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.)

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.

Toward an Ethics of Organizations

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Phillips ◽  
Joshua D. Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Organizational Ethics ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Individual

Abstract:The organization is importantly different from both the nation-state and the individual and hence needs its own ethical models and theories, distinct from political and moral theory. To develop a case for organizational ethics, this paper advances arguments in three directions. First, it highlights the growing role of organizations and their distinctive attributes. Second, it illuminates the incongruities between organizations and moral and political philosophy. Third, it takes these incongruities, as well as organizations’ distinctive attributes, as a starting point for suggesting an agenda for an ethics of organizations.

scholarly journals For Society – Against Morality?

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Leist
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Fundamental Level ◽  
Moral Content ◽  
David Copp ◽  
The Individual

AbstractMorality and society in moral philosophy are rarely brought into direct contact, at least not at a fundamental level of justification. David Copp develops an account of practical and moral rationality that could constitute a radical change. According to Copp moral theory has tobe ‘society-centered’ rather than focussing on the individual. This article is devoted to the moral content and structural features of a socially centered moral theory, and along those lines to its critical assessment. Concluding, it will seek to present an argument why moral philosophy ought not place society at the centre of its view.

Nurse leaders’ role in medical assistance in dying: A relational ethics approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 993-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Thiele ◽  
Jennifer Dunsford
Keyword(s):  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Routine Care ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Nursing Leadership ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Ethics Framework ◽  
Medical Assistance In Dying ◽  
The Individual

Recent changes to the Criminal Code of Canada have resulted in the right of competent adult Canadians to request medical assistance in dying (MAID). Healthcare professionals now can participate if the individual meets specific outlined criteria. There remains confusion and lack of knowledge about the specific role of nurses in MAID. MAID is a controversial topic and nurses may be faced with the challenge of balancing the duty to provide routine care, with moral reservations about MAID. The role of a nursing leader is to support nurses by ensuring they have the knowledge they require to care for patients requesting the service, whether or not the nurse is directly involved in the MAID process. The moral dilemmas raised by MAID provide an opportunity to look at a relational ethics approach to nursing leadership both for MAID and other difficult situations that arise in nursing practice. Relational ethics is a framework that proposes that the ethical moments in healthcare are based on relationships and fostering growth, healing, and health through the foundational concepts of mutual respect, engagement, embodiment, and environment. This article will use a relational ethics framework to examine how nursing leadership can support nurses who care for patients requesting MAID.

Leserlenkung und Moral in Robert Musils

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Ranke
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Final Part ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
The Individual

AbstractStarting out from the fact that Robert Musil’s first novel unsettled its contemporary readers with the »immoral« behaviour of its young protagonist, this essay tries to find out what kind of provocation the novel actually contains. It argues that it is less the behaviour of the protagonist Törleß as depicted in the novel, but rather the narrator’s way of commenting on it that entails the actual provocation. With this provocation Musil aims at replacing the traditional interpersonal comprehension of moral standards by a new concept of the individual development of the inner self. Taking into account Musil’s later reflections on the moral theory, the essay’s final part deals with some problems that are caused by such an individualistic idea of morals.

Integrity in the Care of Elderly People, as Narrated by Female Physicians

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Nordam ◽  
Venke Sørlie ◽  
R Förde
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Female Physicians ◽  
Comprehensive Investigation ◽  
Death With Dignity ◽  
Care Of Elderly ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Status Of Care

Three female physicians were interviewed as part of a comprehensive investigation into the narratives of female and male physicians and nurses, concerning their experience of being in ethically difficult care situations in the care of elderly people. The interviewees expressed great concern for the low status of care for elderly people, and the need to fight for the specialty and for the care and rights of their patients. All the interviewees’ narratives concerned problems relating to perspectives of both action ethics and relational ethics. The main focus was on problems concerning the latter perspective, expressed as profound concern and respect for the individual patient. Secondary emphasis was placed on relationships with relatives and other professionals. The most common themes in an action ethics perspective were too little treatment and the lack of health services for older patients, together with overtreatment and death with dignity. These results were discussed in the light of Løgstrup’s ethics, which emphasize that human life means expressing oneself, in the expectation of being met by others. Both Ricoeur’s concept of an ethics of memory and Aristotle’s virtue ethics are presented in the discussion of too little and too much treatment.

scholarly journals Conflict in Political Liberalism: Judith Shklar’s Liberalism of Fear

Res Publica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-595
Author(s):  
Katharina Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Liberal Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Normative Standard ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Realists and non-ideal theorists currently criticise Rawlsian mainstream liberalism for its inability to address injustice and political conflict, as a result of the subordination of political philosophy to moral theory (Bernard Williams), as well as an idealising and abstract methodology (Charles W. Mills). Seeing that liberalism emerged as a theory for the protection of the individual from conflict and injustice, these criticisms aim at the very core of liberalism as a theory of the political and therefore deserve close analysis. I will defend Judith N. Shklar’s liberalism of fear as an answer to these challenges. I will argue that the liberalism of fear maintains realism’s conflictual and inherently political thrust while also integrating a perspective on injustice. I will defend the claim that in contrast to the two aforementioned criticisms, the liberalism of fear develops its own normative standard from which political arrangements can be assessed. It does so by replacing the idealising approach to political philosophy with a non-utopian methodology, which opens a negative perspective on what is to be avoided in the political sphere, and how to detect and deal with injustice. Due to this standard, it is a liberal theory that is uniquely able to meet the realist and non-ideal challenge.

scholarly journals Moral education – a fundamental criterion of educational activity, in the direction of the formation and development of the moral consciousness of the individual

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Anatoly Kaushan ◽  
Evelina Gorobet
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
First Principle ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Moral Consciousness ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

The essence of moral education is concentrated axiomatically at the level of the first principle, which highlights the necessary pedagogical correspondence between moral theory and moral practice. The objective dimension of moral education of an axiological and sociological nature is expressed, on the one hand, by moral norms and values, and, on the other hand, by moral traditions; the subjective one, of a psychological nature, is achieved by moral actions supported affectively and motivationally.

Reforming Reformed Religion: J. S. Mill's Critique of the Enlightenment's Natural Religion

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT DEVIGNE
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Natural Religion ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Sensitive Issue ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Individual

John Stuart Mill's writings on religion, a neglected topic in the secondary literature, deserve careful examination because they challenge the long-standing view that liberalism opposes conceptions of the best life. Mill himself considers religion responsible for perfecting the individual and a crucial dimension of his moral theory. In his view, developing a conception of the best life will be difficult in England because it requires broaching a sensitive issue that the Anglo-Scottish Enlightenment did not comprehend: namely, that the Enlightenment's reformed Christianity is too great a compromise with traditional or revealed Christianity. If English liberalism is to generate a comprehensive morality for the future, argues Mill, reformed Christianity must be further reformed to create a culture that fosters human flourishing. A comparison of Mill's views of Christianity with those of Kant and Hegel provides a window for viewing their different visions of the morality of the future. The contrast provides further evidence that liberalism, in Mill's view, is not nearly as narrow a moral outlook as many commentators on liberalism, whether admirers or critics, believe.

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