The Research Centre in Applied Ethics (@cceaunibuc.bsky.social)

Emilian Mihailov (CCEA Director), delivered a fantastic talk on the moral psychology of impartiality at the University of Granada in Spain. 🇪🇸 Emilian's research on the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale and Kantian impartiality can be explored here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Measuring Impartial Beneficence: A Kantian Perspective on the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale - Review of Philosophy and Psychology To capture genuine utilitarian tendencies, (Kahane et al., Psychological Review 125:131, 2018) developed the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale (OUS) based on two subscales, which measure the commitment to impartial beneficence and the willingness to cause harm for the greater good. In this article, I argue that the impartial beneficence subscale, which breaks ground with previous research on utilitarian moral psychology, does not distinctively measure utilitarian moral judgment. I argue that Kantian ethics captures the all-encompassing impartial concern for the well-being of all human beings. The Oxford Utilitarianism Scale draws, in fact, a point of division that places Kantian and utilitarian theories on the same track. I suggest that the impartial beneficence subscale needs to be significantly revised in order to capture distinctively utilitarian judgments. Additionally, I propose that psychological research should focus on exploring multiple sources of the phenomenon of impartial beneficence without categorizing it as exclusively utilitarian. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-021-00600-2?fbclid=IwY2xjawKuL_1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETBIbVFaS2N5aDZLcU5FYVZzAR7X0fbm5FEgRo33Zxhf2OdM053iBYXPVESqKB0F8bvDEbuCCZv3Ngvzf5o8BQ_aem_zIbYlfs7emNLLZ2PHA620Q"