A psychological model that integrates ethics in engineering education

Ethics has become an increasingly important issue within engineering as the profession has become progressively more complex. The need to integrate ethics into an engineering curriculum is well documented, as education does not often sufficiently prepare engineers for the ethical conflicts they experience. Recent research indicates that there is great diversity in the way institutions approach the problem of teaching ethics to undergraduate engineering students; some schools require students to take general ethics courses from philosophical or religious perspectives, while others integrate ethics in existing engineering courses. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to implement the integration of ethics in engineering education that is pedagogically based on Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development.     

The Embodiment Thesis

In this essay I articulate and defend a thesis about the nature of morality called “the embodiment thesis”. The embodiment thesis states that moral values underdetermine the obligations and entitlements of individual persons, and that actual social institutions must embody morality by specifying these moral relations. I begin by presenting two thought experiments that elucidate and motivate the embodiment thesis. I then proceed by distinguishing the embodiment thesis from a Rawlsian doctrine about the nature of justice, from the doctrine of moral relativism, and from solutions to the coordination problem of rational choice theory.     

如何面对失败的隆胸手术

成功的隆胸手术能够让女性更美丽,但手术失败势必给患者的生理和心理带来巨大的打击。如何正确面对失败的隆胸手术是摆在医患面前的一个严肃的课题。本文详细列举了隆胸手术失败的危害,系统分析了造成隆胸手术失败的原因,积极思索了隆胸手术失败时如何有效的补救。     

道德直觉背景下的道德决策：影响因素探究

以往对道德直觉的研究表明了情绪因素在道德决策中的重要作用, 研究者提出道德决策中存在有意识认知和无意识情绪两种加工过程, 二者之间不能够完全分离与孤立。针对这种认知—情绪过程解释、经典电车和人行桥困境中的道德判断差异等问题, 近年来大量研究通过对道德行为者和道德判断者自身原因、道德情境等主客观因素的深入考察, 试图从不同角度来揭示认知—情绪过程解释的合理性及道德决策差异背后的其他原因, 形成了道德直觉背景下相关领域诸多新的关注点。未来研究有必要针对道德决策研究的方法学、情境的扩展及认知—情感系统内部交互等问题作进一步探讨。     

权威人格与权力感对道德思维方式的影响

本研究考察了在一个道德两难的情境中, 权威人格和权力感对道德思维方式的影响。研究以某市公检法系统的122名公务员为被试。首先采用权威人格问卷筛选出高权威人格组和低权威人格组被试, 然后分别进行高、低权力感的启动, 最后让被试对一个道德上的两难情景做出选择, 选择的结果可以反映被试的道德思维方式。研究结果显示, 高权威人格组被试在启动了他们高的权力感后, 产生了明显的以规则导向为主的道德思维, 而对低权威人格被试, 他们道德思维方式则不受权力感启动的影响。由于社会冲突的产生常常与冲突情境中的道德思维方式有关, 因此本研究的结果有助于我们更好地理解某些社会冲突产生的原因, 并从心理学的角度提出解决冲突的方法。     

Global Distributive Justice

The paper discusses the problem of global distributive justice. It proposes to distinguish between principles for the domestic and for the global or intersocietal distribution of wealth. It is argued that there may be a plurality of partly diverging domestic conceptions of distributive justice, not all of which need to be liberal egalitarian conceptions. It is maintained, however, that principles regulating the intersocietal distribution of wealth have to be egalitarian principles. This claim is defended against Rawls's argument in The Law of Peoples that egalitarian principles of distributive justice should not be applied globally. Moreover, it is explained in detail, why Rawls's "duty of assistance to burdened societies" cannot be an appropriate substitute for a global principle of distributive justice.     

ON MARTIN EGER'S "A TALE OF TWO CONTROVERSIES"

Abstract. Criticisms are presented against Eger's challenge to the demarcation between the natural sciences and ethics. Arguments are given both against his endorsement of the "new" philosophy of science and against his rejection of the fact-value dichotomy. However, his educational recommendations are reinforced rather than weakened by these criticisms     

Morally Relevant Features

This article summarizes the account of morality presented in Morality: Its Nature and Justification (Oxford, 1998), with emphasis on that aspect of morality that deals with justifying violations of the moral rules. Such justification requires a two-step procedure; the first is describing the situation using only morally relevant features. I list these features, noting how diverse they are, and describe their characteristics. The second step is estimating the consequences of publicly allowing a violation with the same morally relevant features, that is, allowing a violation when everyone knows that it is allowed to violate the rule in the same circumstances, and comparing this to the estimated consequences of not publicly allowing that kind of violation. I then explain why fully informed, impartial rational persons can sometimes disagree about whether a violation should be publicly allowed and note that such weakly justified violations are the controversial cases.     

道德建设三十年概论

回顾中国道德建设30年,其逻辑起点即是关于道德建设的科学定位。社会主义道德建设的战略地位,决定了它必须是推动中国特色社会主义现代化建设的道德建设,必须是促进全面改革和实行对外开放的道德建设,必须是适应社会主义初级阶段的道德建设。在邓小平德治思想的指引下,我国道德建设呈现四大战略创新。一是提出“以德治国”方略。二是实施公民道德建设纲要。三是树立社会主义荣辱观。四是道德建设融入社会主义核心价值体系。2008年,我们夺取了抗震救灾的重大胜利,成功举办了第29届北京奥运会,形成了“抗震救灾精神”与“奥运精神”。这两大精神是社会主义道德建设30年的最新成果。     

制度伦理与社会转型期的医德建设

市场经济的发展,多元价值观的形成,各种伦理价值观念之间发生了冲突,医疗道德失范现象成为我国社会转型期的一个重要社会问题。制度伦理对道德建设起着基础性和根本性的作用,以制度伦理建设为契机,并辅以正确的激励手段等,可以让医务人员树立正确的道德理念,引导和强化医务人员的价值选择和行为规范,重塑良好医德医风。