Towards emergent ethical action and the culture of engineering

With the advent of the newest technologies, it is necessary for engineering to incorporate the integration of social responsibility and technical integrity. A possible approach to accomplishing this integration is by expanding the culture of the engineering profession so that it is more congruent with the complex nature of the technologies that are now being developed. Furthermore, in order to achieve this expansion, a shift in thinking is required from a linear or reductionist paradigm (atomistic, deterministic and dualistic) to a nonlinear paradigm (holistic, chaotic and subjective). Three aspects of such a nonlinear paradigm (holism, transparency and responsiveness) enable an engineer to shift from “applying ethics” to “being ethical”. This culture change can be a basis for developing new curricula to satisfy the ABET-2000 requirements as well as for the practice of engineering in the 21^st Century. David Norris, Ph.D., specializes in organizational and institutional culture change. Gloria Hauser-Kastenberg, J.D., teaches at UC Berkeley and is also an attorney.     

Basketball jones: Fan passion,motives, and reactions to the suspension of the National Basketball Association season due to COVID-19

The suspension of the 2019–2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that NBA fans were unable to engage in an activity that they loved in the midst of a global health crisis. In this research, we assessed if fan responses to the suspension were associated with different types of fan passion and motives. Shortly after the NBA season suspension, NBA fans (N = 395) completed online surveys assessing harmonious and obsessive passion for being an NBA fan, motives for watching games, and various attitudes and responses to the suspension. We found that both fan passion and motives predicted responses to the suspension, particularly obsessive passion which predicted greater levels of distress, coping responses, and negative attitudes toward the suspension. These findings have implications for both the passion and fan motives literatures.     

Religion,Human Rights,and Neo‐liberalism in a Post‐Humanist Era

In a modern and secularized world, churches and religious groups that fight in the public sphere for social justice justify these actions in the name of defending human rights. This has been the path taken to express in non‐religious language what they understand to be a God‐given mission. Based on the distinction between civil rights, political rights, and social rights, which make up the set of human rights, this article analyzes the relationship between the notion of religious mission and the struggle for human rights; how neoliberal ideology, in an anti‐humanist perspective, criticizes the notion of social rights and social justice with the denial of any human right above the laws of the market; and the challenges that this neoliberal ideology poses for the justification of the social and political action of religious groups and institutions in the contemporary globalized world with a growing post/anti‐humanist culture.     

制度伦理:建构和谐社会的伦理支撑——论制度伦理与和谐社会伦理生态之共契

制度伦理是对建构和谐社会“良序情结”的一种回应,不管从制度伦理对建构和谐社会的功能助益,甚或二者在理性诉求和终极眷注方面的公度与通约,都可以看出,制度伦理与和谐社会二者之间是一种互构互益性的关系。制度伦理与和谐社会伦理生态之契合还体现了人类社会共同的美学期待。     

The deliberate university: Remarks on the ‘Idea of the University’ from a perspective of knowledge

The current discussion on the role of the (European) universities often starts off with a perspective on the university as a scientific and/or pedagogical institution and consequently runs into a conflict between both logics in which each element is somehow devalued from the other perspective. Therefore, it may be productive to analyse the university from a standpoint in between, a perspective of knowledge as such. In order to conceptualise such a third perspective of knowledge, the history of the European university is reconstructed and interpreted as a process of reflection on the ‘spiral of knowledge’. Before this background the idea of the university is renewed in terms of knowledge and summarised in the idea of a ‘deliberate university’.

Are New Technologies the Enemy of Privacy?

Privacy is one good among other goods and should be weighed as such. The relationship between technology and privacy is best viewed as an arms race between advancements that diminish privacy and those that better protect it, rather than the semi-Luddite view which sees technology as one-sided development enabling those who seek to invade privacy to overrun those who seek to protect it. The merits or defects of particular technologies are not inherent to the technologies, but rather, depend on how they are used and above all, on how closely their use is monitored and accounted for by the parties involved. In order to reassure the public and to ensure accountability and oversight, a civilian review board should be created to monitor the government’s use of surveillance and related technologies. Proper accountability requires multiple layers of oversight, and should not be left solely in the hands of the government.

“社会矛盾与社会和谐”笔谈——“矛盾”是合理解读“社会和谐”的关键

自从关于“建构社会主义和谐社会”理论提出以来,“社会矛盾与社会和谐”的关系问题就成为学界关注的热点。不同的学者依据于各自的学术资源和经验感受,对于问题作出了各自不同的阐述。这是十分有意义的工作。它不仅扩展着人们的思维,也必将有益于实践。以学术的维度关注现实重大理论问题,是人文社会科学学者应尽的职责。有鉴于此,本期刊发了这组笔谈,并期待着学界朋友的进一步参与,共同推进社会主义和谐社会理论的完善与发展。[编者按]     

创伤性截瘫患者的人文关怀

截瘫是一种严重的残疾,其中大部分是由外伤导致脊髓损伤而引起的。在目前的急救护送、诊治方法和康复治疗中仍然存在很多不足。中国的人文关怀有着深厚的传统根基,已经渗透到各个领域。本文就如何应用人文关怀的精神关爱截瘫患者,更好地构建和谐社会谈几点看法。     

Categorical Ontology of Levels and Emergent Complexity: An Introduction

An overview of the following three related papers in this issue presents the Emergence of Highly Complex Systems such as living organisms, man, society and the human mind from the viewpoint of the current Ontological Theory of Levels. The ontology of spacetime structures in the Universe is discussed beginning with the quantum level; then, the striking emergence of the higher levels of reality is examined from a categorical—relational and logical viewpoint. The ontological problems and methodology aspects discussed in the first two papers are followed by a rigorous paper based on Category Theory, Algebraic Topology and Logic that provides a conceptual and mathematical basis for a Categorical Ontology Theory of Levels. The essential links and relationships between the following three papers of this issue are pointed out, and further possible developments are being considered.     

Society Against Societies: The Possibility of Transcultural Criticism

This paper argues against particularism about social criticism of the form presented by Walzer. I contend that while limitation of the scope of criticism depends on the existence of our shared meanings, which are not shared by them, shared meaning itself depends on society. So, an account of society showing that societies are not discrete and mutually inaccessible refutes particularism. I argue for such an account. I deal with the objection that the focus of particularism is culture, not society, and conclude that the conditions of possibility of shared meaning have anti-particularist consequences. This paper draws on Samuel Clark, Living Without Domination: The Possibility of an Anarchist Utopia (Aldershot: Ashgate, forthcoming 2007), chapter 2. I would like to thank Gideon Calder, and two anonymous referees for Res Publica, for their helpful comments on an earlier draft.