Buddhist Pragmatism or Pragmatic Buddhism: What is the relationship between Buddhism and Pragmatism?

With the rise of modernity, the Western world fell into a deep spiritual crisis which forced Comte to Dewey, and Einstein to Whitehead to synthesize a cosmic or humanistic religion. Similarly, the rise of modern science increased western interest in Eastern religions. Because of the ontological resemblance,they further enquired to Buddhism by assuming that would be a religion of their ideal. They began interpreting Buddhism through the lenses of modern philosophies. As a result, Buddhism appeared so diverse that sometimes its positioning is confusing and ambivalent- e.g. 'ethical idealism', 'atheism', 'empiricism', etc. As an attempt of resolving the contradictory positioning, both the original nikayas translated in English by PTS and commentary texts of Buddhism authored by both eastern and western scholars were carefully reviewed. These texts suggested that Buddhism is mostly close to 'ethical pragmatism. To present this closeness, the article at the first describes the cardinal principles of pragmatism, which are- multiple truths, verification of truths, changeability of truth; and then discusses how these principles are embedded in the teaching of Buddha. It also claims that Buddha’s efforts on developing new doctrine, constituting a Sangha, practicing sainthood, and defending against rival doctrines and organizations were just strategies of social reform via cultivating ethics rather than the objectives in themselves. This knowledge contributes to the understanding of both pragmatism and Buddhism from each other's perspectives, and at the same time, draws its educational implication in developing critical thinking, and ethical values.

Professional values and ethical ideology: Perceptions of nursing students

Background: Moral philosophical positions and professional values have been shown to influence nurses’ practice behaviours. Understanding nursing students’ professional values and ethical ideologies, therefore, is important as they may help inform evidence-informed curriculum decisions and education strategies to develop students’ professional reflective competencies. However, there is a dearth in current empirical data on Canadian nursing students’ perceptions of professional values and ethical positions. Objectives: This study’s purpose was to examine undergraduate nursing student’s perceptions of professional values and ethical ideology and explore relationships in data and selected participant demographic variables. Research design, participants and context: A descriptive cross-sectional research design was conducted with a convenience sample of undergraduate nursing students recruited from a university in Canada. An online encrypted survey consisting of two validated instruments was administered to participants who met study eligibility criteria. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse the data and classify nursing students’ ethical ideologies into four categories based on mean scores for idealism and relativism. Ethical considerations: This study received ethical approval from the institutional Behavioural Research Ethics Board and was executed in-line with ethical principles for research involving humans. Findings: Nursing students scored high on professional values and ethical idealism and differed significantly on a measure of ethical relativism in terms of age and year of study. Professional values were significantly associated with ethical idealism. Based on mean scores for idealism and relativism, most nursing students in the study were classified as situationists. Discussion and conclusion: Findings suggest that faculty pay attention to influences of moral philosophical positions in facilitating nursing students’ professional values development. Implications for future research and curriculum are highlighted to strengthen nursing students’ professional values.

The Attitude Towards Boycotts: Determining Factors

According to the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, the precedent to any human conduct is the intention to display such conduct. One of those precedents is the attitude of people. Our work is framed within this line of research, as it seeks to analyze and explain the main determinants of attitude towards boycott. Thus, we understand that the attitude of consumers towards boycott behavior depends on three fundamental beliefs: perceived legitimacy of the behavior, ethical idealism towards such behavior, and finally, ethical relativism towards boycott behavior. We emphasize legitimacy, since the relevance of legitimacy processes in the business-client relationship lies in the recognition of the validity of actions that allow their subjective recognition and, therefore, differentiate them from the legal nature of the acts. The research is carried out with 371 people and the hypotheses presented are verified through structural equation models. Discussion of the results and its implications contribute to a better understanding of the factors that determine the attitude towards customer boycott by business managers and academics.

Kerukunan Umat Beragama sebagai Cita-cita Etis (Tinjauan Perspektif Etika Filosofis-Religius)

This paper is a philosophical reflection and analysis by the writer, who is doing research on religious radicalism in Indonesia. The main idea is the principle of religious harmony as a social norm and ethical idealism. From the perspective of philosophical and religious ethics, the condition of harmonious diversity represents the social-good that should be manifested in ways that justified ethically as well. Theoritically, the norm of harmony contains etiquettes, rational consideration, and can be justified in terms of obligations and responsibilities, and in line with the principles of moderation.Keywords: Religious harmony, Ethics, Religion.

The direct and indirect effect of NFC on marketers’ work norms, vocational socialization, individual ethical position, and ethical perceptions

Purpose The research sought to expand the conceptual understanding of the antecedents of decision-making under ethical conditions. This study aims to better understand the relationships among need for cognition (NFC), the individual ethical positions of ethical idealism and ethical relativism, organizational and professional socialization, work-related norms and ethical perceptions. Design/methodology/approach The study compared the impact of environmental influences (i.e. socialization and work-related norm) and individual temporally stable characteristics (i.e. NFC and ethical position) on ethical perceptions. The research surveyed marketers and tested a hypothesized model using structural equation modeling. Findings NFC influences marketers’ individual ethical position, their professional socialization and their work norms. The work norms of marketers are influenced by individual ethical position and organizational socialization, but not by professional socialization. Professional socialization is influenced by ethical idealism and not ethical relativism. Research limitations/implications A judgmental sampling technique was used and the findings cannot be generalized to other populations. Practical implications This research provides managers with alternative tools to encourage compliance with professional and corporate guidelines. If managers are seeking an enduring positive influence on work norms, they should be as concerned about the thinking of their employees and their employees’ ethical positions as they are with the vocational rules their subordinates adopt. Social implications Society will benefit from better understanding the different ways in which the ethical perceptions of individual employees are influenced and the various ways in which managers can contribute to ethically responsible corporations. Originality/value Although NFC has been examined in other vocational and decision-making contexts, its influence on individual ethical position, vocational socialization and work-related norms has not been empirically examined in ethical contexts for business decision-making.