The four tasks of development ethics at times of a changing climate

This paper argues that the challenges posed by climate change and the need to quickly move toward a sustainable low-carbon future require the contributions of development ethics. I propose four tasks for development ethics. The first relates to unpacking the urgency posed by climate change by showing how, from an ethical perspective, the impacts of climate change are extremely dangerous risks, especially for those most vulnerable, and thus require immediate attention. The second relates to a better understanding of the components of well-being. The third relates to concerns regarding the global commons and to the need to reframe key components of socio-ecological balance as public goods. The fourth and last task of development ethics refers to the multiple trade-offs and dilemmas in the processes leading to a low-carbon and equitable future arguing for strengthening public deliberation and democracy.     

A brief thought on the future of global ethics: military robots and new food technologies

To deal with an uncertain future, global ethics as an academic endeavour might consider a common value we all share, such as sustainability, which acts as an all-encompassing term to indicate our future direction. Technologies of the near future that are currently in development hold problems and promise, and are clear subjects for the ethics of sustainability at a global level. Autonomous military combat robots, insects as food (entomophagy) and in vitro synthetically grown meat are significant cases. Such robots might in fact serve injustice and work against sustainability, and such novel food technologies may hold hope for promoting sustainability and global justice.     

Re-charting global ethics

Migrations driven by ethnic, religious, and other forms of social conflict have been common in the past quarter-century, and have in Africa led many to seek refuge and to expect hospitality abroad. This leads to a concern for pluralist ethics, for many receiving refuge abroad expect that they will be able to live by their thoughts and beliefs, creating enclaves of cultural difference. But difference exists in all communities: cultural homogeneity does not exist except in the conservative imagination. Nevertheless, a sameness – the sameness of the value of every person – remains within this plurality. The sameness is conceived in distinct ways in the Natural Law tradition that yields liberalism, in the Golden Rule, in Kant's categorical imperative, and in the Luo culture of Eastern Africa. The Luo precept Luoro remb dhano (‘restraint from letting human blood’) is compared with these other ethical cosmopolitan wellsprings in this essay.     

Global ethics: increasing our positive impact

Global ethics is no ordinary subject. It includes some of the most urgent and momentous issues the world faces, such as extreme poverty and climate change. Given this, any adequate review of that subject should, I suggest, ask some questions about the relation between what those working in that subject do and the real-world phenomena that are the object of their study. The main question I focus on in this essay is this: should academics and others working in the field of global ethics take new measures aimed at having more real-world positive impact on the phenomena they study? Should they take new measures, that is, aimed at bringing about more improvements in those phenomena, improvements such as reductions in extreme poverty and in emissions of greenhouse gases? I defend a positive answer to this question against some objections, and also discuss some of the kinds of measure we might take in an attempt to have more positive impact.     

Do students feel authentic in integrated RE? A quantitative analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present quantitative results concerning students’ sense of authenticity during a teaching experiment conducted in Finnish ninth grade religious education classes in 2014. In this experiment, students (N = 24) from three different faith traditions (Lutheran, Orthodox, secular humanist) studied ethical contents together on four subsequent lessons. The analysis showed some differences in students’ experiences of common trait authenticity and lesson-specific experiences of state authenticity but in general, the students felt welcome in the integrated RE lessons. There was not a lot of difference between girls and boys but Orthodox students seemed to be more complacent than the other students. This article adheres to the view that the ability to be authentic is one of the prerequisites of successful spiritual education and it seems that meeting this prerequisite is possible, even among students who have previously studied in segregated religious education.     

Kant and Hegel on purposive action

This essay discusses Kant and Hegel’s philosophies of action and the place of action within the general structure of their practical philosophy. We begin by briefly noting a few things that both unite and distinguish the two philosophers. In the sections that follow, we consider these and their corollaries in more detail. In so doing, we map their differences against those suggested by more standard readings that treat their accounts of action as less central to their practical philosophy. Section 2 discusses some central Kantian concepts (Freedom, Willkür, Wille, and Moral Law). In Section 3, we take a closer look at the distinction between internal and external action, as found in Kant’s philosophy of morality and legality. In Section 4, we turn to Hegel and his distinctions between abstract right (legality), morality, and ethical life, as well as the location of his account of action within his overall theory of morality. We discuss the distinction between Handlung and Tat, and non-imputable consequences. The overall aims of our essay are to shed light on some puzzles in Kant and Hegel’s conceptions and to examine where their exact disputes lie without taking a stand on which philosophy is ultimately the most satisfactory.     

Being undone by research: an ethical obligation to togethering

I interviewed 24 women who participated in self-defense and handgun training classes who revealed lives that had been intentionally hidden, sharing the unspeakable experiences of incest, rape, child abuse, and domestic violence through stories of survival and resistance. In a poem to my participants, I reflect on my role as researcher and my desire to fulfill a commitment to my participants.

Hearing women’s stories of sexual and other violent assault, I not only experienced secondary trauma, but I have been charged with a mission of developing research products that will change policy. I wrote this poem as a way to communicate the complicated ethical issues that arise when conducting research with participants who reveal traumatic stories.     

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in a Tertiary Care Veterinary Specialty Hospital: Adaptation of the Human Clinical Consultation Committee Model

Technological advances in veterinary medicine have produced considerable progress in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous diseases in animals. At the same time, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and owners of animals face increasingly complex situations that raise questions about goals of care and correct or reasonable courses of action. These dilemmas are frequently controversial and can generate conflicts between clients and health care providers. In many ways they resemble the ethical challenges confronted by human medicine and that spawned the creation of clinical ethics committees as a mechanism to analyze, discuss, and resolve disagreements. The staff of the North Carolina State University Veterinary Hospital, a specialty academic teaching institution, wanted to investigate whether similar success could be achieved in the tertiary care veterinary setting. We discuss the background and rationale for this method, as well as the approach that was taken to create a clinical ethics committee.     

学步儿母亲过度投入/未解决的依恋表征与控制行为：婚姻质量及儿童性别的调节作用

采用追踪设计,以北京市94名学步儿及其母亲为被试,系统考察学步儿期母亲过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对控制行为的影响,以及婚姻质量、儿童性别的调节作用。结果发现：(1)过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对3岁时的强制性控制具有显著的正向预测作用。(2)过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对3岁时温和控制及命令性控制的影响受到婚姻质量的调节。(3)婚姻质量及儿童性别共同调节过度投入/未解决的依恋表征与3岁强制性控制之间的关系。