Global ethics: dimensions and prospects

Global ethics is an emerging discipline which has not yet reached maturity. The main tasks before it to gain maturity are: first, to achieve a greater integration of various domains of enquiry all of which are concerned with global normative issues. At a general level this includes integrating global ethics with cosmopolitanism, global justice and human right discourse. At the level of areas of concern, there needs to be greater integration of various areas such as development, trade, environment and climate change. And it must grapple with the question of diversity within universality: how far can diversity of practices be accommodated within a culturally sensitive universal framework? Second, there is the question of finding a shared normative framework with respect to the diverse worldviews that may lie behind this: what degree and kind of convergence/consensus are worth working for? Third, there is the task of creating the conditions for its own wider acceptance, which should include taking the idea of global citizenship seriously.     

Are Telecommuters Remotely Good Citizens? Unpacking Telecommuting's Effects on Performance Via I‐Deals and Job Resources

Despite their widespread adoption, concerns remain that virtual work arrangements can harm employee job performance and citizenship behavior. Does telecommuting really hamper these critical dimensions of employee effectiveness? To answer this question, we develop a theoretical framework linking telecommuting to task and contextual performance via a dual set of mechanisms—reflecting proposed effects of i‐deals and job resources. Further, we propose that the meaning of and outcomes from these paths depend on the social context surrounding telecommuting. We test the framework with field data from 323 employees and 143 matched supervisors across a variety of organizations. As predicted, we find that telecommuting is positively associated with task and contextual performance, directly and indirectly via perceived autonomy. These beneficial effects are contingent upon two aspects of the social context: leader‐member exchange and signals of its normative appropriateness among coworkers and one's supervisor.     

THE MODERN INVENTION OF “SCIENCE‐AND‐RELIGION”: WHAT FOLLOWS?

I am grateful to the four reviewers of The Territories of Science and Religion for their careful and insightful readings of the book, and their kind words about it. They all got the central arguments pretty much right, and thus any critical comments are not the result of fundamental misunderstandings. While there are some common themes in the assessments, each reviewer, happily, has offered a distinct perspective on the book. For this reason I will deal with their comments in turn, but with a focus throughout on a generally expressed concern about the broader implications of the book's historical analysis, and what positive or concrete proposals might follow from it.     

How to assess children’s virtue literacy: methodological lessons learnt from the Knightly Virtues programme

Character education is of growing importance in educational discourse. The Knightly Virtues programme draws on selected classic stories to teach eight moral virtues to nine- to 11-year-olds; it has proved to be hugely popular with UK schools. A finding of the trial was the different levels of ‘virtue literacy’ in faith and non-faith schools. This article outlines the key features of this trial which yielded the positive results and details its methodological strengths and potential shortcomings. Overall, statistical concerns are less problematic than the practical concerns of running trials designed to measure the impact of character education interventions. Of greatest theoretical interest is the conflation of general and virtue-specific literacy; in addition, we tease apart differences in understanding and motivation. The article highlights and discusses the challenges of running trials designed to measure character education, as well as providing insights into promising methodological approaches.     

Preliminary evaluation of various training components on accuracy of Direct Behavior Ratings

This study examined the impact of various components of rater training on the accuracy of rating behavior using Direct Behavior Rating-Single Item Scales (DBR-SIS). Specifically, the addition of frame-of-reference and rater error training components to a standard package involving an overview and then modeling, practice, and feedback was investigated. In addition, amount of exposure to the direct training component (i.e., number of practice and feedback opportunities) was evaluated, and the rates at which behavior was displayed were carefully manipulated to control for and evaluate training impact by target and rate of behavior. The sample consisted of undergraduate students assigned to one of 6 possible conditions. Overall findings suggested that completion of a training package did result in enhanced accuracy when using DBR-SIS to rate academic engagement and disruption. However, results also supported that the most comprehensive package of DBR training may not always result in greater improvements over a standard package involving direct training. In general, a more intensive training package appeared beneficial at improving ratings for targets that had previously been difficult to rate accurately (e.g., medium rate disruptive behavior). Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Three-dimensional joint kinematics of ACL-deficient and ACL-reconstructed knees during stair ascent and descent

Mechanical environmental changes in the knee are induced by altered joint kinematics under cyclic loading during activities of daily living after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. This is considered a risk factor in progressive cartilage degeneration and the early onset of osteoarthritis following ACL injury and even after reconstructive surgery. The purpose of this study was to examine 3D joint kinematics of ACL-deficient and ACL-reconstructed knees to health controls during stair ascent and descent. A 3D optical video motion capture system was used to record coordinate data from reflective markers positioned on subjects as they ascended and descended a custom-built staircase. Spatiotemporal gait and knee joint kinematic variables were calculated and further analyzed. The ACL-deficient knees exhibited a significant extension deficit compared to the ACL-intact controls. A more varus and internally rotated tibial position was also identified in the ACL-deficient knees during both stair ascent and descent. The ACL-reconstructed knees exhibited less abnormality in both spatiotemporal gait parameters and joint kinematics, but these variables were not fully restored to a normal level. The kinematic profiles of the ACL-reconstructed knees were more similar to those of the ACL-deficient knees when compared to the ACL-intact knees. This suggests that the ACL-reconstructed knees had been "under-corrected" rather than "over-corrected" by the reconstructive surgery procedure. Findings from this study may provide more insight with respect to improving ACL reconstruction surgical techniques, which may aid the early progression of cartilage degeneration in ACL-reconstructed knees.     

Emotional appraisal is influenced by cardiac afferent information

Influential models highlight the central integration of bodily arousal with emotion. Some emotions, notably disgust, are more closely coupled to visceral state than others. Cardiac baroreceptors, activated at systole within each cardiac cycle, provide short-term visceral feedback. Here we explored how phasic baroreceptor activation may alter the appraisal of brief emotional stimuli and consequent cardiovascular reactions. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to measure brain responses to emotional face stimuli presented before and during cardiac systole. We observed that the processing of emotional stimuli was altered by concurrent natural baroreceptor activation. Specifically, facial expressions of disgust were judged as more intense when presented at systole, and rebound heart rate increases were attenuated after expressions of disgust and happiness. Neural activity within prefrontal cortex correlated with emotionality ratings. Activity within periaqueductal gray matter reflected both emotional ratings and their interaction with cardiac timing. Activity within regions including prefrontal and visual cortices correlated with increases in heart rate evoked by the face stimuli, while orbitofrontal activity reflected both evoked heart rate change and its interaction with cardiac timing. Our findings demonstrate that momentary physiological fluctuations in cardiovascular afferent information (1) influence specific emotional judgments, mediated through regions including the periaqueductal gray matter, and (2) shape evoked autonomic responses through engagement of orbitofrontal cortex. Together these findings highlight the close coupling of visceral and emotional processes and identify neural regions mediating bodily state influences on affective judgment.     

Biased attentional processing of positive stimuli in social anxiety disorder: an eye movement study

Despite the established relationship between social anxiety and attentional bias towards threat, a growing base of evidence suggests that social anxiety is additionally maintained by a deficit in the attentional processing of positive information. However, it remains unclear which component of attention is implicated in this deficit. Using eye movement-based measures and a novel attentional cuing methodology, the present study sought to investigate the presence of anxiety-linked bias in attentional engagement with, attentional disengagement from, and total fixation time to, socially relevant emotional stimuli in individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, relative to non-socially anxious controls. Socially anxious individuals were found to exhibit faster attentional disengagement from positive stimuli, and reduced total fixation time to all emotional stimuli, relative to controls. Additionally for socially anxious individuals, lower total fixation times to positive stimuli were associated with higher levels of state anxiety. No differential pattern of engagement was evident between groups. We conclude that social anxiety is maintained in part by the aberrant processing of positive social stimuli.     

The “Discovery” of New Territories Offered to the Jus Communicationis

This work suggests how much human sciences can learn from a booklet almost all cultures know, The Little Prince. It stimulates to read them in their anthropological aspects of behavior facing alterity, highlighting its value without proposing it as educational element to homogenize the different. The reflection is thus focused on the demolishing and lasting effects of European culture during its colonization of American and African people. The contribution ends with Ferraioli and De Vitoria's considerations on a society based on the axiom of the free circulation of men and goods, and the legitimization of thinking given by natural law.