European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA) Conference 2026

Theme: Bridging the Knowledge – Action Gap in Character Development

Re: invitation to the ECVA 2026 conference: reminder ...

Established in 2022, the European Character and Virtue Association offers a forum for promoting research, training and networking in the field of character education. We bring together educational institutions in Europe and scholars from around the world, providing unrivalled opportunities for members to share best practices and shape European policies affecting higher education and research. 

The 2026 conference of ECVA will take place in Trnava University, Slovakia, in cooperation with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham, the Private University College of Teacher Education of Christian Churches, and the Virtues and Values Education Center of Francisco de Vitoria University. 

The Executive Board of the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA) cordially invites you to attend the 2026 ECVA Conference in Trnava, Slovakia. 

• President: Prof. Dr. James Arthur (Harvard University)
• Vice President: Prof. Dr. Verónica (Francisco de Vitoria University Madrid)
• Secretary: Prof. Dr. Tom Harrison (Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham)
• Treasurer: Prof. Dr. Roland Bernhard (University of Teacher Education of Christian Churches Austria)

Conference Information Trnava, Slovakia, 2026, 24th to 26th of June 

We expect more than: 📍100+ researchers 🏫 40+ universities 🌍 20+ countries 🎤 60+ presentations & keynote addresses 

📝 Submit your abstract and find all conference details at the link below:

👉 https://ecva-character.org/ecva-conference-2026

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 31st of January, 2026.

All abstracts will undergo a review process over the course of the following month. Once your proposal has been accepted, you will receive detailed information about registration, conference fee (275,- EUR) processing, accommodation options, and other necessary information.

Notification of Acceptance: 1st of March 2026.

Contributions that demonstrate high quality and close relevance to the main theme of the conference will be accepted for review in preparation for the next scientific monograph produced by the ECVA.

Warm regards,

Dr. Martin Brestovanský
(Trnava University, Slovakia)

on behalf of the ECVA Steering Group

Prof. James Arthur (Harvard University)
Prof. Verónica Fernández (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid)
Prof. Tom Harrison (Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtue, University of Birmingham)
Prof. Roland Bernhard (University of Teacher Education of Christian Churches, Vienna)
Prof. Claudia Navarini (Università degli Studi Europea di Roma)
Prof. Ines Weber (Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg)

Conference description 

Bridging the Knowledge – Action Gap in Character Development 

Moral education often assumes that ethical knowledge or cognitive competence alone will result in moral behaviour. Yet lived experience, philosophical reflection, and empirical research consistently show otherwise. A persistent gap exists between what individuals know is right and what they actually do—a phenomenon recognized since antiquity. 

Aristotle observed that “we reason here not to know what virtue is, but to become good” (Nicomachean Ethics, 1103b), highlighting that moral reasoning is directed toward formation, not just information. Immanuel Kant similarly acknowledged that a person may clearly understand moral duty and yet lack the will to act accordingly, pointing to the human struggle between reason and inclination. 

David Hume went further, arguing that “reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions,” insisting that moral knowledge without rightly ordered desires lacks the power to move us to action. And Martin Buber wittily adds: “The worst notorious liar in the classroom will write a brilliant treatise on the destructive power of falsehood”. 

This enduring challenge – now referred to as the knowledge–action gap – remains a pressing concern across education, psychology, and the social sciences. Scholars have described related phenomena in various conceptualizations, such as the reason–action gap, attitude–behaviour gap, intention–behaviour gap, or the knowledge–attitudes–practice (KAP) gap. Each term reflects a common concern: knowing what is right does not reliably lead to doing what is right. 

Bridging this divide is a complex task, compounded by the dynamic, deeply personal, and context-sensitive nature of character formation. Educational and behavioural sciences are increasingly turning to integrative approaches that go beyond cognitive instruction. Interventions such as moral sensitization, dramatization, habit training, and reflective practice are being explored to enhance the coherence between values and actions. 

There is growing consensus that this so-called “gappiness problem” cannot be resolved through one-size-fits-all solutions (e.g., moral emotions alone or identity-based interventions). Instead, promising “multi-component” models are emerging that draw on diverse disciplines and methodologies to address the challenge. 

Conference Goals 

By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives and diverse methodologies, the ECVA 2026 conference aims to deepen our understanding of the knowledge–action gap and to promote innovative, research-informed strategies for strengthening moral coherence and character development in real-world settings. 

We look forward to welcoming those committed to advancing theory-informed practice and practice-informed theory in the service of ethical integrity and flourishing lives.

Previously: 'character' 

Richardson et al. 'The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly'

Abstract

'Science is characterized by collaboration and cooperation, but also by uncertainty, competition, and inequality. While there has always been some concern that these pressures may compel some to defect from the scientific research ethos—i.e., fail to make genuine contributions to the production of knowledge or to the training of an expert workforce—the focus has largely been on the actions of lone individuals. Recently, however, reports of coordinated scientific fraud activities have increased. Some suggest that the ease of communication provided by the internet and open-access publishing have created the conditions for the emergence of entities—paper mills (i.e., sellers of mass-produced low quality and fabricated research), brokers (i.e., conduits between producers and publishers of fraudulent research), predatory journals, who do not conduct any quality controls on submissions—that facilitate systematic scientific fraud. Here, we demonstrate through case studies that i) individuals have cooperated to publish papers that were eventually retracted in a number of journals, ii) brokers have enabled publication in targeted journals at scale, and iii), within a field of science, not all subfields are equally targeted for scientific fraud. Our results reveal some of the strategies that enable the entities promoting scientific fraud to evade interventions. Our final analysis suggests that this ability to evade interventions is enabling the number of fraudulent publications to grow at a rate far outpacing that of legitimate science.'

R.A.K. Richardson, S.S. Hong, J.A. Byrne, T. Stoeger, & L.A.N. Amaral, The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (32) e2420092122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2420092122 (2025).
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420092122

My source: The Economist, 9th August 2025. 

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/08/06/fraudulent-scientific-papers-are-booming

The compact: a knowledge project

Some things don't change . . .

 'Doctor Faustus'

'FAUSTUS discovered in his study.

     FAUSTUS. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
     To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:
     Having commenc’d, be a divine in shew,
     Yet level at the end of every art,
     And live and die in Aristotle’s works.
     Sweet Analytics, ’tis thou hast ravish’d me!
     Bene disserere est finis logices.
     Is, to dispute well, logic’s chiefest end?
     Affords this art no greater miracle?
     Then read no more; thou hast attain’d that end:
     A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit:
     Bid Economy farewell, and Galen come,
     Seeing, Ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus:
     Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold,
     And be eterniz’d for some wondrous cure:
     Summum bonum medicinae sanitas,
     The end of physic is our body’s health.
     Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain’d that end?
     Is not thy common talk found aphorisms?
     Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,
     Whereby whole cities have escap’d the plague,
     And thousand desperate maladies been eas’d?
     Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.

        ...'

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS
By Christopher Marlowe
From The Quarto of 1604
Edited by The Rev. Alexander Dyce

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/779/779-h/779-h.htm

Film - Doctor Faustus ( 1967)

https://archive.org/details/doctor-faustus-1967-1080p-classic-older-hollywood-films

See also:

'Camp Concentration' by Thomas M. Disch

'AI' - Humanity's Faustian compact?

#individual #collective #power #safety #governance #ethics #morality

Reflective equilibrium and equipoise

I can't believe, or don't want to, that it's nearly 15 years since I posted - 

h2cm and clinical equipoise in 2010. 

The post didn't try to be 'technical', but perhaps demonstrates the journey here.

In a post to follow, in London 4-7th July I came across a book by Edouard Machery and upon return up north, found a paper which refers to reflective equilibrium. This, one again technical or not, is a purpose of Hodges' model.

Machery, Edouard, Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds (Oxford, 2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Aug. 2017), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198807520.001.0001, accessed 24 June 2025.

Reflective equilibrium has an entry in the The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

'If you believe that conduct in some case is right or wrong, you have a moral judgment or intuition. Perhaps you have many such judgments about different cases. You might, nevertheless, consider that judgments alone do not justify the moral views they express. You and your moral interlocutors might be concerned that “what we actually accept is fraught with idiosyncrasy and vulnerable to vagaries of history and personality” (Elgin 1996: 108) or displays “irregularities and distortions” (Rawls 1971: 48).

John Rawls proposed to address these concerns through the method of reflective equilibrium.We first ensure that our judgments are considered, being made in circumstances appropriate for moral deliberation. We are then to consider general principles that might accommodate our set of considered judgments—and more than that, explain and extend them. On the standard wide reflective equilibrium, we are to consider

all possible descriptions to which one might plausibly conform one’s judgments together with all relevant philosophical arguments for them. (Rawls 1971: 49)

This requires that we reflect on a wide range of principles, arguments, and theories. Equilibrium is reached where principles and judgments have been revised such that they agree with each other. In short, the method of reflective equilibrium is the mutual adjustment of principles and judgments in the light of relevant argument and theory.'

The encyclopaedia entry is informative for studies here. I will revisit clinical equipoise in the near future; and bring in the idea of 'holistic bandwidth'.

Knight, Carl, "Reflective Equilibrium", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2025/entries/reflective-equilibrium/>.

Rawls, John, 1971, A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Assisted Dying Bill - UK

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

Choice by dying person of how they die Anticipation of role of AI Where does mental illness 'lie'? Decision needs approval by two doctors Change in relationship between: INDIVIDUAL -	Prognosis of < 6 months Terminal diagnosis Anticipation of role of AI Seek assistance to end their life Decision needs approval by two doctors What of patients who are comatose?^
Profound Societal Change Quality of Life Quality of Death Impact of 'poor' death on others - friends and family Vulnerabiity of certain groups Lest we forget what happened to the nursing and care home sector during COVID*	and the STATE UK - House of Lords Oversight Panel:  Legal figure e.g., King's Counsel; and a Psychiatrist Doctors and care workers not compelled to take part in assisted dying What about the psycho-POLITICS of anorexia, severe depression?

^Brian M. Rosenthal. They woke as doctors prepared to remove their organs. The New York Times International Edition, 11 June 2025, p.6. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/us/kentucky-organ-donations.html

*https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/hearings/care-sector-module-6-public-hearings/

'Life's compass' ...

'... I have been thinking a lot about the responsibilities of leadership. How do people in positions of power reach decisions and do they fully consider the consequences of these decisions? In questioning how someone chooses to lead, I'm also asking how that individual navigates the possible courses of action, and what kind of compass is being used to guide them. It has made me think about how any of us choose to navigate our way through life and where we look for a sense of direction. I wonder what we might change about the choices we make if we were more reflective about what serves as a compass in our lives.'

'"The Invention of the Compass" is attributed to an anonymous painter of the late 16th century, although there exists a roughly contemporaneous plate of the same title, and of an almost identical image, engraved by the Dutch artist Jan Collaert the Elder. In the original painting an old man with a long white beard, and dressed in a voluminous red and brown cloak, sits behind a large table in the centre of a room. As well as a canopied bed and another desk spread with books and scientific instruments, there is a model, or vision perhaps, of a carrack sailing ship hanging from the ceiling. There is also a large round compass device that sits heavy on the floor on the left foreground of the canvas. ...'

'It is as if this painting (Caravaggio) intended to serve as a compass, helping to move our steps and actions in the direction of caring for others. This is a powerful idea, and it suggests that all images contain that potential to influence how we live. Where we choose to direct and keep our gaze to some extent can determine how we permit our lives to be guided, if not in a physical sense then toward a value system that can end up having an impact on the way we engage with the wider world.' (My emphasis)

Ack. Enuma Okoro, Life's compass, The art of life, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 1-2 February 2025. p.2. (Still need to subscribe, marvellous reading!)

Caravaggio, The Seven Works of Mercy

The Invention of the Compass

INDIVIDUAL

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

moral compass personal values my choices	maps - compass position - navigation direction - distance degrees of freedom
the public the public good group think	leadership power political freedom

Enuma Okoro, Life's compass, The art of life, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 1-2 February 2025. p.2.

Images: 

New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova Reperta], The Invention of the Compass, plate 2
https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/659663/1403273/main-image

By Caravaggio - Unknown source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10286196

Previously:

'compass' :: 'map'

Book review #3: Handbook on the Ethics of AI

I've started several 'gap' lists, including a draft post or two. Seeking to help bridge the theory-practice gap is an original purpose for Hodges' model.

Friedman's chapter 5 Responding to the (techno) Responsibility Gap(s). It is almost as if Friedman's title is parameterised. We could insert the domains of Hodges' model (plus, spiritual - safeguarding!) in there. Then there is the magic of languages, for responsibility substitute accountability and do a deep-dive applying Hodges' model in a specific domain. Friedman notes it is not entirely accurate to talk of a single "responsibility gap". Can this provide evidence for the situated potentiality of Hodges' model's and role in fostering situational awareness? Although there is an ongoing roll-back of CSR - corporate social responsibility, I scribbled in the margin:

INDIVIDUAL

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

user	user
user	corporate

Of course, 'user' still applies in the political domain, as we are all citizens; users of the State (note also the socio-technical utility of keeping the 'user' in sight). There is also personal ethics, and the legal duty of care - as a nurse (in my case) and for a member of the public. Discussion on notions of responsibility, in light of AI, especially self-driving vehicles, and autonomous machines (weapons) is much needed. Regulatory gaps are recognised; amid current news of debate on the degree of regulation of national and international financial systems. Nyholm's four-fold formulation on responsibility is invaluable as examples are provided. There is a reference to nine notions of responsibility, and the link to accountability and retribution.  I like Friedman's  discussion of responses to responsibility gaps as; optimists - technological approach; human-centred and hybrid approaches; plus pessimists (4.3). The latter includes debate and campaigns to 'stop the killer robots'. Did this chapter, have a positive effect in extending thoughts about events in the middle east? There are two points here I will return to in the final post.

For students, Schwarz's chapter 6 takes readers back to a literally pivotal development in ethical thought and debate: Trolleyology, with the addition of algorithms and killer robots. What Searle's Chinese Room (noted p.276 here) argument is to AI; so trolley-based dilemmas are to ethics. A point made by Schwarz, referring to the development of subsequent variations. (Following on from #2, Brian Magee's interviews with John Searle on philosophy of language and Wittgenstein are also well worth a listen.) Schwarz's chapter (and the whole book) could be read in preparation for an undergraduate course: computing, law, policy, philosophy, and ethics, for example. The challenge of determining responsibility and accountability "the problem of many hands" (p.71), is not limited to AI. This is a global issue in achieving justice for many previously healthy, competent, quite 'ordinary' people.

The question posed above, applies "equally"(!) here too: 3. mathematical morality for war. Ever since reading of argumentation through the Open University and other sources, I'm sure this is applicable to Hodges' model (with its 'own' algebra)? I'm no mathematician but the book provoked excitement rather than anxiety as I read: 'Principle of Permissible Harm (PPH) and probabilistic reasoning - with formulae (pp.88-89). There are some important (imho) 'take-away' messages here, but I don't want to spoil things. Nurses need mathematical skills, in drug calculations and are assessed on the same. Statistics are used in research, of course but maths is hardly the primary motivation for entry into the care professions: 

'Designing technologies in a way that takes into account broader human-centric values is an important and laudable approach to responding to new and emerging technologies in any arena. It cannot, however, serve as a substitute for moral deliberation and the act of taking moral responsibility for harmful acts, especially when lives are at stake. Reducing this to a mathematical problem ignores everything that cannot be captured in discrete numerical terms or as data points. And in situations where people and their lives become nothing more than data points, non-computational aspects, such as relational or embodied dimensions of human life, are marginalized if not entirely obscured. The real world is not reducible to binary logic, it is rife with contested, contradictory, and clashing values that might all be equally relevant It is complex in ways that cannot always be neatly captured or mathematically modeled. In other words, ethics cannot be "solved."' p.91.

Handbook on the Ethics of AI

More to follow ...

Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. David J. Gunkel (ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978 1 80392 671 1245

https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-9781803926711.html

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #1

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #2

Related previous posts: 'general + AI'

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #2

Handbook on the Ethics of AI

Well, I am sold. So, encouraging again to read 'reflect -ion' on the first page and throughout chapter 1:

'... why the very idea of AI gives rise to (or should give rise to) ethical reflection.' (p.21), and I'm sure the book as a whole.

Most readers may pass this by, but to me this matters. Ethics scholars however will see how important and conjoint reflection is to deliberation and argumentation of ethics. Especially, as noted in post #1 the five part division of the text Foundations and Context; Responsibilities; Rights; Politics and Power; and Thinking Otherwise. 

Tables break up and inform the text. I like the way for many tables the source is: Author's own elaboration.

Given the subject matter, yes, the authors have the literature but they are also formulating their chosen theme against the present, near future, socio-political scenarios and much more. So, reflection - this should be expected. With Hodges' model I'm often asked why are those concepts placed in that particular domain? Perhaps that is a question for general artificial intelligence? Subjectivity is a key challenge, and its effective communication.

If I say, chapter 1 is a great primer on What Is This Thing Called the Ethics of AI and What Calls for It? I'd sell the book short, the whole text fulfills this purpose. The definitions and responses to What is A.I. are very helpful, taking into account ancient to more recent history. I've a book in a box by David Chalmers (sorry Prof.) - one day - which helps here discussing intelligence and consciousness.

I'm primed to pick up on 'gaps' (Theory-Practice) and in human experience they are inevitably legion. The responsibility gap (and meaningfulness!) c/o Sven Nyholm is a place to return to, to debate why A.I. raises such a broad range of ethical issues. Patiency is never far away. Here, the patient is stark: in  moral agents and moral patients (p.20 and 89). This blog is littered with posts on Drupal, which to date I have never mastered. I remember sitting in DrupalCon presentations, in the midst very skilled professional coders. A member of the community stood at the podium recounting their lived experience of impostor syndrome. In November with a presentation of my own, I had my own encounter. Well into reading this book, it really did help. The conclusion of chapter 1 contrasts the frequent need for a big-picture overview and reflection on more specific issues. That's quite fitting for me.

I am biased in the encouraging kernels I find: as seek them I do. Yes, as chapter 2 AI Ethics before Frankenstein begins: 'there remains work to be done in charting the long-range conceptual development of  AI in the history of political thought.' (p.27, my emphasis). And much more I hope. Chapter 2 combines literature, myth and I enjoyed the discussion on techne, Prometheus, Hobbes, the interdisciplinary bridge of techno-politics and articulating the mechanistic in our lives. Focussed recently on thresholds and threshold concepts in revising two papers: Hunt writes, 'Frankenstein is a "threshold" text for "modern political science fiction" (p.31). 

This  resonated - especially 'for its prediction that the nascent Enlightenment-era sciences of chemistry, anatomy, and electricity could be used to artificially make a human being' (p.31). The exploration of bad education and bad governance through Shelley and social history is other-worldly in itself. Hunt's conclusion which includes 'Wollstonecraft was the pivotal figure in the process of refracting ideas of AI from Hobbes to Shelley, ...' left me wondering about the refactoring of code. 

Chapter 3, Smith's Faith, Tech, and Ethics of AI brings more reflect -ion with the bonus for me of Descartes. On faith, the human situation is also repeatedly stressed. Delving into creation too, this is detailed on forms of theology - Augustine, Bede, for example, and philosophy Bacon, Hume, Kant and their role in diminishing the influence of religious thought and epistemology (p.39). How long a push was that? Surely it is ongoing - in some quarters? Medieval thought is discussed, and I recall this broad period also being regarded as misunderstood [Medieval Philosophy - Bryan Magee & Anthony Kenny (1987)] . 

On a personal level, I've always placed belief in the intra- interpersonal domain of Hodges' model. In psychosis, depression, anxiety, phobias in short mental health, beliefs can be disrupted, and influenced of course when all is well. Religion I have framed at the individual and socio-political level. Clinically, it is the individual patient's beliefs, if they follow a particular religion that we also need to be cognizant of as health personnel. Machine, or human; object or being as Smith asks:

SELF / INDIVIDUAL  -  OBJECT / THING

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

the human - the machine -	- can become machine - can become human
socio-	-political

There is depth of discussion too: in AI and Power; a Christian response to AI ethics. This handbook is not just for quick reference. There is indeed redemption (p.43) to be found:

'It is easier to cover a blemish than examine why it resulted in the first place: genetics, diet, stress, or lack of self-care.'

I argue for Hodges' model as a tool to identify, (re)present, and relate the determinants of health: all of them. The points and paragraphs on theology, mind, body and self are well worth revisiting.

Johnson's chapter 4, What are Responsible AI researchers really arguing about? provides support for my ongoing belief in the value of sociotechnical theories and approaches, and another book on enactivism. Given the ethics of the global south (and technological/electronic colonialism) more could perhaps be made of LMIC, but the point is made in Table 4.1 (Examples of functionalist evaluations of AI models, p.52). Constructivism 2.2 is a rich seam for me. Table 4.2 touches on medical diagnosis and socio-technical. Johnson notes that in seeking answers to AI ethics problems, scientists see constructivist approaches and '.. constructivism as a metaethic, holding a rich space for more research into pluralistic AI-Alignment', (p.53). And, the potential for much more. This is suggested (for me) in reference to the need for a holistic view of AI model's genesis, and 'two sides of one coin' - dichotomy, polarity, oppositions, binary reductions ... ? 

Johnson's conclusion is an indirect thumbs up (cue Arnie style - of course) to Hodges' model as a project. Conceptual frameworks can indeed:

'... offer unique perspectives on the methods commonly employed and to understand and mitigate the risks and dangers of AI.' (p.62).

If ethics gets 'technical' then the book's full title is well-earned. Two case studies demonstrate functionalist and constructivist debates in responsible AI. I don't remember Capt. Kirk et al. stating to a malign alien 'intelligence' "The trophy doesn't fit in the suitcase because it's too large (small)," (p.58). The writer's put other solutions to the characters lips. Spock, however, would find the discussion here on 'Artificial General Intelligence, 4E Cognition and Enactivism' - "Fascinating!"

Much more to follow ...

Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. David J. Gunkel (ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978 1 80392 671 1245
https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-9781803926711.html

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #1

Related previous posts: 'general + AI'

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #1

Handbook on the Ethics of AI

For the impatient, a book's introduction might present an unwelcome delay to the main course, and course is the word with Gunkel's edited text and said introduction. As a nurse with a BA(Joint Hons.) in Philosophy and Computing this book deserved the close reading sought. In that respect - the learning is ongoing. A book so titled could be 'heavy' going; especially given the many associated technicalities (hard and soft), the sheer dynamism that is AI (as per the arrival of DeepSeek) and uncertainties this provokes.

So, is this heavy? No, the book isn't, it is a learned production. Speaking of which the quality of production (hardback - for which many thanks to the editor and Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd) is very high; the design, text, legibility, layout. Vital for me, there is an index that seems in-depth and spans just over ten pages. There are notes too. Chapter 15 did have me wondering. Initially I did not look up the note '1' in the title. Had I done so, I would known the adopted format aims to represent a conversation: so all good. If you don't check the notes as you meet them, you will play number-tracking for a minute or two. There are a couple of typos but these are repeated words e.g. is is (page 17). Otherwise, the bar is set very high. Added to the notes, which do add to the chapters, the introduction sets a well referenced tone. As an appetizer the five part intro divides the book as follows:

1. Definitions, Foundations and Context
2. Responsibilities
3. Rights
4. Politics and Power
5. Thinking Otherwise

As written previously, I get 'bogged' down with books - in a positive way - this one brings even more joy. My copy has many notes (light pencil!) in the margin and on various coffee receipts. The contents which includes and from each of the above:

1 What Is This Thing Called the Ethics of AI and What Calls for It?
2 AI Ethics before Frankenstein: Mary Shelley, Enlightenment Political Thought, and the Problem of Bad Education
4 What are Responsible AI researchers really arguing about?
5 Responding to the (techno) Responsibility Gap(s)
7 AI Ethics and Machine Ethics
8 From Ethics to Law: Why, When, and How to Regulate AI
9 AI, Design, and More-than-Human Justice
10 Anthropomorphism and its Discontents
11 A Relational Approach to Moral Standing for Robots and AI
13 AI and the Environment
15 The (Un)bearable Whiteness of AI Ethics
16 Ethics beyond Ethics: AI, Power, and Colonialism
19 Feminist Ethics and AI: A Subfield of Feminist Philosophy of Technology
21 Queering the ethics of AI

- is much needed across all disciplines, in education and professions. 

A political emphasis is evident already in the divisions 1-5 listed above. Preoccupied as I am with Hodges' model, to me this means the book is accurately balanced at this time. The contents may be daunting to some, but it is readable, and structured. The volume gels together in the prose style with some obvious individual differences which complement rather than jar. As a handbook it delivers and provides avenues for further reading - web resources in addition to more conventional text sources. As befits a handbook, the introduction part 6, reads Instructions for Use, which prompted the thought of Hodges' model as a self-directing* situated 'handbook'. Duly anthropomorphized, the book's cover looks east to new beginnings. I'm sure the editor did not realise the irony of the introduction's closing sentence:

'And in this effort - as I hope the handbook makes clear and evident in both its content and form - diversity is a valuable resource, as there is more to be gained from differences in approaches, perspectives, and methods than there is from the pretense to unanimity.'. p.12.

With US politics gradually unfurling itself; I thought too of irony² as AI wakes, efforts commence to erase wokeness.

Much more to follow ...

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #2

Book review #3: Handbook on the Ethics of AI

Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. David J. Gunkel (ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978 1 80392 671 1245
https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-9781803926711.html

*or group.

Ethics and the 'big picture'

'It has been my experience that many of the most successful and creative heads of major research labs around the country came to their place from other disciplines. For example, one prominent geneticist that I know has his Ph.D. in chemistry. He told me that coming to genetics from outside the discipline gave him an awareness of structures and values that were invisible to those laboring inside the established system. Much as one has critical insights into the ambience of a city or culture when one comes from outside as a foreigner, so also is there critical understanding of academic disciplines. Thus, one response to the add-on question is to reply that the material you are providing can make your students better scientists by giving them a more global, contextual perspective. A global, contextual perspective allows one to consider divergent research designs that approach a problem in many directions. This is sometimes called "big picture" thinking. Part of the big picture includes other scientific contexts. For example, biology is seen in the context of chemistry, and chemistry is seen in the context of physics. But it is more than that. It also includes values. Should I, as a scientist, pursue all questions with the same vigor? Are there some questions that should be avoided because of the social consequences of their results? Is the scientist compelled to think in terms of helping humankind or helping himself to a Nobel Prize in any way he can? All of these involve values and ethics. They are critical components to global big picture thinking. Such a perspective is a valuable tool for anyone seeking excellence in scientific research.' p.28.

Boylan, M., & Donahue, J. (2003). Ethics across the curriculum : a practice-based approach. Lexington Books. 

INDIVIDUAL

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES              

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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GROUP

PERSONAL ETHICS INDIVIDUAL INTEGRITY MY EXPERIENCE MY REFLECTIONS INTERSUBJECTIVITY PURPOSE BELIEFS CHARACTER EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

PROCESS OBJECTIVITY FACTS  EMPIRICISM 'We define ethics as the process of reflection on the moral meaning of actions.' p.5. 'BIG PICTURE' PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

PRACTICE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE ETHOS^ (Chap. 6) 'Ethics is not a discrete body of knowledge that one simply acquires for application and use in particular situations. It entails the ongoing appropriation of ideas of the good as they relate to the changig situations, contexts, and developments in individuals and groups lives. ^ Ethics reflects on actions the actions of individuals and groups.' p.5.

PROFESSIONAL BODIES PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS PROFESSIONAL & COMMERCIAL - ACCOUNTABILITY PROFESSIONAL ETHICS DUTY OF CARE POLICY LAW JUSTICE autonomy; nonmaleficence; beneficence; justice*

^Stackhouse, M. (1972) Ethics and the Urban Ethos: An Essay in Social Theory and Theological Construction, Boston: Beacon Press. (Chap. 6, Boylan & Donahue)

*Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2013). Principles of biomedical ethics (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. (Chap. 6, Boylan & Donahue)

Nobel Peace Prize 2024

'The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

In response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945, a global movement arose whose members have worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons. Gradually, a powerful international norm developed, stigmatising the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm has become known as “the nuclear taboo”.

The testimony of the Hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this larger context. ...'

Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Sat. 19 Oct 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/press-release/>

Previously: Nobel Prize :: peace

1989 SHADES OF GREY, Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro. Simulation of nuclear weapons, Based on Fanchi, J. Local effects of nuclear weapons, BYTE, Volume 11. Issue 13. Dec., pp. 143–155. Computer Aided Learning program, BBC Micro, published by Open Software Limited.
https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2024/03/jones-publications-list.html

Capital -ism in Hodges' model

The New Nature of Business

'In The New Nature of Business, Luc's son André, now vice-chair of Roche, and co-author Peter Vanham lay out how to bring these parallel tracks together. "The business of business isn't just m of business," they write. "The business of business is to at least preserve and where possible expand the world's human, social, environmental and financial capital." 

 The book makes the familiar case that maximising short-term profit leads to long-term destruction of value. But it also suggests that a "narrow focus on [reducing] carbon emissions" could have dangerous unintended consequences. Those four "capitals" depend on one another, write Hoffmann and Vanham. They call for nothing less than a systemic change to a "sustainable, inclusive form of capitalism, with new principles, and new practices".

The most interesting parts of the book describe Hoffmann's path to the realisation in the early 2000s that the profit- making power of business should be harnessed in the quest for sustainability.' (My emphasis with some re-formatting.)

Hill, A. (2024) The sweeter pill, FTWeekend, Life&Arts, 28-29 September. p.11. 

individual

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SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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HUMAN	ENVIRONMENTAL the new nature
SOCIAL	of business FINANCIAL

Andre Hoffmann, Peter Vanham (2024) The New Nature of Business: The Path to Prosperity and Sustainability. London: Wiley. ISBN: 978-1-394-25754-6

Previously: 'capital' e.g. 'Capital Patient' :: 'Patient capital'.

Infraethics <-> Infrastructure c/o Floridi & TPM

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moral education^ character development^ personal values courage, commitment .. 6Cs Your - Registration What does being a professional mean to you? What does belonging to a profession mean to you?

"The idea of an infraethics is simple, but the following “new equation” may help to clarify it further. In the same way as business and administration systems, in economically mature societies, increasingly require physical infrastructures (transport, communication, services etc.) to succeed, likewise human interactions, in informationally mature societies, increasingly require an infraethics to flourish. The equation is a bit more than just an analogy between infrastructure and infraethics."*

"Any complex society—be this the City of Man or the City of God to put it in Augustinian terms—has an implicit infraethics, which can be more or less morally successful, and more or less evil-unfriendly. Theoretically, even a society of angels, that is, of impeccably good moral agents, needs infraethical rules for coordination and collaboration. ... The right sort of infraethics is there to support the right sort of axiology. Designing it, maintaining it and keeping it updated is one of the crucial challenges for our information society. It is one of the reasons why our age is the age of design. Clearly, when talking about infrastructures, politicians have more on their plates than just networks of bits and atoms." socio-

"When economists and political scientists speak of a “failed state”, they may refer to the failure of a state-as-a-structure to fulfil its basic roles, such as exercising control over its borders, collecting taxes, enforcing laws, administering justice, providing schooling and so forth. Or they may refer to the collapse of a state-as-an-infrastructure or environment, which makes possible and fosters the right sort of social interactions." -political infrastructure

^Raised on In Our Time:
https://x.com/h2cm/status/1720095205012251114?s=20

*Point noted.

See also:

Floridi, L. Infraethics–on the Conditions of Possibility of Morality. Philos. Technol. 30, 391–394 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-017-0291-1.

My original source:

Floridi, L., Infraethics, The Philosopher's Magazine, 1st Quarter 2013. Issue 60. pp.26-27.
(Still clearing books, journals, magazines... )

Committing Ecocide to Hodges' model ...

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Psychological -  "Shock of the NewS" Anxiety Eco-anxiety - Climate anxiety Anti-natalism Polly

No planet B Where Might We Find Ecologically Intact Communities? How much of Earth's land is ecologically intact, in a pre-industrial and pristine state? The answer: 3% [Plumptre, et al.]. ECOCIDE NATURE ...

Higgins 'conscientious protector' civil disobience "Such a law would not only seek retribution and deterrence but also draw moral red lines." civil society

... CRIMES AGAINST Environmental activism GENOCIDE ECOCIDE - as law? "I will leave the last word to Polly Higgins, a barrister who gave up a career in corporate law to become one of the most effective backers for criminalising ecocide. As she wrote in 2013, 'For now, in law outside of wartime, it is not a crime to cause mass destruction or loss of ecosystems. Our world has normalised... ecocide'." p.24.

"Like laws for crimes against peace, an ecocide law would trace its roots to wartime atrocities, in this case the annihilation of forests in South-East Asia, first by the UK's Royal Air Force during the guerrilla war known as the Malayan Emergency and later by the US Air Force in the Vietnam war. In 1970, the destruction inspired Arthur Galston, a plant biologist at Yale University whose PhD had led to development of agent orange, to coin the word 'ecocide'." p.24.

Plumptre AJ, Baisero D, Belote RT, Vázquez-Domínguez E, Faurby S, Jȩdrzejewski W, Kiara H, Kühl H, Benítez-López A, Luna-Aranguré C, Voigt M, Wich S, Wint W, Gallego-Zamorano J and Boyd C (2021) Where Might We Find Ecologically Intact Communities? Front. For. Glob. Change 4:626635. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2021.626635

My sources:

Lawton, G. (2021) Crimes Against Nature, New Scientist, 250: 3333. p.24.

Obituaries. Polly Higgins. Register, The Times. May 2, 2019. p.53.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/polly-higgins-obituary-92z6zd3ps

See also:

Eradicating Ecocide (2010).

Earth is Our Business (2012).

Individual - Group and Rights: c/o Bond (1996)

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"What this means is that it is necessary, or perceived as necessary, for each individual to protect his or her interests against the incursion of others, and the same for each group. Now this would not be possible if each individual did not have his or her own private or personal interests, and if each group did not have its own group interests, and that is undeniably true. Both individuals and groups are undeniably separate and different. Nevertheless, there is a common human interest in individuals and groups being decent to one another and respecting one another, and it would be better for every individual and every group if fear and adversarial competition could be eliminated. It is only because these things can never be completely eliminated, that universal solidarity can never be achieved, that we need the protection of rights, which, as has already been said (p.202 above), are always rights against. ...

SOCIETY - COMMUNITY SOCIAL JUSTICE sense of - SOLIDARITY

Rights are always adversarial, and provide deontic moral grounds for preventing actions or inactions that are contrary to the interests of the person or group whose rights they are. They are needed because such a danger will always continue to exist. This does not mean, of course, that universal solidarity, however unachievable, is not the ideal, for the closer we can get to it the better the interests of all individuals and all groups are served." pp.202-203.

Bond, E.J. (1996). Ethics and Human Well-Being: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. p.202-203.

'Sophisticated cultural relativism: Bernard Williams' c/o Bond (1996)

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"Transcendental standpoint The perspective of the person who evaluates or questions or reflects upon a moral issue by consciously examining the issue from an objective perspective Uses "thin" concepts such as "good" or "ought" in the process  Take the question "Is it really true that I ought not to tell lies?" In order to answer this question some moral authority or standard must be referred to. No answer can be found because there is no universal moral standard to appeal to. SUBJECTIVE

OBJECTIVE

A culture Moral truths exist                These are: 1. Non-objectivist truths (belong to and are valid within this particular culture) 2. Non-reflective (use the "thick" concepts of the culture, e.g. "liar", "bully." These carry within them their moral meaning. For this reason, no conscious reflection is needed in identifying a truth)" p.28.

"The evaluative perspective The perspective of the person living in the culture who is stating and thinking about moral truths."

Based on Figure 2.1 Sophisticated cultural relativism: Bernard Williams. In
Bond, E.J. (1996). Ethics and Human Well-Being: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. p.28.

Invite to a Disaster

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"THREE DAYS AFTER THE JANUARY 14, 1907, JAMAICAN EARTHQUAKE, two American naval ships, the Missouri and the Indiana, alerted by their newly installed radio receivers, moored in Kingston Harbour and disembarked sailors who patrolled the streets, shared provisions, and brought the injured to the ship's hospital. ...

When the island's British governor, Alexander Swettenham, discovered the American presence, he was apoplectic and demanded an immediate re-embarkation and expelled the US ships. The diplomatic crisis was only resolved weeks later after the governor issued a formal apology and resigned. The incident highlighted the need for international protocols around disaster diplomacy. To attend another country's catastrophe you need an invitation. The following year the first rescuers in Messina the day after the December 28, 1908, earthquake were sailors from the Russian cruiser Admiral Makarov, accompanied by two naval escorts that happened to have been moored down the coast at Augusta. Within days, rival fleets arrived from Britain, France, and the United States. A catastrophe now provided the unanticipated world stage on which nations projected their international status through the strength and speed of their humanitarian missions. Kurt Waldheim, secretary-general of the United Nations, said in 1978: "Four years ago I believed that humanitarian relief was above politics. Now I know that humanitarian relief is politics." pp.201-202.

 
Robert Muir-Wood (2016) The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters, London: OneWorld Publications. ISBN-10: 1786070057

See also ...

The nature of catastrophe and disaster

'Faulty thinking' or 'Thinking faulty'?

The Jubilee Centre Framework for Character Education in Schools - 3rd edition

'The aim of our studies is not to know
what virtue is, but to become good.'
                                              
                                                 Aristotle

"WHAT CHARACTER EDUCATION IS

Character is a set of personal traits or dispositions
that produce specific moral emotions,
inform motivation, and guide conduct.

Character education includes all explicit and
implicit educational activities that help
young people to develop positive personal
strengths called virtues." p.7.


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CHARACTER VIRTUES: Intellectual; Moral; Civic, and Performance Caring for and respecting others, as well as caring for and respecting oneself Positive psychology, mental health VIRTUE Literacy i-iii: ‘Perception’; (ii) Virtue ‘Knowledge and Understanding’; and (iii) Virtue ‘Reasoning’. - emotional literacy, judgement Improved attainment, better behaviour Direct teaching of character provides the rationale, language and tools to use in developing character elsewhere in and out of school. p.7. EMOTIONAL

Character is sought freely to pursue a better life. 'Success' in each domain ... Build - virtue literacy Character is educable: it is not fixed and the virtues can be developed. Its progress can be measured holistically, not only through self-reports but also more objective research methods. p.7. Character can be - Caught... ...through a positive school community, formational relationships, and a clear ethos. Taught... ...through the curriculum using teaching and learning strategies, activities, and resources. Sought... ...through chosen experiences that occur within and outside of the formal curriculum. p.12.

CONTAGION Belonging to, participating in - a school community Common good Role-modelling Flourishing societies [Address: Social Determinants of Health]* partnership with parents, families caring for and respecting others, as well as caring for and respecting oneself

Civic Citizens Committed leadership Increased employability, empowering, and liberating partnership teachers, employers, and other community organisations Each child has a right to character education

"Practical Wisdom (phronesis) is the integrative virtue,
developed through experience and critical reflection, which
enables us to perceive, know, desire and act with good sense.
This includes discerning, deliberative action in situations
where virtues collide." p.9.

University of Birmingham 2013, 2017, 2022
ISBN: 9780704429789
https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/527/character-education/framework

*Some thoughts to follow, to include on SDoH, and SDG.