Showing papers on "Value (ethics) published in 1991"

Handbook of motivation and cognition : foundations of social behavior

Abstract: The apparent success of cognitive principles in accounting for several behaviors has led social psychologists to question the need for motivations and other "hot" dispositional constructs. In their place, they postulate nonmotivational "cold" cognitions. Behavioral variations between individuals are thus reduced to differences in information processing abilities, while biases and other apparently motivated behaviors are explained on the "faulty computer" model. However, as many cognitive psychologists now acknowledge this mechanistic theory fails to tie the processing of information to the performance of actions. In a creative attempt to bridge this gap, the editors and investigators have begun to challenge the prevailing hot/cold, either/or dichotomy. Instead, they propose the "warm look" - a synergistic approach to the roles of "hot" motivations and "cold" cognitions in the production of behavior. In their view, neither one alone is sufficient to explain social phenomena. In fact, outside of theory, the two are inseparable. This comprehensive handbook attempts an integration of contrasting approaches to behavior discusses the dual contributions of cognition and motivation to affective states, the development and evaluation of the self, and the setting and attainment of goals. Central themes include the notion of different public and private selves forming distinct influences on motivational behavior; the key role of affect in mediating social information processing; and the differences between informational and affective value, or between behavior geared to finding out versus behavior prompted by a desire to feel good. While much remains to be learned about the complex interplay of motivation and cognition, these studies demonstrate that the two can no longer be treated as separate, unrelated factors. Subjective states and goals clearly influence information processing, while the acquisition of information alters affect and behavior. An ambitious and original attempt to bridge the gap between thought and action, the Handbook is an indispensable reference for all social cognitive and developmental psychologists, investigators of personality and motivation, and advanced students in these areas.

Institutional Change and the Transformation of Interorganizational Fields: An Organizational History of the U.S. Radio Broadcasting Industry

Abstract: ? 1991 by Cornell University. 0001 -8392/91/3603-0333/$1 .00. The research reported here explores how institutional practices change over time in an interorganizational field, in the historical context of the U.S. radio broadcasting industry. It identifies three endogenous mechanisms of change: analogies that are used to make sense of and manage new phenomena, private agreements between identifiable parties, and conventions, the practices adopted by some constituents to solve coordination problems. The use of each mechanism is associated with the nature of the goods transacted within a field and triggers change in established practices as actors attempt to realize value from their transactions. After describing each mechanism as found in the radio broadcasting industry, we focus our historical analysis on conventions. It reveals that conventions were introduced into the broadcasting field by fringe players to deal with shifting coordination problems and competitive pressures. Once they were adopted by the central players, these conventions transformed the organization of the industry by changing the basis of transactions and became its new institutional practices. We conclude that the organization of a field is not permanent, but is contingent upon institutionalized definitions of what is being transacted.

On merging identity theory and stress research

Abstract: In this paper I develop and discuss the concept of «identity-relevant stressors.» Identities refer to individuals' conceptions of themselves in terms of the social roles that they enact (e.g., spouse, parent, worker, churchgoer, friend). An identity-relevant experience is one that threatens or, alternatively, enhances an identity that the individual values highly; identity-irrelevant experiences occur in roles that the individual does not value highly. This concept can help solve a problem in the stress literature, namely the inability of stress theory to account parsimoniously for social status differences in psychological distress

A Theory of Value

Abstract: Although ethics and axiology are closely related to each other and sometimes overlap, they are normally still considered two separate subareas of philosophy. However, in utilitarianism, since the principle of utility asserts that the ultimate criterion for morality is maximal utility, the essence of utilitarianism finally reduces to the maximization of aggregate or social utility, which, as I interpret it, is a function of values. Furthermore, in the unified utilitarian theory, “good” is used to describe what has a positive value. Therefore value theory is not only related to moral philosophy, but also becomes the basis of moral judgments.

Risk and Rationality: Philosophical Foundations for Populist Reforms

Abstract: Only ten to twelve percent of Americans would voluntarily live within a mile of a nuclear plant or hazardous waste facility. But industry spokespersons claim that such risk aversion represents ignorance and paranoia, and they lament that citizen protests have delayed valuable projects and increased their costs. Who is right? In "Risk and Rationality", Kristin Shrader-Frechette argues that neither charges of irresponsible endangerment nor countercharges of scientific illiteracy frame the issues properly. She examines the debate over methodological norms for risk evaluation and finds analysts arrayed in a spectrum.Points of view extend from cultural relativists who believe that any risk can be justified (since no rational standards are ultimately possible) to naive positivists who believe that risk evaluation can be objective, neutral, and value free. Both camps, she argues, are wrong, because risk evaluation as a social process is rational and objective, even though all risk-evaluation rules are value-laden. Shrader-Frechette defends a middle position called "scientific proceduralism". She shows why extremist views are unreliable, reveals misconceptions underlying current risk-evaluation methods and strategies, and sketches the reforms needed to set hazard assessment and risk evaluation on a publicly defensible foundation. These reforms involve mathematical, economic, ethical, and legal procedures.They constitute a new paradigm for assessment when acceptance of public hazards is rational, recognizing that laypersons are often more rational in their evaluation of societal risks than either experts or governments have acknowledged. Such reforms would provide citizens with more influence in risk decisions and focus on mediating ethical conflicts, rather than seeking to impose the will of experts. Science, she argues, need not preclude democracy.

Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection

Abstract: Our lives are given shape, meaning and value by what we hold dear, by those persons and life projects to which we are especially committed. This implies that when we act we must give a special place to those persons (typically our family and friends) and those projects. But, according to consequentialism classically conceived, the rightness and wrongness of an action is determined by the action's consequences considered impartially, without reference to the agent whose actions they are consequences of. It is the nature of any particular consequence that matters, not the identity of the agent responsible for the consequence. It seems then that consequentialism is in conflict with what makes life worth living. I take this to be one part of Bernard Williams's well-known attack on consequentialism.' One way to reply to it would be to break the implicit connection between acting morally and living a life worth living. Doing what is morally right or morally required is one thing; doing what makes life worth living is another. Hence, runs the reply, it is no refutation of a moral theory that doing as it enjoins would rob life of its shape and meaning. This is a chilling reply and I will say no more about it. My reply will be that consequentialism-properly understood-is perfectly compatible with the right actions for a person being in many cases actions directed toward achieving good consequences for those persons and projects that the agent holds dear. Consequentialism, I will argue, can make plausible sense of the moral agent having and giving expression in action to a special place for family, friends, colleagues, chosen projects, and so on and so forth.

Everyday reasoning and the roots of intelligence

Abstract: Be reasonable! That familiar imperative serves as just one reminder of the value we vest in people's rational conduct of their own lives and their dealings with others We want ourselves and those with whom we interact to make sound decisions that reflect thoughtful exploration of the alternatives and the factors that recommend one over another We want to eschew silly, hasty, and misguided beliefs in favor of a sound picture of the world Although we may, on occasion, want to take a little fling and do something unreasonable, on the whole we all want to be reasonable

Value-Free Science?: Purity and Power in Modern Knowledge

Abstract: Preface Introduction. The Dilemma of Science Policy Part One. "Pure Science" and the Baconian Critique 1. The Cosmos as Construct 2. Baconian Caveats, Royalist Compromise 3. The Devalorization of Being 4. Secondary Qualities and Subjective Value Part Two. The Politics of Neutrality in German Social Theory 5. The German University and the Research Ideal 6. Empirical Science and Specialized Expertise 7. The Werturteilsstreit, or Controversy Over Values 8. The Social Context of German Social Science 9. Neutral Marxism 10. Max Weber and Wertfreie Wissenschaft Part Three. The Legacy of Neutrality: Positivism and Its Critics 11. Catholicism Without Christianity 12. Logical Positivism 13. Positive Economics 14. Emotivist Ethics 15. Social Theory of Science 16. Realism Versus Moralism 17. Critiques of Science Conclusion. Neutrality as Myth, Mask, Shield, and Sword Notes Bibliography Index

Strategy and Choice

Abstract: From the coalition's desert showdown with Saddam Hussein to the dieter's duel with himself in the midnight kitchen, strategic choices determine destinies. These essays by wellknown scholars - economists, psychologists, philosophers, and political scientists, inspired by master strategist Thomas Schelling - present the most significant recent advances in strategic choice theory. In activities ranging from gift giving to political wheeling and dealing, men and women strive ingeniously - though sometimes counterproductively - to secure desired outcomes. But as this book makes clear' the fundamental questions for strategy continually reappear: What factors motivate individuals' values and actions? What principles guide effective bargaining? How can incentives and decision processes be structured to yield desirable collective outcomes? In three parts, the book addresses many-player, fewplayer, and one-player situations. The first takes up questions such as: What outcomes result when an individual's welfare depends on comparisons with the situation of others? Under what circumstances do we expect many-player outcomes to at least resemble participants' desired outcomes? The second asks how we can build trust, distinguish between gifts and bribes, make commitments credible, or employ third parties to improve our bargaining position. The final part of the book focuses on the struggle of the individual decision maker. How does the recollected past influence one's evaluation of the present? How can we cope with errors in decision making? When should we rely on rules and principles, as opposed to the careful weighing of alternatives prescribed by the theory of rational choice? And - the most ethically challenging question - how shall we value human life?

Altruism and the value of other people's safety

Abstract: This article considers the manner in which people's altruistic concern for other people's safety should be incorporated in willingness-to-pay based values of statistical life and safety. It is shown that, within a utilitarian framework, the traditional prescription that such values should take full account of people's willingness to pay for others' safety is validif andonly if altruism is exclusivelysafety-focused, in the sense that whilei is concerned forj's safety, he is quite indifferent to other determinants ofj's utility.

The ethic of care: leisure possibilities and constraints for women.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and an interpretive framework for examining the “ethic of care” (i.e., the activity of relationships) as it offers possibilities and constraints for the leisure of women. The explanatory implications of the ethic of care are useful in further understanding antecedent and intervening constraints to leisure as well as understanding the empowering possibilities of leisure for women. The paper uses a feminist framework to address the concept of an ethic of care, the ways that the ethic has been embodied in leisure behavior for women primarily within the family, the link between an ethic of care and constraints to leisure for women, and the possibilities for the value of an ethic of care in the leisure of all individuals. In describing the experiences of women, the ethic of care is not meant to further dichotomize males and females in leisure but to offer an explanation of women's leisure and to provide some ideas that require further empirical research.

A solution to the performance appraisal feedback enigma

Abstract: Executive Overview It is hard to dispute the value of the ubiquitous formal performance appraisal programs used in almost all large organizations. In theory, these programs should serve important organizational objectives. Each employee should be evaluated at least annually and be given feedback to communicate how he or she is performing. In practice, however, most managers find these feedback interviews distasteful. Unless constrained by some sort of administrative pressure, like a subordinate sign-off requirement, managers are likely to ignore the responsibility. The traditional manager-to-subordinate performance appraisal feedback interview is becoming anachronistic in our culture. The appraisal feedback interview is a very authoritarian procedure—a parent-child type of exchange. Most modern organizations are moving away from authoritarian management toward an involvement-oriented working environment. A performance review discussion based on the subordinate's self review fits an involvement-oriented cl...

Social responsibility, individualism, and redistributive policies

Abstract: Previous research supports the “consensus on individualism” hypothesis, which holds that most Americans value hard work and self-reliance, perceive an open opportunity structure, and as a result, oppose redistributive policies, whether targeted by race or designed to help the poor in general. In contrast, this paper shows that one form of egalitarianism, a sense of social responsibility, remains a potent American value. Factor analysis of 18 stratification belief items from the 1984 General Social Survey results in two dimensions—one involving social responsibility and the other economic individualism. Social responsibility is the more powerful predictor of redistributive policy attitudes. Individuals who place a higher priority on social responsibility than on individualism are more likely than those with the opposite priorities to support redistributive policies, but are also disproportionately low income, black, and less politically active. These results suggest that economic individualism appears a hegemonic value in the United States partly because of the lack of political influence and low socioeconomic status of those most committed to social responsibility beliefs.

Six Or So Things You Can Do with a Bad Model

Abstract: Many models used in policy or systems analysis either cannot be validated in any fully adequate sense, such as by comparing them with actual data, or could adequately be validated but have not been. For example, in the area of combat analysis, the central models are arguably almost entirely unvalidated and most will never be susceptible to adequate validation. Nevertheless, such models are often used and can be used fruitfully, even though we have no theory for how to use them or how to interpret and place value on the results they produce. This paper takes a step toward providing such a theory by focusing on the logic that should govern the use of inadequately validated models and the costs and benefits of using them. To this end, it identifies and evaluates six legitimate uses to which such models can be put.

The Social, Economic, and Environmental Costs of Tourism to a Gaming Community as Perceived By Its Residents

Abstract: Residents' and entrepreneurs' attitudes were studied in Deadwood, South Dakota, with respect to the impact of tourism on the economy, social structure, employment opportunities, lifestyle, and environment of the community. The value of tourism is recognized, and the impact of re-introduction of gambling is acknowledged by both groups.

Business Ethics and Extant Social Contracts

Abstract: Extant social contracts, deriving from communities of individuals, constitute a significant source of ethical norms in business. When found consistent with general ethical theories through the application of a filtering test, these real social contracts generate prima facie duties of compliance on the part of those who expressly or impliedly consent to the terms of the social contract, and also on the part of those who take advantage of the instrumental value of the social contracts. Businesspeople typically participate in multiple communities and, as a consequence, encounter conflicting ethical norms. Priority rules can be devised to resolve such conflicts. The framework of extant social contracts merges normative and theoretical research in business ethics and specifies a domain for empirical studies.

"Fear of a Black Planet": Rap Music and Black Cultural Politics in the 1990s.

Abstract: Popular wisdom regarding rap's (or Hip Hop's) political development sustains that rap music was not always political. It began as an apolitical "party music" with limited social relevance. For many observers, the advent of the group Public Enemy (PE) marked the emergence of rap as a political cultural form; PE as a point of enlightenment, as it were. The success of their "A Nation of Millions" (1988), ushered in a new rap aesthetic: gold chains are out, African medallions in; pride in oneself is pride in Black unity. Rap fans still believe in the power of "boomin' systems" and "gettin' funky," but they have attended to PE rapper Chuck D's advice to "move somethin"' and "own somethin'," too. Clearly, Public Enemy marked a significant break in rap's dominant discursive terrain. Prior to the emergence of group members Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X, Professor Griff, and the S1-Ws, party-oriented funkateers like Run DMC, The Fat Boys, and Whodini dominated the commercial rap scene. Even Run DMC's frustrated and renunciatory 1983 hit "It's Like That" is a far cry from Public Enemy's resistive and emancipatory 1989 anthem "Fight the Power." Lyrically, rap's thematic territory has grown more complex and direct. Public Enemy's success opened the door to more politically and racially explicit material, some of which has made important interventions while other material seems dedicated solely to its potential sales value. While a shift in rap's political articulations did take place, confining the definition of the cultural politics of rap to lyrical content addresses only the most obvious and explicit facet of the politics of Black cultural expression. To dismiss rappers who do not choose so-called "political" subjects as "having no politically resistive meaning" requires ignoring the complex web of institutional policing to which all rappers are subject. Rap's cultural politics lies not only in its lyrical expression but in the nature and character of its journey through the institutional and discursive territories of popular culture. As is the case for cultural production generally, the politics of rap music involves the contestation over public space, expressive meaning, interpretation, and cultural capital. In short, it is not just what one says, it is where one can say it, how others

Adding a competitive dimension to importance-performance analysis: an application to traditional health care systems.

Abstract: This study introduced an extension of importance-performance analysis by further including the performance of competitors. It demonstrated its value by applying it to a national sample of fee-for-service health care users. This study found that inappropriate strategies may result from importance-performance analysis that excludes a dimension of competition. In particular, the two attributes, availability of both physicians and emergency services, were found to be "high" on importance and "good" on fee-for-service performance. From the basic classic importance-performance approach, a relatively passive strategy would be recommended for each of these attributes. When also considering competition, however, a more appropriate, vigorous strategy of head-to-head competition clearly emerges.

Social Dilemmas, Economic Self-Interest, and Evolutionary Theory

Abstract: Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” passage is one of the most quoted in social theory. It reads: As every individual, therefore, endeavors as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.

Questioning the Value of Punishment

Abstract: The author critically examines and rejects the claim that physical punishments lead to aggression through the acceptance of norms of violence. She proposes an alternate theory to account for how children acquire norms and why they become violent. The proposed Construct Theory explains why abused, neglected, and rejected children—as well as those who are punished—tend to become anti-social.

Chaos, History, and Narrative

Abstract: In philosophy of history, logical empiricism has aged no better than it has in philosophy of science. While philosophers of history continue to respond to Carl Hempel's proposal of some fifty years ago -that history revise its methods and enter the big league of science proper -few, if any, earnestly wave the banner of "covering-law" history.I While some, such as Arthur Danto and Maurice Mandelbaum, have tinkered with Hempel's deductive model of historical explanation and granted it some value, almost all reject the essentialist claim behind Hempel's proposal that, strictly speaking, the only explanation (scientific, historical, or other) is a deductive-nomological explanation. Louis Mink and Paul Roth, for instance, both endorse a pluralism in historical epistemology which holds that accounts of events need not answer to any singular and supreme model of explanation.3 But this pluralism has no particular fondness for covering-law history; the most general trend in recent philosophy of history has been to exalt the epistemic powers of narrative. Mink has called it "a primary cognitive instrument."4 W. B. Gallie and Robert Richards have even relegated covering laws and deductive explanation to incidental and justificatory roles in historical accounts.5 The real vehicle of historical knowledge, they maintain, is narration.

Ethical Issues in Social Work: Toward a Grounded Theory of Professional Ethics

Abstract: SOCIAL WORK exists because society is concerned about the vulnerable, the disenfranchised, the isolated, and the suffering. Most social services are carried out through orga nizations that structure and focus the actions of staff and that represent socie ty's concern for the needy (Jansson, 1988). The community entrusts power to social workers and others in such programs to use its resources and to implement delivery of services with caring and integrity (Leiby, 1978). Social workers are responsible for weighing the activities that should and should not be performed, deciding on the best uses of a community's limited resources, and discerning just and unjust procedures and policies to guide daily decisions (Reamer, 1982). Issues faced by social workers often involve questions of "what ought to be" in addition to "what is the case." Thus, ethical criteria and value judgments are core components of staff decision making, even if not often made ex plicit. Although facts and skills are im portant, ethical judgments cannot be dealt with on the grounds of factual in formation or professional skill alone, regardless of their scope or refinement (Rhodes, 1986). In an effort to properly handle ethical dilemmas, social workers should not ignore their own or the clients' present circumstances or worker alternatives and resources for action. However, such issues as the fair allocation of scarce resources, limitations on disclosing in formation about clients or consumers, just resolution of conflicting claims, or the appropriate role of the professional in guiding and limiting client choices are problems that are primarily ethical. Information and skill are not sufficient to solve them. These issues require thoughtful analysis in the context of participants' values and commitments. Thomas P. Holland Allie C. Kilpatrick

The use of meditation in psychotherapy: a review of the literature.

Abstract: This article has explored research to date concerning the efficacy of introducing meditation into the therapeutic setting. I have presented the views of proponents and critics of the relaxation model of meditation and of theories describing the cognitive changes brought about by meditation--for example, Deikman's theory of the deautomatization of consciousness and Delmonte's view that meditation may be utilized to bring about "ascendence," "descendence," and "transcendence." After summarizing psychoanalytic and Jungian arguments against meditation, the writings of several transpersonal psychologists have been cited to demonstrate the differences in how psychotherapy and meditative disciplines conceptualize personal identity, work with unconscious material, and view the experience of emptiness. I conclude that the question of whether meditation should be used in therapy can be answered only by considering what therapeutic goals are being sought in a particular instance and whether or not meditation can reasonably be expected to facilitate achievement of those goals. Meditation may, in some cases, be compatible with, and effective in, promoting the aims of psychotherapy--for example, cognitive and behavioral change, or access to the deep regions of the personal unconscious. In other cases, it may be strongly contraindicated, especially when the therapeutic goal is to strengthen ego boundaries, release powerful emotions, or work through complex relational dynamics--ends which may be more effectively reached through standard psychotherapeutic methods than through meditation. Meditation may be of great value, however, through its capacity to awaken altered states of consciousness that may profoundly reorient an individual's identity, emotional attitude, and sense of wellbeing and purpose in life.

Gender and values : what is the impact on decision making?

Abstract: In this study we investigated C. Gilligan's [(1982), In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press] suggestion that women and men, due to socialization, develop differently in terms of moral development [L. Kohlberg (1969), “Stage and Consequence: The Cognitive Development Approach to Socialization,” In D. G. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research, Chicago: Rand McNally]. We also considered whether men and women differ in terms of a related construct, values of equity and equality [K. A. Rasinski (1987), “What's Fair Is Fair or Is It? Value Differences Underlying Public Views About Social Justice,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 53, pp. 201–211]. It is our expectation that gender influences overall orientation in terms of the two sets of values, and that differences in values lead decision makers to weigh decision issues and to make final decisions differently. Results suggest that there are some gender-related differences in value systems, weights of decision issues, and final decisions.

The Teaching of Values: Caring and Appreciation

Abstract: I. Introduction II. The Moral and the Ethical: Moral Kind of Value A Vote on the School Ethos of Yesteryear A Look at Research on Early Moral Development Recent Moral Education Pro-Social Education The Political Dimension Lifelong Development The Relevance of Personality Happiness and Living Well III. The Aesthetics: The Aesthetic Kind of Value The Truth Value in Art Art as Communication Expression and Embodiment Appreciation IV. Relations of the Ethical and the Aesthetic: Literature as Ethical Ethical Development Through Writing V. Other Great Values: The Value of Knowledge Values in Work The Crowning Values of Friendship and Love.

A view of geography

Abstract: What is the intellectual character and core of geography? An answer, from a broadly humanist viewpoint, that may satisfy the genuinely curious and literate public lies in the definition of the field as the study of the earth as the home of people. Home is the key, unifying word for all the principal subdivisions of geography, because home, in the large sense, is physical, economic, psycho- logical, and moral; it is the whole physical earth and a specific neighborhood; it is constraint and freedom-place, location, and space. COLLEAGUES in other disciplines have asked me, out of genuine curi- osity, What is geography? and, specifically, How do you consider what you do geography? It may be that other geographers have been so questioned, although I suspect that those of us who work at the extreme human end of the field are especially likely to be approached. My reply naturally reflects my own line of work. I have tried, however, to embed what I have called "a view of geography" in the broadest possible context so that it can be of interest not only to geographers but also to scholars in other disciplines and, more generally, to the literate public. What I state here makes no appeal to geography's usefulness to society in the narrow sense: everyone by now knows or should know that "places and their products" are an integral part of every modern citizen's education. I wish to satisfy well-read and thoughtful persons who, having already accepted the field's practical value, would like to be better acquainted with its intellectual core. I start with a definition popular during the late 1940s and early 1950s: geography is the study of the earth as the home of people. I like this definition for a number of reasons, one of which is that it makes immediately clear that geography, for all the technical sophistication of its specialized subfields, is not remote or esoteric knowledge but rather a basic human concern. Humans everywhere seek to understand the nature of their home. When this understanding is articulated in words or as sketches and maps, however primitive, it constitutes geography. So long as humans exist, there will always be such understanding-such geographies (Sauer 1956). EARTH

The Influence of Other's Morality and Own Social Value Orientation on Cooperation in the Netherlands and the U.S.A.

Abstract: The present study examines a two-person social dilemma characterised by the conflict between the pursuit of own benefits and collective benefits. The main purpose is twofold: (1) to examine the effect of perceptions of one person's morality (e.g. honesty) on expected cooperation from another and own cooperation, and (2) to examine whether pre-existing differences between individuals in their social value orientation, or preferences for certain patterns of outcomes to self and others (McClintock, 1978), would modify these effects of other's morality. As predicted on the basis of the Might over Morality hypothesis (Liebrand. Jansen et al., 1986), it was found that considerably more cooperation was expected from one perceived as highly moral than from another perceived as low on morality. Contrary to a second Might over Morality prediction, however, this effect was not moderated by individual differences in social value orientation. In addition, it was found that subjects with pro-social value orien...

Ethics and the environment.

Abstract: Today the effect upon the environment have moral implications. In order to establish a list of priorities for human conduct it is necessary to understand the value of our own human lives and the value of our ecosystem. Different schools of thought have different priorities that they each try to support. The technocratic individualist (TI) believes that the end of progress and economic expansion justifies any means. This attitude leads to the exploitation of the earth and violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics. It leaves the planet bare and lifeless. Current methods employed by the TIs are based on consumptive methods that extract what is needed without any concern for the future. the TIs methods result in the tragedy of the commons in which the common people are exploited for the benefit of an elite few. The environmental holist (EH) claims that we must abandon the anthropocentric ethics of the TIs; however the EHs suffer from both scientific and ethical problems. If we do as the EHS say and respect all life we can not eat fight disease or build shelter. Further if we value ourselves equally with the rest of the ecosystem then we could easily justify violating human rights and decent conduct in an effort of avoid doing harm in the ecosystem. The best compromise between these 2 extremes lies in contract ethics. Because we benefited from the people of the past we have an obligation through a social contract to the people of the future. The last element of an acceptable list of priorities of conduct lies in the distinction between strong and weak rights. Strong rights are those necessary for our survival weak rights are those that give our lives meaning. Thus our ethical priorities should be: (1) duty to recognize strong human rights: (2) duty to protect environmental interests; (3) duty to recognize weak human rights.

Free Expression and Personal Idenification

Abstract: Freedom of expression is a liberal puzzle.' Liberals are all convinced of its vital importance, yet why it deserves this importance is a mystery. The source of the problem is simple. While a person's right to freedom of expression is given high priority, and is protected (or, in political morality, is held to deserve protection) to a far greater degree than a person's interest in having employment, or in not running a risk of an accident when driving along public roads, it is evident that most people value these interests, and many others which do not enjoy special legal protection, much more than they value their right to free expression. Worse still, there can be little doubt that most people are right not to value their right to free expression highly. With few exceptions people's interest in their right to free expression is rather small. The right of freedom of expression protects people's freedom to communicate in public. 'Communication' is to be understood broadly to include much more than the communication of propositional information. It includes any act of symbolic expression undertaken with the intention that it be understood to be that by the public or part of the public. Thus communication here covers not only all the forms of language-dependent communication but also pictorial and musical communication, and a whole range of symbolic acts such as picketing, displaying banners, wearing uniform. It does not cover acts of expression which are not convention-based symbolic expression such as blushing, or expressing anger at one's competitor's success by setting fire to his shop.2 Furthermore, to be protected communication has to be public, ie addressed to or made available