Hitler, for Example: Registers of National Socialist Exemplarity in Contemporary Germany

This article examines whether and how the figure of Adolf Hitler in particular, and National Socialism more generally, operate as moral exemplars in today’s Germany. In conversation with similar studies about Mosely in England, Franco in Spain, and Mussolini in Italy, it seeks to advance our comparative understanding of neofascism in Europe and beyond. In Germany, legal and discursive constraints limit what can be said about the Third Reich period, while even far-right nationalists often condemn Hitler, for either the Holocaust or his military failure. Here I revise the concept of moral exemplarity as elaborated by Caroline Humphry to argue that Hitler and National Socialism do nevertheless work as contemporary exemplars, in at least three fashions: negativity, substitution, and extension. First, they stand as the most extreme markers of negative exemplarity for broad publics that understand them as illustrations of absolute moral depravity. Second, while Hitler himself is widely unpopular, Führer-substitutes such as Rudolf Hess provide alternative figures that German nationalists admire and seek to emulate. Finally, by extension to the realm of the ordinary, National Socialism introduces a cast of exemplars in the figures of loving grandfathers or anonymous fallen soldiers. The moral values for which they stand, I show, appear to be particularly significant for young nationalists. An extended, more open-ended notion of exemplarity, I conclude, can offer important insights about the lingering afterlife of fascist figures in the moral life of European nationalists today.

POSITION OF WOMEN WITH SPECIA REFERENCE TO MANUSMRITI

For centuries, women have played the secondary role to man. She was never held in esteem; only a mention about her pathetic status was mentioned here and there. But the advent of science and technology, growth of democratic ideas and impact of modern industrialization and general awareness and conscience among the masses has paved way for the emancipation of women. As per Encyclopedia of Women “women is as much human being as man; as she is equally entitled to develop her abilities, all her abilities, to choose the sort of life she wishes to lead and carry on all the activities and assume all the responsibilities that go to make up human dignity”. The Manusmriti (MS) of Manu is also called Manusamhita or Manavadharmasastra. It is a standard and the most authoritative work on Hindu law and present the normal form of Hindu society and civilization. It is a store house of information on the cultural, social, religious, ethical, educational, political, judicial and geographical life of the period and this is perfectly natural. Manusmriti has been upheld as the ultimate guide to lead a moral life, the digressing of which is to be treated with serious negative sanctions.

Enhancing Autonomy, Authenticity And Selecting The Child With The Best Moral Life

In the human enhancement literature, there is a recurrent fear that biomedical technologies will negatively impact the autonomy and authenticity of moral agents, even when the agents would end up having better capacities and an improved life with the aid of these technologies. I will explore several ways in which biomedical enhancement may improve the autonomy of moral agents and try to show that biomedical methods are, all things considered, beneficial to our autonomy and authenticity. I will argue that there are instances when it’s desirable to limit the autonomy of moral agents and that strict regulations are to be put in place if a great number of people will have easy access to powerful, genetic-altering technologies which can impact the life of future children. I will advocate for using assisted reproductive technologies in order to select the child with the best chance of the best moral life and in doing so I will analyse several procreative principles which have been proposed by different scholars in the genetic enhancement debate and try to determine which one would be best to adhere to. Usually, people place high value on the concept of autonomy and there are many cases in which they end up overestimating autonomy in relation to other moral values. While autonomy is important, it’s also important to know how to limit it when reasonable societal norms require it. Sometimes autonomy is defined in strong connection with the concept of authenticity, in the sense that it’s not sufficient for our choices to be autonomous if they are not also authentic. I will try to defend the idea that authenticity can be enhanced as well with the aid of enhancement technologies which can actually prove beneficial in our quest to improve our own self.

Moral Development

One traditionally important part of education, broadly conceived, is to foster moral development. Drawing on the long history of moral life, and using examples of moral progress, the chapter elaborates an approach to moral decision-making. It argues that the method used must be collective. No individual, whether sage, priest, prophet, philosopher, or professional ethicist, has the final authoritative word. Rather, moral reform should emerge from the style of deliberation identified in Chapter 4. This perspective is used to suggest ways of helping the moral growth of children, adolescents, and adults. Chapters 3–5 thus combine in a synthetic picture of how two of the main goals of education—personal fulfillment and morally responsible citizenship—might be achieved together.

Trust and Sincerity in Art

Our life with art is suffused with trust. We don’t just trust one another’s aesthetic testimony; we trust one another’s aesthetic actions. Audiences trust artists to have made it worth their while; artists trust audiences to put in the effort. Without trust, audiences would have little reason to put in the effort to understand difficult and unfamiliar art. I offer a theory of aesthetic trust, which highlights the importance of trust in aesthetic sincerity. We trust in another’s aesthetic sincerity when we rely on them to fulfill their commitments to act for aesthetic reasons—rather than for, say, financial, social, or political reasons. We feel most thoroughly betrayed by an artist, not when they make bad art, but when they sell out. This teaches us something about the nature of trust in general. According to many standard theories, trust involves taking the trusted to be cooperative or good-natured. But trust in aesthetic sincerity is different. We trust artists to be true to their own aesthetic sensibility, which might involve selfishly ignoring their audience’s needs. Why do we care so much about an artist’s sincerity, rather than merely trusting them to make good art? We emphasize sincerity when wish to encourage originality, rather than demanding success along predictable lines. And we ask for sincerity when our goal is to discover a shared sensibility. In moral life, we often try to force convergence through coordinated effort. But in aesthetic life, we often hope for the lovely discovery that our sensibilities were similar all along. And for that we need to ask for sincerity, rather than overt coordination.

Moral Calls Resulting from the Gift of the Eucharist in the Teaching of Pope Benedict XVI

The role of the Eucharist in shaping the moral life is enormous and in fact, thanks to the Eucharist, the essence of Christian life can be read. Therefore, it is not surprising that Pope Benedict XVI has often addressed the Eucharist in his teachings. In this way, he wanted to deepen and revive the worship of Eucharistic Jesus. In his teachings, he showed the Eucharist as the greatest treasure given to man for shaping the moral life. He constantly reminded us of the obligations arising from the participation in the Eucharist. Because of its specificity, the Eucharist contains moral calls: to sacrifice, to feeding on the bread of life, to praise and giving thanks, and to living in faith and love. Fulfilling all these attitudes and moral calls in everyday life is a way to progress in the Eucharistic life.

Chastity is being true to one’s word - Presenting the story of Vallalamakarajan

Devotional literature is not merely a literary work, but also an act of uplifting moral life and the religious beliefs of the people. When we look at devotional literature and religious thoughts, these are the best. Thus, in advancing the position of chastity, the story of Vallalamakarajan in Arunachala Purana confirms the singularity of the word efficiency while advancing the position of chastity. Chastity is here irrespective of male or female. It also breaks down the barriers of lower classes and the upper classes. If a word is to have its meaning, it is appropriate to combine the time frame in which it is spoken and the social setting. The word chastity presents us in a particularly significant position. It very well may be seen that the term has been utilized in the feeling of peculiarities since the hour of Sangam to the later to the later moral literary works

Ricoeur and Cheng’s Parallel Reconciliations of the Right and the Good

Drawing on Paul Ricoeur’s “little ethics” and Chung-ying Cheng’s work on Confucian and Kantian ethics, this essay reinforces the broad outlines of a cross- cultural framework for reconciling conflicts between the good and the right, teleology and deontology, and perfectionism and liberalism so that we can recognize dynamic concerns across the grand sweep of moral life. Ricoeur and Cheng describe roughly parallel sets of relations and highlight similar dynamics among three planes of ethical life.