John Calvin and Virtue Ethics

Many scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation generally departed from virtue ethics, and this claim is often accepted by Protestant ethicists. This essay argues against such discontinuity by demonstrating John Calvin’s reception of ethical concepts from Augustine and Aristotle. Calvin drew on Augustine’s concept of eudaimonia and many aspects of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, including concepts of choice, habit, virtue as a mean, and the specific virtues of justice and prudence. Calvin also evaluated the problem of pagan virtue in light of traditional Augustinian texts discussed in the medieval period. He interpreted the Decalogue as teaching virtue, including the cardinal virtues of justice and temperance. Calvin was not the harbinger of an entirely new ethical paradigm, but rather a participant in the mainstream of Christian thinkers who maintained a dual interest in Aristotelian and Augustinian eudaimonist virtue ethics.     

Kohlberg and Moral Education: Back to Virtue

Lickona describes his first encounters with Kohlberg and how Kohlberg's approach has been blended with other approaches in the development of Lickona's work on the moral education of children.     

研究者由行德而知德——伦理审查的实践路径

伦理审查作为一种实践的研究,其目的是"为善",使研究者的行为符合德性.然而,研究者不是先获得德性再做合德性的事,而是通过做合德性的事而成为有德性的人."研究者行德"在伦理审查为善目的中具有基础性地位,"研究者知德"是伦理审查为善目的的理想目标,伦理审查为善目的的实践路径是"研究者由行德而知德".     

从个人德性到社会和谐

"德性"是指人的品质和品性,德性的诉求体现了人类建设一种理想的社会状态的努力.人类社会之所以需要德性,其根本的原因就在于现实的个人相对于自己的关系的非自足性.这种非自足性通过人与自然、人与人和人与自己的精神的关系等方面表现出来.     

From Virtue to Freedom through Emotion

Spinoza conceived human freedom as a matter solely of rationality, but an understanding of the role emotion plays in moral virtue can lead one toward viewing emotionality as also essential to human freedom. A large part of human freedom consists in our tendency to give intrinsic importance to people or things outside ourselves and take them into our lives; this sense of importance, in rich and various ways, brings emotion into the center of our lives and our freedom as individuals.     

The Political Psychology of Liberation: From Politics to Ethics and Back

The origins and development of the psychology of liberation are described, detailing the intellectual and political context in which the concept of liberation emerged in Latin American social sciences. Its constitution as a mode of doing psychology, and the founding ideas of Ignacio Martin Baró, its pioneer, are analyzed. Primary concepts such as problematization, de-ideologization, and de-alienation are discussed, and I explain how they are integrated into a central process characterized as conscientization. The role of relatedness as an epistemological base for knowledge construction and liberation is highlighted. The dynamics in which these processes interact in order to facilitate and catalyze the transformation of negative living conditions through participatory action and reflection, to empower people so they become conscious citizens, and to strengthening civil society and democracy is also discussed. I argue that the ethical, critical, and political character of the liberating actions respond for the participatory, reflexive, and transformative conception of this form of psychology.     

绝地天通--天地人神的原始本真关系的蜕变

在中国思想观念发展的历史上,有一次极重大的事件,天、地得以隔绝,人、神得以分离,谓之"绝地天通".<尚书孔氏传>说:"帝命羲、和世掌天、地四时之官,使人、神不扰,各得其序,是谓‘绝地天通'."[1]按照传统的说法,"绝地天通"乃是尧舜的伟大业绩,人心得以矫正,礼制得以建立.如蔡沈说:"当三苗昏虐,民之得罪者莫知其端,无所控诉,相与听于神,祭非其鬼,天地人神之典杂揉渎乱,此妖诞之所以兴,人心之所以不正也.在舜当务之急,莫先于正人心.首命重、黎,修明祀典;天子然后祭天地,诸侯然后祭山川;高卑上下,各有分限."[2]因此,"绝地天通"从来都是被作为正面事件、圣人的丰功伟绩来歌颂的.     

The Virtue of Emerson's Imitation of Christ: From William Ellery Channing to John Brown

Christians have traditionally conceived of the moral life as an imitation of Christ, whereby followers enter into fellowship with God. The American Transcendentalists can be understood as extending rather than dispensing with this legacy. For Emerson, a person cultivates virtues by imitating those she loves and admires. Ultimately, however, the virtues enable her to innovate on received models, to excel by pressing beyond exemplars. Emerson's famous line, “imitation is suicide,” is not a contradiction but a fulfillment of the imitation of Christ, understood in his terms. In his own time, John Brown was the public figure who, for Emerson, most nearly exemplified this innovative imitation of Christ. An examination of exemplarity, of this artful union of imitation and innovation in moral and spiritual formation, sheds light on how modern agents can cultivate the virtues needed to be at home in the modern world.     

From Contracts to Capabilities and Back Again

It has been common for researchers and commentators within the discipline of Social and Public Policy to evoke Rawlsian theories of justice. Yet some now argue that the contractualist tradition cannot adequately incorporate, or account for, relations of care, respect and interdependency. Though contractualism has its flaws this article proposes that we should not reject it. Through a critique of one of its most esteemed critics, Martha Nussbaum, it proposes that contractualism can be defended against the capabilities approach she prefers. The article concludes by suggesting how and why the moral philosophy of Thomas Scanlon offers a basis for reconciling the strengths of a contractualist, egalitarian liberalism with those of Nussbaum’s capabilities approach.

"绝地天通":论中国古代宗教多神性格之源

"绝地天通"是中国上古文明发展史上一件大事,本文以为:理解这一事件的关键乃在于"属神"、"属民"之"属"的意旨,证之古文献与民俗事象,"属"解为"连接"为最佳,此事件是中国古代宗教多神性格的直接来源.     

From Unemployment to Employment and Back: Professional Trajectories and Well-Being

Applied Research in Quality of Life - So far, only few studies have considered different aspects of well-being in studying losing or gaining employment. We examined life satisfaction, mental...     

From Kanizsa Back to Benussi: Varieties of Intentional Reference

The essay analyses the mereological structure of an act of intentional presentation, on the basis of Benussi' and Kanizsa's works. Several aspects are discussed, among which: The existence of diverse formats of representation, their eventual continuity, the presence of subjective integrations at primary levels, and the identification of phrases in the phenomenic structure of an act of presentation. It is argued that the difference between perceptual and mental presence, as elaborated by Kanizsa, proves to be a valid instrument for the categorial analysis of phenomenic appearances.     

From Universe to Multiverses—and Back Again

A number of concepts and ideas from constructivist and second-order cybernetic family therapy literature are presented and their implications for therapy are examined. I was inspired by and, in this article, refer to videotapes of consultations and therapy sessions shown at an international conference on constructivism and family therapy in Sulitjelma, Norway, June 1988, and to written material from the Tromsø group Andersen and Anna M. Flå), the Milan team (Luigi Boscolo and Gianfranco Cecchin), and the Galveston team (Harlene Anderson and Harold Goolishian). The article also represents an attempt to use constructivist concepts and ideas in a reflection on the author's own professional development as a psychologist and family therapist.