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We already entered the era of Unmanned Vehicles, drones, boats and more recently cars are going to be "driven" by software, sensors, cameras, radars and more are the senses of our vehicles. If the risk that a flying or floating drone can be hacked is concerning us as well as the temporary lack of specific legislation, what about the concerns related to ethical and moral aspects, not neglecting the legal ones, concerning autonomous road vehicles such as cars and buses ? Safety and security standards for such devices are not set actually, how will behave two cars, both from the same builder or not, in case of imminent collision? Of course, the cyber-driver is supposed to be perfect but the environment may introduce some bias, hence on the moral and ethical side how will the cyber-driver take decisions? As an additional concern, today even cars may be subject to cyber-attacks as it already happened to Jeep vehicles in the United States, if on one side the regular car service or re-call for update can be performed through the permanent car connection to the Internet, no more need to physically take the car back to the service (this might lead to unwanted outcomes), on the other side in case of cyber-attacks our car might behave in a unpredictable way. As a consequence, possibly before a mass diffusion of such vehicles, we must be aware about some aspects: the risk of cyber-attacks that may turn everyday commodities like cars into "weapons" and the "programmed" behaviour of cars in case of "risky" scenarios. Security standards and harmonised "behaviours" together with an appropriate legal framework will probably help.

One of the grim comedies of the twentieth century was that miserable victims of communist regimes would climb walls, swim rivers, dodge bullets, and find other desperate ways to achieve liberty in the West at the same time that progressive intellectuals would sentimentally proclaim that these very regimes were the wave of the future. A similar tragicomedy is playing out in our century: as the victims of despotism and backwardness from Third World nations pour into Western states, academics and intellectuals present Western life as a nightmare of inequality and oppression.In The

When a government in a democracy acts in our name, are we, as citizens, responsible for those acts? What if the government commits a moral crime? The protestor's slogan--"Not in our name!"--testifies to the need to separate ourselves from the wrongs of our leaders. Yet the idea that individual citizens might bear a special responsibility for political wrongdoing is deeply puzzling for ordinary morality and leading theories of democracy. In Our Name explains how citizens may be morally exposed to the failures of their representatives and state institutions, and how complicity is the professional hazard of democratic citizenship. Confronting the ethical challenges that citizens are faced with in a self-governing democracy, Eric Beerbohm proposes institutional remedies for dealing with them. Beerbohm questions prevailing theories of democracy for failing to account for our dual position as both citizens and subjects. Showing that the obligation to participate in the democratic process is even greater when we risk serving as accomplices to wrongdoing, Beerbohm argues for a distinctive division of labor between citizens and their representatives that charges lawmakers with the responsibility of incorporating their constituents' moral principles into their reasoning about policy. Grappling with the practical issues of democratic decision making, In Our Name engages with political science, law, and psychology to envision mechanisms for citizens seeking to avoid democratic complicity.

Virtue and Irony in American Democracy: Revisiting Dewey and Niebuhr offers original, accessible democratic-virtue readings of Dewey and Niebuhr, showing implications for political responses to economic inequality on the basis of the virtues they imply.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter One: Consent to Religious Freedom: The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson -- The Present Question -- Jefferson's Answers -- Refining the Question -- Reason's Tribunal -- Jefferson's Legacy -- Chapter Two: On Constitutional Authority: A Conversation with David Strauss -- The Living Constitution -- Jefferson's Question: Hermeneutical and Normative -- The Tradition of Popular Sovereignty -- Advancing the Tradition -- Chapter Three: Democracy and Nature's God: The Legacy of Abraham Lincoln -- Lincoln's Political Sentiments -- The Declaration's Laws of Nature -- The Almighty's Purposes -- The House Divided -- Lincoln's Legacy -- Chapter Four: On Religion in the Public Sphere: A Conversation with Jürgen Habermas -- The Institutional Proviso -- Habermas's Proposal: A Critique -- Habermas and Rawls: The Basic Problem -- The Better Solution -- The Attachment to Democracy -- Chapter Five: On the Humanitarian Ideal: The Promise of Neoclassical Metaphysics -- Kantian and Post-Enlightenment Challenges -- Metaphysics and Human Purpose -- Making the Humanitarian Ideal Explicit -- Chapter Six: Reinhold Niebuhr's Theistic Ethic: The Law of Love -- Niebuhr's Systematic Project -- Niebuhr's Ethic: Harmony and Sacrificial Love -- Niebuhr's Ethic: A Critique -- Niebuhr's Intentions Revisited -- Chapter Seven: On the Loss of Theism: A Conversation with Iris Murdoch -- Emphatic Moral Realism -- Good without God -- The Loss of Worth -- The Necessity of God -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index.

Citizens, political leaders, and scholars invoke the term 'democracy' to describe present-day states without grasping its roots or prospects in theory or practice. This book clarifies the political discourse about democracy by identifying that its primary focus is human activity, not consent. It points out how democracy is neither self-legitimating nor self-justifying and so requires critical, ethical discourse to address its ongoing problems, such as inequality and exclusion. Wallach pinpoints how democracy has historically depended on notions of goodness to ratify its power. The book analyses pivotal concepts of democratic ethics such as 'virtue', 'representation', 'civil rightness', 'legitimacy', and 'human rights' and looks at them as practical versions of goodness that have adapted democracy to new constellations of power in history. Wallach notes how democratic ethics should never be reduced to power or moral ideals. Historical understanding needs to come first to highlight the potentials and prospects of democratic citizenship

This paper is a review of the 18th National Ethics Conference that took place in November 2022 and was organized by the Department of Ethical Studies of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The aim of this review is to give publicity to the event by informing of the thematic panels, the titles of the reports and the names of the researchers who participated.

The American political reformer Herbert Croly wrote, "For better or worse, democracy cannot be disentangled from an aspiration toward human perfectibility." Democratic Faith is at once a trenchant analysis and a powerful critique of this underlying assumption that informs democratic theory. Patrick Deneen argues that among democracy's most ardent supporters there is an oft-expressed belief in the need to "transform" human beings in order to reconcile the sometimes disappointing reality of human self-interest with the democratic ideal of selfless commitment. This "transformative impulse" is fr

Michael Johnston argues that corruption will persist, and even be the rule rather than the exception, until those with a stake in ending it can act in ways that cannot be ignored. This is the key principle of 'deep democratization', enabling citizens to defend their interests by political means. The author analyses four syndromes of corruption in light of this principle: official moguls in Egypt and Tunisia, oligarchs and clans in the Philippines, elite cartels in Argentina, and influence markets in France, Australia and the US. Johnston argues that different kinds of corruption require distinctive responses, each bearing specific risks. Focusing on recent events, including the global economic crisis and the Arab Spring, he shows that we can assess vulnerabilities to corruption and the effects of reforms, and use this information to identify new practices. His book offers a fundamental reappraisal of ways to check abuses of wealth and power

Human activities associated with greenhouse gas emissions have unequivocally caused global warming. Widespread adverse impacts on people, living organisms, and the environment are already being observed, mostly affecting vulnerable communities who are least responsible for current climate change. Unless drastic mitigation and adaptation measures are taken, continued greenhouse gas emissions will further exacerbate dangerous climate change. This expert report maps and analyses the complex justice issues that arise in the context of climate change and evaluates policy responses to the impacts of climate change from a climate justice perspective.

Faith-based community organizers have spent decades working for greater equality in American society, and more recently have become significant players in shaping health care, finance, and immigration reform at the highest levels of government. In A Shared Future, Richard L. Wood and Brad R. Fulton draw on a new national study of community organizing coalitions and in-depth interviews of key leaders in this field to show how faith-based organizing is creatively navigating the competing aspirations of America's universalist and multiculturalist democratic ideals, even as it confronts three demons bedeviling American politics: economic inequality, federal policy paralysis, and racial inequity. With a broad view of the entire field and a distinct empirical focus on the PICO National Network, Wood and Fulton's analysis illuminates the tensions, struggles, and deep rewards that come with pursuing racial equity within a social change organization and in society. Ultimately, A Shared Future offers a vision for how we might build a future that embodies the ethical democracy of the best American dreams. An interview of the authors on the subject of faith leaders organizing for justice (Peace Talks Radio, copyright Good Radio Shows, Inc.) can be heard at this link: https://beta.prx.org/stories/190030