نشریه اخلاق پژوهی
پیاپی 14 (بهار 1401)

There are two old important questions in ethics: what standard should a voluntaryaction meet to be moral or valuable? And by what standard can one determine thepositive or negative moral worth of an action according to the religious texts?Indicating what standards make voluntary actions valuable, this paper classifiesthe valuable actions into two types: actions the rewards for which can be gainedin this world and actions the rewards for which cannot be gained in this world(they are beyond the capacity of this world). This study shows that according tothe religious texts, the criterion for the positive value of human voluntary actionsis to please God, and an action has to satisfy two conditions, if it is to please God:(a)it must be considered as serving God; (b) it must reinforce or protect humandignity. Since if a deed lacks any of these conditions, it will not be valuable andwill not lead to divine pleasure.

Killer robots or autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are representative of theapplication of AI in new areas, where worries about its wide application can befully expressed. This being said, it is expected that such systems have elicited manyreactions. These systems use AI in their main (or critical) functions, i.e. to decideabout the target, and what to be done about it. In recent years there have been manydebates from ethical, legal, and political standpoints about such systems; thesedebates revolve around what position one should adopt on their development,production, and use. Though such questions are important theoretically, the actualtechnological developments are getting closer to the ideals discussed, making theissue even more important. Here I assess some ethical arguments for and againstAWS. It seems that none of the arguments, for or against, is compelling enough totake a position. Therefore, either we should look for further arguments, or look intothe more general implications of the current state of arguments about the just wartheory, the main framework in which the issue is discussed. Along with thisexamination, some main ethical aspects of the issue are reviewed.

The common currency is changing into a new form called “crypto-currency”. Thegovernment and bank systems have no access to this kind of money, andeveryone can extract and exchange it in cyberspace. Although the moderntechnology of crypto-currency provides opportunities, it nevertheless createschallenges for nations. If these challenges are overcome, then this technology canturn into a lucky chance. In view of the growing use of crypto-currency, ethicistsneed to carefully identify its nature and moral positive function and clarify itsmoral challenges. While this study introduces the subject of crypto-currency, andexamines its moral functions such as moderation, equality, justice, commongoods, and the supplement of people’s needs, it considers some moral challengeslike providing the ground for moral vices, damaging the environment, threateningthe security of users and the country. Finally certain solutions and suggestions areput forward to reduce these challenges and to turn them into chances.

Exploring the moral principles in the early Islamic era, this paper seeks to explainthat Pre-Islamic Arabs’ acceptance of Islam was gained by, in addition to theProphet’s good character, some moral values and principles institutionalized inthe inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. To understand better what was going onin the early period of Islam, it would be necessary to recognize the element of“invitation”. Its assessment can lead us to realize the epistemological relationbetween Islam and some moral principles. In this paper, I claim that it was notpossible for people to accept the Prophet’s invitation if there had not been certainmoral beliefs, and to accept Islam they needed to believe in some moralprinciples. Appealing to historical cases and analyzing moral concepts, I attemptto show that principles such as “loyalty”, “honesty”, and “benevolence” weregenerally accepted by the audience of divine revelation before Islam and it wason the basis of these values that the Prophet successfully managed to invitepeople.

The common currency is changing into a new form called “crypto-currency”. Thegovernment and bank systems have no access to this kind of money, andeveryone can extract and exchange it in cyberspace. Although the moderntechnology of crypto-currency provides opportunities, it nevertheless createschallenges for nations. If these challenges are overcome, then this technology canturn into a lucky chance. In view of the growing use of crypto-currency, ethicistsneed to carefully identify its nature and moral positive function and clarify itsmoral challenges. While this study introduces the subject of crypto-currency, andexamines its moral functions such as moderation, equality, justice, commongoods, and the supplement of people’s needs, it considers some moral challengeslike providing the ground for moral vices, damaging the environment, threateningthe security of users and the country. Finally certain solutions and suggestions areput forward to reduce these challenges and to turn them into chances.

A human serious concern throughout history and especially during the presentepoch is war and its potential damages. Theorists have always attempted toexamine war in many respects and weighed up its legitimacy legally and morally.Since ancient Greece, moral philosophers have concerned themselves about themoral assessment of war. There are three known theories regarding the ethics ofwar: realism, pacifism, and just war theory. Realism as a common view is dividedinto two kinds: descriptive and prescriptive, and prescriptive realism is classifiedinto two parts: moralized and cautionary. According to cautionary prescriptiverealism, the only way for states to promote interests inexpensively is byabandoning moral principles and taking precautionary measures to protectinterests. This theory holds that accepting realism helps promote peace amongstates while accepting just war theory may lead to war expansion. In this paper,arguments for cautionary prescriptive realism will be critically explored