Moral theory and disaster

Human Affairs ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viera Bilasová ◽  
Alexandra Smatanová
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Proactive Approach ◽  
Methodological Perspective ◽  
The Individual

AbstractRenewing the deontology tradition of moral obligation requires, especially in relation to catastrophe and disaster, a broader methodological perspective which would enable deontology to transcend its own limits. The demand for pluralistic research approaches brings with challenging requirements that have to be considered when shaping a hybrid moral theory that incorporates a proactive approach. The personalist approach to the individual, based on the principles of integrity, responsibility and solidarity and seeking the wellbeing of a person, may prove inspirational in shaping such a proactive approach.

Relational Ethics and Partiality

Theoria ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (152) ◽  
pp. 53-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motsamai Molefe
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
The Individual

AbstractIn this article, I question the plausibility of Metz’s African moral theory from an oft neglected moral topic of partiality. Metz defends an Afro-communitarian moral theory that posits that the rightness of actions is entirely definable by relationships of identity and solidarity (or, friendship). I offer two objections to this relational moral theory. First, I argue that justifying partiality strictly by invoking relationships (of friendship) ultimately fails to properly value the individual for her own sake – this is called the ‘focus problem’ in the literature. Second, I argue that a relationship-based theory cannot accommodate the agent-related partiality since it posits some relationship to be morally fundamental. My critique ultimately reveals the inadequacy of a relationship-based moral theory insofar as it overlooks some crucial moral considerations grounded on the individual herself in her own right.

„Zurück zur Individualität!“ Die Rezeption moderner Religionsphilosophie im Hochland in der Weimarer Zeit

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-241
Author(s):  
Paul Silas Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
German Language ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The monthly magazine Hochland was probably the most influential Catholic cultural periodical in Germany in the Weimar Period. According to Georg Cardinal von Kopp’s assessment in 1911, it was “unfortunately the most read periodical in all of the educated circles of Germany, Austria and German Switzerland”. Moving beyond the simple rejection of modern culture in Germany, the journal tried to follow a new program of mediatory engagement, although it did continue to hold to traditional positions in many regards. In this article the reception of modern, Enlightenment-affirmative philosophy of religion in the journal is introduced with reference to reviews and essays from the later 1910s to the early 1930s. The journal’s treatment of a few critical subject areas is given close interpretive analysis, including the journal’s treatment of Gertrud Simmel’s Über das Religiöse, individually conceptualized forms of personalist moral theory, and the general shift to phenomenological discourses and the individual in the philosophy of religion. The fundamental rejections of these ideas and these schools of thought in reviews and essays, which are also found in the journal at this time (as in most all German language Catholic cultural journals of the period), are not addressed in this article. The article thus sheds light on an often-forgotten and relatively small minority phenomenon in German Catholic intellectual circles of the Weimar Period, namely the positive embrace of Enlightenment-oriented modern thought. By promoting these ideas at this time, this group made themselves highly vulnerable to disciplinary measures by the Catholic Church. (The journal was put on the Index in 1911.)

An Analysis of Pro-Environmental Attributes towards Adolescents in Penang Using Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour

2015 ◽  
Vol 802 ◽  
pp. 419-424
Author(s):  
Nur Khairiyah Basri ◽  
Nur Sabahiah Abdul Sukor ◽  
Sitti Asmah binti Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Theory Of Planned Behaviour ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
Environmental Friendly ◽  
High Dependency ◽  
Environmental Attributes ◽  
Transportation Sector ◽  
The Individual

The energy consumption in transportation sector was mostly created by the individual likeness to use private motor vehicle. High dependency on private motor vehicles has contributed not only to the traffic problem but also accounted to carbon emission. This study aims to investigate the psychological factors that influencing the adolescents’ intention to be more pro-environmental. This study found that the behavioural intention was significantly influenced by the adolescents’ awareness towards consequences, attitude towards environment and public transport, the sentiment of moral obligation to change, and the perceived possibilities or difficulty to practice environmental friendly travel behaviour.

scholarly journals MODERATION EFFECT OF MORAL OBLIGATION ON STUDENT’S INTENTION TOWARDS ACADEMIC DISHONEST BEHAVIOUR: THE CASE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN GHANA

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
YAYRA DZAKADZIE
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Dishonesty ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Undergraduate University Students ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Conditional Process Analysis

The study examined the moderation effect of moral obligation on students’ intention towards academic dishonest behaviour. A survey-inferential design was used to randomly sample the views of 1,200 undergraduate university students. A structured questionnaire was used to collect. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Conditional Process Analysis (CPA) were used for the analyses. Moral obligation statistically significantly moderated the intention to engage in academic dishonesty.  It was concluded that an intention to engage in academic dishonesty decrease as moral obligation increases in the individual students. It was recommended that university authorities should introduce moral education as a core course among undergraduate students. This would instill in them a higher moral obligation in order to curb the academic dishonesty menace.

Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 241-242
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
African Country ◽  
Good Position ◽  
African Students ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
Do So

At the end of the first chapter (1.5), I noted that, since having moved to an African country, I have considered myself to have had a moral obligation to engage with its intellectual traditions when teaching and researching. I would have rightly felt guilt had I taught merely Western ethics to African students and contributed only Euro-American-Australasian perspectives to journals published in the sub-Saharan region. Having been principally trained as an analytic moral and political philosopher, I have been in a good position to articulate normative-theoretic interpretations of African morality, to evaluate these moral theories by appealing to intuitions, and to apply them to a range of practical controversies. Now, it would be welcome if the relational moral theory I have defended in this book could explain why I had a duty to make such a contribution to the field. And indeed it does. I have had an obligation of some weight to teach and research African philosophical ideas as I am particularly able to do so for a reason that is by now familiar to the reader. In the way that a newly trained doctor has an obligation of some weight to give something back to his country before emigrating (...

scholarly journals Directing the Wandering Mind

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl K. Szpunar
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Mental Phenomenon ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
External Stimulation ◽  
Individual Learner ◽  
Proactive Approach ◽  
The Individual

Mind wandering—a mental phenomenon characterized by the spontaneous shift of attention away from external stimulation toward self-generated thought—has been consistently shown to have a negative impact on learning, yet little is known about how to reduce or redirect the experience in educational settings. In this article, I distinguish between approaches to directing mind wandering that focus on either the detection of lapses of attention (reactive) or restructuring of the learning environment (proactive) and argue that proactive approaches avoid issues of implementation that currently limit reactive approaches. I then review emerging research on a proactive approach to reducing and redirecting mind wandering that involves interpolating lecture-based content with brief memory tests, and further elaborate on the benefits of interpolated testing in other educationally relevant contexts. I conclude by highlighting that proactive approaches to creating attentive learning environments will also need to take into account characteristics of the individual learner.

scholarly journals Does Ordinary Morality Imply Atheism?

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-98
Author(s):  
Rob Lovering
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Net Benefit ◽  
Benefit Principle ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ordinary Morality

Stephen Maitzen has recently argued that ordinary morality implies atheism. In the following, I argue that the soundness of Maitzen's argument depends on a principle that is implausible, what I call the recipient's Benefit Principle: All else being equal, if an act a produces a net benefit for the individual on the receiving end of a, then one cannot have a moral obligation to prevent a. Specifically, the recipient's Benefit Principle (RBP) must be true if premise (2) of Maitzen's argument is to be true. But, RBP is likely false, as it generates counterintuitive implications as well as conflicts with another principle both plausible and seemingly adopted by most of us, what I call the Preventing Immorality Principle: All else being equal, if an act A is seriously immoral, then one has a moral obligation to prevent A.

Humanity and Moral Rights

1998 ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
Vasil Gluchman
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
The Individual

The priority and absoluteness of rights is often gist for ethical debates. I consider these issues from the perspective of my ethical theory, which I call the "ethics of social consequences." The ethics of social consequences is one means of satisfying non-utilitarian consequentialism. It is characterized by the principles of positive social consequences, humanity, human dignity, legality, justice, responsibility, tolerance as well as moral obligation. I analyze Gewirth’s position regarding the absoluteness of rights as well as Nagel’s opinion that rights enjoy priority forever. However, I also concentrate on Williams’s critique of utilitarianism. I contend that the priority of the protection and respect of individual rights in ordinary situations is acceptable. However, the individual must respect the rights and justified interests of other concerned people. Nevertheless, in extraordinary situations one must accept that consequences are more significant than rights.

From the Technical Change to Socio-Technical Change

2003 ◽  
pp. 22-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil F. Doherty ◽  
Malcolm King
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Flow Diagram ◽  
Extensive Review ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Proactive Approach ◽  
Development Tools ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Tools And Methods

The organisational application of information technology commonly evokes a wide variety of impacts upon the enterprise as a whole, and the individual members of staff affected by it. However, there is much evidence to suggest that the identification and management of such impacts, which is typically referred to as the treatment of organisational issues, is poorly handled in practice. The primary aim of the research project, described in this chapter, was to develop a proactive approach to the analysis of organisational impacts. The aim of the approach, which is presented as a flow diagram, is to clearly articulate the sequence of activities that have to be undertaken and the decisions that need to be addressed to ensure that all organisational issues are treated effectively. This approach has been formulated from an extensive review of the literature, and the authors’ experience working in this domain for the past six years. It is argued that this approach may well succeed, where many of its predecessors have failed, as it complements, rather than replaces, existing development tools and methods. Moreover, as this approach adopts a common-sense perspective, it should be relatively easy to learn and apply. Finally, it benefits from adopting a proactive, flexible and coherent approach to the treatment of organisational issues.

Taking Hobbes at His Word: Comments on Morality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes by S.A. Lloyd

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-179
Author(s):  
Rosamond Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Positive Account

AbstractThis paper focuses on S.A. Loyd's positive account of Hobbes's moral theory as presented in chapters 5 and 6 of her new book. My discussion challenges Lloyd's reciprocity interpretation of Hobbes's moral theory. In the paper I also take issue with Lloyd's account of the derivation of his moral theory and her account of moral obligation. I offer my own definitional reading of the derivation of the Laws of Nature and my own analysis of how Hobbes explains obligation in terms of assent.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document