Moral Ideas Research Articles

White Violence and Spectral Blackness in Don DeLillo’s Zero K

Don DeLillo’s work is often framed as a visionary and ethical reflection on contemporary crises. Such reception redoubles an idea of white American farsightedness and morality that is already embedded in many of DeLillo’s stories—most recently in his 2016 novel Zero K . The following article challenges celebratory rhetoric surrounding this narrative both in terms of how texts work to position DeLillo in the line of American writers who address and thus metaphorically dismantle social evils, and how these texts enable visions of American heroism and transcendence despite and due to narrative exclusions, politics of exclusion, and repeated legitimization of white supremacy. I signal towards long-disregarded anti-blackness in DeLillo’s oeuvre, and consider some of its pronunciations in Zero K. I thus analyze some of the techniques and technologies through which DeLillo’s novel prolongs narratives of white supremacy.

Exploring the Vastness of design space for greener solutions using a quality approach

Abstract Chemistry and biology constitute Vast and/or infinite design spaces which can be used by scientists and engineers to generate new and ever more complex chemical molecules and other structures having new emergent properties. A Vanishingly small proportion of those new molecules can generate even more complexity and new emergent properties by interacting with other molecules, bio-molecules, or complex collections of biomolecules. Large degrees of unpredictability reign throughout that Vastness, as well as in the Environment, and human society and behavior. Yet Life, the Earth’s ecosystem, consciousness, and civilized human societies evolved from simpler systems, despite the Vastness and unpredictability. Green Chemistry and Engineering emerged over the last few decades from an evolutionary search for new processes and products for the benefit of humans and the planet that are both economically viable and do less harm to the Environment. The author, who originally conceived, in 1984, the BHC Ibuprofen Process that won one of the very first Presidential Green Chemistry Awards, was inspired and guided in significant part by the “Quality” philosophy, teachings and methods of W. Edwards Deming. Deming’s Quality philosophy and methods adapt the empirical/reductionist perspectives and approaches of the Scientific Method, to readily integrate holistic, human, and ethical goals, ideas, and perspectives, in order to identify and solve Real-World problems. Deming’s methods include his “PDCA” circles, which, when continuously iterated, can guide scientists, engineers, and their interdisciplinary team-mates as to what to do toward the development and evolution of Real-World processes and products that create little waste, and therefore are both economically and ecologically beneficial, via a process of human guided and human accelerated evolution.

Нравственно-правовые представления, формируемые у младших школьников

The article is devoted to the disclosure of the essence and main characteristics of moral and legal representations formed in primary school students. The article reveals the relevance and necessity of forming moral and legal ideas in younger students. The main moral and legal categories (equality, honor, justice, freedom, responsibility, discipline, and child rights) are listed, and their content is disclosed. The functions of moral and legal education are established.

Nothing Else Than Decay: Theodoor van der Schuer’s Allegory of Human Deprivation for Leiden’s Plague Hospital

In 1682, the highly regarded artist Theodoor Cornelisz van der Schuer (1634–1707) painted a canvas for the boardroom of the plague hospital in Leiden. He transformed well-known depictions of the plague to create an image of an unspecified hospital in a timeless setting. More than simply an image of a hospital, the painting is also an allegory of human dependence on God. Focusing on the plague-stricken figure of Charity, the allegory visualizes moral ideas that were disseminated in a 1526 tract on poor relief written by Juan Luis Vives. In the painting, the plague becomes a symbol of human deprivation, and by depicting Charity as a plague victim, van der Schuer projects the idea that humility is an essential part of charity. Since Vives was widely known throughout the seventeenth century, we may assume that his ideas were familiar to the hospital’s regents. And although van der Schuer disguises Charity as a plague victim, visitors to the boardroom probably recognized the personification nevertheless. Images of Charity were ubiquitous, especially in the context of hospitals, where they reflected the actions of the regents donating their time and dedicating their skills to the destitute. In reality, the hospital probably did not ever house plague victims; although the disease remained a constant threat, the institution served different kinds of patients. Combining a scene of the plague with a broad-reaching allegory, the painting proved relevant for decades to come.

Articles 55a and 55b of the IPN Act and the Dialogue about the Holocaust in Poland

Relations between the Holocaust, memory, and law are constantly reconceptualized. In the second decade of the 21st century there is no clear consensus on the way the Holocaust, memory, and law are or should be interconnected, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. A striking example of the new dynamics of those tensions is an amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which in January 2018 inserted Articles 55a and 55b. The paper states that these controversial provisions (later withdrawn) should be understood as specific memory laws in response to the transnational memory of the Holocaust and the non-consensual dialogue on the Jedwabne pogrom in Polish society. The paper shows the law as a result of a certain dialogue, a voice in the dialogue, and an attempt to limit this dialogue – as well as the effects of such limitation. The paper adopts Leszek Koczanowicz’s conception of dialogue, Natan Sznaider’s description of the transnational Holocaust memory, as well as the idea of the future-oriented ethics of never again, and Eviatar Zerubavel’s concept of a conspiracy of silence in order to frame the context and meaning of the emergence, short life, disappearance, and traces of the law. Although these articles “refract” criminalization of the Holocaust and genocide negationism, understood in the context of Polish historical politics, they are themselves close to a specific form of denial, i.e. denial of the Jedwabne massacre. A recollection of the Polish memory law casts a shadow on the future, as a threat exists that the law might appear again.

„Womit aber hatten es dieKinder des Hauses verschuldet, daß er nur für dieKnechte sorgte?“

AbstractIn Schillerʼs On Grace and Dignity of 1794, his critique of the alleged ‘rigorism’ of Kantian ethics is particularly harsh: Kant has developed an ethic for “servants” that suppresses human nature for fear of it and does not reconcile it. The essay attempts to show that this critique is based on Schillerʼs double misunderstanding: a misunderstanding of the Kantian conception and a misunderstanding of its own alternative model. This analysis and interpretation of Schillerʼs critique of Kant’s ethics also leads to the realization that Schillerʼs idea of morality is ultimately more rigid than Kantʼs theory, which was so harshly criticized.

The idea of Europe in a post-European era

ABSTRACT This article discusses the Idea of Europe as it is developed within the phenomenological tradition by Edmund Husserl, Jacques Derrida and Jan Patočka. It shows how Derrida and Patočka try to preserve the main elements of European culture, mainly rationality and openness – in Patočka’s terms ‘the care for the soul’ – while at the same time avoiding Eurocentrism. According to Patočka, the care for the soul has been lost in modernity and needs to be restored in a revival of the idea of Europe in post-European times. In line with Derrida and Patočka, it is argued that in today’s post-European world a dissemination of the ethical idea of Europe is going on that leads beyond the name of ‘Europe,’ searching for new singular articulations, for which a renewal of the old notion of ‘care’ is a good candidate.

Bir Salgın Hastalık ve Etik Düşüncelerin Yükselişi

This Editorial letter is a personal sharing of opinion that the medical problems caused by epidemic Corona disease, which has been a major health problem in the world, will allow new ethical ideas to rise.

Владимир Cоловьев о назначении искусства: актуальные аспекты

The article analyses the final lines of V. Soloviev’s work “The General Sense of Art,” correlating them with the art tendencies of the modern civilization. The author addresses Soloviev’s idea about the transforming role of art in relation to the reality, the real life. It is stated that, in the modern era, within the commercial mass culture domination, the entertaining function of art comes to the forefront. At the same time, an opposing tendency can be observed: a movement towards the all-encompassing unity, understanding of the universal, the priority of common values (the ideas of ecological ethics, common religion, non-violence). The author indicates that the dialectic negation of the negation law is manifested in the history of art, in the realization of its varied functions.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ СИСТЕМЫ ЦЕННОСТЕЙ НА РАЗНЫХ СТАДИЯХ ОНТОГЕНЕЗА

The article analyzes the peculiarities of value system development at different stages of ontogenesis. The stages of the value system formation are considered in accordance with the periods of individual development. The grounds for stadial representation of the value sphere development are singled out. The establishment of the value sphere is disclosed through development and change of a certain type of leading activity. Development factors of the first moral values in infancy and preschool age are defined. It is revealed that the foundations of moral and value ideas laid in the preschool period remain relevant throughout human life. The peculiarities of the value system development in the teenage period are analyzed. Adolescence is characterized as a period of intensive, nonlinear development of the adolescent's value system. At this stage, the main trend is a reorientation from norms and values learned in childhood to the value world of adults. An equally important stage in the development of the personal value system is adolescence. The formation of young people's value system is influenced by three factors: life self-determination, professional self-determination and inclusion in a new social community.

Between Kantian Rationalism and Moral Mysticism: The Search for the Grounding of Morality in the Philosophy of A. Jokubaitis

Although it is common to associate the thought of A. Jokubaitis with political philosophy, this article argues that his texts also allow us to talk about a specific moral philosophy of A. Jokubaitis. At the center of it we find an attempt to articulate and discuss the grounding ideas of morality. The article argues that the first two ideas – an idea of unconditional character of morality and an idea of ontological grounding – are related to Kant’s influence on A. Jokubaitis philosophy. These two ideas allow us to explain morality as an autonomous part of reality, which is different from the empirical one but nonetheless real. This part of reality is grounded in the first-person perspective of a moral subject and can be characterized by implicit normativity and unconditionality. The first-person perspective structures a radically different relation to our reality, which allows us to be agents, not simply spectators. Such an interpretation of Kant allows to associate A. Jokubaitis with his contemporary Kantians, such as Ch. Korsgaard, B. Herman, O. O’Neill, and A. Reath. However, the third idea, the one of a person, which becomes more visible in his book Politinis idiotas, transcends the Kantian conception of practical reason and encourages to perceive morality and its grounding in a much wider context. The concept of a person allows A. Jokubaitis to distance himself from Kantian rationalism and integrate social and mystical aspects of morality, which he has always found important.

From the Avalanche to the Game: White-Collar Offenders on Crime, Bonds and Morality

In order to understand the mechanisms that underlie involvement in white-collar crime on a personal level, 26 offenders convicted of a white-collar offence were interviewed. Building on theory and research from white-collar criminology, life-course criminology and moral psychology, findings show that a combination of criminogenic circumstances, weakened social bonds and adjusted moral ideas lead offenders down different pathways into white-collar offending. Although the process of crime involvement seems highly context-dependent in some instances, the interviews indicate that crime involvement is more commonly part of a long-running process, in which social bonds have weakened or moral ideas have been adjusted, which in turn influenced the decision to engage in the white-collar offence. Along with the limitations of the study and the directions for future research, the paper discusses the implications of the findings for white-collar crime research, in particular the complex role of morality in white-collar crime involvement.

Questões éticas a partir do filme “O clube do imperador”: uma revisão bibliográfica

O filme americano O Clube do Imperador (2002) retrata os dilemas éticos enfrentados por um professor e um aluno em meio a uma escola destinada a filhos da elite estadunidense. A partir de um episódio onde o professor William Hundert desvia-se de sua retidão moral para ajudar o arrogante aluno Sedgewick Bell, filho de um inescrupuloso político, o qual posteriormente vem a trapacear no concurso titulado de “Júlio Cesar”, surge à problemática do ser “ético”, bem como as questões comportamentais e a relação família e escola presentes na formação do caráter do jovem. Tais ideias éticos, aparentemente antagônicas, podem ser aplicadas com sintonia, basta imaginar um ser o qual antes de agir tenha sua conduta pautada no pensar kantiano de estar agindo certo e nesta certeza buscar a felicidade, sua e do próximo, com qualidade. Não se está dizendo que é fácil tal agir, mas é plenamente possível tal conduta.

The ‘pure apples’: Moral bordering within the Kenyan police

This article analyses various police reform initiatives in Kenya as a form of ‘moral bordering’. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Nairobi between 2017 and 2018, I analyse how police officers differentiate themselves from other police officers along (moral) ideas of reform and how this occurs in two divergent, yet interconnected, directions. The first is a process of bordering in: moral bordering occurs internally within the police and reform efforts aim to break down borders among police officers. The second is a process of bordering out: reform initiatives are designed in the urban centre and are aimed at spatially pushing the border externally, away from Nairobi. My approach to reform as moral bordering shows how borders can simultaneously take on disparate dimensions: with bordering in, borders are primarily social and symbolic, and with bordering out, borders take on a more spatial nature. This duality encapsulates the inherent friction that results from reform initiatives simultaneously moving in distinctive directions and differs from much of the (anthropological) work on the state police that analyses how the police themselves either enact borders or act as borders.

PEMBUDAYAAN NILAI-NILAI ISLAMI DALAM MEMBANGUN KARAKTER BANGSA (Studi Kasus di Sekolah Menengah KejuruanNegeri 1 Cimahi)

The purpose of this article is to describe the process of civilizing Islamic values in educational activities in the formal education environment. In theory, formal education institutions are considered effective in cultivating Islamic values for character building for learning citizens. Professional practitioner activities combine constellations of values, goals, sanctions, knowledge and methods that are consistently manifested in the form of certain moral ideas. The operational forms as are expressed in everyday actions with a specified level of system and target. The study was carried out through observation and interviews with purposive participants and also snowballing method. All available information is analyzed qualitatively. The results of this study state that the civilizing of character values in formal education institutions becomes effective because psychologically students will be more obedient, fearful, and reluctant to teachers than parents or the general public. The main key is consistent in the application of rules, evaluation, reward and punishment in applying religious character, moderate, intelligent, independent and nationality which is a benchmark for the successful planting of Islamic values to shape the nation's character. Keywords: Civilization, Education, Islamic Values, Character of the Nation.

Moral and Political Ideology in Georgi Markov’s Sharp Criticism of Bulgarian Totalitarianism

The task of this text by the is to outline the main political and ethical ideas that Georgi Markov (Bulgarian writer and dissident, murdered in exile by the Secret Services) maintains in his constant and often radical criticism towards Bulgaria regime during the years. Italian professor Giuseppe Dell’ Agata’s main point is related to Markov’s unshattered conviction that the Bulgarian regime created by the Communist Party had nothing to do with the communism or the socialism but was simply an example of state capitalism.

Right of access to justice as a principle of criminal process

This article analyzes the controversial issues of attributing the right of access to justice to the principles of criminal process. The author meticulously examines the origin of the right of access to justice in the Article 52 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The subject of this research is the norms of Russian and foreign legislation regulating the right of access to justice in criminal process. The object is the legal relations emerging in implementation of the right of access to justice. The article explores regulation of the right of access to justice in legislation of the Russian Federation and CIS member-states. It is demonstrated that the right of access to justice possesses certain characteristics that allow attributing it to the principles of criminal process: it represents an objective legal category that reflects the dominant in society political, legal and ethical ideas, and is most common legal provision in relation to other norms of law. A conclusion is substantiated that absence of the right of access to justice in criminal procedural legislation is a unique case of a gap in the principle of law.

One Earth, Many Futures, No Destination

Since the first Earth Day 50 years ago, it has become clear that it is easier to generate scientific insight into the ways human systems are altering the planet than it is to redirect those human systems to lessen their planetary impact. At the heart of this conundrum are divergent human values.

Earnings management around Islamic bonds issuance

We examine whether the religious values underlying Islamic bonds influence issuers’ financial reporting behavior. Using a sample of 1316 sukuk tranches issued by publicly listed firms in Malaysia from 2001 to 2014, we find sukuk issuers overstate their earnings in the year preceding sukuk offerings, and in the year subsequent to the offering. We also examine the influence of religious values associated with the parties involved in sukuk issuance on issuers’ earnings management. Our results show that a Muslim-dominated board is associated with less earnings management, supporting the idea of Islamic business ethics.

Women, Pleas and Property Crime: Understanding the Fortunes of Female Petitioners in London, 1819–1840

From a random sample of five-hundred petitions submitted (1819–1840) by felons convicted at the Old Bailey, only thirty-nine were female petitioners. This approximates the female-male felony ratio of convictions for felonious property crimes in London during this period.1 The thirty-nine female petitioners are the focus of this article. In particular, the article examines evidence and arguments suggesting that ideas of morality and social constructions of femininity and masculinity rather than legality most influenced the outcome of their appeals. Second, the article will examine the extent to which elite decision-makers used their ideals of motherhood, marriage status, and chastity to determine both the credibility of appeals and the moral integrity of the petitioners. Third, the article will examine how constructions of respectability were also applied to those who petitioned on behalf of female convicts and whether these ideas influenced the perception of the petitioner as credible. Ultimately, the article will conclude by assessing the degree to which subjective perceptions of petitioners and prisoners as moral or respectable determined who was deemed fit subject of mercy. 1. Peter King, Crime and Law in England 1750–1840 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 172–175.