The Moral Agency of Abortion Providers

2019 ◽  
pp. 189-208
Author(s):  
Lisa Harris
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Abortion Care ◽  
Social Polarization ◽  
Moral Engagement

Until very recently, only negative claims of conscience related to abortion provision were recognized; that is, conscience-based refusal to provide abortion care was recognized but conscience-based provision was not. In fact, to the contrary, abortion providers were and are routinely stigmatized as being devoid of conscience or moral principles. This chapter takes up the moral agency of abortion providers. It deepens understanding of the concept of conscientious provision and considers the intersection of stigma and conscience claims. In addition to stigma, deep social polarization on abortion prevents abortion providers from feeling that they can safely and freely speak about their work. This means that the lived experiences of abortion providers, including their openness to the moral ambiguities and complexities of abortion, remain hidden. Ultimately the chapter suggests that abortion providers’ capacities to live in contested arenas, to see the complexities of abortion, and to hold a “tension of opposites” are a manifestation of deep moral engagement, a potential path out of our current polarized state, and a model for civic engagement on any number of issues.

Moral sentiments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jay Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Sense ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Moral Sentiments ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Enlightenment

Moral sentiments are those feelings or emotions central to moral agency. Aristotle treated sentiments as nonrational conditions, capable of being moulded into virtues through habituation. The moral sense theorists of the Enlightenment took sentiments to provide the psychological basis for our common moral life. Kantian approaches deny the primacy of sentiments in moral personality, and treat moral sentiments as conditioned by our rational grasp of moral principles. A central issue is whether moral sentiments incorporate moral beliefs. Accounts which affirm a connection with moral beliefs point to the complex intentionality (object-directedness) of such states as resentment or indignation. Against this, some observe that moral emotions may be felt inappropriately. Of special interest are the sentiments of guilt and shame. These seem to reflect different orientations towards moral norms, and questions arise about the degree to which these different orientations are culturally local, and whether either orientation is superior to the other.

The Civic Side of Diversity: Ambivalence and Belonging at the Neighborhood Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Hoekstra ◽  
Joseph Gerteis
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Neighborhood Association ◽  
Civic Discourse ◽  
Neighborhood Boundaries ◽  
Neighborhood Level

Although diversity has become a cherished ideal for Americans, a growing literature suggests that many are also ambivalent about lived experiences of diversity. Focusing on three historically homogeneous neighborhoods in Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles, this paper explores the “civic talk” used to express this ambivalence through interrelated frames of social order and civic engagement. In all three neighborhoods, long–term residents and neighborhood association members speak fluently about race, class, and other forms of diversity in their neighborhoods. Yet when they assess who “belongs” in the neighborhoods, the discussion is coded in civic terms. This framing enables neighborhood association members to act as gatekeepers, wielding civic discourse in ways that reinforce traditional neighborhood boundaries and social hierarchies, while maintaining structural inequalities.

Conclusion

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Berger
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Moral Engagement

This book has argued that civic engagement is a hopelessly confusing term and therefore should give way to political, social, and moral engagement. It has also critiqued idealistic conceptions of participatory democracy for aiming for the Full Monty: high and widespread political engagement among all citizens, all (or much) of the time, in spite of citizens' long-standing inclinations toward the opposite. Some idealistic theories of democracy, the Full Monty versions, have asked too much of citizens' tastes, attention, and energy. This concluding chapter proposes three approaches to improving democracy that conform to Alexis de Tocqueville's premises and insights: changing our approach to politics and political mobilization, changing ourselves, and changing our institutions.

The Rules of Engagement

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Berger
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
International Level ◽  
Moral Engagement

This chapter discusses the shortcomings of the term “civic engagement” and argues that it must be reconceptualized as its constituent parts: political, social, and moral engagement—concepts that are better equipped to clarify and enhance our discourse about making democracy work. It shows how and why the term “civic engagement” quickly rose to prominence, illustrating its meteoric rise and the confusion that accompanies its widespread use. It contends that civic engagement has remained popular, influential, and ultimately misleading, in part due to the word “engagement,” which entails a combination of activity and attention, an investment of energy and a consciousness of purpose. The chapter also distinguishes among political engagement, social engagement, and moral engagement—distinctions that tend to be neglected in civic engagement scholarship—and provides examples of each type. Finally, it differentiates among engagement undertaken at the local, national, and international level, each of which involves unique challenges, commitments, and rewards.

Moral Agency, Commitment, and Impartiality

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neera K. Badhwar
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Identity ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Political Morality ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
Conception Of The Good ◽  
The Right

Liberal political philosophy presupposes a moral theory according to which the ability to assess and choose conceptions of the good from a universal and impartial moral standpoint is central to the individual's moral identity. This viewpoint is standardly understood by liberals as that of a rational human (not transcendental) agent. Such an agent is able to reflect on her ends and pursuits, including those she strongly identifies with, and to understand and take into account the basic interests of others. From the perspective of liberalism as a political morality, the most important of these interests is the interest in maximum, equal liberty for each individual, and thus the most important moral principles are the principles of justice that protect individuals' rights to life and liberty.According to the communitarian critics of liberalism, however, the liberal picture of moral agency is unrealistically abstract. Communitarians object that moral agents in the real world neither choose their conceptions of the good nor occupy a universalistically impartial moral standpoint. Rather, their conceptions of the good are determined chiefly by the communities in which they find themselves, and these conceptions are largely “constitutive” of their particular moral identities. Moral agency is thus “situated” and “particularistic,” and an impartial reflection on the conception of the good that constitutes it is undesirable, if not impossible. Further, communitarians contend, the good is “prior” to the right in the sense that moral norms are derived from, and justified in terms of, the good. An adequate moral and political theory must reflect these facts about moral agency and moral norms.

scholarly journals Confronting moral distress in Nursing: recognizing nurses as moral agents

2013 ◽  
Vol 66 (spe) ◽  
pp. 33-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco A. Carnevale
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Nursing Practice ◽  
Moral Distress ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Engagement

The concept of moral distress has brought forth a substantively different way of understanding some of the difficulties confronted by nurses in their practice. This concept highlights that nurses' distress can be an indication of nurses' conscientious moral engagement with their professional practice that has confronted practices or an environment that impedes them from acting according to their own ethical standards. Moral distress can be an indicator of problems in nurses' practice environments. This concept is described and related to moral agency in nursing practice. Selected research on moral distress is reviewed, followed by a discussion of recommendations for addressing this problem.

Elateres Motiva: From the Good Will to the Good Human Being

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inder Marwah
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Moral Anthropology ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Kant's Ethics ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractKant's ethics has long been bedevilled by a peculiar tension. While his practical philosophy describes the moral obligations incumbent on all free, rational beings, Kant also understands moral anthropology as addressing ‘helps and hindrances’ to our moral advancement. How are we to reconcile Kant'sCriticalaccount of a transcendentally free human will with hisdevelopmentalview of anthropology, history and education as assisting in our collective progress towards moral ends? I argue that Kant in fact distinguishes between theobjectivedetermination of moral principles andsubjectiveprocesses of moral acculturation developing human beings’ receptivity to the moral law. By differentiating subjective and objective dimensions of moral agency, I argue (1) that we better interpret the relationship between Kant's transcendental and anthropological accounts as a division of labour between principles of obligation and principles of volition, and so, as complementary rather than contradictory; and (2) that this counters the view of Kant's ethics as overly formalistic by recognizing his ‘empirical ethics’ as attending to the unsystematizable facets of a properly human moral life.

Qualifying the green city: professional moral practices of trying urban rainwater forms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Meilvang
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Sustainable City ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Sociology Of Professions ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Rainwater Management ◽  
Pragmatic Sociology

Abstract This article explores how the green, sustainable city is built in situations of uncertainty though professional practical engagements of testing and trying, and how these are formed by moral investments in professional work. Following recent studies investigating professional work and moral agency, the article engages with Terence Halliday’s famous distinction between science-based and normative professions. Contrary to this argument, the article argues that the practice of engineers, the clearest example of the so-called ‘science-based’ profession, is fraught with moral questions and practices. By drawing on French pragmatic sociology, the article conceptualizes the different ways engineers and others work in situations of uncertainty as different modes of trying. In these modes, professionals rely on different moral principles and ideas for evaluating and judging the professional solutions. As such, the article contributes to the sociology of professions by suggesting a new analytical frame for analyzing moral work as fundamental to professional practice in situations of uncertainty. Empirically, the article builds on fieldwork observations and interviews with professionals from an ongoing research project on Danish climate adaptation in cities and urban rainwater management.

Engaged Scholarship for Civic Engagement

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (42) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tod Sloan
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Engaged Scholarship
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