In this paper, I will present a Kantian revision of the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE). In order to do so, I will explain the concept of jus in bello – focusing in particular on the distinction between intent and foresight. I will then argue that we ought to take an agency-inspired look at the DDE. Finally, I will conclude by arguing for my thesis that Boyle’s theory of agency, while good, needs to be revised in order to accommodate concerns stemming from Kant’s Formula of Humanity… namely consent.

Bakgrund: Dödshjälp är endast lagligt i ett fåtal länder och stater i världen, men det förekommer att patienter förmedlar en önskan om dödshjälp till vårdpersonal, även i andra länder. Läkare beskriver bördan med att hantera förfrågningar om dödshjälp och försöker undvika dessa genom att behandla patienters fysiska samt psykiska behov. Anhöriga till individer som dött genom dödshjälp, menade att den döende individens livskvalitet förbättrades i slutet av deras liv relaterat till beslutet gällande dödshjälp. Syfte: Att beskriva sjuksköterskors attityder till, samt erfarenheter kring dödshjälp. Metod: En litteraturöversikt, i enlighet med Friberg genomfördes. Systematisk sökning har utförts i databaserna CINAHL Complete och PubMed. Resultatet av översikten baseras på 13 originalartiklar.  Resultat: Sjuksköterskors attityder varierar oavsett om de arbetar i länder där dödshjälp är lagligt eller inte. Tendenser tyder på att sjuksköterskor är mer positivt inställda till eutanasi än läkarassisterat självmord. De underliggande aspekter som påverkar sjuksköterskors attityder grundas på deras personliga värderingar utifrån professionell kunskap, erfarenheter och religiösa övertygelser. Sjuksköterskor kan rättfärdiga sina handlingar genom så kallad dubbel-effekt, där goda handlingar utförs trots att det kan leda till negativa konsekvenser. Palliativ vård fungerar som preventiv strategi, vilket tidvis minskar antalet förfrågningar om dödshjälp. Diskussion: Resultaten är diskuterade utifrån Beauchamp och Childress etiska principer, samt vårdande utifrån deras tolkning av vårdande etik. Det uppstår konflikter mellan sjuksköterskors personliga värderingar, yrkesprofessionella kunskap, lagar och de etiska principerna i vårdandet av döende individer med obotliga sjukdomar.

This thesis provides an ethical analysis of imprisonment as a mode of punishment. Consisting in an introduction and four papers the thesis addresses several important questions concerning imprisonment from a number of different perspectives and theoretical starting points. One overall conclusion of this thesis is that imprisonment, as a mode of punishment, deserves more attention from moral and legal philosophers. It is also concluded that a more complete ethical assessment of prison conditions and prison management requires a broader focus. It must include an explicit discussion of both how imprisonment directly affects prison inmates and its negative side-effects on third parties. Another conclusion is that ethical discussions on prison conditions should not be too easily reduced to a question about how harsh or lenient is should be. Paper 1 argues that prisoners have a right to privacy. It is argued that respect for inmates’ privacy is related to respect for them as moral agents. Consequently, respect for inmates’ privacy is called for by different established philosophical theories about the justification of legal punishment. Practical implications of this argument are discussed and it is argued that invasion of privacy should be minimized to the greatest extent possible, without compromising other important values or the rights to safety and security. It is also proposed that respect for privacy should be part of the objective of creating and upholding a secure environment. Paper 2 discusses whether the collateral harm of imprisonment to the children and other close family members of prison inmates may give rise to special moral obligations towards them. Several collateral harms, including decreased psychological wellbeing, financial costs, loss of economic opportunities, and intrusion and control over their private lives, are identified. Two perspectives in moral philosophy, consequentialism and deontology, are then applied in order to assess whether these harms are permissible. It is argued that from either perspective it is hard to defend the claim that allowing for these harms are morally permissible. Consequently, imprisonment should be used only as a last resort. Where it is deemed necessary, it gives rise to special moral obligations. Using the notion of residual obligation, these obligations are then categorized and clarified.                 Paper 3 focuses on an argument that has figured in the philosophical debate on felon disenfranchisement. This argument states that as a matter of democratic self-determination, a legitimate democratic collective has the collective right to decide whether to disenfranchise felons as a way of defining their political identity. Yet, such a collective’s right to self-determination is limited, since the choice to disenfranchise anyone must be connected to normative considerations of political significance. This paper defends this argument against three charges that has been raised to it. In doing so it also explores under what circumstances felon disenfranchisement can be permissible. Paper 4 explores the question of whether prison inmates suffering from ADHD should be administered psychopharmacological intervention (methylphenidate) for their condition. The theoretical starting point for the discussion is the communicative theory of punishment, which understands criminal punishment   as a form of secular penance. Viewed through the lens of the communicative theory it is argued that the provision of pharmacological treatment to offenders with ADHD need not necessarily be conceived of as an alternative to punishment, but as an aid to achieving the penological ends of secular penance. Thus, in this view offenders diagnosed with ADHD should have the option to undergo pharmacological treatment. / <p>QC 20170110</p>

This dissertation offers a new understanding about wartime decision making in the face of likely, but unintended, harm to foreign civilians. It empirically identifies conditions under which leaders in democratic nations are more or less likely to choose to attack a target when confronted with a dilemma between pursuing national security objectives and avoiding civilian casualties. An innovative targeting decision model was constructed that described both the theorized structure of the decisions inputs and the process by which these inputs are assembled into a choice. The model went beyond the normal target benefit and civilian casualty cost considerations of proportionality to also include the contextual input of prospect frame. Decision makers were expected to address the same benefit and cost differently depending on whether they were winning or losing the conflict. This was because the prospect frame would influence their risk attitudes, as predicted by prospect theory. This model was then tested via two decision-making experiments that used military officers and defense civilians as participants. Additionally, a statistical analysis of data collected from an extended period of the second Intifada was done to seek evidence that the model also applied in actual wartime decision making. All three tests supported portions of the targeting decision model. Higher target benefit and lower civilian casualty estimates increased support for the planned attack. Prospect frame influenced decisions in the cases where both target value and the civilian casualty estimates were high and the resulting dilemma was very difficult. In these situations, those told that their forces were losing the conflict were less sensitive to humanitarian harm and more likely to support the attack than when they were told their side was winning. Furthermore, the Intifada data analysis of attacks approved by Israeli officials against Palestinians found this same effect of prospect frame held generally across all six years of observations.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-08T15:00:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2486004 bytes, checksum: 58c7f8984b6313c965d4ab70e1483555 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present paper describes an theoretical-experimental study of an double effect absorption refrigeration machine in series that uses the waste heat from the exhaust fumes of an internal combustion engine as an energy source for the steam generator. Stress that the machine being used was designed and built on the premises of the Federal University of Paraíba in the Institute of Sustainable Energy and recog-IES laboratory, Cooperative Research Network North / Northeast Natural Gas. This study aims to describe the constructive aspects of a pilot plant with cooling capacity of around 0.5 TR, emphasizing discussion relation to the accuracy, errors, difficulties, problems identified and solutions found during the construction processes, testing, operation, data acquisition and evaluation of the pilot plant. / O presente trabalho descreve um estudo teórico-experimental de uma máquina de refrigeração por absorção de duplo efeito em série usando o par água brometo de lítio e que utiliza o rejeito de calor proveniente dos gases de escapamento de um motor de combustão interna como fonte energética para o gerador de vapor de vapor de alta. A máquina está sendo desenvolvida nas próprias instalações da Universidade Federal da Paraíba no laboratório do Instituto de Energia Sustentável IES e RECOGÀS, Rede Cooperativa de Pesquisa Norte/Nordeste de Gás Natural. Este estudo visa descrever os aspectos construtivos de uma unidade piloto com capacidade frigorífica em torno de 0,5 TR, dando ênfase a discussões em relação aos acertos, erros, dificuldades obtidas, problemas identificados e soluções encontradas durante os processos de construção, testes, funcionamento, aquisição de dados e avaliação da unidade piloto. É feito também uma comparação dos dados experimentais com os resultados obtidos de um modelo termodinâmico baseado nos conceitos de energia e exergia. O código computacional é desenvolvido em plataforma EES (Engineering Equation Solver), aproveitando a facilidade de obtenção das propriedades, sobretudo, da solução água brometo de lítio.

This licentiate thesis consists of three essays which all concern the ethics of imprisonment and what constitutes an ethically defensible treatment of criminal offenders. Paper 1 defends the claim that prisoners have a right to privacy. I argue that the right to privacy is important because of its connection to moral agency. For that reasons is the protection of inmates’ right to privacy also warranted by different established philosophical theories about the justification of legal punishment. I discuss the practical implications of this argument. Ultimately I argue the invasion of privacy should be minimized to the greatest extent possible without compromising other important values and rights to safety and security. In defending this position, I argue that respect for inmates’ privacy should be part of the objective of creating and upholding a secure environment to better effect in the long run. Paper 2 discusses whether the collateral harm of imprisonment to the close family members and children of prison inmates may give rise to special moral obligations towards them. Several collateral harms, including decreased psychological wellbeing, financial costs, loss of economic opportunities, and intrusion and control over their private lives, are identified. Two competing perspectives in moral philosophy are applied in order to assess whether the harms are permissible. The first is consequentialist and the second is deontological, and it is argued that both of them fails and therefore it is hard to defend the position that allowing for these harms would be morally permissible, even for the sake of the overall aims of incarceration. Instead, it is argued that these harms imply that imprisonment should only be used as a last resort. Where it is necessary, imprisonment should give rise to special moral obligations towards families of prisoners. Using the notion of residual obligation, these obligations are defended, categorized and clarified. Paper 3 evaluates electronic monitoring (EM) from an ethical perspective and discusses whether it could be a promising alternative to imprisonment as a criminal sanction for a series of criminal offenses. EM evaluated from an ethical perspective as six initial ethical challenges are addressed and discussed. It is argued that since EM is developing as a technology and a punitive means, it is urgent to discuss its ethical implications and incorporate moral values into its design and development. / <p>QC 20140519</p>

The aim of this thesis is to discuss the ethical issues which arise by nuclear deterrence. I have taken the position that the use of nuclear weapons is morally wrong. Nuclear deterrence is kind of a preventive measure, but not a way of fighting a war. Therefore, I used the ‘just war theory’ as a starting point to formulate analytical questions through which I have interpreted my material. The analytical questions are based on proportionality, utilitarianism, deontology and the ‘Doctrine of double effect’. I have used contemporary material by political scientists which form a symposium where they discussed on the topic of ‘just deterrence’. In my thesis, I argue that the liberty, life and happiness must be defended, but not to any price. I argue that we must see the value life itself has, because if our life, liberty and happiness is threatened, we have nothing to defend. The question that arises is whether there is an ethical approach which can help us understand these questions.

There is a conceptual knot at the intersection of moral responsibility and action theory. This knot can be expressed as the following question: What is the relationship between an agent's openness to moral responsibility and the intentional status of her behaviour? My answer to this question is developed in three steps. I first develop a control-backed account of intentional agency, one that borrows vital insights from the cognitive sciences – in the form of Dual Process Theory – in understanding the control condition central to the account, and demonstrate that this account fares at least as well as its rivals in the field. Secondly, I investigate the dominant positions in the discussion surrounding the role of control in moral responsibility. After consideration of some shortcomings of these positions – especially the inability to properly account for so-called ambivalence cases – I defend an alternative pluralist account of moral responsibility, in which there are two co-extant variants of such responsibility: attributability and accountability. The latter of these will be shown to have a necessary control condition, also best understood in terms of a requirement for oversight (rather than conscious or online control), and in terms of the workings of the dual system mechanism. I then demonstrate how these two accounts are necessarily related through the shared role of this kind of control, leading to my answer to the original question: if an agent is open to moral accountability based on some activity or outcome, this activity or outcome must necessarily have positive intentional status. I then apply this answer in a consideration of certain cases of the use of the Doctrine of Double Effect.

This thesis deals with the question of just and unjust violence and also compares approach to the just violence today and in the past. It presents comparison of systems of if-conception self-defense and MS-1 self-defense which comes from sindefendology. From this comparison is clear, why it is necessary to refuse all so called if-conceptions self-defense (jujitsu, aikijitsu, karate, kenjitsu or other similar systems). The two main sources of this thesis are sindefendology (science of self-defense) and Christian ethics. The criteria for ethical justification are following: St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae, Catechism of theCatholic Church and real possibilities of attacked person to defense (with regard to dangers, which come from the situation). It is necessary to distinguish between self-defensive and self-protective situations. This distinction helps to comprehend the nature of combat situation, and therefore also to choose the ethical acceptable actions on time. There are described some cases which shows importance of the knowledge of sindefendology about real possibilities of attacked person. Course of justice without the knowledge of sindefendology and ethics can be unjust for attacked man.

e master's thesis clarifies the concept of trigeneration and the principle of absorbing cooling. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of this method of manufacture cool with compressor cooling. It presents an overview of the implementation of a developing cold absorption and performance. Acquainted with the types of absorption chillers of the two leading suppliers, their characteristics and existing applications of these refrigeration units in operation in the Czech Republic and abroad. It also assesses the possibility of using these units in conjunction with a cogeneration unit powered by internal combustion engine. It follows from the economic assessment of costs and income of the absorption chillers and compressor chillers and on concrete examples and an assessment of the effectiveness of the various options.