Ticking Bombs and Moral Luck: An Analysis of Ticking Bomb Methodology

In this paper, I take up the task of further examining the ticking bomb argument in favor of the use of torture. In doing so, I will focus on some recent scholarship regarding ticking bomb methodology introduced by Fritz Allhoff. I will then propose a set of ticking bomb variations which, I believe, call into question some of Allhoff's conclusions. My goal is to show that ticking bomb methodology is misguided in its attempt to justify torture insofar as its proponents seem to ignore certain nonconsequentialist factors that are latent in the various types of uncertainty in real-world ticking bomb cases. Once this fact is recognized, I claim, the normative claims about torture that follow can be denied by appealing to it. I then argue that, even if we grant a certain level of uncertainty within the ticking bomb argument, torture is not justified. Rather, the implementation of torture, even if it yields positive results, is nothing more than a case of moral luck. In other words, the supposed "success" of torture in the ticking bomb cases lies entirely outside the agent's control. Thus, if the outcome of the use of torture is in no way controlled by the agent, then the agent's actions cannot be justified by appealing to that outcome.     

Morality,Law and the Place of Critique: Walter Benjamin's The Meaning of Time in the Moral World

Abstract

Critique as a philosophical concept needs to be recast once it is linked to the possibility of a productive opening. In such a context critique has an important affinity to destruction and forms of inauguration. Working through writings of Marx and Walter Benjamin, specifically Benjamin's "The Meaning of Time in the Moral World", destruction and inauguration are repositioned in terns of othering and the caesura of allowing.     

Artificial Morality. Concepts,Issues and Challenges

Artificial morality is an emerging field in artificial intelligence which explores whether and how artificial systems can be furnished with moral capacities. Since this will have a deep impact on our lives it is important to discuss the possibility of artificial morality and its implications for individuals and society. Starting with some examples of artificial morality, the article turns to conceptual issues that are important for delineating the possibility and scope of artificial morality, in particular, what an artificial moral agent is; how morality should be understood in the context of artificial morality; and how human and artificial morality compare. Outlined next is how moral capacities can be implemented in artificial systems in general and in more detail with respect to an elder care system. On the basis of these findings some of the arguments that can be found in public discourse about artificial morality will be reviewed and the prospects and challenges of artificial morality are discussed.     

论依法以德治国和国家安全发展

道德和法治同属于文化范畴,都是国家治理的重要方式和手段。中国共产党是中国马克思主义执政党,是世界上最大的政党,领导和治理十四亿人的社会主义大国,发展是党执政兴国的第一要务。要不断加强党的执政能力建设,提高党治国理政的能力和领导水平,治国理政要在安全稳定的环境下进行,国家安全是中国发展的重要保证。要统筹国家安全和发展,坚持依法治国与以德治国相结合,加强社会主义意识形态建设,积极践行社会主义核心价值观,建设社会主义法治国家,加强国家安全能力建设,推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业持续健康发展。     

Morality and diversity

His recent articles include "Voluntary Donations and Public Expenditures in a Federalist System," "The Revealed Objective Functions of Nonprofit Firms," "Economic Perspectives on Regulation of Charitable Solicitation," and "Profits as Incentives within Nonprofit firms." He is currently working on a book entitled Regulating the Nonprofit Sectorand has begun research on perceptual models of choice that integrate psychology and economics.     

Morality and philanthropy

Samuel Lipman is publisher of The New Criterionand music critic for Commentary.He has written widely on classical music as well as on contemporary painting.     

人性与道德

人性与道德伴随着人类发展史,对其研究应立足于时代性和历史性。因此,本文尝试在人性和道德内涵界定的基础上,分析其形成过程和研究价值,并揭示出人性与道德是一种从属关系,道德从属于人性,人性是道德的基础,道德推动人性的提升并趋于完善。     

Ambiguities of Witnessing: Law and Literature in the Time of a Truth Commission, Mark Sanders

As a contribution to the burgeoning literature on transitionaljustice and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC), Ambiguities of Witnessing is an idiosyncratic production.The uninitiated reader should not be put off by the deconstructionisttheoretical indulgences of the opening chapters, as perseveranceis rewarded with perceptive interpretations of such key issuesas the TRC's discourse of forgiveness and its unresolved problematicof reparations. Mark     

中国语境中的公共道德与公民道德辨析

公德是一个范围极广的概念,公共道德和公民道德都属于公德范畴,然而,这两个词的含义并不相同。公民道德的培养有赖于公民社会的建立。而公德心却是任何一个形态的社会所必须有的。因此,澄清公民道德和公共道德的含义及其适用范围不仅有利于认清我国目前所存在的公德问题,而且有助于公共道德和公民道德的培养。