Social cognitive theory of morality

About: Social cognitive theory of morality is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5842 publications have been published within this topic receiving 250337 citations.

Exemplarist virtue theory

Abstract: In this essay I outline a radical kind of virtue theory I call ‘‘exemplarism,’’ which is foundational in structure but which is grounded in exemplars of moral goodness, direct reference to which anchors all the moral concepts in the theory. I compare several different kinds of moral theory by the way they relate the concepts of the good, a right act, and a virtue. In the

Moral Development and Moral Education

Abstract: Convincing people that moral education deserves a high place on the public-school agenda was once an uphill battle, but now American advocates of moral education are surrounded by an embarrassment of supportive evidence. Fresh scandals break with such numbing regularity that the list grows almost too long to remember: Watergate, international sabotage by the CIA, domestic spying by the FBI, assorted corruption in Congress, routine bribery in big business, widespread fraud in Medicare, another rash of cheating at a military academy, reports of premed students destroying each other’s lab work, and steady increases in almost every category of crime.

Life and death decision making

Abstract: This book demonstrates that moral reasoning can provide practical help in making judgements about how to handle particular clinical cases. It clearly explains the way in which conflicting moral considerations must be taken into account in medical decision-making and how their weight can be increased or decreased by specific factors. One of the book's greatest strengths is the cases - forty, all based on actual cases the author has encountered - which are constructed to convey the complexities of real-life support cases. They are difficult cases whose presentation and discussion will challenge readers, clarify the ethical issues involved, and indicate how theory and practice can be integrated. The first four chapters deal with moral theory, the last three chapters present cases and apply theory to their resolution. The author's approach is pluralistic in that it supposes that there are many different moral appeals that are irreducible to each other, often in conflict with each other, and yet necessary to complement each other. It is casuistical in that it attends to the range of differences between particular cases and attempts to apply appropriately the different moral appeals to particular cases in different ways.

Beyond Prejudice: The Moral Significance of Human and Nonhuman Animals

Abstract: In Beyond Prejudice , Evelyn B. Pluhar defends the view that any sentient conative being—one capable of caring about what happens to him or herself—is morally significant, a view that supports the moral status and rights of many nonhuman animals. Confronting traditional and contemporary philosophical arguments, she offers in clear and accessible fashion a thorough examination of theories of moral significance while decisively demonstrating the flaws in the arguments of those who would avoid attributing moral rights to nonhumans. Exposing the traditional view—which restricts the moral realm to autonomous, fully fledged "persons"—as having horrific implications for the treatment of many humans, Pluhar goes on to argue positively that sentient individuals of any species are no less morally significant than the most automomous human. Her position provides the ultimate justification that is missing from previous defenses of the moral status of nonhuman animals. In the process of advancing her position, Pluhar discusses the implications of determining moral significance for children and "abnormal" humans as well as its relevance to population policies, the raising of animals for food or product testing, decisions on hunting and euthanasia, and the treatment of companion animals. In addition, the author scrutinizes recent assertions by environmental ethicists that all living things or that natural objects and ecosystems be considered highly morally significant. This powerful book of moral theory challenges all defenders of the moral status quo—which decrees that animals decidedly do not count—to reevaluate their convictions.

The Moral Background: An Inquiry into the History of Business Ethics

Abstract: In recent years, many disciplines have become interested in the scientific study of morality. However, a conceptual framework for this work is still lacking. In The Moral Background, Gabriel Abend develops just such a framework and uses it to investigate the history of business ethics in the United States from the 1850s to the 1930s. According to Abend, morality consists of three levels: moral and immoral behavior, or the behavioral level; moral understandings and norms, or the normative level; and the moral background, which includes what moral concepts exist in a society, what moral methods can be used, what reasons can be given, and what objects can be morally evaluated at all. This background underlies the behavioral and normative levels; it supports, facilitates, and enables them. Through this perspective, Abend historically examines the work of numerous business ethicists and organizations—such as Protestant ministers, business associations, and business schools—and identifies two types of moral background. “Standards of Practice” is characterized by its scientific worldview, moral relativism, and emphasis on individuals’ actions and decisions. The “Christian Merchant” type is characterized by its Christian worldview, moral objectivism, and conception of a person’s life as a unity. The Moral Background offers both an original account of the history of business ethics and a novel framework for understanding and investigating morality in general.