This paper explores the moral permissibility of aesthetically enjoying non-consensual deepfake art - synthetic, ultra-realistic audio, visual, and audio-visual media. Recent studies on deepfakes have focused on epistemic threats, manipulation, and misinformation; little attention has been given to their artistic use, specifically at the intersection of art and the infringement of a person's right to personal data. This project addresses that gap by asking whether it is morally permissible to aesthetically enjoy such representations. Drawing on No & euml;l Carroll's deflationary approach to aesthetic experience and Robert Sparrow's framework on representation, normalization, and character from his "Robots, Rape, and Representation," the paper argues that aesthetic enjoyment of non-consensual deepfake art is morally problematic. Such artworks not only violate individual rights but also risk normalizing nonconsensual practices and cultivating the vicious character of their audience. This study concludes that non-consensual deepfake art, no matter how aesthetically enjoyable, is not exempt from moral scrutiny and recommends safeguards in its creation and consumption.
The use of generative AI tools (also known as algorithmic epistemic outsourcing), such as ChatGPT, has become increasingly prevalent among college students. Much of this appeal stems from their promise of productivity and convenience, particularly in reducing the cognitive effort required for tasks such as essay writing. While these technologies can enhance efficiency, their unreflective use, characterized by a passive cognitive surrender, raises serious concerns about genuine learning, the development of relevant intellectual skills, and the cultivation of proper dispositions toward inquiry. More troublingly, habitual offloading of cognitive tasks to algorithmic artifacts runs the risk of fostering defective and undesirable characterological states, especially overreliance. By employing Ian James Kidd's language of epistemic corruption and his method called corruptionist criticism, I argue that the increasing practice of algorithmic epistemic outsourcing constitutes what might be called an epistemically corrupting condition that facilitates the acquisition of the epistemic vice of overreliance. I also argue that this form of epistemic corruption is not intrinsic. Rather, it emerges conditionally as a result of specific psychological and institutional factors. Finally, I explore possible ways to address the conditional nature of such a corrupting process by considering a pedagogical strategy (educating for intellectual virtues), ameliorative strategy (educating against intellectual vices), and a systemic strategy that involves adopting a more humanistic form of education that puts a premium on the individual student's growth as a thinker, learner, and human being.
Against the backdrop of the evolution of artistic forms, this paper explores the paradigm shift in aesthetic education from Renaissance portraiture to the contemporary AI robot Ameca. Through a trans-epochal dialogue, it analyzes the profound impact of technological innovation on the goals, content, and methods of aesthetic education. The article points out that Renaissance portraiture established a humanistic paradigm for aesthetic education, emphasizing ideal beauty, individuality, and the integration of skill and artistry; whereas AI art reconstructs creative subjectivity, aesthetic experience, and the standards of artistic value, challenging traditional frameworks of aesthetic education. The research contends that contemporary aesthetic education must, while embracing technological possibilities, adhere to the core tenet of "all-round human development," thereby constructing an innovative system that integrates humanistic and technological dimensions. This study provides a theoretical path for aesthetic education practices in the digital age, one that possesses historical depth and critical reflection, and offers references for educational innovation under the policy of "Integrated Five-Education (Moral, Intellectual, Physical, Aesthetical, and Labour Education)"(Zhang 2024).
This paper contends that trying to maintain a positive outlook on the possibilities afforded by Generative Artificial Intelligence in the education sector would not be well-founded, given a careful study of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Whereas it has become common to hear the claim that an approach through virtue or character formation is the best approach regarding AI, this paper attempts to view Gen AI as a tool whose value would have to be assessed like all potential external goods on the basis of its likelihood of either promoting or inhibiting human excellence. We thus explore here the significant epistemic, ethical, and pedagogical considerations at work in the Aristotelian text and arrive at stark contrasts between, on the one hand, ideal characteristics of human flourishing and, on the other hand, the dubious ontological and epistemological grounds of AI use, its inherent tendency towards inequity and ingratitude, and its promotion of ease and efficiency at the cost of true learning.
This paper proposes an alternative reading of Albert Camus' "The Voiceless Ones," reframing the notion of the moral dilemma as centered on the workers' displacement, not merely as a class struggle but as an allegory of "creative destruction," a process through which newer innovations and technological advancements replace older ones. Drawing on the economic and philosophical understanding of creative destruction articulated by Joseph Schumpeter and recontextualized within Camusian philosophy, this reading argues that "The Voiceless Ones" anticipates the precarious existential condition of the modern workers. This reading hypothesis is justified through the story's reference to the replacement of barrel-making labor by sea tankers and tanker trucks, marking a historical moment of industrial transition in which artisanal identity disintegrates before the rise of mechanized efficiency. After establishing this reading hypothesis, the second aim of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance of the insights gained from the reading to the need for transitional justice. Specifically, technological advancements related to artificial intelligence are discussed as they continue to reshape modern society. With these considerations in mind, the paper is divided into three main parts. First, I elaborate on the context and interpretation of Camus' "The Voiceless Ones". Second, I discuss the Schumpeterian concept of creative destruction and its impact on human and organizational values. Third, I formulate a notion of "transitional justice" that responds to creative destruction, drawing from Camusian philosophy and the Filipino notion of pakikiramdam or sensing. Afterward, I connect these insights to the specific case of artificial intelligence in contemporary society.
