Supererogation Across Normative Domains

The phenomenon of moral supererogation—action that goes beyond what moral duty requires—is familiar. In this paper, I argue that the concept of supererogation is applicable beyond the moral domain. After an introductory section 1, I outline in section 2 what I take to be the structure of moral supererogation, explaining how it comes to be an authentic normative category. In section 3, I show that there are structurally similar phenomena in other normative domains—those of prudence, etiquette, and the epistemic—and give examples of acts of supererogation of each of these types.     

论汉代交友之礼

朋友在个人的成长过程中起着非常重要的作用,朋友之间交往要以礼相待,汉代人们交友之礼主要体现在真诚守信、礼让互谅、规过劝善、不论贫富贵贱、友爱互助、患难与共等方面,了解汉代交友礼仪,对于当今社会如何促进人际关系的和谐具有启迪和借鉴意义。     

To Cheat or Not to Cheat?: The Role of Personality in Academic and Business Ethics

Past research (Lawson, 2004 Lawson, R. A. 2004. Is classroom cheating related to business students’ propensity to cheat in the "real world"?. Journal of Business Ethics, 49: 189–199. doi:10.1023/B: BUSI.0000015784.34148.cb[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Nonis &; Swift, 2001 Nonis, S. and Swift, C. O. 2001. An examination of the relationship between academic dishonesty and workplace dishonesty: A multicampus investigation. Journal of Education for Business, 77: 69–77. doi:10.1080/08832320109599052[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) has revealed a correlation between academic and business ethics. Using a sample survey, this study extends this inquiry by examining the role of dispositional variables (neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness) and academic honesty on business ethics perceptions. Results indicate that (1) neuroticism and conscientiousness were positively related to more ethical perceptions in a work context, and (2) academic honesty partially mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and business ethics. Implications to business practitioners and educators are discussed as well as directions for future research.     

管子社会控制思想及其现实意义

齐国法家及其代表论著《管子》中包含着丰富的社会控制思想。《管子》一书在顺民心的前提下,主张运用法治制衡,培养民众礼节来进行社会的合理控制。在整个中国古代历史上,《管子》所倡导的礼法结合的社会控制手段是最为有效完善的。《管子》从治国实践的角度认为,要真正做到"以民为本",对国家和百姓进行合理的控制安排,实现百姓安居,国家长治,在治国方略上就必须礼法并用,德法并举:一方面以法来维护人民的利益,另一方面以"礼"来维护社会秩序。《管子》礼法并举的社会控制思想在构建和谐社会、减少社会道德失衡等方面具有重要的现代价值及意义。     

Morality,convention and conventional morality

Among anthropologists and sociologists, it is widely believed that moral rules are best understood as a type of social norm. Moral philosophers, however, have largely been hostile to this suggestion. In recent years, the impulse to distinguish moral rules from others types of social norm has received what many take to be empirical support from the work of Elliot Turiel and his collaborators, who have argued that there are two distinct “domains” of social cognition, the “moral” and the “conventional.” Many philosophers have taken this as proof that moral rules are fundamentally different from “conventional” social norms. I argue that moral philosophers should not be relying upon Turiel’s view to defend the moral/conventional distinction. First, I show that Turiel is claiming much less than many have taken him to be claiming, because he puts a lot of what philosophers have traditionally thought of as “morality” on the side of convention, or else in the broad region between the two that he refers to as “multidimensional contexts.” Second, I argue that his concept of the “conventional” is so narrow that the overwhelming majority of social norms – such as the standard rules of etiquette – wind up falling into the “multidimensional” category. This stems from his failure to distinguish between genuine conventions and what I refer to as “norms with conventional elements.”     

Interview etiquette and hiring outcomes

Despite the presumed importance of interview etiquette, research examining its relationship with hiring outcomes has been relatively limited. As a step toward validating its importance, two studies were conducted to assess the influence of interview etiquette on hiring outcomes relative to other predictors. In the first study, the impact of interview etiquette was demonstrated to be similar to that of interview answer quality in influencing recruiters’ perceptions of employment suitability. Moreover, a significant interaction was found, whereby interview etiquette mattered more when interview answer quality was also high. In the second study, interview etiquette was demonstrated to explain incremental variance in job offers beyond other impression management strategies (i.e., ingratiation and self-promotion) and biographical data (i.e., work experience, academic achievement, and extracurricular involvement). Overall, these findings provide evidence that interview etiquette bears a significant relationship with hiring outcomes, signaling its value beyond other credentials and impression management tactics.     

先秦礼文化凸显的道德生活

先秦礼文化是中国传统文化的重要组成部分,它以制度化的形式存在于先秦社会的方方面面,包括先秦礼俗、礼制、礼学和礼教等主要内容。先秦礼文化的核心是伦理道德,它通过一定的仪式来确立协调天(神)人关系、家庭关系、政治关系以及社会交往等伦理关系的道德规范,以此维护现存社会的稳定和秩序。具体而言,包括以敬神为核心的宗教伦理、以人与自然和谐为主要内容的环境伦理、以孝亲为核心的家庭伦理、以忠君为核心的政治伦理、以尚德尚齿为核心的社会伦理等内容。     

Mere formalities: fictional normativity and normative authority

It is commonly said that some standards, such as morality, are ‘normatively authoritative’ in a way that other standards, such as etiquette, are not; standards like etiquette are said to be ‘not really normative’. Skeptics deny the very possibility of normative authority, and take claims like ‘etiquette is not really normative’ to be either empty or confused. I offer a different route to defeat skeptics about authority: instead of focusing on what makes standards like morality special, we should focus on what makes standards like etiquette ‘not really normative’. I defend a fictionalist theory on which etiquette is ‘not really normative’ in roughly the same way that Sherlock is ‘not really a detective’, and show that fictionalism about some normative standards helps us explain the possibility of normative authority.