Contrary-to-duty obligations

We investigate under what conditions contrary-to-duty (CTD) structures lacking temporal and action elements can be given a coherent reading. We argue, contrary to some recent proposals, that CTD is not an instance of defeasible reasoning, and that methods of nonmonotonic logics are inadequate since they are unable to distinguish between defeasibility and violation of primary obligations. We propose a semantic framework based on the idea that primary and CTD obligations are obligations of different kinds: a CTD obligation pertains to, or pre-supposes, a certain context in which a primary obligation is already violated. This framework is presented initially as an extension of Standard Deontic Logic (SDL), a normal modal logic of type KD, and is illustrated by application to a series of examples. The concluding section is concerned with some resemblances between CTD and defeasible reasoning. We show first that the SDL-based framework contains a flaw and must be adjusted. A discussion of possible adjustments, including an alternative treatment in terms of a preference-based semantics, reveals difficulties that are reminiscent of problems in defeasible reasoning and intensional accounts of defeasible conditionals.     

The Role of Apparent Constraints in Normative Reasoning: a Methodological Statement and Application to Global Justice

The assumptions that are made about the features of the world that are relatively changeable by agents and those that are not (constraints) play a central role in determining normative conclusions. In this way, normative reasoning is deeply dependent on accounts of the empirical world. Successful normative reasoning must avoid the naturalization of constraints and seek to attribute correctly to agents what is and is not in their power to change. Recent discourse on global justice has often come to unjustified conclusions about agents obligations due to a narrow view of what is changeable and by whom.I would like to thank for their helpful comments Christian Barry, Rudiger Bittner, Darrel Moellendorf and Thomas Pogge.     

The third dimension: Value‐oriented contents in psychological contracts

We propose value-oriented content of psychological contracts as being distinct from transactional and relational content, which we affirm using confirmatory factor analysis for employee, as well as organizational obligations. In a sample of 171 German parish volunteers, value-oriented volunteer and relational organizational obligations are significantly and positively related to job satisfaction as well as to time spent volunteering. The distinctive role of value-oriented content is reinforced by the finding that its associated employee obligations were the only ones that were significantly and positively related to both outcomes. Thus, value-oriented obligations may foster favourable work relationships and may even have the potential to stabilize work relationships during crises if obligations regarding an organization's core values are fulfilled. Examining the generalizability of these findings to nonvolunteer samples in future research is recommended.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Are All Preferences Nosy?

The significance which any human action carries for normative reasoning is held to include its causal preconditions as well as its causal consequences. That claim is defended against a series of natural objections. The point is then extended from actions to preferences via discussion of Barry and Dworkin. The grounds for excluding nosy preferences from aggregation must involve appeal not just to rights and intention but also to the consequences of acting on them. But then some of the features in virtue of which nosy preferences are held to be objectionable will also be present in any other preference. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

道德领导与员工建言：一个调节-中介模型的构建与检验

近年来, 研究者就如何激发员工公开讲出自己的观点、意见和问题进行了大量的探索。其中, 道德领导对员工建言的效应受到了越来越多研究的关注。在以往研究的基础上, 本研究构建了一个调节-中介模型以探讨道德领导影响员工建言的中介心理机制及其边界条件。根据社会交换理论和社会信息加工理论, 本文分别提出两种不同的中介变量-- 责任知觉和心理安全感-- 来解释道德领导与员工建言之间的关系。在此基础上, 本研究进一步假设权力距离会正向调节变量之间的间接关系。通过对某一零售企业239名员工的两阶段调查, 我们对以上研究假设进行了检验, 结果总体上支持了本研究的理论预期。本研究的发现有利于我们了解道德领导影响建言行为的心理机制, 指导管理者采取有针对性的措施, 以期有效地管理企业中的员工建言行为。     

知情同意权在手术同意书中的法律探讨——李丽云死亡案引发的思考

李丽云因为丈夫拒签手术同意书而造成“一尸两命”的事件,“拒签”事件击中了医疗法规知情同意权在医疗实施过程中的软肋。如何保护病人的生命权、被救助权和手术权,如何让医院救死扶伤而没有后顾之忧,建议政府部门应该建立相应的“国家担保”制度,使病人得到最为及时有效的抢救和治疗。以免类似的悲剧再次发生。     

论医务人员在医疗事故技术鉴定过程中的法律地位

目前,医疗事故技术鉴定过程中忽视了医务人员应有的地位。从法律规定和程序正义、当事人理论等方面明确了医务人员在鉴定中的法律地位。论述了医务人员应当是医疗事故技术鉴定的当事人,其在鉴定中享有当事人的权利和义务,这对保护医务人员的合法权益有着重要意义。     

Intergenerational relationships and marriage in China: Within-family longitudinal associations and between-family differences

Marriage is embedded in the web of spouses' broader social ties, and relationship quality with parents and parents-in-law is associated with marital quality. Guided by Family Systems theory and using three waves of dyadic data from 268 Chinese different-sex couples across the first several years of marriage, we first conducted a Random-Intercept Actor-Partner Interdependence Cross-lagged Panel Model (RI-APIM-CLPM) to examine the within-family longitudinal associations among husbands' and wives' relationship quality with parents, parents-in-law, and spouse. Then, husbands' and wives' filial obligations were added as predictors of between-family differences in their own and their partner's relationship quality in the three social ties. Among husbands, increased relationship quality in one social tie (e.g., with parents) predicted reductions in relationship quality in the other social ties (e.g., relationships with parents-in-law and marital quality). Our examination of between-family differences demonstrated that high levels of filial obligations predicted higher intergenerational relationship quality and marital quality. By simultaneously considering the within-family associations of multiple social ties and how filial obligations account for between-family differences in relationship quality, we contribute to a nuanced understanding of how Chinese couples' romantic partnerships are embedded in their broader family system.