Showing papers on "Morality published in 2006"

Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong

Abstract: Scholars have long argued that moral judgements arise from rational deliberations about what society determines is right and wrong. This has generated the idea that our moral psychology is founded on cultural experience. In the revolutionary MORAL MINDS, Marc Hauser challenges these concepts, showing that this view is illusory and arguing instead that humans have evolved a 'moral instinct', a universal feature of the human mind rather than one informed by gender, education or religion. Combining his own cutting-edge research with cognitive psychology, linguistics, evolutionary biology and economics, Hauser examines his groundbreaking theory in terms of bioethics, religion and law, as well as our everyday lives.

The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability

Abstract: Preface Part I 1 The Main Ideas I 2 The Main Ideas II 3 The Second-Person Stance and Second-Personal Reasons Part II 4 Accountability and the Second Person 5 Moral Obligation and Accountability 6 Respect and the Second Person Part III 7 The Psychology of the Second Person 8 Interlude: Hume Versus Reid on Justice (with Contemporary Resonances) Part IV 9 Morality and Autonomy in Kant 10 The Second Person and Dignity: Variations on Fichtean Themes 11 Freedom and Practical Reason 12 A Foundation for Contractualism Works Cited Index

Manipulations of Emotional Context Shape Moral Judgment

Abstract: Recent work in psychology and neuroscience has revealed that moral judgments are often mediated by two classes of brain processes (Greene, Nystrom, Engell, Darley, & Cohen, 2004; Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley, & Cohen, 2001; Haidt, 2001). One class, probably reflecting earlier evolutionary development, consists of processes that automatically alter hedonic states in response to specific types of socially relevant stimuli. A second class consists of more domain-general, effortful processes that underlie abilities for abstract reasoning, simulation, and cognitive control. Often, these intuitive and deliberative processes work in unison to foster decisions in accord with the goals of both; goals that are socially adaptive are often congruent with more abstract moral principles. Certain classes of ethical dilemmas, however, require decisions in which the competition between these two systems becomes evident (Greene et al., 2001, 2004). The structure of such dilemmas often requires endorsing a personal moral violation in order to uphold a utilitarian principle. The well-known footbridge dilemma is illustrative. In it, the lives of five people can be saved through sacrificing another. However, the sacrifice involves pushing a rather large man off a footbridge to stop a runaway trolley before it kills the other five. The vast majority of individuals believe it wrong to push him, even though not pushing him will result in a greater number of deaths (Greene et al., 2004; Thomson, 1986). The reason for this seemingly illogical response stems from competition between the emotionally intuitive and deliberative systems. Neuroimaging has revealed that such dilemmas produce increased activation in emotion-related brain centers, as well as in centers normally used for deliberative reasoning; considering personal moral violations, such as inflicting direct harm, elicits prepotent negative reactions that appear designed to inhibit amoral acts (Greene et al., 2001). The infrequent selection of the logically appropriate option in such dilemmas is associated with heightened activation of deliberative centers aimed at cognitive control, suggesting that the automatic negative reaction must be disregarded if a utilitarian judgment is to bemade (Greene et al., 2004). Given these findings, one might expect that the ultimate arbiter of ethical choice for such dilemmas would reside in individuals’ abilities and motivations to engage in controlled analysis. However, the proposed dual-process model of moral judgment suggests another unexamined route by which choice might be influenced: contextual sensitivity of affect. Affective states stand as momentary informational signals regarding the environment and are multiply determined (Schwarz & Clore, 1996). Consequently, environmental factors separate from any potential moral violations might influence affect at the time of judgment. A close temporal contiguity of such affectively stochastic events and the stable negative emotion stemming from a dilemmamight unhinge the direct relation between a dilemmaspecific prepotent emotional response and choice. Simply put, environment-induced feelings of positivity at the time of judgment might reduce the perceived negativity, or aversion ‘‘signal,’’ of any potential moral violation and, thereby, increase utilitarian responding.

Materializing morality. Design ethics and technological mediation.

Abstract: During the past decade, the "script" concept, indicating how technologies prescribe human actions, has acquired a central place in STS. Until now, the concept has mainly functioned in descriptive settings. This article will deploy it in a normative setting. When technologies coshape human actions, they give material answers to the ethical question of how to act. This implies that engineers are doing "ethics by other means": they materialize morality. The article will explore the implications of this insight for engineering ethics. It first augments the script concept by developing the notion of technological mediation. After this, it investigates how the concept of mediation could be made fruitful for design ethics. It discusses how the ambition to design behaviorinfluencing technologies raises moral questions itself and elaborates two methods for anticipating technological mediation in the design process: performing mediation analyses and using an augmented version of constructive technology assessment.

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved

Abstract: Acknowledgments vii Introduction by Josiah Ober and Stephen Macedo ix PART I: Morally Evolved: Primate Social Instincts,Human Morality, and the Rise and Fall of "Veneer Theory" by Frans de Waal 1 Appendix A: Anthropomorphism and Anthropodenial 59 Appendix B: Do Apes Have a Theory of Mind? 69 Appendix C: Animal Rights 75 PART II: Comments: The Uses of Anthropomorphism by Robert Wright 83 Morality and the Distinctiveness of Human Action by Christine M. Korsgaard 98 Ethics and Evolution: How to Get Here from There by Philip Kitcher 120 Morality, Reason, and the Rights of Animals by Peter Singer 140 PART III: Response to Commentators: The Tower of Morality by Frans de Waal 161 References 183 Contributors 197 Index 201

Social cognition and moral cognition in bullying: What's wrong?

Abstract: Two different models have been proposed that describe the bully alternatively as a child lacking in social skills [Crick and Dodge, 1994], or as a cold manipulative individual, who leads gangs to achieve personal goals [Sutton et al., 1999a]. The present study examined the performance of 204 8–11-year-olds in a set of stories that assessed understanding of cognitions and emotions, in relation to their Participant Role in bullying. Moreover, children's understanding of moral emotions and proneness to moral disengagement was assessed. Victims showed some difficulties in the social cognition task, whereas bullies did not. Aggressive children, instead, were found to be more ready to show moral disengagement mechanisms, whereas defenders showed higher levels of moral sensibility. Results are discussed in relation to the two models, and the need for further research into empathy and moral cognition of children involved in bullying episodes is highlighted. Aggr. Behav. 32:528–539, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Moral awareness and ethical predispositions: investigating the role of individual differences in the recognition of moral issues.

Abstract: The impact of the role of individual ethical predispositions, preferences for utilitarian and formalistic ideals, on managerial moral awareness was examined in 2 studies. Results suggested that a manager's ethical predispositions influence his or her responses to the characteristics of the moral issue. Both utilitarianism and formalism shaped moral awareness, but formalism demonstrated a greater capacity to do so in that formalists recognized both harm and the violation of a behavioral norm as indicators of the moral issue, whereas utilitarians responded only to harm. These findings provide support for the basic arguments underlying theories of moral development and offer several implications for the study and practice of moral awareness in organizations.

Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership

Abstract: The morality of transformational leadership has been sharply questioned, particularly by libertarians, "grass roots" theorists, and organizational development consultants. This paper argues that to be truly transformational leadership, it must be grounded in moral foundations. The four components of authentic transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration) are constrasted with their counterfeits in the dissembling pseudotransformational leadership on the basis of 1) the moral character of the leaders and their concerns for self and others; 2) the ethical values embedded in the leaders’ vision, articulation, and program, which followers can embrace or reject; and 3) the morality of the processes of social ethical choices and action in which the leaders and followers engage and collectively pursue. The literature on transformational leadership is linked to the long-standing literature on virtue and moral character, as exemplified by Socratic and Confucian typologies. It is linked, as well, to the major themes of the modern Western ethical agenda: liberty, utility and distributive justice Deception, sophistry, and pretense are examined alongside issues of transendence, agency, trust, striving for the congruence of the values, cooperative action, power, persuasion, and corporate governance to establish the strategic and moral foundations of authentic transformational leadership.

Children's conscience and self-regulation.

Abstract: We focus on children's conscience, an inner guiding system responsible for the gradual emergence and maintenance of self-regulation. Drawing from our research program that has encompassed three large longitudinal studies cumulatively covering the first 6 years of life, we discuss two major components of conscience: moral emotions (guilt, discomfort following transgressions) and moral conduct compatible with rules and standards. We discuss the organization of young children's conscience, focusing on relations between moral emotions and moral conduct, and the development of conscience, focusing on its early form: the child's eager, willing stance toward parental socialization. We also review research on two major sets of influences that predict individual differences in moral emotions and moral conduct: biologically based temperament and socialization in the family. We discuss two inhibitory systems of temperament-fearfulness and effortful control-and several features of socialization, including the style of parental discipline and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Early conscience is an important early personality system, coherently organized, relatively stable over time, and subject to individual differences that emerge as a result of a complex interplay between children's temperamental individuality and socialization in the family.

The Morality of War

Abstract: HE Treaty of Paris and the President's Naval program have focused the Nation's thought on peace, or, perhaps to be more precise, on the avoidance of war. Yet, because of the diametrically opposed methods of approach used in them, and because of the exaggerated claims which are sure to be set forth by the proponents and antagonists of these measures, the exact status of war, from a moral viewpoint, may be greatly clouded. Hence in this paper we purpose to examine the question of war and to determine the conditions justifying or condemning this instrument of nations. "War is a contention carried on by force of arms between sovereign states, or communities having in this regard the right of states." That war is not instrinsically wrong is evident both from the Divine Positive Law and from the Natural Law. For John the Baptist, in his instruction to the soldiers, says nothing about laying down their arms; which certainly he would have said if war were never justifiable before God. Furthermore, the Natural Law confers on nations the moral powers necessary to the purpose of the nation; viz., to obtain its corporate rights and the rights of its citizens. To forbid it the use of coercion in maintaining intact and inviolable these rights would be to label the end and duties of the nation meaningless, since each nation, being supreme in its temporal affairs, is without a superior to which it can appeal. "The right of self-defense is part of the law of our nature·, and it is the indispensable duty of civil society to protect its members in the enjoyment of their rights, both of person and property."8 Nations may surrender a part of this right by pacts and treaties, but it is only with the consent of the individual nations that international courts may exercise this right, as in the nation alone does the Natural Law implant this right. But of more practical importance than the fact that war is.

Reasons and the Good

Abstract: Introduction 1. Morality 2. Reasons 3. Knowledge 4. Well-being 5. Practical Reason 6. Equality

Exploring the psychological underpinnings of the moral mandate effect: motivated reasoning, group differentiation, or anger?

Abstract: When people have strong moral convictions about outcomes, their judgments of both outcome and procedural fairness become driven more by whether outcomes support or oppose their moral mandates than by whether procedures are proper or improper (the moral mandate effect). Two studies tested 3 explanations for the moral mandate effect. In particular, people with moral mandates may (a) have a greater motivation to seek out procedural flaws when outcomes fail to support their moral point of view (the motivated reasoning hypothesis), (b) be influenced by in-group distributive biases as a result of identifying with parties that share rather than oppose their moral point of view (the group differentiation hypothesis), or (c) react with anger when outcomes are inconsistent with their moral point of view, which, in turn, colors perceptions of both outcomes and procedures (the anger hypothesis). Results support the anger hypothesis.

Investigating the Roots of Civic Morality: Trust, Social Capital, and Institutional Performance

Abstract: In the last decade considerable research in social sciences has focused on interpersonal trust, treating it as a remedy for most maladies modern democracies suffer from. Yet, if others act dishonestly, trust is turned into gullibility, thus mechanisms linking interpersonal trust with institutional success refer implicitly to honesty and civic morality. This paper investigates the roots of civic morality. It applies hierarchical models to data from 38 countries, and tests the individual, community and structural explanatory factors. The results of the analysis point to the relevance of an institutional dimension, both in the form of individuals' perceptions as well as the quality of governance: confidence in political institutions and their objective quality are the strongest predictors of civic morality. At the same time, the findings show that the recently popular claims about the importance of social capital for citizens' moral standards are largely unfounded.

The Cambridge companion to Kant and modern philosophy

Abstract: Introduction: the starry heavens and the moral law Paul Guyer 1. 'A priori' Philip Kitcher 2. Kant on the perception of space (and time) Gary Hatfield 3. Kant's philosophy of mathematics Lisa Shabel 4. Kant on a priori concepts: the metaphysical deduction of the categories Beatrice Longuenesse 5. Kant's philosophy of cognitive mind Patricia Kitcher 6. Kant's proofs of substance and causation Arthur Melnick 7. Kant and transcendental arguments Ralph C. S. Walker 8. The critique of metaphysics: the structure and fate of Kant's dialectic Karl Ameriks 9. Philosophy of natural science Michael Friedman 10. The supreme principle of morality Allen W. Wood 11. Kant on freedom of the will Henry E. Allison 12. Mine and thine? The Kantian state Robert B. Pippin 13. Kant on sex and marriage right Jane Kneller 14. Kant's theory of peace Pauline Kleingeld 15. Kant's conception of virtue Lara Denis 16. Kant's ambitions in the third Critique Paul Guyer 17. Moral faith and the highest food Frederick C. Beiser 18. Kant's critical philosophy and its reception - the first five years (1781-6) Manfred Kuehn.

Culture of Fear Revisited: Risk-Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation

Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. The explosion of risks 2. Why do we panic? 3. the culture of abuse 4. A world of risky strangers 5. Who can you trust? 6. The new etiquette 7. The Politics of Fear 8. Towards a sociology of fear Bibliography Index.

Epistemic Partiality in Friendship

Abstract: Analytic moral philosophers have been taking a renewed interest in friendship in recent years. They have been especially liable to consider friendship in connection with debates over partiality and impartiality in ethics. Many important styles of ethical theory hold up impartiality and equal treatment—under one or another interpretation—as central moral concepts and ideals. Yet friendship and other close relations between persons seem to involve partiality and differential treatment. We care more about what befalls our friends than about what happens to strangers, and we are more motivated to advance our friends’ interests than those of strangers. We seem even to have special responsibilities toward our friends which we don’t have toward strangers. If friendship necessarily involves such partiality, then there is a tension, at least, between the constitutive elements and dispositions of friendship and those of morality: they seem to pull in opposite directions. Contemporary moral theorists have responded to this tension in a variety of ways. Some have sought to bring the apparent partiality of friendship under the wing of a more fundamental impartiality, thus reconciling friendship and the moral. Others have insisted on the primacy of friendship, and partiality, over impartial moral conceptions—

Merchants of Morality

Abstract: How do a few Third World conflicts become international causes celebres, while most remain isolated and unknown? Why, for instance, has there been so much recent attention to the Darfur crisis - but so little to ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite vastly more casualties in the latter than in the former? This article, a brief, popularized version of my new book, "The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism," rejects the view that those who gain such support are simply the lucky winners in a "global humanitarian lottery." It also rejects the idea that there is a "meritocracy of suffering" in which the worst-off groups gain the most support. Instead, I argue that conflicts and the insurgent groups involved in them, face a Darwinian struggle for scarce media attention, NGO activism, and international concern. In this competition, the lion's share of resources go to the savviest, not the neediest.

Agency and autonomy in Kant's moral theory

Abstract: 1. Kant's Theory of Moral Sensibility: Respect for the Moral Law and the Influence of Inclination 2. Hedonism, Heteronomy, and Kant's Principle of Happiness 3. The Categorical Imperative and Kant's Conception of Practical Rationality 4. Legislating the Moral Law 5. Autonomy of the Will as the Foundation of Morality 6. Legislating for a Realm of Ends: The Social Dimension of Autonomy 7. Agency and Universal Law 8. Duties to Oneself and Self-Legislation 9. Agency and the Imputation of Consequences in Kant's Ethics

Bioethics: A Systematic Approach

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Morality 3. Moral disagreement 4. Particular Moral Rules and Special Duties 5. Principlism 6. Malady 7. Mental Maladies 8. What Doctors Must Know about Medical Practice 9. Adequate Information, Competence and Coercion 10. Paternalism and Its Justification 11. Death 12. Euthanasia

Citizenship and Identity

Abstract: This thesis argues that pluralism and diversity pose a more fundamental challenge to liberal constitutionalism than is sometimes recognised by liberal political theorists. While the challenges presented by moral pluralism at the philosophical level, and by cultural diversity at the socio-cultural level, have received a great deal of attention in recent political thought, the background within which these themes become salient has not always been fully acknowledged. What is new in the modern world is not so much diversity of lifestyles, but the disintegration of frameworks that traditionally provided an unproblematic basis for political authority. What this modern challenge forces us to confront then, is the idea that ‘the people’ who are subject to law, are also, as citizens, the ultimate source of political authority. I consider in detail the work of two contemporary political theorists who have provided among the most sustained and far-reaching attempts to respond to this challenge, Charles Taylor and Jurgen Habermas. Both make a significant contribution to responding to the contemporary situation of pluralism by taking on board the ‘dialogical’ nature of identity, and the role of the ‘people’ as the ultimate source of political power. However each places a heavy reliance on a privileged standpoint that may shield political judgement from the full implications of modern pluralism: Habermas, by appealing to ‘post-conventional morality’ and Taylor, by appealing to an incipient teleology.

The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe

Abstract: The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe. Erica Bornstein. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005. 213 pp.

Moral economy and cultural work

Abstract: While the ‘culturalization’ of the economy has led some to welcome the ‘turn to life’ (Heelas, 2002) and anticipate the remoralization of economic activity, others argue the cultural turn is conducive only to consolidating neo-liberalism's characteristic demoralization of economic relations.The cultural industries, as a leading sector of the culturalized economy, are seen to be particularly culpable in this respect, offering the illusion of freedom, but actually eroding the ethical basis of work through tendencies for individuation and exploitation. Building on the recent renewal of interest in ‘moral economy’, this article argues that claims for the demoralization of cultural industries may be premature. Empirical evidence is presented from interviews with cultural entrepreneurs in Manchester, UK, to reveal how social and political values are biographically important and made evident in the routine context of work. The conclusion offers that individualization may provide some opportunity to re-establish ...

The Definition of Lying

Abstract: Few moral questions have greater bearing on the conduct of our everyday lives than questions about the morality of lying. These questions are also important for ethical theory. An important test of any theory of right and wrong is whether it gives an adequate account of the morality of lying. Conceptual questions about the nature of lying are prior to questions about the moral status of lying. Any theory about the moral status of lying presupposes an account of what lying is. This paper proposes and defends a definition of lying. My definition is preferable to the other definitions I examine, and the shortcomings of these other definitions motivate my definition. Three features of my definition are noteworthy. First, I argue that standard dictionary definitions overlook a necessary condition of lying, namely, that the liar cannot believe that the statement she makes is true. Second, contrary to most standard definitions, I argue that lying does not require that the liar intends to deceive others. Third, I hold that in order to tell a lie, one must make a statement that one warrants to be true.

Toward a Reconstruction of Medical Morality

Abstract: At the center of medical morality is the healing relationship. It is defined by three phenomena: the fact of illness, the act of profession, and the act of medicine. The first puts the patient in a vulnerable and dependent position; it results in an unequal relationship. The second implies a promise to help. The third involves those actions that will lead to a medically competent healing decision. But it must also be good for the patient in the fullest possible sense. The physician cannot fully heal without giving the patient an understanding of alternatives such that he or she can freely arrive--together with the physician--at a decision in keeping with his or her personal morality and values. In today's pluralistic society, universal agreement on moral issues between physicians and patients is no longer possible. Nevertheless, a reconstruction of professional ethics based on a new appreciation of what makes for a true healing relationship between patient and physician is both possible and necessary.

Character Psychology and Character Education

Abstract: This collection of essays provides new perspectives on the nature of character and moral education by utilizing insights from the disciplines of moral psychology, moral philosophy, and education. The volume draws from personality and developmental research as well as educational and ethical theory. Character Psychology and Character Education distinguishes itself by bringing moral philosophers, who believe that ethical reflection about virtue and character must be tied to defensible notions of personality and selfhood, into dialogue with academic psychologists, who believe that the developmental study of the moral self requires adequate grounding in various psychological literatures. The first group embraces a "naturalized" ethics, while the second group favors a "psychologized" morality. Among the topics explored in this volume are the constructs of moral selfhood, personality, and identity, as well as defensible models of character education. One of the primary arguments of the volume is that problems of character education cannot be addressed until an adequate model of character psychology is developed. In addition to the excellent theoretical essays, this collection includes applied chapters that consider the challenge of character education in the context of schools, families, and organized sports. This book will be an invaluable resource both for scholars and practitioners in the fields of psychology and education.

The Internal Morality of Contracting: Advancing the Contractualist Endeavor in Business Ethics

Abstract: Integrative social contracts theory is arguably the most promising theory of business ethics to date, but often criticized for its inability to produce substantive, action-guiding norms. Rather than importing moral substance from outside the contractualist framework, or abandoning contractualist business ethics (CBE) altogether, we seek to advance CBE by exploring the internal morality of contracting. We demonstrate that substantive norms for guiding and constraining business conduct can be produced without relying on premises from outside the contractualist framework.