Search results for "utilitarian"
showing 10 items of 36 documents
Consciousness and Moral Status of Animals
2021
Consciousness is the basis for granting moral status, but it is ephemeral and elusive. Both the ontological and epistemic dimension of consciousness cause hard problems for modern science and the philosophy of mind. On the one hand, consciousness is subjective, and includes conscious states with a phenomenal or qualitative character – “qualia”. It consists of mental states which are accessible to a subject only from the first-person perspective. A being is phenomenally conscious when there is something that is like to be that being. Utilitarianism uses the hedonistic strategy of the moral status, ascribing to that the demand for us to treat sentience as the fundamental property for obtainin…
Applying the Identity Status Paradigm to Managers’ Moral Identity
2019
We investigated the applicability of the identity status paradigm in identifying different stages of moral identity maturity among managers, focusing on how they solve moral conflicts in the context of work. Researchers conducted two theory-driven studies. Study 1 was based on focus group discussions among 16 managers, while Study 2 was based on open-ended questionnaire items from 180 managers. Both studies supported the hypothesized identity statuses. The status named diffusion included a lack of commitment to moral values and associated with avoiding moral questions at work. In foreclosure, extrinsic (e.g., organizational) values were adopted and applied to personal decision-making. Manag…
Street Names through Sociological Lenses. Part II: Constructionism and Utilitarianism
2021
Abstract As toponymic means of inscribing urban space, street names have been addressed mainly by human geographers, who have articulated the field of critical place-name studies. In this paper, I continue the endeavor started in the previous issue published in Social Change Review of reading street names through sociological lenses. Whereas in the first part of this two-part contribution the analysis was made from functionalist and conflictualist perspectives, this second and final part employs social constructionism and the utilitarian theoretical tradition in making sociological sense of street nomenclatures. First, conceiving of street names as forming discursively constructed linguisti…
Understanding flow experience from users’ requirements
2015
This paper argues that the concept of flow can be useful in gaining a better understanding of information system users’ flow experience. This paper applies this concept in the requirements development phase of an Internet protocol television e-learning service development project. The findings show that flow experience can be visualised and measured, and that there are differences in how users see and perceive different features. Some features are driven by more experiential needs, whereas others are driven by more task-oriented goals. The findings indicate that the users’ perceived flow experiences can already be measured during the early phases of information systems IS development projec…
Dual Information Systems : A Review Of Factors Affecting Their Use
2019
More and more information systems (IS) are designed to address a blend of hedonic and utilitarian purposes, and hence become what information system scholars call today “dual systems.” The aim of this research is chiefly to provide a holistic perspective for research done regarding dual IS (i.e., what factors affect users’ adoption and post-adoption of these systems) in order to assess the state of knowledge in this area and to provide a reference point for system designers. To achieve this goal, we started out with a systematic literature review (35 articles), and analyzed the articles in terms of their theoretical background, constructs and findings. The results suggest that there is an i…
An ethical algorithm for rationing life sustaining treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic
2020
The burning ethical question raised by the COVID-19 pandemic is how to deal fairly and ethically with a large number of patients simultaneously becoming critically unwell. Across the world, in both developed and developing countries, health systems are grappling with the possibility or the reality that the demand for intensive medical care will outstrip availability. There is a need for ethical guidelines on how to allocate treatment, but such guidelines are potentially highly controversial.1 In this commentary, we set out a simple algorithm (Figure 1), including what we take to be the essential ethical principles that ought to guide resource allocation in any country or setting as well as …
Analyzing Mediators of the Customer Satisfaction - Loyalty Relation in Internet Retailing
2014
This study explores the customer satisfaction – loyalty relation in the context of online shopping by introducing various mediators, such as trust, attitude, hedonic value, and utilitarian value. For data collection, we used an online consumer survey in relation to Internet retailing. In this paper we found empirical evidence that loyalty and satisfaction have a reciprocal relationship, but that mediators exist between satisfaction and loyalty. The findings of this study have consequences for customer relationship management, particularly in terms of retention, of the satisfied consumers in an e-shopping environment.
Relationships among Hedonic and Utilitarian Factors and Exogenous and Endogenous Influences of Consumer Behavior in Tourism
2015
Customer experience is gaining more and more attention from researchers. Particularly in tourism, this experiences may be determined by hedonic or utilitarian factors. However, there are other influences, both exogenous and endogenous, that may impact consumer behaviors in tourism. Thus, in this article, we explore the receptivity of consumers in terms of certain types of influences, exogenous and endogenous, to hedonic and utilitarian factors related to a tourism package. To examine these research questions, we employ exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling on a sample of 150 tourists from Europe and North America.
Unethical Brotherly Love: Zell Kravinsky and Maximum Human Utility
2014
The case of American investor and philanthropist Zell Kravinsky (1956-) presents numerous ethical challenges regarding our social responsibility to others. In 2003, after disbursing the bulk of his forty-five-million-dollar fortune to various charities, Kravinsky made the decision to donate one of his kidneys to an impoverished African-American woman he had met only once. In doing so he courageously saved a life, but also incurred the wrath of his family, friends, and many observers in the media who questioned his sanity. To Kravinsky, however, refusal to donate would have been tantamount to murder, constituting a violation of his belief in ‘maximum human utility’ – a concept that insists o…
La Biología Sintética; reto biotecnológico y bioético en las Ciencias de la Vida
2020
[ES] La Biología Sintética supone un reto científico y bioético de futuro, tanto a nivel medioambiental, como también en el mejoramiento humano y de otras especies. Por ello, el trabajo abordará dos aspectos principalmente. La síntesis en el laboratorio de células artificiales para la fabricación de un principio activo farmacéutico y por otra parte la reflexión bioética acerca de la potencialidad de dichas técnicas, advirtiendo la diferencia en los límites de la síntesis de vida y creación de vida. Actualmente, se calcula que hay 1.7 millones de especies conocidas de las 14 millones que se estima en la naturaleza. En los últimos 10 años se han generado más de 3000 patentes de organismos gen…