The Practicality of Ancient Virtue Ethics: Greece and China

Virtue ethics has been charged with being unable to provide solutions to practical moral issues. In response, the defenders of virtue ethics argue that normative virtue ethics exists. The debate is significant on its own, yet both sides of the controversy approach the issue from the assumption that moral philosophy has to tell us what we should do. In this essay, I would like to examine the question regarding the practicality of virtue ethics in a different way. Virtue ethics is an ancient approach shared by both ancient Greek philosophers and classic Chinese Confucians, and indeed, ancient Greeks call ethics “practical science.” How, then, do the ancients themselves view the issue of practicality? This essay shows that there is a notion of practicality which is prominent in both ancient Greek and ancient Chinese virtue ethics but is neglected in today’s ethics. According to this notion, ethics is to transform one’s life. The essay also raises a prospect of the revival of this notion.     

Mencius’ refutation of Yang Zhu and Mozi and the theoretical implication of Confucian benevolence and love

Confucianism defined benevolence with “feelings” and “love.” “Feelings” in Confucianism can be mainly divided into three categories: feelings in general (seven kinds of feelings), love for one’s relatives, and compassion (Four Commencements). The seven kinds of feeling in which people respond to things can be summarized as “likes and dislikes.” The mind responds to things through feelings; based on the mind of benevolence and righteousness or feelings of compassion, the expression of feelings can conform to the principle of the mean and reach the integration of self and others, and of self and external things. The “relations between the seven kinds of feelings and the Four Commencements,” however, was not developed into a theoretical idea in Confucianism. After Confucius, the relationship between the universality of natural sympathies and the gradation of love for relatives gradually became an important subject in Confucian ideas of benevolence and love. By “refuting Yang Zhu and Mozi,” Mencius systematically expounded on this issue. Love had two ends: self-love and natural sympathies, between which existed the love for relatives. These two ends were not the two extremes of Yang’s self-interest and Mozi’s universal love. Love for relatives not only implied a gradation, but also contained universality and transcendence that came from self-love. Love for relatives, natural sympathies and self-love had a kind of tension and connectivity between two dynamic ends. The Confucian idea of benevolence and love hence demonstrated differences and interconnectivity. An accurate understanding of such “feelings” and “love” is important for us to grasp Confucian thoughts on benevolence and its realization.     

Ability to Manage Resources in the Impression Management Process: The Mediating Effects of Resources on Job Performance

Purpose

Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, we hypothesize that one’s ability to manage resources will moderate the relationship between the use of positive impression management (IM) and other desired resources, such that those able to manage resources will have higher levels of social resources (reputation and leader–member exchange) when expending energy through the use of positive IM tactics. Additionally, we expect higher levels of these social resources will lead to higher performance ratings.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We conducted a two-study replication. In Study One (n = 213), data were collected at two time points. Dyadic data were collected in Study Two (n = 83) to demonstrate consistent relationships across two different study designs.

Findings

Our findings indicate that the ability to manage resources is associated with higher levels of social resources, such as reputation and high quality LMX, which are ultimately associated with positive workplace outcomes, specifically job performance.

Implications

The ability to manage one’s resources is a crucial individual capability that allows individuals to secure positive work outcomes. This research highlights the utility of resources management initiatives that organizations might want to provide to their workers, such as equipment, support personnel, and the autonomy to pace oneself during hectic endeavors.

Originality/Value

We investigate an individual difference in the COR process, which is lacking in the current literature (Hobfoll and Shirom 2000). Further, this research examines COR consequences beyond stress-related outcomes. Lastly, our research highlights the value of examining IM in light of COR theory.

     

The Relationship Between SME Job Experience and Job Analysis Ratings: Findings with and without Statistical Control

This investigation examined the relationship between SME job experience and job analysis ratings. Managerial job incumbents (N = 209) provided job analysis ratings which measured 9 task frequency and 6 skill importance components. Job experience was operationalized as both job tenure and residualized job tenure (i.e., statistically-controlled for SME characteristics correlated with job tenure). Respondents were categorized into low, medium, and high groups for each tenure measure. MANOVA results indicated that task ratings differed across residualized tenure groups, while skill ratings did not. Statistical control of the job tenure measure made a substantial difference in results. For the non-residualized tenure groups, findings were reversed: skill ratings differed across non-residualized tenure groups, while task ratings did not. The results of this research are integrated with the existing literature and implications for future research and practice are offered.     

Tú velas por los tuyos: Weak Labor Markets and the Importance of Social Networks

Literature on the economic incorporation of immigrants to new destinations has been missing a discussion on how the strength of the local economy affects immigrants’ need for social networks and how it might also affect the relative importance of strong versus weak ties for immigrant job seekers. Through the use of in-depth interviews, the role and importance of social networks in the labor market incorporation of Hispanic immigrants in economically weak cities is examined, as well as the consequences to those immigrants who are unable to command or lack access to social networks and/or ethnic resources. This paper contextualizes the importance of strong ties for immigrants in economically weak new destinations and argues that in places with such a constricted labor market and stagnant economies, it is imperative for recent arrivals to access and/or construct these strong ties in order to more effectively gain entry into the host society’s labor market.     

Responsibility and Self-Defense: Can We Have It All?

The role of responsibility in our common-sense morality of self-defense is complex. According to common-sense morality, one can sometimes use substantial, even deadly, force against people who are only minimally responsible for posing a threat to us. The role of responsibility in self-defense is thus limited. However, responsibility is still sometimes relevant. It sometime affects how much force you can use against a threatener: less if they are less responsible and more if they are more responsible. Is there a well-motivated theory that can explain both why the role of responsibility is limited and why it is sometimes relevant? It is hard to see what theory could unify these disparate elements of our common-sense morality, and if one cannot be found then we may simply have to revise some of our pre-theoretic beliefs. But it would be an important advantage of a theory if it could justify those beliefs. I will argue that there is a theory of this kind: surprisingly, the familiar rights theory of self-defense, defended by Judith Thomson, can do so if it is suitably supplemented. Along the way I will survey some alternative theories of self-defense and show why they are not up to the task.     

In Defence of Non-conceptual Content

In recent times, Evans’ idea that mental states could have non-conceptual contents has been attacked. McDowell (Mind and World, 1994) and Brewer (Perception and reason, 1999) have both argued that that notion does not have any epistemological role because notions such as justification or evidential support, that might relate mental contents to each other, must be framed in conceptual terms. On his side, Brewer has argued that instead of non-conceptual content we should consider demonstrative concepts that have the same fine grainess of non-conceptual contents while having conceptual structure. In what follows I will argue that, first, that the notion of demonstrative concept is not viable and, second, that there is an epistemological role for non-conceptual content.

Development of a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention Program to Treat Anxiety and Social Deficits in Teens with High-Functioning Autism

Anxiety is a common co-occurring problem among young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication problems, and stereotyped behavior and restricted interests, this group of disorders is more prevalent than previously realized. When present, anxiety may compound the social deficits of young people with ASD. Given the additional disability and common co-occurrence of anxiety in ASD, we developed a manual-based cognitive-behavioral treatment program to target anxiety symptoms as well as social skill deficits in adolescents with ASD [Multimodal Anxiety and Social Skills Intervention: MASSI]. In this paper, we describe the foundation, content, and development of MASSI. We also summarize data on treatment feasibility based on a pilot study that implemented the intervention.     

Disentangling the Relations Between Wisdom and Different Types of Well-Being in Old Age: Findings from a Short-Term Longitudinal Study

Wisdom has been shown to be positively related to well-being in past cross-sectional research, but it is not clear whether wisdom affects well-being, well-being affects wisdom, or whether the association is reciprocal. This 10-month two-wave longitudinal study attempted to determine the direction of the relations between old age wisdom and physical, psychological (eudaimonic), and subjective (hedonic) well-being, using a sample of 123 older (M = 72 years) residents from a community in Florida, USA. The analyses of cross-lagged autoregressive models showed that baseline wisdom, assessed by cognitive, reflective, and compassionate (affective) dimensions of the three-dimensional wisdom scale (3D-WS), was significantly related to greater subjective well-being, mastery, purpose in life, and physical well-being at Time 2, but only baseline physical well-being was positively related to composite three-dimensional wisdom at Time 2 after controlling for baseline wisdom and well-being scores and significant control variables. The findings corroborate the hypothesis that wisdom in old age can exert a beneficial impact on physical, psychological, and subjective well-being. Helping individuals grow wiser might pay dividends in later life.     

Screening for Specific Language Impairment in Preschool Children: Evaluating a Screening Procedure Including the Token Test

Specific language impairment (SLI) comprises impairments in receptive and/or expressive language. Aim of this study was to evaluate a screening for SLI. 61 children with SLI (SLI-children, age-range 4–6 years) and 61 matched typically developing controls were tested for receptive language ability (Token Test—TT) and for intelligence (Wechsler Preschool-and-Primary-Scale-of-Intelligence—WPPSI). Group differences were analyzed using t tests, as well as direct and stepwise discriminant analyses. The predictive value of the WPPSI with respect to TT performance was analyzed using regression analyses. SLI-children performed significantly worse on both TT and WPPSI (\(p \le .0001\)). The TT alone yielded an overall classification rate of 79%, the TT and the WPPSI together yielded an overall classification rate of 80%. TT performance was significantly predicted by verbal intelligence in SLI-children and nonverbal intelligence in controls whilst WPPSI subtest arithmetic was predictive in both groups. Without further research, the Token Test cannot be seen as a valid and sufficient tool for the screening of SLI in preschool children but rather as a tool for the assessment of more general intellectual capacities. SLI-children at this age already show impairments typically associated with SLI which indicates the necessity of early developmental support or training. Token Test performance is possibly an indicator for a more general developmental factor rather than an exclusive indicator for language difficulties.