of norms and morality, and our methods of fulfilling ethical goals. The chapters in this volume extend experimental work on morality to previously underexplored areas. The contributions in Part 1 explore the methods and foundations of experimental work in areas such as folk moral judgments, metaethical beliefs, moral explanations, and reflective equilibrium. Part 2 focuses on issues in normative ethics and legal and political philosophy such as virtue ethics, utilitarianism, theories of justice, and criminal responsibility. Finally, the chapters in Part 3 tackle various applied ethical issues, including feminist X-Phi, animal welfare, experimental bioethics, and self-driving cars. Experiments in Moral and Political Philosophy will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in ethics, applied ethics, experimental philosophy, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of law. Chapter 1 and 15 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.taylorfrancis.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Business ethics as a discipline has been evolving rapidly, and indeed needs to evolve constantly. This evolution is mandated more urgently than ever before as we plunge headlong, and with increasing velocity, into the era of automation, artificial intelligence and digitization. In a scenario where legal and policy guidelines are scarce or ambiguous, the role of business ethics in guiding academic and industrial research and innovation cannot be understated. Ethical codes and guidelines are needed for educators, scientists, industries, law and policy makers, as well as for the general public engaged with emerging technologies not only to ensure a smooth transition into the autonomous and digital age, but also to ensure that in the process, we do not unknowingly disengage from basic human rights, values and responsibilities. Traditional, time tested and universally accepted principles of (business) ethics, including principles of integrity, responsibility and sustainability must, therefore, not be abandoned, but rather permitted to evolve to address the unique issues that emerging technologies present to humankind. This evolution necessarily entails an evolution also in research methods (including methods that permit multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder engagement), entrepreneurship ethics and a multi-cultural understanding of human rights and responsibilities, as relevant to emerging technologies such as autonomous driving. The envisaged volume “Evolving Business Ethics: Integrity, Sustainability and Responsible Innovation in the Digital Age” accordingly brings together contributions in the field of business ethics from a diversity of perspectives and disciplines.