scholarly journals Reserve Your Judgment on “Draconian” Chinese Video Gaming Restrictions on Children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Y. Xiao

China imposed strict restrictions on young people’s participation in videogaming from September 2021. Colder Carras et al.’s commentary (2021) referred to this policy as ‘draconian,’ i.e., ‘excessively harsh and severe.’ However, any opinion on whether this policy is ‘draconian’ is a value judgment, and any judgment on its ‘effectiveness’ ought to be reserved until proven or disproven by empirical evidence. Indeed, the Chinese policy is neither potentially ineffective nor draconian, and is already providing at least one identifiable benefit: enhancing consumer protection by effectively reducing underage players’ monetary spending on videogames, including on randomised, gambling-like mechanics known as ‘loot boxes.’

Author(s):  
Paul H. Robinson

Crime-control utilitarians and retributivist philosophers have long been at war over the appropriate distributive principle for criminal liability and punishment, with little apparent possibility of reconciliation between the two. In the utilitarians’ view, the imposition of punishment can be justified only by the practical benefit that it provides: avoiding future crime. In the retributivists’ view, doing justice for past wrongs is a value in itself that requires no further justification. The competing approaches simply use different currencies: fighting future crime versus doing justice for past wrongs. It is argued here that the two are in fact reconcilable, in a fashion. We cannot declare a winner in the distributive principle wars but something more like a truce. Specifically, good utilitarians ought to support a distributive principle based upon desert because the empirical evidence suggests that doing justice for past wrongdoing is likely the most effective and efficient means of controlling future crime. A criminal justice system perceived by the community as conflicting with its principles of justice provokes resistance and subversion, whereas a criminal justice system that earns a reputation for reliably doing justice is one whose moral credibility inspires deference, assistance, and acquiescence, and is more likely to have citizens internalize its norms of what is truly condemnable conduct. Retributivists ought to support empirical desert as a distributive principle because, while it is indeed distinct from deontological desert, there exists an enormous overlap between the two, and it seems likely that empirical desert may be the best practical approximation of deontological desert. Indeed, some philosophers would argue that the two are necessarily the same.


2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S Hoch ◽  
Carolyn S Dewa

Objective: This paper describes the main types of economic evaluation techniques. Method: To examine the strengths and limitations of different types of economic evaluations, we used a hypothetical example to review the reasoning underlying each method and to illustrate when it is appropriate to use each method. Results: The choice of economic evaluation method reflects a decision about what should represent “success” and how success should be valued. Measures of benefit and cost must be considered systematically and simultaneously. Claiming that a new treatment is cost-effective requires making a value judgment based on the personal beliefs of the claimant. Even when cost and effect data are objective, a verdict of cost-effective is subjective. The conclusions of an economic study can change significantly, depending on which patient outcome is used to measure success. Conclusions: Clinicians must be sure that important patient outcomes are not excluded from economic evaluations. Economic evaluation is a process designed to produce an estimate rather than a decision. New treatment can be more costly and still be cost-effective (if the extra benefit is valued more than the extra cost to produce it). However, since economic evaluation does not explicitly consider a decision maker's available budget, a new treatment can be deemed cost-effective but too expensive to approve.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 490-495
Author(s):  
Michael Katz ◽  
E. Richard Stiehm

It has not been possible to relate a particular immune failure or deficiency to absence of a specific nutrient. All of these studies have viewed the totality of malnutrition and, yet, it would seem reasonable to expect that specific nutrient deficiencies would affect the response differently and that the almost infinite number of possible interactions among nutrients may have their particular effect. Furthermore, it has not been possible to evaluate any of these studies in terms of the influences that infections themselves have brought to bear. These considerations have led us to conclude that studies of man cannot be carried out with a precision required for the definitive answers. This is not a defeatist notion, but rather a value judgment that prompts us to recommend a more intensive series of investigations in animal model systems, the conclusions of which could then be applied selectively to clinical studies of man. The important question that must be considered is possible nutritional interventions in severely infected patients, such as those undergoing major surgery or immunosuppressive therapy. Potential dangers of using live attenuated viral vaccines in malnourished populations must be evaluated. It is necessary to assess the possibility that such vaccine viruses unchecked by normal immune response in malnourished individuals may lead to the establishment of states of latency and, ultimately, slow infections. The need for further studies has been given recognition by a workshop conference held in May 1975 under the title "Malnutrition and the Immune Response"; the proceedings are soon to be published in book form.57 The question of the influences of infection upon the state of nutrition has also been considered in a recent workshop, the proceedings of which will also be published.58 We believe that the current critical approach to this important health problem will generate answers long wanting. When these answers do become available, they will guide us into better care not only of the malnourished in the developing world, but also of those in the industrialized countries.


Author(s):  
А.А. Водяницкая

Постановка задачи. Работа посвящена изучению традиционных подходов к исследованию оценочных значений и инновационных методов их изучения. Задача исследования заключается в анализе методов изучения оценки, которые можно было бы применить при выявлении оценочной специфики академического дискурса. Результаты. Как показало исследование, оценочные значения, оценка привлекают внимание исследователей различных областей знания, различных дискурсов. По-прежнему открыт вопрос разграничения эмоции, экспрессии и оценки. Тесная связь оценки с ценностями индивида, выносящего оценочное суждение, предполагает возможность ее изучения с позиций аксиологии, тогда как взаимосвязь с психологией позволяет подходить к оценке с точки зрения психологии (например, оценочные стили). Выводы. Комбинация традиционных и инновационных методов позволит выявить онтологические свойства оценки в академическом дискурсе. Речь идет о вербализованных оценочных суждениях, выносимых различными участниками академического дискурса. Вопросы оценочной категоризации, разграничение эмоции и оценки, оценочных стилей участников академического дискурса, привлечение корпуса текстов как источника материала и как инструмента познания представляются релевантными аспектами при изучении оценочной составляющей академического дискурса. Вместе с тем не все методы исследования оценки можно одинаково успешно использовать при изучении оценочной составляющей академического дискурса. Например, метод триады, предложенный Ж. Мартином, который на данном этапе исследован применительно к изучению устного академического дискурса в его специфическом проявлении - в драматическом тексте. Как представляется, данный метод требует более детальной разработки применительно к нехудожественной, повседневной, речи академического дискурса. Problem statement. The paper focuses on the study of traditional approaches evaluations and innovative methods of their study. The objective of the research. is to analyze the methods of studying evaluation that could be applied in identifying the evaluative specifics of academic discourse. Results. The research has revealed that evaluative meanings attract the attention of researchers in various fields of knowledge, various discourses. The question of differentiating emotion, expressive language means and evaluation is still open. The close relationship of assessment with the values of the individual making a value judgment suggests the possibility of studying it from the standpoint of axiology, while the relationship with psychology allows one to approach assessment from the point of view of psychology (for example, evaluative styles). Conclusion. The combination of traditional and innovative methods will reveal the ontological properties of assessment in academic discourse. We are talking about verbalized value judgments made by various participants in academic discourse. Issues of evaluative categorization, differentiation of emotion and evaluation, evaluative styles of participants in academic discourse, corpus-based analysis seem to be relevant aspects in the study of the evaluative component of academic discourse.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Gino ◽  
Michael I. Norton ◽  
Roberto A. Weber

Research yields ample evidence that individual's behavior often reflects an apparent concern for moral considerations. A natural way to interpret evidence of such motives using an economic framework is to add an argument to the utility function such that agents obtain utility both from outcomes that yield only personal benefits and from acting kindly, honestly, or according to some other notion of “right.” Indeed, such interpretations can account for much of the existing empirical evidence. However, a growing body of research at the intersection of psychology and economics produces findings inconsistent with such straightforward, preference-based interpretations for moral behavior. In particular, while people are often willing to take a moral act that imposes personal material costs when confronted with a clear-cut choice between “right” and “wrong,” such decisions often seem to be dramatically influenced by the specific contexts in which they occur. In particular, when the context provides sufficient flexibility to allow plausible justification that one can both act egoistically while remaining moral, people seize on such opportunities to prioritize self-interest at the expense of morality. In other words, people who appear to exhibit a preference for being moral may in fact be placing a value on feeling moral, often accomplishing this goal by manipulating the manner in which they process information to justify taking egoistic actions while maintaining this feeling of morality.


1987 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorin W. Anderson ◽  
Robert B. Burns

The decision about learning and learners [is a decision] about an ideal, about how we [conceive] what a learner should be in order to assure that a society of a particular valued kind could be safeguarded. … At the heart of the decision process there must be a value judgment about how the mind should be cultivated and to what end. ( Bruner, 1985 , p. 5)


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Taufik Hidayat

Wealth according to the Qur'an: Distribution of current income is a very important thing. If the income distribution is not appropriate to do, then most of the income and resources would be controlled by the capitalist monopolies, resulting in many people remain in poverty despite the country having abundant resources. On these basic considerations can be affirmed that the welfare and prosperity of the people depend on the way how it should be equitable distribution system could be implemented. Islam as a source of value to combine economic development with the religious sector. The activities of distribution of goods and services and income, shall use a value judgment mechanistic determinism of Islam and not the other economic systems such as capitalism and socialism. Separation of positive and normative values lead to human economic activity economic destructive animal. The economic crisis that hit the Indonesian economy is the impact of the application of the system of political, legal, social system, education and the economy are not in accordance with value, impact on damage to ecosystems, forests, water pollution and the environment, and the process of structural poverty.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghislaine Gallenga

This article deals with epistemological thoughts about business ethics. My intention is to consider business ethics as a research subject in anthropology and not to judge the relevance of the morality or ethics: in other words, the integration of activities in a “common good” category. The article examines the philosophical ground of this notion and explores whether business ethics is related to this philosophical background. While, from an anthropological point of view, it is better to draw a value judgment from the notion of “business ethics” (applicability, truthfulness, intentionality, and so on), the argument presented here is that it is better to consider “business ethics” as a category of work management at the meeting point between theory and practice, and to observe in situ how this notion is used, articulated and circulated in the daily life of a workplace.


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