Intention Involvement in the Nature of Plagiarism

Background: This article addressed one of the issues of research ethics that is called the nature of plagiarism coupled with involvement of intention. By definition, plagiarism is the attribution of others’ works to one’s own. This may be done intentionally and/or unintentionally. Some researchers believe that intention is not involved in the nature of plagiarism and an author who forgets to make references to the used sources has committed plagiarism since this forgetfulness has led to the attribution of others’ work to one’s own. In contrast, some experts call such a person a wrongdoer, not a plagiarist. Conclusion: By likening this problem to the issue of involvement of intention in telling a lie, the author separates two kinds of plagiarism: act-plagiarism and agent-plagiarism. The intention does not involve in the act-plagiarism (to be an act an instance of plagiarism), but it is involved in the agent-plagiarism (to call someone plagiarist). As a result, an author who forgets to make reference is not a plagiarist, but his/her act is an instance of plagiarism. Keywords: Intention, Plagiarism, Intentional Plagiarism, Unintentional Plagiaris

A Study and Critique of the «Tark-i Awlà» Approach in Justifying Prophets' Lapses

Abstract This article delves into the study of the term «tark-i awlà» (abandoning performance of that which is better and doing that which is less than better) as an approach for defending the infallibility of the prophets when confronting verses from the Holy Qur‘ān that apparently prove the prophets committed sins; and after going into the semantics of «tark-i awlà», the following question has been made the focus of discussion and study: are the intellectual arguments proving the infalliblity of the Prophets in agreement with the fact that the prophets committed tark-i awlà? According to the author, considering that tark-i awlà is a type of error and lapse and because the intellectual arguments for infallibility (like the trust and certitude of the people, the guiding purpose of prophet hood, the necessity of following the prophets, the principle of luṭf (grace) and absence of disinclination in the hearts of the people towards the prophets) necessitate the negation of all types of errors and lapses from the prophets, the prophets must be infallible from tark-i awlà too and this approach by Islamic theologians in justifying the verses that indicate the committing of sins by the prophets is not successful. Accepting the committing of tark-i awlà by the prophets is to accept that they committed errors and is against the belief of the Shi‘a regarding the infallibility of the prophets. As a result, Shi‘a theology will face a great challenge in justifying the verses that indicate the committing of errors and lapses by the Prophets which, according to the author, necessitates a revision of the Shi‘a theological belief in regards to the absolute infallibility of the prophets

The Drawbacks of Prophecy in Guiding Mankind, A Critique of Islamic Doctrine of Prophethood

The belief in the prophethood and sending prophets by God to guide mankind is one of the common beliefs of divine religions. According to Islamic theologians, divine knowledge and wisdom necessitate the sending of prophets to guide mankind. This study aims to determine the logical challenges associated with this idea, and whether such a thing is expected from God taking into account His attributes. The drawbacks and challenges of prophecy in the guidance of mankind include the logical problem of miracles' indication of prophecy, the inconsistency of miracles with the claims of prophecy, the temporal and linguistic mismatch between prophets and humans, human fallibility, the prophet's interregnum in the world, the problem of exegesis of the scriptures, and the problem of multiplicity of religions and sects. On the contrary, it appears that All-wise God could have used better, simpler, and more effective ways to guide mankind, such as spiritual and instinctive guidance, direct guidance, the sending of a single eternal prophet, and angelic guidance. As a result of the numerous logical and practical flaws in the use of prophecy to guide mankind, the author believes that it seems unlikely and unacceptable that All-wise and All-knowing God has sent prophets for human guidance, and that another justification must be sought for prophecy

Modeling electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction on transition metal oxides

The main target of this thesis is to use density functional theory (DFT)-based simulations to study electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RR) on transition metal oxides (TMOs) employing thermochemical model and computational hydrogen electrode. We utilize models of rutile oxide (110) surfaces to investigate trends and limitations of CO2RR on those TMOs. We construct scaling law based thermodynamic volcano relation for CO2RR. Accordingly, we propose guidelines for hydrogen and OH binding free energy range where low overpotentials and high selectivity are predicted for CO2RR using certain oxides. Therefore, this provides guidance to future development of oxide catalysts for CO2RR. First, we investigate the effect of solvent on the stability of intermediates in CO2RR toward methanol and formic acid formation and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). To study the solvent effect, one monolayer of water is included in the free energy calculations of adsorbates in CO2RR and HER and compared with the results when water is absent. The emphasis is on the catalytic trends where limiting potential volcano plots for the products are obtained through the scaling relations of adsorbates. We find that the presence of cooperative adsorbed (co-adsorbed) water alters the interaction between each CO2RR intermediate and TMO surfaces, resulting in a change in overpotentials for the formation of formic acid and methanol, ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 V while the potential determining steps remain unaltered. In addition, our research reveals that when water is co-adsorbed, it destabilizes HCOOH on surfaces which is significant because HCOOH is a crucial component for CO2RR to advance toward methanol production. Consequently, this destabilization alters the selectivity of methanol formation. Furthermore, we conducted a comprehensive study to investigate oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen affinities for TMOs and their roles in catalyst’s activity and selectivity. Our results are in good agreement with a recent experimental finding on RuO2-based catalysts where both CO and formate products are detected with quite low efficiencies and HER is reported to be dominant. Our detailed investigation shows that the CO coverage has a considerable influence on the selectivity. For all TMOs in this investigation, moderate CO coverage is desirable for both formic acid and methanol synthesis. Additionally, MoO2 and HfO2 are predicted to convert CO2 to methanol at lower overpotentials with moderate or high CO coverage than low coverage. Moreover, our data indicate that increased CO coverage on TMOs can lower HER somewhat. The research also highlights the significance of understanding the multiple adsorption sites and their correlation with active and selective catalysts for the synthesis of methanol from CO2RR using the proper screening criteria for the adsorption energy of the key intermediates. The outcome of these investigations has led us to our final work where we analyze and identify the active sites for CO2RR towards CO and formic acid on TiO2/RuO2 and SnO2/RuO2 alloys using DFT. To determine experimental trends and to gain insights into the catalytic active sites, Ru atoms are substituted in varying ratios and compositions for Ti and Sn atoms in TiO2 and SnO2 respectively. We found that alternate Ru-Ti binding sites for COOH/OCHO intermediates have higher overpotentials than the reference RuO2 surface, while active sites with Ru-Ru or Ti-Ti exhibit lower overpotentials for CO formation. For formic acid formation, Ru-Ru sites have the lowest overpotentials, whereas Ti-Ti binding sites result in large overpotentials. We also discovered that replacing one Ru atom with Cu in a RuO2 overlayer on TiO2 reduces the overpotential for both formic acid and CO formation. Additionally, substituting Sn with Ru in coordinatively unsaturated sites of SnO2/RuO2 alloys decreases the overpotential due to electronic effects. These findings are useful for designing active sites for CO2RR, improving selectivity while decreasing the required overpotential.Megin markmið doktorsritgerðarinnar er að nota tölvureikninga byggða á þéttnifellafræði til að rannsaka CO2 afoxun á málmoxíðum með varmafræðilegu líkani sem og líkani fyrir vetnis hálfskaut. Yfirborðin eru með rutile oxíð (110) byggingu og eru notuð til að rannsaka hneigð og tamkarkandi þætti fyrir CO2 afoxun. Varmafræðilegar eldfjallamyndir eru búnar til frá línulegum samböndum á milli bindiorka milliástanda í CO2 hvarfinu. Með þessari aðferð leggjum við til leiðarvísa fyrir bindingu á vetnisatómi og OH sameindum þar sem lág yfirspenna og há nýtni er spáð fyrir CO2 afoxun á ákveðnum oxíðum. Þetta gerir okkur kleift að þróa betri efnahvata byggða á málmoxíðum fyrir CO2 afoxun. Fyrst eru áhrif frá vatnssameindum rannsökuð fyrir stöðugleika milliástanda í CO2 afoxun í metanól og maurasýru sem og fyrir samkeppnishvarfið að mynda vetnisgas. Til að rannsaka áhrif vatns sem leysis er eitt mónólag af vatnssameindum notað í fríorkureikningum á milliástöndum í CO2 afoxun og H2 myndun og borið saman við niðurstöður þegar vatn er ekki til staðar. Við einblínum á hneigð í efnahvötun með hliðsjón af eldfjallamyndum fyrir myndefnin. Við sjáum að vatnsameindirnar sem eru bundnar við yfirborðið geta breytt yfirspennunni í maurasýru og metanól frá 0,2 og upp í 0,5 V en hins vegar breytist ekki hvaða skref er spennutakmarkandi. Niðurstöðurnar gefa til kynna að vatnssameindirnar minnki bindingu HCOOH á yfirborðunum sem hefur mikil áhrif þar sem HCOOH er lykilskref í CO2 afoxun í metanól. Þá rannsökum við sækni súrefnis-, kolefnis- og vetnisatóma á málmoxíðunum og hlutverk þeirra á virkni og nýtni efnahvatanna. Ítarlegar rannsóknir okkar sýna einnig að CO hula á yfirborði hefur talsverð áhrif á nýtni efnahvatanna í mismunandi myndefni. Fyrir öll málmoxíðin sem eru rannsökuð er meðal há CO hula hagstæð fyrir bæði myndun á maurasýru og á metanóli. Enn fremur er MoO2 og HfO2 spáð fyrir um að hvarfa CO2 í metanól við lága yfirspennu við miðlungs eða háa CO hulu frekar en við lága hulu. Þar að auki benda gögnin til að aukin CO hula á málmoxíðunum geti lækkað vetnismyndunina. Rannsóknirnar undirstrika enn fremur mikilvægi virkra bindistaða á yfirborðinu þegar CO2 er afoxað í metanól og að nota hentuga vísa af ásogsorku fyrir lykilmilliefni. Þessar niðurstöður eru notaðar í loka verkefni þessarar ritgerðar þar sem við rannsökum virka staði í CO2 afoxun í CO og maurasýru á TiO2/RuO2 og SnO2/RuO2 blöndum. Til að skilja niðurstöður tilrauna og spá fyrir um virka hvarfstaði eru Ru atóm skipt út fyrir Ti eða Sn atóm í TiO2 og SnO2 með mismunandi hlutföllum og samsetningum. Við sjáum að þegar bindistaðirnir fyrir COOH/OCHO milliefnin eru Ru-Ti er yfirspennan fyrir CO myndun hærri en fyrir RuO2 yfirborðið, en þegar bindistaðirnir eru Ru-Ru eða Ti-Ti er yfirspennan lægri. Hins vegar fyrir myndun á maurasýru eru Ru-Ru bindistaðir með lægstu yfirspennuna á meðan Ti-Ti bindistaðir eru með hæstu yfirspennuna. Við sjáum einnig að þegar Ru atómi er skipt út fyrir Cu atóm þegar eitt lag af RuO2 er á TiO2 yfirborði að yfirspennan lækkar töluvert fyrir bæði myndun á maurasýru og CO. Þá sýna niðurstöður okkar að þegar Sn atómi er skipt út fyrir Ru atóm á ákveðnum stöðum á SnO2 yfirborðinu að yfirspennan minnkar vegna áhrifa á rafeindabyggingu yfirborðsins. Þessar niðurstöður er hægt að nýta til að hanna virka staði fyrir CO2 afoxun og þar með hækka nýtni og lækka yfirspennuna sem þarf að leggja á kerfið.Icelandic Research Fund (grant no. 196437-051), the Research Fund of the University of Iceland

Muslim Moralists’ Contributions to Moderation Theory in Ethics

Originally introduced by Plato and Aristotle, Moderation Theory in Ethics is the most prevalent theory of ethics among Islamic scholars. Moderation Theory suggests that every virtue or excellence of character lies in the mean between two vices: excess or defect. Every ethical virtue comes from moderation in actions or emotions and every ethical vice comes from excess or defect. This paper suggests that while Islamic scholars have been influenced by this doctrine, they have also developed and re-conceptualized it in innovative ways. Kindī, Miskawayh, Avicenna, Rāghib Isfahānī, Nasīr al-Dīn Ṭusī, and others are among the Islamic contributors to the subject. Some of their innovations in this theory are as follows: bringing together Aristotle's doctrine of the mean with Plato's psychology (by Kindī), dividing virtues into four higher genuses, dividing vices into eight higher genuses, setting various kinds of vices and virtues under these higher genuses (by Miskawayh), adding the vice qualitative criteria to Aristotle's vice quantitative criteria (excess and defect) (by Ṭusī), dividing various conceptualizations of justice (by Avicenna), adding religious and mystical virtues into the existing list of virtues (by Rāghib Isfahānī), and proposing a comprehensive model for curing diseases of the soul. This paper seeks to establish the main contributions of these Muslim scholars to Moderation Theory and elaborate on this theory’s evolution within the Islamic world

Christine Korsgaard’s Constructivism

Constructivism is a theory that believes moral judgments are not real things but they are constructed by practical reason in a rational procedure for resolving practical problems in front of us. Christine Korsgaard, a contemporary American philosopher, is a Kantian constructivist, whose theory I consider in this paper. She is a radical constructivist and disagrees with moral realism and denies moral truths even as abstract facts. According to Korsgaard moral judgments are constructed by rational agents. She believes moral and political principles are generally solutions to human practical problems. She justifies the normativity of moral obligations from this point that they are constructed by agent for resolving his problems. There are some objections to Korsgaard’s constructivism; one of them is to place humanity as the source of value. Keywords: Korsgaard, constructivism, practical problem, humanity. Introduction One of the traditional problems in moral philosophy is the nature and entity of moral truths and judgments. Do humans themselves make and construct them or are they facts and truths in the world which humans just discover? Are moral truths and values subjective or objective? Subjectivism and objectivism have been two old rivals in this question. But some philosophers have proposed a new theory between them that is called Constructivism. According to this theory, moral truths are not real and objective, but are constructed by human practical reason. In this view, an action is morally right when there is a sufficient reason to perform it. In this paper I will discuss Korsgaard’s constructivism. 1. Definition of Constructivism Constructivism is a theory about the justification of moral principles. It is the view that moral principles are the ones agents would agree with or endorse if they were to engage in a hypothetical or idealized process of rational deliberation. The differences about related criteria for this rational process and deliberation have produced several varieties of constructivism like Humean, Aristotelian, and Kantian. 2. Korsgaard’s Constructivism 1-3. Normative Question Korsgaard’s Constructivism is an answer to the main question in history of moral philosophy which she calls normative question. That is a central question about moral requirements. We see that they are inescapable in the sense that they provide reasons to act regardless of an agent’s desires and interests. So the question is: from where do they get their authority and obligatory force on us? Why do we make ourselves observe moral duties and principles? What is the origin of moral obligations? What are our reasons for justifying moral obligations?. She disagrees with the former and agrees with the latter. 3-3.proceduralism The constructivism Korsgaard embraces is a form of proceduralism according to which the rightness of answers to normative questions is grounded in the fact that these answers are yielded by principles deriving from procedures with some special status. Evaluative and normative facts are not there as abstract facts to be met with or discovered through theoretical investigation of the nature and structure of rational agency, but are constructed through our actual practical activities. “Values are constructed by a procedure, the procedure of making laws for ourselves.” For Korsgaard, the relevant procedures at the source of normativity are procedures involved with willing, and what gives them their special status is that they are practically necessary for us—formal procedures rational beings must employ simply to function as agents at all. Everything starts with the nature of the will and the procedures according to which it must operate if it is to function as a will at all, and this is how normative force is explained: “If you recognize the problem to be real, to be yours, to be one you have to solve, and the solution to be the only or the best one, then the solution is binding upon you.” According to Korsgaard, the source of normativity in moral obligations is in our humanity and moral identity. Because of self-consciousness, human beings do not do something just out of their desires; rather they ask themselves whether it is right to act on the basis of desire. Korsgaard agrees with Kant that humanity is a value in itself and says that our reasons to do something determine our identity and nature. She says: “we must therefore take ourselves to be important” and “humanity, as the source of all reasons and values, must be valued for its own sake”. Our human identity imposes unconditional obligations to us, whether we are women or men, of this or that ethnic group, of this or that religious or social group, and so on. Therefore, our human identity is the source of our moral norms and obligations. The violation of these obligations amounts to the loss of our identity. Humanity is a significant part of us. 3. Conclusion There are strong and weak points in Korsgaard theory. One of the strong points, we think, is a successful justification of moral differences in applied ethics. On the other hand, it seems that, in addition to certain objections to Korsgaard’s moral theory, it is also subject to objections to Kant’s moral theory, such as the objection that humanity and human practical identity cannot always serve as a successful criterion for the recognition of moral actions. References 1. FitzPatrick, William J. "The Practical Turn in Ethical Theory: Korsgaard’s Constructivism, Realism, and the Nature of Normativity", Ethics, Vol. 115, No. 4, pp. 651-691. 2. Lenman, James and Shemmer, Yonatan Constructivism in Practical Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 3. Nagel, Thomas "Universality and the reflective self", in the Sources of Normativity, edited by Onora O’Neill, Cambridge University Press. 4. Korsgaard, Christine M. the Sources of Normativity, edited by Onora O’Neill, Cambridge University Press. 5. Korsgaard, Christine M. Creating the Kingdom of Ends, Cambridge: Cambridge University. 6. Korsgaard, Christine M. The Constitution of Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology, New York: Oxford University Press. 7. Korsgaard, Christine M. Self-Constitution, Agency, Identity, and Integrity, New York: Oxford University Press. 8. Watkins, Eric, and Fitzpatrick, William O’Neill and Korsgaard on the Construction of Normativity, The Journal of Value Inquiry 36: 349–367

A Comparative Study between the Attributes of Jesus in Christian Theology and Muhammadan Reality in Islamic Theosophy

In this paper, the attributes of Jesus as the second person of Trinity in Christianity and Muhammadan Reality in Islamic Theosophy were compared. The term ''Muhammadan Reality'' in Islamic Theosophy refers to transcendental and divine being of Muhammad rather than his human and historic existence. According to this research, both Jesus and Muhammadan Realities have divine attributes. They are lights of God, the Word or the Pen of God, the creators of the word, omniscience, omnipotent, omnibenevolent as well as the intermediaries between God and humans. In this study, it is demonstrated that what happened to Jesus in Christianity, it has also happened to Muhammad in Islamic theosophy with some differences. The influence of Greek philosophy, especially Platonic, in ascribing these attributes to Jesus in Christianity and Muhammad in Islamic theosophy is undeniable. There is a strong temptation among the scholars of both religions, Islam and Christianity, to extend Jesus and Muhammad to the level of divinity and godhead

The Combination of Philosophical and Religious Ethics in Raghib Isfahani's Al-Dhariʿa

Although some Muslim scholars have been affected in their ethical system by ancient Greek philosophers, they have also added some Islamic teachings to it and established a combined ethical system (philosophical and religious). Raghib Isfahani, the author of Al-Dharīʿa, is one of these Muslim scholars whose ethical system in this book should be regarded as a combined Islamic Virtue Ethics. It is the combination of Quranic and Philosophical Virtue Ethics. The general framework of his theory is philosophical adopted from Aristotle's and Plato's Virtue Ethics, however, the content of his theory is completely Islamic and Quranic. One of the significant innovations of Raghib in philosophical Virtue Ethics is adding religious virtues to moral virtues. He added theses four religious virtues: Hidāya (God's guidance), Rushd (God's supplement), Tasdīd (God's giving strong will to individuals) and Taʾyīd (God's assistance) to Plato's four ethical virtues (wisdom, temperance, courage and justice). He has called them Tufīqī virtues. According to Raghib, there is no way to obtain virtues but by God's guidance and supplement. By inspiration from Quran, he divided justice into absolute and conditional one. This innovation help us in reconciling Muʿtazilites and as Ashʿarites dispute in being moral goodness and badness rational or religious