scholarly journals The Epistemology of Moral Praise and Moral Criticism

Episteme ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jimmy Alfonso Licon
Keyword(s):  
Signaling Theory ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
Moral Criticism ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Praise ◽  
Epistemic Insight ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Moral Philosophers

Abstract Are strangers sincere in their moral praise and criticism? Here we apply signaling theory to argue ceteris paribus moral criticism is more likely sincere than praise; the former tends to be a higher-fidelity signal (in Western societies). To offer an example: emotions are often self-validating as a signal because they're hard to fake. This epistemic insight matters: moral praise and criticism influence moral reputations, and affect whether others will cooperate with us. Though much of this applies to generic praise and criticism too, moral philosophers should value sincere moral praise and moral criticism for several reasons: it (i) offers insight into how others actually view us as moral agents; (ii) offers feedback to help us improve our moral characters; and (iii) encourages some behaviors, and discourages others. And so as moral agents, we should care whether moral praise and moral criticism is sincere.

Employer tenure in gays, lesbians and their straight counterparts

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Fric
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
Unemployment Spells ◽  
Insight Into

PurposeThis article aims to shed more light on seemingly contradicting labour market outcomes of lesbians: they were found to have similar unemployment rates as straight women but their unemployment spells are significantly shorter. No such contradiction is observed for gays who seem to have on average a higher unemployment rate and longer unemployment spells compared to straight men.Design/methodology/approachThe main hypothesis is that lesbian and gay employees spend ceteris paribus shorter time working for a given employer (employer tenure) than comparable straight people. This hypothesis is tested on EU Labour Force Survey data using multi-level regression model.FindingsConsistently with the predictions, lesbians and gays were found to have significantly shorter employer tenure than their straight counterparts. These differences remained significant after controlling for individual, workplace and occupational characteristics. The results suggest that shorter employer tenure of lesbians and (possibly) gays is driven by labour demand factors.Originality/valueTo author's knowledge this is the first large-scale quantitative study that compares the employer tenure between lesbians, gays and comparable heterosexuals. The study provides additional insight into mechanisms that lead to (lack of) differentials in unemployment probability between these groups.

Descriptive Moral Theories

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Ludwig Wittgenstein ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Moral Problem ◽  
Moral Language ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Moral Philosophers

This chapter develops an alternative, descriptive understanding of moral theory in order to reconcile two apparently conflicting insights; the insight of the critics of moral theory into the problems of the dominant conception of moral theory and the insight into the relevance that we still attribute to the positions traditionally conceived as theories such as Kantianism and utilitarianism. Building on the work of theory-critics, but without giving up the notion of moral theory, the chapter presents a view according to which theories are descriptive rather than prescriptive and serve heuristic and elucidatory purposes. Inspired by the notion of grammar found in the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, it is furthermore claimed that theories are descriptions which provide overviews of various normative structures of concerns—or moral grammars—and which may serve two different purposes, providing either general descriptions of the logic of our moral language or descriptions that elucidate a specific moral problem. According to this view, moral philosophers must accept the co-existence of a plurality of moral theories that describe a plurality of moral grammars, and they must give up the idea that moral theories are mutually exclusive. Moreover, the development of the second purpose reveals that theories cannot be the sole tool of moral philosophy, they need to be supplemented with grammatical investigations of the particularities involved in moral problems. Moral theories can be helpful, but they are never sufficient when addressing a problem in moral philosophy.

scholarly journals Phronetic Ethics in Social Robotics: A New Approach to Building Ethical Robots

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-183
Author(s):  
Paweł Polak ◽  
Roman Krzanowski
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Robots ◽  
Social Robotics ◽  
High Level Architecture ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Current Design ◽  
Human Ethics ◽  
High Level

Abstract Social robotics are autonomous robots or Artificial Moral Agents (AMA), that will interact respect and embody human ethical values. However, the conceptual and practical problems of building such systems have not yet been resolved, playing a role of significant challenge for computational modeling. It seems that the lack of success in constructing robots, ceteris paribus, is due to the conceptual and algorithmic limitations of the current design of ethical robots. This paper proposes a new approach for developing ethical capacities in robotic systems, one based on the concept of Aristotelian phronesis. Phronesis in principle reflexes closer human ethics than the ethical paradigms we employ today in ethical robotics. This paper describes the essential features of phronesis and proposes a high-level architecture for implementing phronetic principles in autonomous robots. Phronetic robotics is in its early stages of conceptualization, so many of the presented ideas are speculative and require further research.2

Socrates and Confucius: Moral Agents or Moral Philosophers?

1971 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Mahood
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Philosophers

scholarly journals Third-Party Signals in Crowdfunded Microfinance: The Role of Microfinance Institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron H. Anglin ◽  
Jeremy C. Short ◽  
David J. Ketchen ◽  
Thomas H. Allison ◽  
Aaron F. McKenny
Keyword(s):  
Social Performance ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Signaling Theory ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Microfinance Institution ◽  
Insight Into

Crowdfunded microfinance research has routinely examined how campaign characteristics drive funding to crowdfunding campaigns but has neglected to examine the critical role of the microfinance institution (MFI). We leverage signaling theory to contend that entrepreneurs’ MFI affiliation is a salient third-party signal that shapes the performance of their crowdfunding campaign and examine how the financial and social performance of MFIs drive campaign funding. Our examination of 220,649 loans paired 173 MFIs supports our arguments. We provide insight into the importance of third-party signals in crowdfunding and into how investors seek to balance social motives with financial concerns in crowdfunded microfinance.

scholarly journals Journalism Employability in the Modern Newsroom: Insights From Applicant Resumes and Cover Letters

2021 ◽  
pp. 107769582110328
Author(s):  
T. J. Thomson ◽  
Jason Sternberg
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Signaling Theory ◽  
Organizational Skills ◽  
Hiring Managers ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Visual Journalism ◽  
Insight Into

What skills, attributes, and experiences are needed for a visual journalism job in a contemporary print and digital newsroom? Previous attempts at answering this question examine it through insights from hiring managers or news editors, often collected retrospectively or at arbitrary times of the year through surveys; analyses of position descriptions, which are often framed in normative terms; or through analyzing journalism curricula, which perpetually struggle to adapt nimbly to evolving industry demands. This signaling theory study adopts a novel approach by examining, through qualitative thematic analysis, all applicants’ resumes and cover letters submitted by candidates for a visual journalism job posted in 2019. The hiring organization sought a candidate who could not only tell newsworthy stories through images but also one who could “write their own stories,” “have strong organizational skills,” and be “knowledgeable about current digital technology and applications for smartphone photography.” The results provide insight into the types of applicants who apply to such a position; the skills, attributes, and experiences employers regard as worthy of shortlisting; and the strategies candidates adopted in addressing the position description and selection criteria.

Explaining Moral Variety

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandran Kukathas
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Moral Criticism ◽  
Moral Skepticism ◽  
Made In ◽  
Moral Philosophers ◽  
The Way

Reflection on the variety of forms of social life has long been a source of moral skepticism. The thought that there are many radically different social systems, each of which colors the way its members think about moral and political questions, has been thought by many moral philosophers to undermine confidence in our belief that our way of looking at-or even posing-these questions is the correct one. The fact of cultural variety is held to reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the possibility of moral criticism of the practices of other societies. This thought is not a recent one; it is implicit, for example, in an observation made in David Hume's “A Dialogue,” when he writes:There are no manners so innocent or reasonable, but may be rendered odious or ridiculous, if measured by a standard, unknown to the persons; especially, if you employ a little art or eloquence, in aggravating some circumstances, and extenuating others, as best suits the purpose of your discourse.

Calibration problems in hydrogen luminosities

1966 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 322-330
Author(s):  
A. Beer
Keyword(s):  
Galactic Structure ◽  
B Stars ◽  
Insight Into

The investigations which I should like to summarize in this paper concern recent photo-electric luminosity determinations of O and B stars. Their final aim has been the derivation of new stellar distances, and some insight into certain patterns of galactic structure.

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