The Dharma of Ethics, the Ethics of Dharma: Quizzing the Ideals of Hinduism

This paper is divided into six parts. The first presents a rudimentary definition of ethics based on Western philosophical theories, particularly their concern for articulating universal moral principles. The second examines the assumptions anchoring Western moral philosophies, and raises the question: are the philosophical presuppositions of modern Western philosophy consistent with the presuppositions of Hinduism? It concludes that the two are not entirely in agreement, particularly on the issue of personal and social identity. The third section locates areas in Hinduism that discursively concur with the concerns of Western ethicists, and explores the limits of the semblance. The fourth identifies problematic areas, and raises the question: should the idea of universal ethics be abandoned for Hinduism? The fifth section concludes that such abandonment would be hasty, and initiates a searching look into the Hindu epics for concepts that, while not identical with may still be parallel to some Western notions of ethics. The sixth looks at the content of normative Hindu morality, and generalizes on the basis of this content about the nature of “Hindu ethics”.     

Preaching as a Communicative Event: A Discourse Analysis of Sermons by Robert Rollock (1555-1599)

Abstract

In 1999, Mary Morrissey called for interdisciplinary collaboration in research into early modern sermons, based on a common interest in sermons as discourse. Interdisciplinarity, however, can develop only on the basis of a systematic analysis of sermons as communicative events. All discourse is situationally embedded; analysis seeks to establish how the linguistic makeup of a sermon is related to the preacher's objective of communicating in a way that was situated, appropriate, and meaningful to the hearers. It thus helps to explicate the relationship between the sermon as text and its social, historical, literary, and theological settings. This article presents a methodology for such analysis, using a simple framework that embodies both language and communication. Sermons by the Scottish theologian, Robert Rollock, form the corpus of the analysis. It identifies clear patterning of linguistic forms and communicative acts, which are then examined in the light of the preacher's theological, hermeneutical, and pastoral concerns.     

Causal Thinking After a Tsunami Wave: Karma Beliefs,Pessimistic Explanatory Style and Health Among Sri Lankan Survivors

In 2004, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded led to a tsunami devastating two-thirds of the Sri Lankan coastline. We examined whether certain causal beliefs (attributional style and karma, a Buddhist concept used to explain bad events) are associated with tsunami survivors experiencing PTSD and poor health about six months later. Previous studies of causal beliefs associated with illness following the same traumatic event have focused on Western countries and none have considered the role of karma. We interviewed 264 Sri Lankan tsunami survivors. As predicted, we found that belief in karma and a pessimistic explanatory style are independently associated with poor health and a pessimistic explanatory style is associated with PTSD, after adjusting for relevant factors. Thus, both universal and more culturally specific beliefs may contribute to coping following a natural disaster.

The Health Behavior of Sri Lankan Buddhist Nuns with Type 2 Diabetes: Duty, Devotion, and Detachment

Sri Lanka has experienced an increase in the rate of type 2 diabetes. Selfmanagement of diabetes among Sri Lanka’s Buddhist nuns, who depend on food donations and limit physical activity in accord with the monastic code of conduct, presents unique challenges and has not been previously studied. The purpose of this focused ethnographic study of 10 Buddhist nuns was to understand how they managed their illness within the restrictions on diet and physical activity. Three themes—duty, devotion, and detachment—explained and described their health behavior regarding type 2 diabetes within the context of their daily routines and obligations.     

The Truth of Dharma and the Dharma of Truth: Reflections on Hinduism as a Dharmic Faith

International Journal of Hindu Studies - This article discusses what it might mean to characterize traditional Hinduism as a dharmic faith in relation to the concepts of truth (satyam) and its...     

The Evolution of Social Ethics: Using Economic History to Understand Economic Ethics

In the development of Roman Catholic social thought from the teachings of the scholastics to the modern social encyclicals, changes in normative economics reflect the transformation of an economic terrain from its feudal roots to the modern industrial economy. The preeminence accorded by the modern market to the allocative over the distributive function of price broke the convenient convergence of commutative and distributive justice in scholastic just price theory. Furthermore, the loss of custom, law, and usage in defining the boundaries of economic behavior led to a depersonalization of economic relationships that had previously provided effective informal means of protecting individual well-being. Hence, recent economic ethics has had to look for nonprice, nonmarket mechanisms for distributive justice. This is reflected, for example, in the shift in attitude from the medieval antipathy toward unions to the contemporary defense of organized labor on moral grounds.     

Law,Ethics, and the Needs of History: Mendelssohn,Krochmal, and Moral Philosophy

Although the role of ethics in modern Jewish thought has been widely explored, major works by foundational philosophers remain largely absent from such discussions. This essay contributes to the recovery of these voices, focusing on the Hebrew writings of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) and Nachman Krochmal (1785–1840). I argue that these texts reveal the existence of a shared ethical project animating these founding philosophical voices of Jewish modernity, and that reconstructing their claims contributes to broader conversations about the relationship between ethics and law. Mendelssohn and Krochmal present Jewish law as addressing needs emerging from the history of moral philosophy—from the modern histories of Platonic and Aristotelian ethics. Moreover, my reading highlights these thinkers’ ongoing relevance, suggesting that their work illuminates the role of law in ethical cultivation.     

Religious Ethics, History, and the Rise of Modern Moral Philosophy: Focus Introduction

In this introduction to a cluster of three articles on eighteenth-century ethics written by Mark Larrimore, John Bowlin, and Mark Cladis, the author maintains that although the broad narrative tracing the emergence of a religiously neutral or naturalistic moral language in the eighteenth century is a familiar one, many central questions concerning this development remain unanswered and require further historical study. Against those who contend that historical study is antecedent to, but not part of, the proper substance of religious ethics, the author argues that historical and normative studies are interdependent, each helping to define the questions central to the other. The introduction concludes with an overview of the three articles and suggests ways in which religious ethicists can, in the future, make a distinctive contribution to the history of ethics.     

公共卫生和环境论：要把垃圾管理补入环境伦理学史

美国有一个大家所喜爱的、值得注意的有关环境哲学历史根源的记述,它不仅有历史趣闻的内容,而且还有形成当代北美环境哲学之某些关键概念来源的知识。可是,民间的这种对北美环境思想历史起源的知识是不完全的。环境哲学家们一般运用的、以荒野为基础的历史,应该用被忽视的19世纪北美城市垃圾和卫生设施的纪事加以补充。这一补充后的历史改变了北美环境哲学一直犹豫不决的概念领域。这个新领域能更好地应对许多主要的地区和国际环境的挑战。