The ethics of intergenerational relationships

Abstract

According to the relational approach we have obligations to members of future generations not because of their interests or properties but because, and only because, they are our descendants or successors. Common accounts of relational duties do not explain how we can have obligations to people who do not yet exist. In this defence of the relational approach I examine three sources of intergenerational obligations: the concern of parents for their children, including their future children; the desire of community members to pass on a heritage to their descendants; and the relationship of citizens in an intergenerational polity.     

Beyond Eschatology: Environmental Pessimism and the Future of Human Hoping

In much environmentally concerned literature, there is a burgeoning concern for the status and sustainability of human hope. Within Christian circles, this attention has often taken the form of eschatological reflection. While there is important warrant for attention to eschatology in Christian examinations of hope, I claim that to move so quickly from hope to eschatology is to confuse a species of Christian hope for a definition of hope itself; as such, it is important for theological ethicists to examine hope also from the experiential perspective of the human hoper. In particular, this is important today given the shortcomings of an eschatological focus in addressing anxieties arising due to the environmental crisis. Through examining hope as a fallible human activity, one can come to better understand hope's importance to human life, its profound ambiguity, and the potential threat that the environmental crisis poses to it.     

Influence of swimming speed on inter-arm coordination in competitive unilateral arm amputee front crawl swimmers

This study examined the effect of swimming speed on inter-arm coordination and the inter-relationships between swimming speed, inter-arm coordination, and other stroke parameters, in a group of competitive unilateral arm amputee front crawl swimmers. Thirteen highly-trained swimmers were filmed underwater during a series of 25-m front crawl trials of increasing speed. Arm coordination for both arms was quantified using an adapted version of the Index of Coordination. Inter-arm coordination of the amputee swimmers did not change as swimming speed was increased up to maximum. Swimmers showed significantly more catch-up coordination of their affected-arm compared to their unaffected-arm. When sprinting, the fastest swimmers used higher stroke frequencies and less catch-up of their affected-arm than the slower swimmers. Unilateral arm-amputees used an asymmetrical strategy for coordinating their affected-arm relative to their unaffected-arm to maintain the stable repetition of their overall arm stroke cycle. When sprinting, the attainment of a high stroke frequency is influenced mainly by the length of time the affected-arm is held in a stationary position in front of the body before pulling. Reducing this time delay appears to be beneficial for successful swimming performance.     

TORTURE WARRANTS AND DEMOCRATIC STATES: Dirty Hands in an Age of Terror

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, policy makers and others have debated the question of whether or not the United States should torture in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks. In a series of controversial essays, the legal theorist Alan Dershowitz argues that, if a democratic society is going to torture, it should at least be done under the cover of law. To that end, he recommends establishing a legal mechanism by which a judge could issue torture warrants—much as they do now for search warrants. In this essay, I examine Dershowitz's proposal in light of Michael Walzer's classic essay on dirty hands. Just as Walzer uses political theater as a lens for viewing the issue of political assassination, I similarly draw upon a dramatic response to Dershowitz's proposal to think through the issue of torture warrants.     

对外科急腹症诊疗中伦理学矛盾的探讨

由于外科急腹症的特殊性,产生了与其他科室不同的伦理学矛盾。本文探讨了急腹症诊疗中存在的伦理学矛盾和相应对策。在急腹症诊疗过程中,要重视伦理学矛盾产生的原因,完善急腹症诊疗中存在的流程问题,自觉实践医学伦理学的知情同意原则,有助于化解医患矛盾,减少医疗纠纷;同时也要减轻医生工作压力,加强团队合作精神。     

一种全新的领导理念——仆人式领导的兴起与发展

仆人式领导是近年来西方领导学研究的前沿课题。本文通过仆人式领导与几种相似的领导模式的对比,阐述了仆人式领导的特别之处,进而,在阅览相关文献的基础上,解释了仆人式领导的内涵并总结了国内外关于仆人式领导的各种理论。仆人式领导这一理论虽然尚未成熟,但其对未来组织发展和社会进步的推动作用是毋庸置疑并且十分巨大的。     

Fabricated Humans? Human Genetics,Ethics and the Christian Wisdom Tradition1

Abstract: This article highlights the key social issues associated with genetic screening and testing. It identifies an uneasy combination of a cultural drive towards perfection alongside heightened perception of a risk society. Awareness of risk is particularly in evidence in clinical genetics, but is surprisingly silent in public discourse about stem cell research, which has tended to flounder through its unilateral focus on the status of the early embryo. This article concentrates on current practice, such as the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and offers a critical analysis of current debates about ethical issues. It argues that Christian ethics can contribute positively to the debate by drawing on the tradition of prudence or practical wisdom, which goes beyond the secular alternatives of both the consequential analysis of risk and benefit and the precautionary principle.     

Ethics and Intuitions

For millennia, philosophers have speculated about the origins of ethics. Recent research in evolutionary psychology and the neurosciences has shed light on that question. But this research also has normative significance. A standard way of arguing against a normative ethical theory is to show that in some circumstances the theory leads to judgments that are contrary to our common moral intuitions. If, however, these moral intuitions are the biological residue of our evolutionary history, it is not clear why we should regard them as having any normative force. Research in the neurosciences should therefore lead us to reconsider the role of intuitions in normative ethics.     

CHRISTIANITY AND POSSIBILITY: ON KEARNEY'S THE GOD WHO MAY BE

Abstract: This essay interprets and responds to Richard Kearney's metaphysics of possibility and hermeneutics of religion against the background of Nietzsche's proclamation of the death of God and the theodicy problem. Kearney's work is thus read as an interesting but ultimately problematic attempt to preserve or perhaps reinstate religious thought after the modern critique of idols. In addition, his positions are compared and contrasted with some of authors with whom he seems to be in limited agreement (for example, Plotinus, Hillesum) as well as some with whom he clearly breaks (for example, Girard, Sölle).     

Social Role Theory and the Perceived Gender Role Orientation of Athletes

In this research we examined the influence of athletic roles upon the perceived gender role orientations of male and female athletes. Participants were 148 students who read a bogus newspaper article that described either a male or female athlete who had successfully competed in an athletic event. The type of sport (football, basketball, and cheerleading) was manipulated. Female football players and basketball players were perceived as higher in agency than female cheerleaders. Male cheerleaders were perceived as higher in communality than male football players and male basketball players. Participants made external attributions concerning the motivations of athletes who competed in gender traditional sports. They made internal attributions concerning the motivations of athletes who competed in gender nontraditional sports. These findings are examined in relation to social role theory.