Thinking across species—a critical bioethics approach to enhancement

Drawing upon a concept of ‘critical bioethics’ [7] this paper takes a species-broad approach to the social and ethical aspects of enhancement. Critical Bioethics aims to foreground interdisciplinarity, socio-political dimensions, as well as reflexivity to what becomes bioethical subject matter. This paper focuses upon the latter component and uses the example of animal enhancement as a way to think about both enhancement generally, and bioethics. It constructs several arguments for including animal enhancement as a part of enhancement debates, and considers some connections between human and animal enhancement. The paper concludes in a plea for an ‘enhancement’ to our critical abilities to examine some of the underlying social, moral and ethical assumptions bound up in varied anticipated ‘enhanced’ futures.

Doing as they would do: How the perceived ethical preferences of third-party beneficiaries impact ethical decision-making

Although unethical behavior often benefits third-parties not directly complicit in the misconduct, not all beneficiaries welcome these ill-gotten benefits. We investigate whether actors consider the ethical preferences of potential beneficiaries or rely solely on their own ethical predispositions when making decisions that affect others. Three studies demonstrate that the perceived ethical preferences of these beneficiaries can substantially influence the likelihood that actors behave unethically on their behalves. These studies show that actors consider the ethical preferences of beneficiaries only when their own ethical disposition is outcome-based.     

Sweatshop labor is wrong unless the shoes are cute: Cognition can both help and hurt moral motivated reasoning

The present research investigated the dual role of cognition as either an enabler of moral reasoning or self-interested motivated reasoning for endorsing sweatshop labor. Experiment 1A showed motivated reasoning: participants were more likely to endorse the use of sweatshop labor when considering a Caribbean vacation with questionable labor practices for themselves than for their friends. Experiment 1B demonstrated that endorsement of sweatshop labor mediated the relationship between product desirability and purchase intention. Experiment 2 found that cognitive resources were recruited to enhance motivated reasoning regarding sweatshop labor, the latter of which was reduced under cognitive load. Experiments 3A and 3B found that when cognitive resources were specifically directed in a comparative joint evaluation, participants offered harsher views on the ethicality of a favored company, and were less influenced by motivated factors than when under separate evaluations.     

God,Information, and Complexity: From Descriptive to Explorative Metaphysics

Abstract

Information and complexity have become central concepts in our contemporary worldview. On this background, it is discussed in which sense concepts of information and complexity may apply to theology proper. While the inherited axiom of divine simplicity forbids complexity and plurality as features of divine nature, an argument is developed for the presence of information and complexity in divine life. Three forms of information are proposed as relevant for a contemporary concept of God: Information as difference (Information1), information as form and relational structure (Information2) and semantic information (Information3). It is argued that features of these forms of information must be internal to divine life, if God can properly be said to facilitate and value the complex world of creation, to allow embodied creates to participate in divine life, and to communicate with creatures. In this light, the notion of divine simplicity will have to be redefined as the divine self-identity throughout temporal flux.     

Scientific naturalism: a great truth that got distorted

Scientific naturalism in the generic sense is the doctrine that there can be no supernatural interruptions of the world’s causal processes. This idea, which emerged in Greece in the 6th century BCE, was formulated most adequately in Plato’s theistic version. However, in appropriating Greek philosophy, Christian thinkers first modified and then rejected its naturalism. Scientific naturalism emerged again in the 18th and 19th centuries, but because of ideas retained from the supernaturalistic mechanism that became associated with science in the 17th century, naturalism appeared in a distorted version, one that is inadequate for science itself as well as incompatible with Christian faith or any other significantly religious view. The great truth of scientific naturalism needs to be rescued from this distorted version of it.     

Strategies School Practitioners Report They Would Use to Resist Pressures to Practice Unethically

Abstract

This study focused on strategies school psychologists and special education teachers report they would use to resist administrative pressures to practice unethically. Data came from a national sample of 141 school psychologists and 130 special education teachers who responded to a survey by predicting how they and others would respond to four ethical dilemmas. Qualitative analysis of data revealed four strategies that were generalized across all dilemmas. These general strategies were: preventing dilemmas from occurring; educating and/or threatening others; involving others in solutions; and combining strategies into more comprehensive responses. Qualitative analysis also revealed three strategies that were suggested for only some of the dilemmas (dilemma-specific strategies). Both the general and dilemma-specific strategies appear potentially useful to practitioners seeking ways of resisting pressures to practice unethically.     

Justified ethicality: Observing desired counterfactuals modifies ethical perceptions and behavior

Employing a die-under-cup paradigm, we study the extent to which people lie when it is transparently clear they cannot be caught. We asked participants to report the outcome of a private die roll and gain money according to their reports. Results suggest that the degree of lying depends on the extent to which self-justifications are available. Specifically, when people are allowed to roll the die three times to ensure its legitimacy, but only the first roll is supposed to “count,” we find evidence that the highest outcome of the three rolls is reported. Eliminating the ability to observe more than one roll reduces lying. Additional results suggest that observing desired counterfactuals, in the form of additional rolls not meant to determine pay, attenuates the degree to which people perceive lies as unethical. People seem to derive value from self-justifications allowing them to lie for money while feeling honest.     

“Big Organisations” Supporting “Small Involvement”: Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina on Enabling Community-Based Participation of Children Through PAR

The article presents the process and the outcomes of child participatory action research (PAR) conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as part of UNICEF activities in this country. The study was implemented through children acting as co-researchers, organised in so-called Children’s PAR Groups, initiated in three BiH municipalities. Children collaborated with a Support Group in each of the municipalities, comprised of adults who helped children implement their activities. Children chose to focus their research on community participation and ensured a number of outcomes in a relatively brief period. The value of PAR in the development of child participation was highlighted by children and adults who took part in the study. Prejudices that children have toward adults, and vice versa, were issues identified as main barriers for wider children’s participation. This article also reviews a number of ethical challenges highlighted in the study, such as the organisational barriers to children’s participation and project-based support for its development.     

Developing spirituality through the use of literature in history education

This paper demonstrates the significant potential for history teachers to contribute to the development of children’s spirituality through the use of literature within the history curriculum. Using four case studies of history teaching in English comprehensive schools, the paper outlines a holistic approach to the subject – drawing upon art and music as well as literature – to foster children’s capacity for meaning‐making from historical interpretations. The paper argues that history education prepares children for the spiritual by virtue of three elements unique to the subject: First, the subject matter and conceptual content of history provide the context for students to engage with the complexity of questions at the essence of the human condition, establishing a cognitive conflict through which spiritual development is fostered. Second, the subjectivity of historical knowledge allows for the development of a community of ethical enquiry within the classroom through which individuals can explore their own ideas and beliefs as well as those of others. Such enquiry fosters the development of reflexive empathy – the capacity to reflect on one’s own life in the light of understanding the lives of others. Third, the subject provides children with a language through which they can articulate their thoughts, beliefs and feelings. The paper argues that these unique elements are significantly strengthened through the complementary use of literature within history lessons, providing a powerful methodology which fosters children’s spirituality.     

Influence du leadership éthique sur l’engagement affectif et l’épanouissement psychologique : le rôle médiateur de la satisfaction vis-à-vis de l’équilibre entre domaines de vie

The inter-professional national agreement of 19 June 2013 emphasizes the role of managers in promoting quality of work life. The latter aims jointly at employees’ health and company performance due to commitment. In the present study we tested the indirect effect of ethical leadership on affective commitment and psychological flourishing via satisfaction with work–family balance. Among employees, 221 filled out a questionnaire. The results indicate, on the one hand, the positive links between ethical leadership and affective commitment and psychological flourishing, and on the other hand the mediating role of satisfaction with work–family balance in these two relationships. We provide recommendations to improve quality of work life.