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  • 2022 Uehiro Lectures : Ethics and AI, Peter Railton. In Person and Hybrid

    Ethics and Artificial Intelligence Professor Peter Railton, University of Michigan May 9, 16, and 23 (In person and hybrid. booking links below) Abstract: Recent, dramatic advancement in the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) raise a host of ethical questions about the development and deployment of AI systems.  Some of these are questions long recognized as…

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  • Guest Post: The Ethics of Wimbledon’s Ban on Russian players

    Daniel Sokol is a barrister and ethicist in London, UK @DanielSokol9 The decision of the All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s Wimbledon and other UK tennis events is unethical, argues Daniel Sokol Whatever its lawfulness, the decision of the All England Club and…

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  • AI and the Transition Paradox

    by Aksel Braanen Sterri The most important development in human history will take place not too far in the future. Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, will become better (and cheaper) than humans at most tasks. This will generate enormous wealth that can be used to fill human needs. However, since most humans will not…

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  • Rethinking ‘Higher’ and ‘Lower’ Pleasures

    by Ben Davies One of John Stuart Mill’s most well-known claims concerns the distinction between higher and lower pleasures. Higher pleasures—which are, roughly, ‘mental’ pleasures—are, says Mill, always preferable to lower pleasures—the pleasures of the body. In Mill’s rendering, competent judges—those who have experience of both higher and lower pleasures—will choose a higher pleasure over…

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  • New Publication: ‘Overriding Adolescent Refusals of Treatment’

    Written by Anthony Skelton, Lisa Forsberg, and Isra Black Consider the following two cases: Cynthia’s blood transfusion. Cynthia is 16 years of age. She is hit by a car on her way to school. She is rushed to hospital. She sustains serious, life-threatening injuries and loses a lot of blood. Her physicians conclude that she…

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  • No, Plant-Based Meals Do Not Undermine Freedom of Choice

    No, Plant-Based Meals Do Not Undermine Freedom of Choice Written by Joanna Demaree-Cotton   Last month, TV personality Jeremy Clarkson took centre-stage in our local county politics with an argument against plant-based meals. His fury—expressed on television, on Twitter, and in a strongly-worded column in The Sun—was sparked by the Oxfordshire County Council’s decision to…

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  • Just War, Economics, and Corporate Boycotting: A Review of Dr. Ted Lechterman’s 2022 St. Cross Special Ethics Seminar

    Professor Larry Locke (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and LCC International University) One of the more worrisome aspects of the modern concentration of resources in large corporations is that it often allows them to have societal impact beyond the capability of all but the wealthiest persons. Notwithstanding that disparity of power, much of modern ethical discourse…

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  • Slaps VS Jokes at the Oscars

    By Hazem Zohny Most of us draw a strict-ish line between actions that physically hurt and words that psychologically hurt. This is especially so when violence is used in response to words – hence the near universal condemnation of Will Smith’s cringey Oscars interruption. A slap is deemed a pathetic response to a joke, or any…

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  • Robert Audi on Moral Creditworthiness and Moral Obligation

    by Roger Crisp On Tuesday 8 March, Professor Robert Audi, John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, gave a Public Lecture for the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. The event was held in the Lecture Room at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford and was hybrid, the audience…

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  • Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: When Money Can’t Buy Happiness: Does Our Duty to Assist the Needy Require Us to Befriend the Lonely?

    This article received an honourable mention in the undergraduate category of the 2022 National Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Written by Lukas Joosten, University of Oxford While most people accept some duty to assist to the needy, few accept a similar duty to befriend the lonely. In this essay I will argue that this position…

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