Establishing the Influences of Cardinal Virtues on Employees’ Cyber Security Ethical Behavior in the Banking Sector in Uganda

Purpose: Cyber security threats emanating from employees’ incorrect behavior have escalated in the banking sector. Yet formal policies and technical solutions have failed to solve the problem. Virtue ethics may be a method that can handle this concern. This research aimed at enhancing Cyber security by confirming through statistical analysis the applicability of cardinal virtues related to cyber security ethical behavior. Methodology: The quantitative survey method utilizing an online questionnaire was used. Confirmatory factor analysis determined causal patterns in the variables and assessed them for validity and reliability. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was then used to test casual relations between the study’s constructs. Findings: The results reveal that there is a positive but an insignificant effect of prudence Beta 0.094. p = 0.277 on cyber security ethical behavioral Intentions; there is a positive and significant influence of Temperance; Beta 0.255, p = .000; a positive and significant influence of courage; Beta 0.247, p = .001; on cyber security ethical behavior, that there is a positive and significant influence of Justice; Beta 0.452, p = .000; on cyber security ethical behavioral Intentions. The results further showed that a positive change in ethical behavior intentions leads to a positive change in cyber security ethical behavior. Unique contribution to theory and practice: This research makes a theoretical contribution to Cyber security ethics by promoting virtue ethics as a framework for moral investigations into Cyber security. Results can be utilized to improve methods, instruments, and tools to assess the employees’ cyber security ethical behavior. Policy makers can develop virtue ethical based training programs with dedicated, continuous learning and teaching undertakings geared towards monitoring and enhancing the overall ethical behavior towards cyber security in the banks. The results are a platform to the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT in generating appropriate national policies related to Cyber security ethics as a strategy aimed at improving Cyber security in the banking sector.

Caesar and Genocide: Confronting the Dark Side of Caesar’s Gallic Wars

Julius Caesar’s military achievements, described in his Gallic War, are monumental; so are the atrocities his army committed in slaughtering or enslaving entire nations. He stands accused of genocide. For today’s readers, including students and teachers, this poses problems. It raises questions, not least about Caesar’s place in the Latin curriculum. Applying modern definitions of “genocide,” is he guilty as accused? If so, is it justified to condemn him of a crime that was recognized as such only recently? Without condoning Caesar’s actions, this paper seeks fuller understanding by contextual analysis, placing them in the context of Roman—and ancient (if not almost universal)—customs of imperial warfare. It emphasizes the complexity of historical persons and events, juxtaposing Caesar the brutal conqueror to Caesar the clement victor, who established clemency among a ruler’s cardinal virtues.

2. The moral virtues

This chapter discusses the four cardinal virtues. Aristotle describes prudence, or practical wisdom, as ‘right reasoning about what is to be done’. He considered it as the most important of the cardinal virtues since it has all human activity under its purview. Justice is the second most important virtue and involves ‘giving to others what they deserve’. The final two moral virtues are fortitude and temperance. Fortitude, or courage, concerns one’s ‘fight or flight’ emotions. It helps one to do the ‘difficult thing’ that one struggles to face. And temperance, or self-control, helps one to moderate one’s desires for food, drink, and sex.

Using the VIA Classification to Advance a Psychological Science of Virtue

The VIA Classification of Character Strengths and Virtue has received substantial attention since its inception as a model of 24 dimensions of positive human functioning, but less so as a potential contributor to a psychological science on the nature of virtue. The current paper presents an overview of how this classification could serve to advance the science of virtue. Specifically, we summarize previous research on the dimensional versus categorical characterization of virtue, and on the identification of cardinal virtues. We give particular attention to the three-dimensional model of cardinal virtues that includes moral, self-regulatory, and intellectual domains. We also discuss the possibility that these three clusters be treated as fundamental elements of a virtue model, meaning that they clearly and directly contribute to both individual and communal flourishing across various cultures. This discussion includes a summary of previous speculations about the evolution of adaptations underlying the human capacity for using behavioral repertoires associated with the three virtues, as well as discussing ways in which they simultaneously enhance community and individual, in the last case focusing particularly on evidence concerning mating potential. We then discuss the relationship between the evolutionary perspective on virtues and Aristotle’s concept of the reciprocity of the virtues. Finally, we provide speculations about the nature of practical wisdom. While accepting the potential value of future revisions to the VIA model, that model even under its current conditions has the potential to generate a number of intriguing and testable hypotheses about the nature of virtue.

Empat Sifat Mulia yang Utama dalam Kepemimpinan Berasaskan Qalb:Pelajaran daripada Iḥyā’ cUlūm al-Dīn oleh Imam Al-Ghazali (450-505H / 1058-1111M)

Persoalan kepemimpinan di menara gading bukanlah suatu perkara yang boleh dipandang ringan. Kepemimpinan universiti yang baik dapat merencanakan perjalanan program pendidikan tinggi yang berdaya saing dan penghasilan siswa-siswi yang dapat menyumbang secara positif kepada pembangunan negara. Pelbagai perbincangan ilmiah telah dizahirkan untuk menekankan peri pentingnya kaedah mengurus dan mentadbir sesebuah universiti dengan kaedah kepemimpinan yang mapan dan tepat. Ini bagi memastikan hala tuju universiti sentiasa selaras dengan aspirasi dan kehendak para pemegang taruhnya. Program kepemimpinan berasaskan qalb merupakan salah satu program latihan kepemimpinan akademik yang telah dikendalikan oleh Akademi Kepimpinan Pengajian Tinggi (AKEPT) sejak tahun 2016 sehinggalah ke hari ini. Dalam program latihan kepemimpinan akademik ini, modul yang digunakan mengetengahkan konsep empat sifat mulia yang utama (four cardinal virtues) iaitu: hikmah, adil, berani dan kawalan diri, yang merupakan antara kebijaksanaan klasik mengenai pembentukan sifat-sifat peribadi yang mulia. Makalah ini akan menjelaskan pandangan dan huraian daripada al-Ghazali (450-505H / 1058-1111M) mengenai perkara ini melalui metode analisis teks ke atas Iḥyā’ cUlūm al-Dīn (1982) menerusi Kitāb Riyāḍah al-Nafs wa Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq wa Mucālajāt Amrāḍ al-Qalb. Kaedah penyelidikan kuantitatif digunakan dalam makalah ini untuk mengenal pasti perbincangan-perbincangan utama berkenaan empat sifat yang mulia ini dan bagaimana penghayatan kepada perkara ini berupaya melahirkan pemimpin yang berkaliber dan mempunyai ciri-ciri kepemimpinan yang cemerlang. Konsep dan amalan latihan jiwa (Riyāḍah al-Nafs) yang dianjurkan oleh al-Ghazali amat sesuai diaplikasikan dalam latihan kepemimpinan akademik universiti kerana menekankan pembentukan individu yang baik sebagai asas utama kepada pembentukan masyarakat yang bestari, berintegriti dan berbudaya tinggi.

The Cardinal Importance of Names

Aleister Crowley’s The Book of Thoth makes four substantive changes to the traditional titles of the tarot trumps. Three of these relate to the cardinal virtues which had remained in the deck despite the almost complete esoteric revisioning of the tarot that had taken place over the preceding two centuries; the fourth is an integral part of the same topic. This article focuses on why Crowley felt impelled to make these changes as well as the significance of the new names (and associated iconography). The discussion centres around Crowley’s rejection of the cardinal virtues that underly Christian ethics in favour of the new system of morality laid out in The Book of the Law and subsequently encapsulated in Thelema. Consequently, the article first examines the development of the cardinal virtues in patristic and medieval theology and then shows how Crowley sought to overturn these values in his agenda of cultural reprogramming of which The Book of Thoth arguably constitutes the high-water mark.

Education for Loneliness as a Consequence of Moral Decision-Making: An Issue of Moral Virtues

The direct reference point for these analyses is the process of making moral decisions, but a particular point of interest is the difficulty associated with making decisions when acting subjects are aware that their choice of moral good can lead to the breakdown of relationships with those close to them (family members or friends) or to their exclusion from the group(s) that have been most important to them so far in their lives, consequently causing them to experience loneliness. This difficulty is a challenge for education, which in supporting the moral development of a maturing person should prepare her/him for choosing moral good even if this requires personal sacrifices. In these analyses, assuming that knowledge of moral good is not sufficient for morally good actions, I refer mainly to the virtues of character that facilitate making morally good decisions and I seek the answer to the question: what character traits (moral virtues) should be shaped in maturing persons, so that as adults they can resist moral evil, even when this will clearly lead to the experience of loneliness? I propose these character traits as expressing moral virtues—especially the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude (neo-Thomistic approach). In this way, I join in the discussion relating to the teleology of education. I do not touch on the methodology of education, however. The argument is presented in two parts. In the first, I introduce the problem of decision-making implying consent to loneliness. In the second, I reflect on the characteristics of a person who is capable of making such a decision.

Leadership and Ethics: Virtue Ethics as a Model for Leadership Development

Leaders are held to the highest of standards in both performance and ethics. The same is true for leaders in medicine. Thus, medical leaders must give attention to ethical development as well as performance development. Virtue ethics provide a way for the leader to develop ethically. Virtue ethics is the oldest form of ethics. Although other ethical approaches focus on external considerations, virtue ethics focuses on the inward development of character. Following the examples of virtuous people and developing habits of virtue are critical with this approach. The cardinal virtues of prudence, courage, temperance, and justice are considered the most important. Specific virtue lists have also been developed for medical practitioners. All of these virtues can contribute to the enhancement of leadership skills. The virtue approach is especially helpful for leaders because it motivates one to excel in whatever endeavor pursued, whether medicine, leadership, relationships, or life.