scholarly journals A Plea for the Comprehensiveness of the Category of Moral “Luck”

Axiomathes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Zaborowski
Keyword(s):  

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of the category of moral “luck”. In current debate most often only specific cases of moral “luck” are taken into account. Such restrictions, however, involving a fragmentary picture of moral "luck", are introduced without any rationale for them. In this paper I look for a formal comprehensiveness of the category of moral “luck”. I consider three factors each of which is developed in two scenarios. These are (i) whether the agent’s action is nasty or nice, (ii) whether the agent’s intention is confirmed or contradicted by her action, and (iii) whether the agent’s action is preceded by her intention or the lack thereof. I explore eight scenarios which are a mark of the intricacy of the category of moral “luck” otherwise ignored in the literature. After an assessment of their structure I arrive at new distinctions. The upshot is a rather complex set of correlations between several cases of moral “luck” with a variety of kinds and shades.

Crisis ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrée Fortin ◽  
Sylvie Lapierre ◽  
Jacques Baillargeon ◽  
Réal Labelle ◽  
Micheline Dubé ◽  
...  

The right to self-determination is central to the current debate on rational suicide in old age. The goal of this exploratory study was to assess the presence of self-determination in suicidal institutionalized elderly persons. Eleven elderly persons with serious suicidal ideations were matched according to age, sex, and civil status with 11 nonsuicidal persons. The results indicated that suicidal persons did not differ from nonsuicidal persons in level of self-determination. There was, however, a significant difference between groups on the social subscale. Suicidal elderly persons did not seem to take others into account when making a decision or taking action. The results are discussed from a suicide-prevention perspective.


Author(s):  
Matthew Bagot

One of the central questions in international relations today is how we should conceive of state sovereignty. The notion of sovereignty—’supreme authority within a territory’, as Daniel Philpott defines it—emerged after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 as a result of which the late medieval crisis of pluralism was settled. But recent changes in the international order, such as technological advances that have spurred globalization and the emerging norm of the Responsibility to Protect, have cast the notion of sovereignty into an unclear light. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the current debate regarding sovereignty by exploring two schools of thought on the matter: first, three Catholic scholars from the past century—Luigi Sturzo, Jacques Maritain, and John Courtney Murray, S.J.—taken as representative of Catholic tradition; second, a number of contemporary political theorists of cosmopolitan democracy. The paper argues that there is a confluence between the Catholic thinkers and the cosmopolitan democrats regarding their understanding of state sovereignty and that, taken together, the two schools have much to contribute not only to our current understanding of sovereignty, but also to the future of global governance.


1987 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Robert Hopkins
Keyword(s):  

2006 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Sándor Richter

The order and modalities of cross-member state redistribution as well as the net financial position of the member states are one of the most widely discussed aspects of European integration. The paper addresses selected issues in the current debate on the EU budget for the period 2007 to 2013 and introduces four scenarios. The first is identical to the European Commission's proposal; the second is based on reducing the budget to 1% of the EU's GNI, as proposed by the six net-payer countries, while maintaining the expenditure structure of the Commission's proposal. The next two scenarios represent radical reforms: one of them also features a '1% EU GNI'; however, the expenditures for providing 'EU-wide value-added' are left unchanged and it is envisaged that the requisite cuts will be made in the expenditures earmarked for cohesion. The other reform scenario is different from the former one in that the cohesion-related expenditures are left unchanged and the expenditures for providing 'EU-wide value-added' are reduced. After the comparison of the various scenarios, the allocation of transfers to the new member states in terms of the conditions prevailing in the different scenarios is analysed.


Author(s):  
Michael N. Barnett

How do American Jews envision their role in the world? Are they tribal—a people whose obligations extend solely to their own? Or are they prophetic—a light unto nations, working to repair the world? This book is an interpretation of the effects of these worldviews on the foreign policy beliefs of American Jews since the nineteenth century. The book argues that it all begins with the political identity of American Jews. As Jews, they are committed to their people's survival. As Americans, they identify with, and believe their survival depends on, the American principles of liberalism, religious freedom, and pluralism. This identity and search for inclusion form a political theology of prophetic Judaism that emphasizes the historic mission of Jews to help create a world of peace and justice. The political theology of prophetic Judaism accounts for two enduring features of the foreign policy beliefs of American Jews. They exhibit a cosmopolitan sensibility, advocating on behalf of human rights, humanitarianism, and international law and organizations. They also are suspicious of nationalism—including their own. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that American Jews are natural-born Jewish nationalists, the book charts a long history of ambivalence; this ambivalence connects their early rejection of Zionism with the current debate regarding their attachment to Israel. And, the book contends, this growing ambivalence also explains the rising popularity of humanitarian and social justice movements among American Jews.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaa Ashour

Transnational education (TNE), responding to the growing global demand for education, plays a fundamental role in the current debate on the internationalisation and globalisation of higher education. Conducting a systematic literature review, this paper examines the characteristics of German transnational education, which has little in common with the American and British models, the reasons for its limited presence in the Gulf and its potential for having a stronger footprint. Since education for Germany is a public good, financial gain has never been a decisive factor for German universities to venture abroad. Whilst the Gulf Region is the largest importer of foreign education, German TNE is only represented by one university there, compared to the overwhelming number of US, UK and Australian higher education institutions. Although the Gulf Region is considered as a lucrative and appealing market for foreign education, lack of engagement of German TNE there could be interpreted through public policy-related reasons. Since Germany has already established its footprint in creating a unique brand of TNE, the paper recommends to build upon the country’s expertise in low-risk option for Germany to invest in the Gulf. For this to materialise, Germany must build awareness of its unique brand to stand out among the competition. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 220-243
Author(s):  
Verena Mayer

How do we understand other minds? The current debate uses the iridescent term “empathy” to explain our quite different mindreading capacities. Since no alternatives seemed to be available the discussion has been mostly in a deadlock between “simulation theory” and “theory theory”. Only recently the relevance of phenomenological findings on the issue has been brought forward. In this paper Husserl’s two concepts of “Einfühlung”, as developed in the second volume of his Ideas, are set against the background of the latest discussion. Husserl’s explanation of empathy in terms of analogical experience highlights the transcendental role of empathy in the context of constitution. At the same time it may solve some of the many riddles left by the recent debate.


2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 63-86
Author(s):  
Abdelwahab El-Affendi

The current debate on the vices of multiculturalism and the merits of integration, of problematizing cultural difference, appears to miss important lessons from recent history in the treatment of minorities. In this paper, I start by questioning the celebration of Barack Obama’s election as a “breakthrough” for multicultural inclusiveness. I argue that the “Obama phenomenon” highlights the limits of democratic inclusiveness and sheds light on the traumatic experience of African Americans, who have been victimized precisely for seeking to assimilate. European Jews, especially in Germany, could not be accused of any reluctance to integrate either, and their contributions to European culture are legendary. But they also suffered grievously for their pains. Thus when the same xenophobic political trends traditionally hostile to the integration of minorities begin to vociferously demand that Muslims should integrate, this must be seen as a warning that we may be heading toward a very dark phase of race relations in the West.


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