Virtuous Engineers

Modern approaches to engineering ethics typically involve the systematic application of universal abstract principles, reflecting the culturally dominant paradigm of technical rationality. By contrast, virtue ethics recognizes that sensitivity to context and practical judgment are indispensable in particular concrete situations, and therefore focuses on the person who acts, rather than the action itself. Moral and intellectual virtues are identified within a specific social practice in accordance with its proper purpose, its societal role and associated responsibilities, and the internal goods that are unique to it. As a result, ethics is recognized as something integral to engineering, rather than supplemental to it. This is necessary and appropriate, since engineers are often the decision-makers in contexts where the potential beneficiaries and harm-bearers are not the same, such that even their routine technical choices have ethical ramifications.

Substitution across profit shifting methods and the impact on thin capitalization rules

Thin capitalization rules limit firms’ ability to deduct internal interest payments from taxable income, thereby restricting debt shifting activities of multinational firms. Since multinational firms can limit their tax liability in several ways, regulation of debt shifting may have an impact on other profit shifting methods. We therefore provide a model in which a multinational firm can shift profits out of a host country by issuing internal debt from an entity located in a tax haven and by manipulating transfer prices on internal goods and services. The focus of this paper is the analysis of regulatory incentives, $$(i)$$ ( i ) if a multinational firm treats debt shifting and transfer pricing as substitutes or $$(ii)$$ ( i i ) if the methods are not directly connected. The results provide a new aspect for why hybrid thin capitalization rules are used. Our discussion in this paper explains why hybrid rules can result in improvements in welfare if multinational firms treat methods of profit shifting as substitutes.

What are University Professors’ Motivations? A Realistic Approach to Self-perception of Spanish University Professors’ Professional Development

Background: The university must take on the challenges that arise at all levels. Within this mechanism, university professors play an important role as facilitators of knowledge. Aim: To analyse the motivations that influence the professional performance of Spanish university professors. Methods: 102 university professors from 9 Spanish public universities participated in the study. [Male: 54 (52.9%); Female: 48 (47.1%)]. A questionnaire of 22 closed-ended Likert-type questions was designed, scoring from 0-10 (do not agree at all, strongly agree). Results: The questionnaire, finally composed of 17 items, showed good internal consistency. (Cronbach's alpha=0.858). The validity analysis showed a value of 0.822 (>0.5) ) in the sample adequacy measure KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) and Bartlett's sphericity test (p<0.0001). The exploratory factor analysis showed a clustering in 4 factors (2 for internal goods and 2 for external goods), explaining 64.33% of the total variance. Comparisons between each factor scores by gender (male and female) showed differences statistically significant by gender for factor F1 (higher for females) and F2 (higher for males). Finally, Q1 and Q13 showed a statistically significant correlation (p≤0.05) with years of teaching experience. Conclusions: The motivations of Spanish university professors seem to be associated with the age and gender of the teacher.

Critical analysis of the object of the crime as an element of the corpus delicti

The article provides evidence of the groundlessness of recognizing the object of a crime as an element of the corpus delicti. The substantiation of this conclusion in relation to such types of criminal offenses as preparation for a crime, attempted crime, incitement to a crime, aiding in a crime and the act of the organizer of a criminal offense is carried out by demonstrating that they do not even come into contact with the object of the crime and don’t have a direct impact on it. The proof that the object of the crime is not an integral part of the criminal act, expressed in causing harm, is carried out in two directions - in relation to crimes that harm the internal benefits of a person, for example, his life or health, and in relation to crimes that harm external benefits of people recognized as objects of criminal law protection, in particular, such as public order, public safety, etc. It is shown that the object of a crime in the form of a person’s internal goods cannot be a constituent part of a crime because these benefits are inside of their owner, and he himself is an element of some social group formation (social system), but not an element of a crime committed against him. The argument that external objects of a crime are not an integral part of a crime is based on the results of a detailed analysis of the process of causing harm. The results of such an analysis, carried out using the categories of the part and the whole, demonstrate the fundamental impossibility of isolating any constituent elements (parts) in the process of causing harm. In this process, it is possible to single out only certain of its phases and stages, but not its component parts.

Civility – a discourse absent from pedagogy. An attempt at (re)constructing the concept

This text is an attempt at analysing civility, an undertaking practically absent from the contemporary pedagogical discourse though amply discussed within the humanities. The (re)construction of this concept aims to restore the importance of civility as a form of civilised life and to advocate for the need to acquire this quality through education. To this end, I review the history of the concept of civility (as a part of the civilising process) and then establish its relation to social mores and morality. Finally, I propose a contemporary understanding of civility within the public and private sphere and in its interpersonal and social roles and how these relate to each other. I assume that a reconstruction of the concept, including a portrayal of civility as a useful good and simultaneously a manifestation of human morality or the human condition in general, warrants the placement of civility among the internal goods of education.

Why Study Schools?

In this chapter, the author emphasizes how a path not taken in the beginning of the sociology of education—as exemplified in the work of John Dewey, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Emile Durkheim—could have taken sociologists of education in another direction in the study of schools, emphasizing schools as sites of moral and political education with goods internal to them (as opposed to goods that are primarily useful in remedying inequality). The author outlines some of the contemporary challenges in the sociology of education, describes the moral and political education outlined by Dewey, Durkheim, and Du Bois, and then stresses how their focus on education allows both scholars and citizens to reconsider the role of internal goods, meritocracy, and a political and economic redistribution no longer rooted in the “merit” of its recipients as determined by school achievement.

Ogłada – nieobecny dyskurs w pedagogice. Próba (re)konstrukcji pojęcia

The text is devoted to the analysis of civility, which practically disappeared from the contemporary pedagogical discourse (though not the humanistic one). The (re)construction of the concept is aimed at restoring the importance of civility as a form of civilised life and at arguents for learning, i.e. acquiring this quality. For this purpose, a review of historical concepts concerning civility is made, then the link of civility with customs and morals as a part of the civilising process is shown. At the end, its contemporary approach is proposed in a dual role and space: interpersonal and social, in the private and public spheres, in their mutual dependencies. It is assumed that the (re)construction of the concept, including the presentation of civility as a useful good and at the same time a manifestation of the human morality or the human condition in general, makes it possible to place it among the internal goods of education.

Urban Freight Movement and Its Impact on Traffic Flow Pattern in Developing Countries

Surat is one of the prime cities for the manufacturing of textile products in the country, having 40% of the man-made fabric production in the country. The city produces 30 million meters of raw fabric and 25 million meters of processed fabric daily. Textile industry in the city has witnessed tremendous growth in the last decade, which has led to much transportation related changes in the city. The textile industry of Surat has different segments such as weaving unit, processing unit, value addition and trading hub for carrying out various processes. The segments are located as clusters or pockets in different parts of the city or urban area. Due to the dis-integrated nature of the industry here, it produces a lot of internal goods movement. The present study is focused on analyzing the characteristics of textile fright trip generated in the city due to the initial unit of textile industry i.e. weaving unit. Stated preference survey was conducted for 122 weaving units located in different parts of the city. Multi-linear Regression model for trip generation and quantity of cloth produced is developed for estimation of textile freight trips and quantum of production. This study will definitely help the planner to identify the strategic location of the textile industry and allied supporting industry. This study further helps in understanding the trip generation and attraction in the city which affects on routine traffic as well.

Alasdair MacIntyre’s writings on medicine and medical ethics

Alasdair MacIntyre is a contemporary philosopher of Ethics and Politics best known for his book “After virtue”, 1981. The originality and relevance of this work lie in the presentation of his articles from the 1970’s about medicine and medical ethics, which are unexplored in Bioethics. In these articles, MacIntyre criticizes changes in society transforming the physician-patient relationship: fragmentary moral views, individualism, misunderstanding of scientism and fallibility of the practice, as well as the lost background of common values and medical authority. From a teleological perspective, MacIntyre describes internal goods of medicine and physician’s virtues: reliability, fairness, courage, humility and even, friendship.