Relational Autonomy,Liberal Individualism,and the Social Constitution of Selves

Philosophical Studies -     

Personal Autonomy,Social Identity,and Oppressive Social Contexts

Attempts to articulate the ways in which membership in socially subordinated social identities can impede one's autonomy have largely unfolded as part of the debate between different types of internalist theories in relation to the problem of internalized oppression. The different internalist positions, however, employ a damage model for understanding the role of social subordination in limiting autonomy. I argue that we need an externalist condition in order to capture the ways in which membership in a socially subordinated identity can constrain one's autonomy, even if one is undamaged in one's autonomy competencies and self‐reflexive attitudes. I argue that living among those practically empowered to harass, to engage in racial profiling, and to treat as expendable is incompatible with a freedom‐condition required for unconstrained global self‐determination.     

Individualism/Collectivism and Social Identity

On the basis of data collected in three representative national surveys carried out in 1990, 1991 and 1993, the relationship between an individualistic/collectivistic orientation and social identity is investigated. Individualism/collectivism is measured using a specially constructed Bulgarian scale. Individualists and collectivists are characterized by specific profiles of social self-identification which differ only slightly from one another. The characteristic of the individualists' profile is that they tend to identify themselves with the political opposition as being republicans, as not being religious, as being distant from those who are rich and close to those of low social status. In contrast, the collectivists profile themselves as people who identify with a socialist political orientation, as being monarchists, religious, close to those who are rich, as standing higher in the social hierarchy and as connected with the structures of power. In terms of the direction of social transition, collectivists emerge as the more conservative part of Bulgarian society. A strongly European identity is associated with those who score highly on the individualism scale. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)     

Social Commitment and Individualism in Counseling

Counselors highly value social commitment as complementary to their primary emphasis on the welfare of the individual client. This article discusses how the primary emphasis on the individual raises for counselors the possibility of a kind of therapeutic individualism inimical to social commitment and the common good. The importance placed on social commitment in counseling and the influence of therapeutic individualism are examined. It is proposed that the already significant role of social commitment in counseling can be enhanced by clarifying the balance between the individual and social perspectives.     

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'.     

企业社会责任与社会公正

企业何以需要承担社会责任?企业承担社会责任的价值指归于何处?又如何能保持企业承担社会责任的持续后劲?诸如此类问题的思考和解决在本质上命系于社会公正或公正的社会环境。企业社会责任与社会公正是一个交融渗透、共生互动的德性共同体。     

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.     

Justice and Social Conflict

This article analyzes possible effects of ideas of justice, perceptions of injustice, and the use of justice arguments on the emergence, course, and resolution of social conflicts. Four functions of justice are identified: (1) ideas of justice and perceptions of injustice can elicit or evoke social conflicts; (2) justice arguments and rhetorics can be used to support one's own position in a dispute; (3) the basic value and the principles and rules of justice can restrict social conflicts and help to generate ways of conflict resolution; (4) the labelling of conflict resolutions as just can increase the acceptance of the resolution. The analysis is illustrated by making reference to a recent case of international conflict and diplomatic controversy.     

社会公正:弘扬集体主义价值观的前提

中国社会正处于前所未有的转型期,市场化过程一方面改变了中国社会的经济结构和组织方式,同时也改变了广大民众的生活态度、价值观念。随着市场化过程的进一步深入,原有的价值观念同社会发展大趋势的矛盾逐步暴露出来。个人主义与集体主义之间日趋激烈的碰撞正是这种矛盾的突出表现,集体主义日渐为社会民众所淡化和遗忘,如果不能正确认识这种现状和疏导这种矛盾,势必影响改革的进一步深入。作者认为社会主义市场经济建设必须坚持集体主义价值观的指导,同时导入公正原则。     

Psychoanalysis,Social Justice,and the Therapeutic Endeavor

Abstract

FREUD'S FREE CLINICS: PSYCHOANALYSIS & SOCIAL JUSTICE, 1918–1938, by Elizabeth Ann Danto. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, $29.50, 348 pp. Reviewed by William Borden     

Social Justice,Fallacies of Argument,and Persistent Bias

The fallacies approach to argument evaluation can exacerbate problems it aims to address when it comes to social bias, perpetuating social injustice. A diagnosis that an argument commits a fallacy may flag the irrelevance of stereotypical characterizations to the line of reasoning without directly challenging the stereotypes. This becomes most apparent when personal bias is part of the subject matter under discussion, in ethotic argument, including ad hominem and ad verecundiam, which may be recognized as fallacious without addressing whether the ethotic presumptions are true. Yap (2013; 2015) makes this case for ad hominem and the pragma-dialectical understanding of fallacies, expanded here to show related patterns in some other fallacies, and employing the argument schemes understanding of fallacies. Adding critical questions increases the ways reasoners can dismiss arguments as fallacious, and could include directly addressing bias, but if an argument fails on a different critical question, that may yet allow the bias to pass. The fallacies approach is a form of meta-debate and techniques of meta-debate need to address the ubiquity of social bias, not convey them as specialized problems. The view that the fallacies approach to argument evaluation can provide neutrality is dangerously false. Arguers thus should avoid using fallacies for argument evaluation where social stereotypes or schemas might be involved, especially when the subject matter relates closely to social justice.

     

正义:社会正义和全球正义

<正>义是理念,理念在历史中显示。非正义是与正义相关而不是相反的概念,它指的是各种事态。鉴于非正义所指事态的多样性,正义理念可被赋予以下内容:个体的基本权利必须被保护和行使;在某时期的实际条件下,这些权利的诸意蕴必须在国家和全球的层面上被诉求和实行。正义由此显示为一个元-原则,并在社会正义和全球正义中得到充实。当前,自由市场和人权的结合加剧了社会和全球非正义,加剧了国家之间和内部业已存在的经济不平等。保护作为清晰思考和界定的基本人权是走出当前困境的出路。     

The University and Social Justice

Considerations of social justice pertain to universities with respect to reserved spaces for applicants from disadvantaged groups, targeted hiring, differential student fees or faculty workloads and salaries, and similarly contested matters. This paper displaces debates over what constitutes just allocation of university resources from those over theories of justice in general to those about alternative visions of the proper goal of universities. To this end, educational and democratic theories of John Dewey are drawn on as an alternative to elitist conceptions and the implications of these competing viewpoints for specific justice-related issues are explicated.     

Androgeny,Flexibility, and Individualism

Questionnaire data from 195 college students were examined to clarify the relationships among masculinity, femininity, and androgyny and self-perceived flexibility and individualism. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hiearchical regression showed no evidence for unique positive "androgyny" effects, while higher masculinity was associated with flexibility and individualism, particularly among women. Contrary to expectations, "androgynous" men were more rigid and conforming, while the cross-typed were most flexible and independent.