"是-应该"问题及其解答

休谟提出如何从“是”推出“应该”,亦即如何从事实判断推出价值判断的问题。本文以该问题为线索,评述和澄清休谟道德哲学的主要观点,并对与此问题密切相关的“囚徒困境”作了探讨。在此基础上,提出一种新的解答,即：“是一应该”问题是不能彻底解决的,在这个意义上,休谟的“是一应该”论题是正确的。但是,在另一种意义上,“是一应该”问题是可以解决的,即对于那些已经把长远利益作为追求目标的人而言是如此。因为对他们来说,追求长远利益已经是一个事实,因而必须考虑与他人或社会的合作,这使他们原有的同情心得到加强,从而产生名誉感和自尊心,进而达到正义和仁慈的德行。这样便从追求长远利益的“是”得出正义和仁慈的“应该”。     

Are children moral objectivists? Children's judgments about moral and response-dependent properties

Researchers working on children's moral understanding maintain that the child's capacity to distinguish morality from convention shows that children regard moral violations as objectively wrong (e.g. Nucci, L. (2001). Education in the moral domain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). However, one traditional way to cast the issue of objectivism is to focus not on conventionality, but on whether moral properties depend on our responses, as with properties like icky and fun. This paper argues that the moral/conventional task is inadequate for assessing whether children regard moral properties as response-dependent. Unfortunately, children's understanding of response-dependent properties has been neglected in recent research. Two experiments are reported showing that children are more likely to treat properties like fun and icky as response-dependent than moral properties like good and bad. Hence, this helps support the claim that children are moral objectivists.     

On the determinants of other-regarding behavior: Field tests of the moral foundations questionnaire☆,☆☆,,

This paper examines moral foundations as a predictor of other-regarding behavior outside a laboratory setting. We link responses to the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) with direct measures of other-regarding behavior in two studies. In both studies, moral foundations (as measured by the MFQ) predict other-regarding behavior. Study 1 finds the return rate of a follow-up survey is positively predicted by individualizing foundations and negatively predicted by binding foundations, particularly authority. Study 2 finds the relationships between moral foundations and donations to pre-selected charities are highly sensitive to the inclusion of a veterans charity in the choice set. Individualizing foundations positively predict donations in non-veterans conditions, while loyalty (positively) and authority (negatively) predict donations in veterans conditions.