The views on in vitro fertilization within Russian Orthodox Christian society are diverse. One reason for that variation is the ambiguity found in “The Basis of the Social Concept,” the document issued in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church and considered to be the primary guidelines for determining the Church’s stance on bioethics. This essay explores how the treatment of infertility reconciles with the Orthodox Christian faith and what methods of medical assistance for infertility may be appropriate for Orthodox Christians. (...) The focus here is on IVF because it is among the most widely used methods to overcome childlessness, and the permissibility of IVF is the object of disagreement among Orthodox. The article defines criteria that can help to discern what is absolutely wrong and must be avoided from what only falls short of the mark, but not very far, for Orthodox Christians. If treatment of the underlying causes of infertility has failed or promises no hope and a husband and a wife do not feel able to carry the Cross of infertility, then from pastoral dispensation they might be blessed to use ethically acceptable variants of IVF. IVF has many variants that are different in their spiritual influence on a person. Orthodox Christians pursuing IVF should seek spiritual guidance and a blessing to pursue IVF. They must not form more embryos than will be transferred in the same cycle. Freezing, discarding, or reduction of embryos is forbidden. Infertile couples ought to use only their reproductive cells. The use of donor gametes is unacceptable. Any embryo formed ought to be transferred into the wife’s womb, and the use of surrogates is impermissible. Only a husband and wife who are able to maintain their marital union and where the wife is still of childbearing age should be blessed to use IVF. (shrink)

The article discusses ways of developing bioethical guidance in the Orthodox Christian discourse. Here, “ethical” refers to what contributes to holiness, “un-ethical” refers to sin as what hinders man’s foundational calling to holiness. To explore the development of guidance for emerging bioethical issues, we use the “therapeutic” understanding of treatment for sin in two senses. (1) It refers to the spiritual means provided by the “hospital” of the Orthodox Church for healing the fallenness of human nature in general; and (2) (...) it helps identify in particular cases both what counts as transgression of unconditional boundaries (defining what is illicit for everyone) and what is advisable in order to help particular persons to choose rightly within the area of the “more or less licit” (or “permissible”). Sources of the Orthodox faith that frame the general understanding of the boundaries between the permissible and the impermissible reflect the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church framing her Sacred (Holy) Tradition. In Holy Tradition, prayers, as communion with God, occupy a central position. This is why Orthodox moral reasoning, and thus also Orthodox bioethics, takes the form of liturgical bioethics. Penalties of excommunication determine hard boundaries that believers should not overstep: when crossing such boundaries, they enter on a spiritually dangerous path that completely distracts them away from God. Many minor sins, by contrast, have not been codified in Canons. They are not taken to remove the sinner completely from contact with the Lord. Within this realm of actions, it depends on a person’s spiritual maturity whether such actions are classified as sinful. Thus, an act can be counted merely as a small offense if committed by a beginner, while that same act can become a grave sin for an advanced believer. Due to acceleration of the technological progress, Orthodox recourse to Holy Tradition encounters ever-new challenges. There are bioethical issues that had not surfaced at the time of the Fathers of the Church. Today, Bishops gathered at a local council can supply the guidance lacking on a newly emerging bioethical problem. Even if ratified only by such local councils, the resulting decrees can also be regarded as the expression of the Holy Spirit working within a local Church and conveying His guidance. The article illustrates this source of Christian bioethics by reference to how the Russian Orthodox Church orients and develops its position on the ethics of reproductive technologies. (shrink)

This article assesses the role of an important Russian public institution, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), in shaping the religious discourse on bioethics in Russia. An important step in this process was the approval of ‘The Basis of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church’ (2000), one chapter of which is devoted to bioethics. However, certain inadequacies in the creation of this document resulted in the absence of a clear position of the Russian Orthodox Church on some end-of-life issues, (...) reproductive technologies, embryo stem cells, and other topics.Using the example of reproductive dilemmas, the author researches how the ROC clarifies its teaching on issues relating to bioethics. In the 2010s the ROC introduced a new method of taking into account the views of believers and the articulation of the church’s position. This article examines the extensive public discussion of a new document, ‘Ethical issues Associated with In Vitro Fertilization’. (shrink)

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizations has fundamentally changed from performing routine tasks to supervising human employees. While prior studies focused on normative perceptions of such AI supervisors, employees’ behavioral reactions towards them remained largely unexplored. We draw from theories on AI aversion and appreciation to tackle the ambiguity within this field and investigate if and why employees might adhere to unethical instructions either from a human or an AI supervisor. In addition, we identify employee characteristics affecting this (...) relationship. To inform this debate, we conducted four experiments (total N = 1701) and used two state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms (causal forest and transformers). We consistently find that employees adhere less to unethical instructions from an AI than a human supervisor. Further, individual characteristics such as the tendency to comply without dissent or age constitute important boundary conditions. In addition, Study 1 identified that the perceived mind of the supervisors serves as an explanatory mechanism. We generate further insights on this mediator via experimental manipulations in two pre-registered studies by manipulating mind between two AI (Study 2) and two human supervisors (Study 3). In (pre-registered) Study 4, we replicate the resistance to unethical instructions from AI supervisors in an incentivized experimental setting. Our research generates insights into the ‘black box’ of human behavior toward AI supervisors, particularly in the moral domain, and showcases how organizational researchers can use machine learning methods as powerful tools to complement experimental research for the generation of more fine-grained insights. (shrink)

A primary issue in the field of business and society over the past 25 years has been the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance. Recently, Griffin and Mahon (1997) presented a table categorizing studies that have investigated this relationship. Motivated by concerns with this table, as well as a desire to account for progress in research in this area, the authors reconstructed it. The authors present a portrait of this relationship that is (a) substantially different from that (...) shown in the Griffin and Mahon table and (b) more consistent with the latest research on the topic. (shrink)

The article reveals the Ukrainian experience of the transition from an exclusive to a democratic model of the implementation of the right to philosophical education. While the first model provides limited access to philosophy in the interests of the ruling state-party groups, in the second one, citizens are guaranteed an equal right to study philosophy as potential subjects of philosophizing. The coverage of this transition is conducted in the light of research and recommendations of UNESCO and relevant international experience. The (...) current state of Ukrainian philosophical education is analyzed and evaluated. Existing obstacles in ensuring equal access to philosophy are identified and, accordingly, conceptual guidelines for the formation of a democratic model of the implementation of the right to philosophical education in contemporary Ukraine are determined. (shrink)

The functional approach to natural language (FANL) emerged in the late 1960s. It focused on the use and the sub-use of language expressions, taking into account role of the language context and the extra-linguistic situation of a given statements. This approach referred, both conceptually and methodologically, to the tradition of British analytical philosophy of language on the one hand, and to the achievements of the Lvov-Warsaw School on the other. It seems that despite the passage of more than half a (...) century since its inception, this approach has lost nothing of its relevance and its cognitive value, and may even provide inspiration for the exploration new research areas concerning the formulation of language utterances. The aim of this article is to show the potential applications of the FANL as a specific semiotic concept in the field of the philosophy of social sciences. The paper points out how the functional conception can be successfully used in methodological analyses of the logical methodology of social sciences. The case studies presented in the article refer to the research practice of social sciences. Examples of the use and sub-uses of terms are discussed in the light of the polyparadigmatic structure of social sciences and the differences in research patterns accepted by given scientific collectives. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the discussion of some philosophical and historical problems connected with the theorem on the undefinability of the notion of truth. In particular the problem of the priority of proving this theorem will be considered. It is claimed that Tarski obtained this theorem independently though he made clear his indebtedness to Gödel’s methods. On the other hand, Gödel was aware of the formal undefinability of truth in 1931, but he did not publish this result. Reasons for (...) that are also considered. (shrink)

"The article is devoted to the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence functioning. The problem of the safe coexistence of man and artificial intelligence is taking on increasing importance. The definition of artificial intelligence and the explanation of the difference between weak, strong artificial intelligence and super-intelligence are given. The first ethical problem of artificial intelligence functioning is the existential question of human redundancy due to the spread of artificial intelligence. The article emphasizes that artificial intelligence, on the one hand, frees (...) a person from certain areas of activity, facilitating their existence, on the other hand, it makes them superfluous in production and in personal life. The second is the problem of responsibility for the actions of artificial intelligence. The article argues for the necessity of human responsibility for the actions of artificial intelligence because artificial intelligence does not have consciousness. The third problem is the intensification of the phenomenon of stupidity in society. Artificial intelligence creates the conditions for the increasing cleverness of some segments of the population and stupidity of others, which can result in even greater mental and property inequality. Keywords: intelligence, artificial intelligence, ethics, responsibility, legal responsibility, human existential state, problem of redundancy, stupidity. ". (shrink)

The paper presents an outline of the general theory of countable arithmetically saturated models of PA and some of its applications. We consider questions concerning the automorphism group of a countable recursively saturated model of PA. We prove new results concerning fixed point sets, open subgroups, and the cofinality of the automorphism group. We also prove that the standard system of a countable arithmetically saturated model of PA is determined by the lattice of its elementary substructures.

In this paper the completeness theorems for the finite-valued ukasiewicz logics are proved with the use of the Lindenbaum algebra.

La presente investigación consiste en el análisis de la obra del escritor y filósofo Fabrice Hadjadj, desde la perspectiva de uno de los conceptos clave en ella: la «carne». La importancia de la carne para entender al hombre es una intuición desarrollada por Hadjadj en contraposición al espiritualismo dominante de la nueva era tecnológica. Nos encontramos en una era post-ideológica que se caracteriza por el dominio de lo tecnológico. Además, otra de las grandes novedades de nuestro tiempo es la conciencia (...) mayoritaria de la posibilidad de extinción de la especie humana. La crisis actual es profunda, antropológica: se trata de la pérdida de sentido de lo «humano». Esta crisis se ve agravada por una visión cada vez más desencarnada del hombre o espiritualista, lo que supone una ruptura antropológica que es promovida por el impacto de las tecnologías en nuestra lógica. Según Hadjadj, es este espiritualismo lo que contribuye más profundamente a diluir lo humano y acelerar la deriva poshumana de los nuevos tiempos. Nuestro trabajo, además de despejar cuál es el sentido de la carne para Hadjadj, así como el porqué de su particular relevancia para la nueva era, muestra algunas de las principales consecuencias de esa ruptura antropológica que promueve el uso de las tecnologías. La finalidad de esta investigación es mostrar cómo una visión antropológica centrada en la carne como la que propone Hadjadj, constituye una poderosa alternativa (si no la única) para resistir a la tentativa de que el espiritualismo tecnológico acabe devorando lo humano. (shrink)

We examine how corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions (association and participation) affect manager creativity at the workplace and its mediating link through organisational identification. We collected data from the National Forum of Environment and Health (NFEH) 2019 that awarded 52 companies in Pakistan. NFEH is a purely non-profit, non-governmental, and voluntary organisation registered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies Ordinance 1961. We employed convenience sampling to collect data from managers of 52 CSR performing organisations in Pakistan. We analyse the data (...) with structural equation modelling (SEM) via R. Findings reveal that CSR association does not affect creativity. In contrast, CSR participation has a significant positive effect on manager creative performance. Furthermore, the decomposition analysis indicated that only in the case of CSR participation, OI has a mediating effect. (shrink)

Der Autor untersucht als Berufspadagoge, Technologe und Technikphilosoph die gegenwartig zu losenden Erziehungs- und Bildungsproble- me unter dem Aspekt des Wesens der Technik. Die mit der Technikent- wicklung entstandenen Grundfragen des individuellen und gesellschaft- lichen Lebens und die notwendig gewordene Regelung desselben werden unter soziotechnischen und bildungsintentionalen Gesichtspunkten analysiert und in systemtheoretische Blickwinkel geruckt. Die Untersuchung richtet sich an alle, die aktiv an der Menschenbildung, an kulturpolitischen Entscheidungen und an der technikphilosophischen Diskussion beteiligt sind.".

Nuestra familiaridad con los dinosaurios proviene del cine, pero comienza con los manuales escolares y los museos de ciencia natural, gracias a los cuales sabemos que, a diferencia de otros seres fantásticos de la pantalla grande y de la literatura de ficción, se trata de seres reales que sin embargo no pueden darse en carne y hueso. ¿Cómo se constituye fenomenológicamente el dinosaurio como animal anterior a toda criatura de la que podemos tener experiencia? Procuraremos esbozar una respuesta en tres (...) eta-pas, siguiendo los análisis constitutivos de Husserl. En primer lugar, respecto del darse del otro mediante la corporalidad y la empatía. En segundo lugar, respecto del darse de los animales vivientes. Por último, respecto del darse del fósil como cuerpo cultural que permite exhibirlo como animal de los tiempos jurásicos.Our acquaintance with dinosaurs comes from the movies, but it begins with school handbooks and natural science museums, whereby we know that, unlike other fantastic be-ings displayed on the screen or in fairy-tales, they are real but not actually given beings. How does the dinosaur phenomenologically constitute itself as an animal which predates any creature we can have experience of? Following Husserl’s constitutive analyses, we shall try to sketch an answer in three stages. First, with regard to the givenness of the Other through empathy and the Body. Second, with regard to the giveness of liv-ing animals. Finally, with regard to the givenness of fossils as cultural bodies which make the ap-pearance of Jurassic animals possible. (shrink)

In the paper n -valued paraconsistent matrices are defined by an adaptation of the well-known Łukasiewicz’s matrices. An appropriate set of axioms is presented and the 3-valued case is examined.

The paper presents four open problems concerning recursively saturated models of Peano Arithmetic. One problems concerns a possible converse to Tarski's undefinability of truth theorem. The other concern elementary cuts in countable recursively saturated models, extending automorphisms of countable recursively saturated models, and Jonsson models of PA. Some partial answers are given.

This report brings out a simple observation on the close connection of lters with algebraic closure systems. In [1], Orrin Frink gave a general denition of ideals in ordered sets. Here, we use the dual notion of lter and apply it to preordered sets. When referring to nite sets fc1; : : : ; ckg we often omit the brackets. The symbol ; denotes the empty set and, X f Y means that X is a nite subset of Y.

An adequate conjunction-implication pair is given for complete orthomodular lattices. The resulting conjunction is noncommutative in nature. We use the well-known lattice of closed subspaces of a Hilbert space, to give physical meaning to the given lattice operation.