Three Remarks on “Reflective Equilibrium“

John Rawls’ “reflective equilibrium” ranges amongst the most popular conceptions in contemporary ethics when it comes to the basic methodological question of how to justify and trade off different normative positions and attitudes. Even where Rawls’ specific contractualist account is not adhered to, “reflective equilibrium” is readily adopted as the guiding idea of coherentist approaches, seeking moral justification not in a purely deductive or inductive manner, but in some balancing procedure that will eventually procure a stable adjustment of relevant doctrines and standpoints. However, it appears that the widespread use of this idea has led to some considerable deviations from its meaning within Rawls’ original framework and to a critical loss of conceptual cogency as an ethico-hermeneutical tool. This contribution identifies three kinds of “balancing” constellations that are frequently, but inadequately brought forth under the heading of Rawlsian “reflective equilibrium”: balancing theoretical accounts against intuitive convictions; balancing general principles against particular judgements; balancing opposite ethical conceptions or divergent moral statements, respectively. It is argued that each of these applications departs from Rawls’ original construction of “reflective equilibrium” and also deprives the idea of its reliability in clarifying and weighing moral stances

Neurosurgery for Psychopaths? An Ethical Analysis

Recent developments in neuroscience have inspired proposals to perform deep brain stimulation on psychopathic detainees. We contend that these proposals cannot meet important ethical requirements that hold for both medical research and therapy. After providing a rough overview of key aspects of psychopathy and the prospects of tackling this condition via deep brain stimulation, we proceed to an ethical assessment of such measures, referring closely to the distinctive features of psychopathic personality, particularly the absence of subjective suffering and a lack of moral motivation. Scrutiny of these factors reveals that two essential bioethical criteria, individual medical benefit and voluntary informed consent, cannot be met in performing neurosurgical experiments or treatments on psychopathic inmates

Ethical arguments concerning human-animal chimera research: A systematic review

Background: The burgeoning field of biomedical research involving the mixture of human and animal materials has attracted significant ethical controversy. Due to the many dimensions of potential ethical conflict involved in this type of research, and the wide variety of research projects under discussion, it is difficult to obtain an overview of the ethical debate. This paper attempts to remedy this by providing a systematic review of ethical reasons in academic publications on human-animal chimera research. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the ethical literature concerning human-animal chimeras based on the research question: "What ethical reasons have been given for or against conducting human-animal chimera research, and how have these reasons been treated in the ongoing debate?" Our search extends until the end of the year 2017, including MEDLINE, Embase, PhilPapers and EthxWeb databases, restricted to peer-reviewed journal publications in English. Papers containing ethical reasons were analyzed, and the reasons were coded according to whether they were endorsed, mentioned or rejected. Results: Four hundred thirty-one articles were retrieved by our search, and 88 were ultimately included and analyzed. Within these articles, we found 464 passages containing reasons for and against conducting human-animal chimera research. We classified these reasons into five categories and, within these, identified 12 broad and 31 narrow reason types. 15% of the retrieved passages contained reasons in favor of conducting chimera research (Category P), while 85% of the passages contained reasons against it. The reasons against conducting chimera research fell into four further categories: reasons concerning the creation of a chimera (Category A), its treatment (Category B), reasons referring to metaphysical or social issues resulting from its existence (Category C) and to potential downstream effects of chimera research (Category D). A significant proportion of identified passages (46%) fell under Category C. Conclusions: We hope that our results, in revealing the conceptual and argumentative structure of the debate and highlighting some its most notable tendencies and prominent positions, will facilitate continued discussion and provide a basis for the development of relevant policy and legislation

Estimating mixed quantum states

We discuss single adaptive measurements for the estimation of mixed quantum states of qubits. The results are compared to the optimal estimation schemes using collective measurements. We also demonstrate that the advantage of collective measurements increases when the degree of mixing of the quantum states increases.Comment: RevTeX, 7 pages, 4 figure

Transforming AC-Powered Production Machines For Operation In DC Microgrids: From Methodology To Realization

Abstract: Manufacturing processes play a major role in the emission of greenhouse gases. To achieve the international goal of climate neutrality, it is a must to decrease the amount of energy consumed by factories and their production machines. A promising approach is to improve grid efficiency and reduce voltage converter losses by using DC microgrids (DC-MGs). Furthermore, DC-MGs have proven suitable for an efficient integration of renewable energy producers and prosumers with energy recuperation capabilities. To establish DC-MGs successfully in production environments, it is necessary to provide solutions for DC-MG integration of AC-powered machines. This paper describes how to enable production machines originally designed for AC-grid use to be operated on industrial DC-MGs. The article focuses on a methodology for AC-DC transformation of machines, including definition of specifications, system analysis, and redesign. The methodology is described using the example of an injection-moulding machine. Finally, the results of the transformation process are evaluated

Big Data, Machine Learning : und diskriminierende Algorithmen?

Computer-Algorithmen werden zunehmend eingesetzt, um menschliche Entscheidungen in wichtigen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen zu unterstützen, anzuleiten oder sogar zu ersetzen. Indessen häufen sich die Hinweise, dass Algorithmen mitunter ebenso voreingenommen und diskriminierend agieren können wie Menschen. In dem interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt „Bias and Discrimination in Big Data and Algorithmic Processing – BIAS“ arbeiten Wissenschaftler*innen aus Philosophie, Rechtswissenschaft und Informatik daran, diskriminierende Algorithmen zu verstehen und zu verbessern