Ethics Expertise

Section I examines historical philosophical understandings of expertise in order to situate the current institution of bioethics. Section II focuses on philosophical analyses of the concept of expertise, asking, among other things, how it should be understood, how it can be acquired, and what such expertise warrants. Finally, section III addresses topics in bioethics and how ethics expertise should or should not be brought to bear in these areas, including expertise in the court room, in the hospital room, in the media, and in making policy. 2. A GUIDED HISTORICAL TOUR As Scott LaBarge points out, Plato’s dialogues can be viewed as an extended treatment of the concept of moral expertise, so it is fitting to begin the volume with an examination of “Socrates and Moral Expertise”. Given Socrates’ protestations (the Oracle at Delphi notwithstanding) that he knows nothing, LaBarge observes that it would be interesting to determine both what a Socratic theory of moral expertise might be and whether Socrates qualified as such an expert. Plato’s model of moral expertise is what LaBarge calls “demonstrable expertise”, which is concerned mainly with the ability to attain a goal and to explain how one did it. The problem with this account is that when one tries to solve the various problems in the model – for example, allowing that moral expertise is not an all-or-nothing skill – then one is immediately faced with the “credentials problem”. As LaBarge puts it, “. . .

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This collection addresses whether ethicists, like authorities in other fields, can speak as experts in their subject matter. Though ethics consultation is a growing practice in medical contexts, there remain difficult questions about the role of ethicists in professional decision-making. Contributors examine the nature and plausibility of moral expertise, the relationship between character and expertise, the nature and limits of moral authority, how one might become a moral expert, and the trustworthiness of moral testimony. This volume engages with the growing literature in these debates and offers new perspectives from both academics and practitioners. The readings will be of particular interest to bioethicists, clinicians, ethics committees, and students of social epistemology. These new essays promise to advance discussions in the professionalization and accreditation of ethics consultation.

This overview of the ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence moves beyond hype and nightmare scenarios to address concrete questions—offering a compelling, necessary read for our ChatGPT era. Artificial intelligence powers Google’s search engine, enables Facebook to target advertising, and allows Alexa and Siri to do their jobs. AI is also behind self-driving cars, predictive policing, and autonomous weapons that can kill without human intervention. These and other AI applications raise complex ethical issues that are the subject of ongoing debate. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible synthesis of these issues. Written by a philosopher of technology, AI Ethics goes beyond the usual hype and nightmare scenarios to address concrete questions. Mark Coeckelbergh describes influential AI narratives, ranging from Frankenstein’s monster to transhumanism and the technological singularity. He surveys relevant philosophical discussions: questions about the fundamental differences between humans and machines and debates over the moral status of AI. He explains the technology of AI, describing different approaches and focusing on machine learning and data science. He offers an overview of important ethical issues, including privacy concerns, responsibility and the delegation of decision making, transparency, and bias as it arises at all stages of data science processes. He also considers the future of work in an AI economy. Finally, he analyzes a range of policy proposals and discusses challenges for policymakers. He argues for ethical practices that embed values in design, translate democratic values into practices and include a vision of the good life and the good society.

The definitive book on ethics for chemical dependency treatment professionals. The treatment of addiction as a biological, psychological, social, and spiritual disease requires a high standard of ethical knowledge and professional skill. This groundbreaking, reader-friendly guide to contemporary ethical issues informs and challenges health care professionals, students, and faculty with a thorough and compassionate examination of the dilemmas faced when providing care for individuals suffering from substance use problems or addiction. Renowned psychiatric ethicists Cynthia Geppert and Laura Weiss Roberts tackle issues of autonomy, respect for persons, confidentiality, truth telling and non-maleficence--setting the standard for contemporary ethical practices. These challenges are illuminated with real-world case examples that show potential effects on diverse patient populations.

Embodiment, Expertise, and Ethics in Early Modern Europe highlights the agency and intentionality of individuals and groups in the making of sensory knowledge from approximately 1500 to 1700. Focused case studies show how artisans, poets, writers, and theologians responded creatively to their environments, filtering the cultural resources at their disposal through the lenses of their own more immediate experiences and concerns. The result was not a single, unified sensory culture, but rather an entangling of micro-cultural dynamics playing out across an archipelago of contexts that dotted the early modern European world—one that saw profound transitions in ways people used sensory knowledge to claim ethical, intellectual, and practical authority.

"This book maps the moral terrain in the grounded reality of human experience without relying on theories or systems of ethics as the primary orienting strategy. Moral awareness needs first to be appreciated for what it is before it is made to conform to theories or systems. And moral consciousness is not a steady or stable set of perceptions; as we change so do the moral challenges that most concern us"--

​The goal of this open access book is to develop an approach to clinical health care ethics that is more accessible to, and usable by, health professionals than the now-dominant approaches that focus, for example, on the application of ethical principles. The book elaborates the view that health professionals have the emotional and intellectual resources to discuss and address ethical issues in clinical health care without needing to rely on the expertise of bioethicists. The early chapters review the history of bioethics and explain how academics from outside health care came to dominate the field of health care ethics, both in professional schools and in clinical health care. The middle chapters elaborate a series of concepts, drawn from philosophy and the social sciences, that set the stage for developing a framework that builds upon the individual moral experience of health professionals, that explains the discontinuities between the demands of bioethics and the experience and perceptions of health professionals, and that enables the articulation of a full theory of clinical ethics with clinicians themselves as the foundation. Against that background, the first of three chapters on professional education presents a general framework for teaching clinical ethics; the second discusses how to integrate ethics into formal health care curricula; and the third addresses the opportunities for teaching available in clinical settings. The final chapter, "Empowering Clinicians", brings together the various dimensions of the argument and anticipates potential questions about the framework developed in earlier chapters.

A Practical Guide to Clinical Ethics Consulting reasserts the philosophical method as foundational to ethics consulting. It does so in response to extensive attacks from social scientists, lawyers, theologians, and especially practitioners, all of whom disparage philosophy's reliance on abstract theory and conceptual analysis. Using clinical ethics consulting as an exemplar, Christopher Meyers argues that while many of the attacks are well founded, they are only partly so and not in the most important respects. Ethics consulting that relies too heavily on abstract analysis is of little use to practitioners; consultants must have adequate grounding in, and appreciation of, the concrete reality of working professionals. They must also be experienced enough to have the practical wisdom necessary to assist with real-world problems. Skills of philosophical analysis, when combined with instruction in empirical investigation, political awareness and appropriate character traits, are vital to ethics consulting. Ethicists need the theoretical and conceptual analysis skills that are a standard part of a philosophical education and mindset. The book provides both a defense of this central thesis and a detailed description of the empirical tools--and of the critical independence--necessary to effective consulting.

Most of the high-profile cases of real or perceived unethical activity in data science aren’t matters of bad intent. Rather, they occur because the ethics simply aren’t thought through well enough. Being ethical takes constant diligence, and in many situations identifying the right choice can be difficult. In this in-depth book, contributors from top companies in technology, finance, and other industries share experiences and lessons learned from collecting, managing, and analyzing data ethically. Data science professionals, managers, and tech leaders will gain a better understanding of ethics through powerful, real-world best practices. Articles include: Ethics Is Not a Binary Concept—Tim Wilson How to Approach Ethical Transparency—Rado Kotorov Unbiased ≠ Fair—Doug Hague Rules and Rationality—Christof Wolf Brenner The Truth About AI Bias—Cassie Kozyrkov Cautionary Ethics Tales—Sherrill Hayes Fairness in the Age of Algorithms—Anna Jacobson The Ethical Data Storyteller—Brent Dykes Introducing Ethicize™, the Fully AI-Driven Cloud-Based Ethics Solution!—Brian O’Neill Be Careful with "Decisions of the Heart"—Hugh Watson Understanding Passive Versus Proactive Ethics—Bill Schmarzo