Equality, Priority and Social Justice

The moral principle of giving greater priority to benefiting people, the less well off they are, has been thought by some to share the plausibility of egalitarianism whilst avoiding the less plausible implications of the latter. This paper argues that the 'priority' principle does have an authentic place in our moral thinking, and that it is distinct from the idea of 'equality', but that the latter also has an indispensible role to play. The idea of 'priority'has its place as the expression of the moral standpoint of benevolent and sympathetic concern. 'Equality', in contrast, functions as a conception of social justice, from which it cannot be displaced by the idea of 'priority'.     

Political Worship: Ethics for Christian Citizens

Book reviewed:
Political Worship: Ethics for Christian Citizens by Bernd Wannenwetsch, translated by Margaret Kohl (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) xiv + 402 pp. Reviewed by M. Therese Lysaught Department of Religious Studies 300 College Park University of Dayton Dayton, OH 45469-1530 USA     

社会公平正义与伦理——"第五届两岸伦理学术研讨会"综述

第五届两岸伦理学术研讨会以"社会公平正义与伦理"为主题,就"中、西伦理思想中的公平正义"、"社会公平正义与环境伦理"、"社会公平正义与政治伦理"、"社会公平正义与企业伦理"及中西方传统伦理、生命伦理、家庭伦理、校园道德文化建设等问题进行了广泛交流和深入探讨.     

Hikers in Flip‐Flops: Luck Egalitarianism,Democratic Equality and the Distribuenda of Justice

The article has two aims. First, to show that a version of luck egalitarianism that includes relational goods amongst its distribuenda can, as a matter of internal logic, account for one of the core beliefs of relational egalitarianism. Therefore, there will be important extensional overlap, at the level of domestic justice, between luck egalitarianism and relational egalitarianism. This is an important consideration in assessing the merits of and relationship between the two rival views. Second, to provide some support for including relational goods, including those advocated by relational egalitarianism, on the distribuenda of justice and therefore to put in a good word for the overall plausibility of this conception of justice. I show why relational egalitarians, too, have reason to sympathise with this proposal.     

社会公正与政治信任：民众对政府的合作行为机制

胡锦涛在中共十八大上提出：必须坚持维护社会公平正义。对社会公正的认知直接决定着民众的政治信任, 进而影响民众对政府的合作。近年来频发的群体性事件即是非合作行为的典型表征。然而, 国内外研究中至今没有直接探讨社会公正与政治信任影响合作行为的实证支持, 更无法进一步揭示其作用于合作行为的过程和条件。鉴于此, 本研究将社会公正分为分配公正和程序公正, 将政治信任分为工具信任和情感信任, 采用实验室研究、现场研究和问卷调查研究相结合的方法, 探讨社会公正对合作行为的过程机制, 建立其通过工具信任和情感信任作用于合作行为的双路径模型; 并进一步分析结果依赖性对这一路径模型的调节作用。本研究有望提出社会公正与政治信任影响合作行为的双路径模型及其调节变量, 一方面在理论上深化和拓展本领域的研究, 另一方面实践中通过提升公正感、强化过程变量(政治信任)、干预调节变量(结果依赖性)等策略促进合作行为。     

Trespass, Animals and Democratic Engagement

Since at least the 1970s, one of the stock standard tools in the animal protection movement’s arsenal has been illegal entry into factory farms and animal research facilities. This activity has been followed by the publication of images and footage captured inside those otherwise socially invisible places. This activity presents a conundrum: trespass is illegal and it is an apparent violation of private property rights. In this paper we argue that trespass onto private property can be justified as an act of civil disobedience. We look at one particular type of justification: the use of information gathered through trespass in public policy formation. We then animate this analysis both with an historical overview of the effects of sharing information about animal agriculture, and with a specific case study of trespass undertaken recently.     

Waving the Flag: National Symbolism,Social Identity,and Political Engagement*

This research examined the psychological underpinnings of concern for national symbols and ritualistic‐ceremonial activities or “symbolic involvement.” We propose and test a distinction between symbolic and “instrumental” involvement or concern for the functionality of national institutions and their capability to provide instrumental benefits to citizens. Items comprising the two constructs were found to be empirically distinct, evidenced by statistically reliable and orthogonal dimensions in exploratory factor analysis. Moreover, evidence based on divergent patterns of relations with various forms of national membership indicates that symbolic and instrumental involvement are rooted in distinct motivational concerns related to identity expression and object appraisal, respectively. These findings suggest that national symbolism evokes a psychological attachment to the nation as an abstracted social entity, but not as a concrete functional system.     

论政治伦理的正义主题

本文结合政治学和伦理学有关原理 ,探讨了政治伦理的主题 :正义。政治作为一种社会关系现象 ,同样是一种伦理现象 ,政治的公共权力性质决定了它以实现正义为伦理目标 ;从正义的性质及内容等方面看 ,正义根本上具有政治性 ;正义是政治道德的基本原则 ,统摄诸如自由、平等和民主等具体政治道德规范 ;政治的正义目标实现要以法治与德治的结合为保证     

Criteria of Justice: Desert,Needs and Equality

The conception of social justice as equality is defended in this paper by examining what may appear to be two inegalitarian conceptions of justice, as distribution according to desert and as distribution according to need. It is argued that claims of just entitlement arise within a context of reciprocal co-operation for mutual benefit. Within such a context there are special cases where it can be said that those who contribute more deserve more, and that those who need more should get more, but those claims themselves presuppose a norm of equal contribution and equal benefit. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Achieving Democratic Equality: Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Reparations

This paper provides an account of reparationsin general and then presents briefly oneexplanation of why many present day AfricanAmericans believe they are entitled toreparations from the U.S. Government.This explanation should not be seen as a finaljustification, but only as an indication whythe demand for reparations for AfricanAmericans might be seen a plausible. Next, ifit is reasonable to assume that reparations toAfrican Americans are plausible, I then go onto explain why reparations might be necessaryto fill the breech that is perceived to existbetween many African Americans and theirgovernment. This explanation will involve anexamination of the relationship between threeconcepts: forgiveness, reconciliation, andreparations. Then I explore why an apology orreparations for slavery and Jim Crow might benecessary for reconciliation between manyAfrican Americans and their government.Finally, I examine the contention that thelegislative process can be used to obtain anapology or reparations from the government.     

可持续发展、社会公正与企业伦理

“可持续发展”概念的提出 ,旨在为改善人类生存状态而建构起三 E(Economics,Ecology,Equity)协调的社会发展指标体系 ,实现经济发展、生态平衡和社会公正三大目标。社会公正是现代伦理学的基本理论和基本原则。作为应用伦理学学科的企业伦理学 ,首先要应用社会公正的理论和原则去阐明企业伦理和企业公正问题。以企业公正为核心价值的企业伦理 ,逻辑地包涵了社会伦理、生态伦理对企业行为的公正要求 ,是实现可持续发展三大目标的必要条件。倡导以企业公正促进社会公正、环境公正的企业伦理观 ,承担起对全社会可持续发展的道义责任 ,是有远见的企业家为实现企业长远目标而必然作出的明智抉择     

欧洲近现代民主法治型社会治理模式与规范伦理

本文深入分析了欧洲近现代民主法治型社会治理模式与规范伦理的具体成因、基本特征和主要内容,并对二者的内在关联性进行了说明.笔者认为,麦金太尔在重建传统生活共同体基础上恢复古希腊美德伦理的主张只是一种道德乌托邦幻想,我们应当在努力完善民主法治型社会治理模式和规范伦理类型的前提下,继续推进启蒙运动所开创的现代性事业,而不是一味地吁求回归传统.     

Democratic Citizenship, Education and Friendship Revisited: In Defence of Democratic Justice

Literature about the significance of cultivating democratic citizenship education in universities abounds. However, very little has been said about the importance of friendship in sustaining democratic communities. In this article I argue for a complementary view of friendship based on mutuality and love—with reference to the seminal ideas of Sherman and Derrida. My view is that teaching and learning ought to be used as pedagogical spaces to nurture forms of friendship which not only encourage mutuality but also love in order to make possible the taking of risks on the part of students and teachers. And, if teachers and students act with mutuality and love they would be more favourably positioned in their society to take risks and to enact democratic justice.     

A National Survey of Social Justice Engagement Among Professional Counselors

This exploratory survey examined the relationship between 169 professional counselors’ social justice engagement and demographic, personality, and contextual factors. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that counselors’ sexual orientation, trait extraversion, and postgraduate training predicted their level of engagement in social justice behaviors. The authors recommend that counselor training in social justice be focused on quality, rather than quantity, and that personality and identity characteristics of individuals be incorporated into pedagogical practices.     

The Ethics of Democratic Deceit

Deception presents a distinctive ethical problem for democratic politicians. This is because there seem in certain situations to be compelling democratic reasons for politicians both to deceive and not to deceive the public. Some philosophers have sought to negotiate this tension by appeal to moral principle, but such efforts may misrepresent the felt ambivalence surrounding dilemmas of public office. A different approach appeals to the moral character of politicians, and to the variety of forms of manipulative communication at their disposal. The public is usually more indulgent of politicians who ‘spin’ the truth than of those who tell bare‐faced lies, but this could be a mistake. Spin expresses disdain for the democratic value of truthfulness, and so democratic ‘spin‐doctors’ ought to trouble us more than they typically do. The cause of confusion here may reside in the failure to appreciate the distinctiveness of public morality, and in the misguided application of private standards of behaviour to a public context in which they are out of place.