Are there different moral domains? Evidence from Mongolia

In this paper we report a study conducted in Mongolia on the scope of morality, that is, the extent to which people moralize different social domains. Following Turiel's moral‐conventional task, we characterized moral transgressions (in contrast to conventional transgressions) in terms of two dimensions: authority independence and generality of scope. Different moral domains are then defined by grouping such moral transgressions in terms of their content (following Haidt's classification of morally relevant domains). There are four main results of the study. First, since all five Haidtian domains were moralized by the Mongolian participants, the study provides evidence in favour of pluralism about moral domains. However, the study also suggests that the domain of harm can be reduced to the fairness domain. Furthermore, although the strong claim about reduction of all moral domains to the domain of fairness does not seem to hold a significant number of participants did indicate considerations of fairness across domains. Finally, a significant amount of participants moralized conventional transgressions a la Turiel, but it did not reach a statistical significance.     

The Gettier Intuition from South America to Asia

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail...     

Folk concepts of person and identity: A response to Nichols and Bruno

Nichols and Bruno (2010) claim that the folk judge that psychological continuity is necessary for personal identity. In this article, we evaluate this claim. First, we argue that it is likely that in thinking about hypothetical cases of transformations, the folk do not use a unitary concept of personal identity, but instead rely on different concepts of ‘person’, ‘identity’, and ‘individual’. Identity can be ascribed even when post-transformation individuals are no longer categorized as persons. Second, we provide new empirical evidence suggesting that the folk do not consider psychological continuity to be necessary for an individual to be categorized as a person or for ascribing identity over time and through transformations. In this, we assume, along with Nichols and Bruno, that folk judgments about identity can be read off the use of proper names. Furthermore, we raise some doubts about the ability of current experimental designs to adequately distinguish between qualitative and numerical identity judgments. We conclude that these claims give us a good reason to be skeptical about the prospects of using folk intuitions in philosophical theorizing about personal identity.     

Understanding suicidal ideation and assessing for risk

The UK government's health strategy, The Health of the Nation , included a target for reducing the population suicide rates by 15% over an 8-year period [Department of Health (1992), London: HMSO]. This thrust has been carried forward in subsequent work embodied in the ninth standard of the National Service Framework for Mental Health [Department of Health (1999), London: HMSO] and Safety First: FiveYear Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness [Department of Health (2001), London: HMSO]. A crucial aspect in reducing suicide rates is the accurate assessment of those who may be at risk to enable appropriate interventions to take place.While any person who wants to end his or her own life may find a way to do so, it is most important for the clinician to approach any potential suicide with the conviction that it is possible to prevent at least some suicides. This paper outlines best practice regarding the exploration and assessment of suicidal ideation and suicidal potential.     

Proper Names,Rigidity, and Empirical Studies on Judgments of Identity Across Transformations

Topoi - The question of transtemporal identity of objects in general and persons in particular is an important issue in both philosophy and psychology. While the focus of philosophers traditionally...