The Crisis of Ethically Neutral Science

Current crisis of morality in scientific and technical civilization leads us to a common ruin because modern science (which is free of morality) is inextricably linked to technology, and can therefore be called technoscience. As such, today it has a monopoly on knowledge of the world and therefore has the greatest power in history and is in tight collusion with the holders of power: the economy, politics, medicine, media, countries and multinational corporations. To have the greatest imaginable power (which, according to Kant, corrupts the freedom of mental reasoning), while being free from the morals that limit that power, means to turn the world into a world of the most modern barbarism and violence, destruction and self-destruction. Only morally responsible science is capable for future and it is the premise of a civilization capable of the future. Only responsible science can prevent science from turning into a comprehensive dogma. Therefore, science must be free from any ideology that depicts reality in black and white and thus produces vanity, hatred and violence. Global science requires a global ethos (global responsibility). Science cares about the truth that liberates us from lies and connects us into a single community. The fundamental ethical imperative primum non nocere (“first, do no harm”) is valid everywhere and forever. Ethically responsible science requires a change in the consciousness of the individual and a rediscovery of the idea of brotherhood. No human action should undermine and destroy existing reality, but rather improve it.

On Environmental Education in the Discourse of the Concept of Sustainable Development (from the Experience of a Pedagogical University)

The article analyzes the implementation of the ideas of sustainable development at the Chuvash State Pedagogical University named after I. Ya. Yakovlev in the field of education. The methodological basis was the work of domestic and foreign authors in the field of research. The relevance of the work lies in considering the experience in the field of environmental education in the discourse of the concept of sustainable development from the standpoint of participation in it of the administration, teachers and students of the university in question, from the point of view of content and organizational aspects. Analysis of the experience of the ChSPU named after I. Ya. Yakovlev in the field of environmental education from the perspective of the sustainable development concept, identified the main contradictions that are of a socio-political and economic nature. It has been noted that teachers, students and the administration of the university are involved in the implementation of activities that create conditions for the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in education on the example of environmental education. It is noted that the university still has problematic issues in the field of education for sustainable development, for the solution of which the authors propose a number of measures that will create comfortable conditions at the university for the global responsibility and active citizenship formation in the field of sustainable development. Within the framework of this article, the authors have developed basic recommendations for integrating the concept of sustainable development into national educational programs, which consist in the following: organization of a center for environmental education and sustainable development of the university; development of the concept of the university in the field of sustainable development; development and implementation in the curriculum of the discipline “Sustainable Development” with the provision of the course with appropriate methodological support. Keywords: sustainable development, environmental education, education for sustainable development, pedagogical university

Is the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Ingenuous?

The inability to identify the source of origin of SARS-CoV-2 even after more than twenty months of its emergence is intriguing and challenges the scientists and the public health personnel alike. Apprehension has been raised in certain quarters that some sort of human interference has taken place in the already dynamic gene pool of coronaviruses, which is a matter of concern. The need to have a scientific audit is paramount to unearth the real narrative about its origin as the precipitous assumption based on reports of human case incidences of infectious respiratory viral diseases having pandemic potential from a specific region is scientifically premature and it does not conclusively confirm the region to be the place of origin of the viral pathogen. Delineation of the source of origin of SARS-CoV-2 is vital for formulating strategies for the prevention of future outbreaks of viral zoonotic diseases if any, development of effective candidate vaccines, and designing target specific drugs. Further, this will put to rest the controversy about the origin and emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and create an ambience for cooperative functioning among the global stakeholders. It is pertinent to have comprehensive scrutiny of the laboratories conducting experimental research on coronaviruses particularly bat and other suspected mammalian beta-coronaviruses to avert such calamitous situations in future. Mitigation of the disastrous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is a global responsibility and necessitates joint efforts from all stakeholders across the globe.

What’s in a King? Unveiling the pragmatic micro-perceived value attributes of a fulfilling corporate governance code for responsible sustainable development

Purpose A recent contribution entitled Global Responsibility and the King Reports was made to the literature that represents a significant advancement in the understanding of how standards of good governance are practised. The corpus revealed key insights about macro-institutional governance regimes, yet, extraordinarily little about meso-organisational and even less so, micro-individual corporate governance practice. This study aims to shed light on the micro-individual level of corporate governance practice which has remained obscured by drawing pragmatic insights from the landmark South African King Code experience that may be applied to other governance jurisdictions for global organisational responsibility. Design/methodology/approach To unearth micro-individual corporate governance code practices, a phenomenological exploration of corporate governance practitioners’ (CGPs) perceptions was conducted. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with senior board members of securities-exchange listed companies were conducted with 10 directors of leading multinational South African corporations listed on Africa’s largest formal financial market; the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Recursive analysis of the qualitative data revealed key attributes that render a corporate governance code “fulfilling” as a consequence of being perceived as subjectively valuable by practitioners who are the ultimate end-users of the King Codes for advancing good corporate governance practice in each of their respective companies. Findings Two categories of fulfilling micro-perceived value attributes (MPVAs) of corporate governance codes emerged, namely, internal and external MPVAs. The three internal MPVAs are, namely, (I1) Meaningful innovation, (I2) Ethical pragmatism and (I3) Cultural transformation. The three external MPVAs are, namely, (E1) Governance legitimacy, (E2) Societal licencing and (E3) Risk mitigation. From these six attributes, two testable corporate governance code development propositions are advanced, namely, (P1) a corporate governance code with a higher constitution of MPVAs will fulfil CGPs more than one with less. (P2) A more fulfilling corporate governance code will enjoy higher adoption, application and/or compliance rates. Originality/value Illumining the subjective experiential perceptions that constitute the fulfilment of a corporate governance code deepens the pragmatic understanding of the “demand-side” or consumption of such codes in practice. Knowing these fulfilling MPVAs may also result in the development of codes that enjoy wider adoption and compliance rates thereby enhancing global corporate responsibility pragmatism through enhanced good governance. This study sheds light on the nexus where normative corporate governance principles and the enactment thereof meet at the coalface of organisational activity with an emphasis on those attributes that render them valuable to practitioners.

Global responsibility: An exploratory corpus assisted discourse analysis of the Rohingya crisis in online media

This study conducts an exploratory corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the representation of the Rohingya minority group across online news media in the United Kingdom. The purpose of the study is to identify and interpret the discursive patterns employed in popular online news media when depicting the Rohingya minority and associated crises affecting the group in Myanmar and worldwide. Through the use of a combination of frequency, collocation, and concordance analysis, a synchronic study was undertaken using data collected from fifteen major online news media producers in the United Kingdom. The data was collected over a period from January 2017 – August 2020 through freely accessible digital archives. The research study found that particular discourses of security, internationalization, and power are commonly employed when reporting on the Rohingya, while equally a sympathetic viewpoint is often adopted which focuses specifically on global responsibility and failures of international society. The findings offer insight into socio-political processes of representation and discourse in the ‘new social location’ (Scholz, 2019) of online news media, while offering relevant insight into the discourses of urgent and pressing humanitarian issues.

Equitable and Feasible Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines for All in Africa

As the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, the necessity for wide-scale, global vaccine rollout to reduce the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and slow its mutation rate remains unassailable. The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative’s campaign involves a proportional framework to finance and distribute SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. However, the COVAX framework has critical limitations, including limited funding and the failure to account for the special epidemic risks and needs of its participating nations, as recommended by the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization framework. These drawbacks disproportionately impact Africa, where many nations rely on COVAX as their main source of vaccines. The current plan to vaccinate only up to 20% of participating nations’ populations is short-sighted from both epidemiologic and moral perspectives. COVAX must commit to vaccinating all of Africa and its initiative must be modified to account for the health and economic infrastructures in these countries. Lessons learned from successful vaccination campaigns, including the West African Ebola outbreak, have shown that vaccinating all of Africa is possible and feasible, and that infrastructure and human resources can support mass vaccination. To halt this global pandemic, global responsibility must be accepted to finance and equitably distribute SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to African nations. We urge COVAX to act swiftly to prevent Africa from becoming the new face of a persisting pandemic.

Reconnecting the space of tourism and citizenship: the case of tourists’ hubris

Purpose The rapid growth of tourism prior to the COVID-19 pandemic prompts the need for critical reflection of tourism’s “local-global” responsibility in the wake of that pandemic. Conceptually driven by the ancient Greek notion of hubris, this study reflects on the perception of tourists as actors disconnected from citizens’ necessities, safety and well-being. In so doing we develop further knowledge on the relationship between the spaces of tourism and citizenship and how this might build a sustainable future-proof tourism. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected daily for two weeks via three Google Alert queries set to mine Italian online news media contents immediately after the Italian Government’s adoption of mobility restrictions due to COVID-19. This study uses a thematic narrative analysis to examine the contents related to tourists during the COVID-19 outbreak. Findings The exploratory findings reveal how tourists are largely presented as taking over the space of local residents and, by breaking the rules set by national and local authorities, as disregarding those residents’ safety and well-being. Hence, they appear disconnected from any sense of belonging to a local or global community, and from a space to which they owe a duty of care. Originality/value By framing tourists as hubristic subjects ontologically belonging to a neoliberal leisure space disentangled from the citizenship space, this study establishes a novel theoretical grounding from which a sustainable future-proof tourism that is rooted in citizenship space can be rethought.