Moral Foundations Research Articles

How Dramas Featuring Morally Ambiguous Protagonists Increase a Sense of Life Expansion: The Role of Moral Judgment

ABSTRACT Building on moral foundations theory, this article explores which combinations of moral ambiguity domains (care–harm, care–unfairness, fairness–harm, and fairness–unfairness) exhibited by morally ambiguous protagonists (MAPs) in movies evoke a stronger sense of moral conflict in viewers. It further explores viewers’ moral judgment process when they perceive moral conflicts in protagonists who demonstrate moral ambiguity. Study 1, using a measurement-of-mediation design, confirms a moral judgment process; perceived moral conflict encourages viewers to infer that the protagonists suffer a disturbed moral conscience when they find justification in MAPs’ motives for their behaviors. Such inferences lead to the approbation of their behaviors and then result in eudaimonic experiences and a sense of self-expansion. With a moderation-of-process design, Study 2 provides further evidence that behavioral approbation has a mediating role in viewers’ appreciation processes.

Chinese Education Modernization: A Case Study on Ideological and Political Theories Teaching in All Courses with Organic Integration of Cultural Literacy and Political Education

Chinese education modernization is integral to Chinese modernization, and is of leading significance to the further advancement of Chinese modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In this paper, taking ideological and political theories teaching in all courses as an example, an attempt is made to organically integrate cultural literacy and political education under the vision of Chinese education modernization, and “gathers knowledge heritage in the dissemination of value and leads the values in the dissemination of knowledge,” thereby training students into high-caliber talents with good and all-round moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetical, and labor grounding.

Eschatological naturalism and ecological responsibility: Troubling some assumptions

Abstract The connection between ecological responsibility and differing conceptions of Christian eschatology is widely observed. It is often assumed that the necessary response to Christian environmental inaction is affirmation of a strongly this-worldly vision of new creation (so, influentially, N. T. Wright). However, recent systematic theology has seen retrieval of elements of eschatology that foreground discontinuity and transcendence (e.g. Hans Boersma). Moreover, there are exegetical challenges to continuationist claims (e.g. Markus Bockmuehl and Edward Adams) and doctrinal reactions to ‘eschatological naturalism’ (Katherine Sonderegger and Michael Allen). Where does this leave the connection between ecological witness and the content of Christian hope? Doubtless, continuationist accounts have some salutary emphases, but on exegetical, doctrinal and moral grounds I seek to disentangle the assumed compact of particular construals of this-worldly continuity and ethical commitment. Finally, drawing on James Cone's meditations upon black spiritual traditions, I explore how discontinuous interpretations of the life to come themselves need not undermine responsible action.

Islam and Democracy: A Study of Maudhu'i's Interpretation

This essay discusses the norms of the Koran that underlie democracy. This research originates from Muslim intellectual circles regarding the relationship between Islam and democracy. There are three points of view that emerge from this: first, the existence of a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between Islam and democracy, which states that Islam and democracy are mutually dependent and complementary; the second is an antagonistic relationship, which states that Islam and democracy, which originate from the West, are incompatible; Third, it adheres to the relationship between Islam and democracy but provides a critical note known as a critical-reactive or reciprocal-critical approach. According to this perspective, Islamic principles, namely ash-shura (deliberation), al-musawah (equality), and al-ilah (justice) are the ethical ideals that underlie democracy. There are verses in the Qur'an which form the basis for the third basic normative concept of democracy. Therefore, democracy has absolutely nothing to do with the Koran. The Qur'an specifically provides a moral foundation for building a democratic system.

IMPLEMENTASI PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM SEBAGAI PILAR PENTING DALAM PEMBANGUNAN KARAKTER

The implementation of Islamic Religious Education (PAI) as an important pillar in building student character in elementary schools is the main focus of this research. Using qualitative methods and case study approaches, this study aims to explore how PAI is implemented and its impact on student character building. Through data collection from observations, interviews, and documentation, comprehensive analysis can be performed to deeply understand the process and effects of PAI implementation. In this study, the implementation of PAI was seen through various programs and activities at PKPPS Minhajurrosyidin East Jakarta Class VI Ula. In addition to classroom learning, PAI is also integrated in extracurricular coaching and daily habituation. This shows that religious education does not only occur in the classroom, but also through student interaction in the school environment. Therefore PAI became more than just a subject. The results of the study confirmed that PAI has an important role in building student character. Through religious learning, students are taught religious values that become the moral foundation in their lives. In addition, aspects of honesty, responsibility, and discipline are also emphasized in PAI learning.

The Case for Climate Reparations by Fossil Fuel Companies: Ethical Foundations, Monetary Estimates and Feasibility

ABSTRACTThis contribution argues that the fossil fuel industry has played a major role in human‐driven climate change and should agree to shoulder the burden of the associated damages. To this end, the article develops a responsibility‐based approach to operationalize and quantify fossil fuel companies’ climate reparations and locate them in the current political economy context. It explains the rationale for a responsibility‐based approach to climate reparations, investigates their foundational elements and proposes a Global Climate Reparations Fund to manage them. The article continues by providing a typology of climate reparations and their operational aspects, which makes it possible to quantify the financial burden as amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars annually over the coming decades. The political economy of climate reparations, with particular attention to their feasibility, is then analysed. The article lays the groundwork for a reasoned dialogue within and between civil society and political representatives of different backgrounds on the responsibility of fossil fuel companies in the climate crisis and on their role in rectifying climate damages through reparations.

Makna Peran Manusia sebagai Khalifah dan Paradigma Teosentrisme dalam Etika Lingkungan Islam

The economic progress obtained by humans brought about negative impact on environment. This is the consequence of the anthropocentric view which legitimizes the exploitation of nature. In Islam, the anthropocentric paradigm can be traced back to the interpretation of the caliph concept. This study intends to interpret the concept of caliph from the Qur’an. The purpose of this study is to observe the interpretation of caliph that is in line with the spirit of environmental preservation. This is a qualitative research and uses literature study as a method. The data collected from written sources. Data verification techniques use source triangulation and data analysis techniques is interactive analysis method. This study found that the concept of caliph is in contrast position to the exploitative attitude towards the environment. From a literal study, the word khalifah means ruler or successor to the generation of people that reflects the value of sustainability. The series of verses on the creation of the caliph (al-Baqarah 30) also carries a message against destructive acts on earth (ifsad). Finally, the context of caliph creation of the caliph is aimed at prospering the earth with a just attitude and in accordance with the law of God. Theocentric paradigm is the foundation of environmental ethics in Islam which is more comprehensive than biocentrism and ecocentrism. This paradigm indeed places humans in a central position in the universe. However, this important role aims to actualize the perfection of of every existence. To do that, humans need to avoid acting ifsad (destruction) in relation to nature.

Despre relevanța perspectivei kantiene în era inteligenței artificiale generative: Provocări etice și tehnice

Since the evolution of computational and communication technologies, the world becomes a global village: society and environment are seen through digital perspectives of faster and wider industrial revolutions that become widely available and influence daily our lives. Generative AI dynamically trained and used on billions of blurred knowledge graphs’ multimodal elements becomes a growing technological presence with impact. New scientific and regulatory debates address, alongside the opportunities of generative AI presence in economy and society, the challenges that could, on one side, reinvent technologies and the humanity through the Singularity hypothesis, and one the other side, open its availability for unethical, improper, or illegal use of „black box” learning. Within dynamically challenging tsunami of big data, information and knowledge systems, the need of contemporary wisdom captured within AI could benefit from the well-known and visionary ethical yet traditional philosophical foundations. The need to adapt the technology based on well-known and accepted logics to unsafe, opaque decisions finds solid foundations in philosophical ethics. This paper critically reviews recent scientific articles on AI challenges, the Kantian perspective, and ethics foundations that argue the need of human in the loop for the current progresses of generative AI. The role of Kantianism in the ethical perception of AI and its accent on reason and reasoning for ethics, as well as other traditional ethical theories such as theory of virtue and utilitarianism, arguably request the presence of human values at the centre of AI and justify the argument of this paper that current challenges of transparency, explainability, fairness, responsibility of AI technologies can be addressed by consistent transitions from data-centred technologies to human-centred and scientifically quantifiable solutions for the next industrial revolution(s). The paper includes case studies of ethical and common-sense challenges for the use of „black box” models in healthcare, paediatric robotics, also refers to other potential applications such autonomous decision making or creativity. The paper ends with arguments and open questions on opportunities and challenges for AI and philosophy scientists with a focus on ethical aspects of AI technologies.

Validation of the moral foundations questionnaire-2 in the Turkish context: exploring its relationship with moral behavior

Despite the considerable attention it has received, Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) remains open to criticisms regarding failure to conceptualize the moral domain. MFT was revised in response to these criticisms, along with its measurement tool, the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ-2). However, the validity of this revised theoretical structure and its explanatory power relative to existing alternatives, such as Morality as Cooperation Theory (MAC), has not yet been independently tested. Here we first validated MFT’s revised six-factor structure using the MFQ-2 in a large quasi-representative sample (N = 1099) from a predominantly Muslim country (i.e., Türkiye) and then explored the relationship of these six factors with incentivized measures of moral behavior as well as different psychological variables. Our tests revealed excellent fit values for the six-factor structure proposed by the MFQ-2, which explained more of the variance in criterion variables compared to the MAC Questionnaire (MAC-Q). However, MAC-Q performed better in predicting actual moral behavior (e.g., generosity and cooperation) compared with MFQ-2. Taken together, these findings indicate that, at least for the time being, MFQ-2 and the structure of the moral foundations proposed by MFT can be used to conceptualize the moral domain, but its relatively weak relationship to actual moral behavior limits its insights.

Building Early Religious and Moral Foundations through Al-Qruan Education Park

Education is a fundamental aspect in shaping the future generation of the nation, including in overcoming social problems such as ignorance and poverty. Through formal, non-formal, and informal education, individuals can develop their quality and capacity, including in terms of morals and religious values. Al-Hasanah Al-Qur'an Education Park (TPQ) in Semarang is one of the non-formal education institutions that aims to instill moral and religious values from an early age. This study uses a qualitative design to analyze teaching methods, parents' roles, challenges and solutions in the learning process at TPQ Al-Hasanah. Data were collected through direct observation, interviews with teachers, students and parents, and related documentation. The results show that teaching methods such as collective recitation of prayers, recitation of the Qur'an, and memorization of short surahs, accompanied by emotional support and parental involvement, are essential for the effectiveness of the learning process. However, challenges such as limited facilities, student absenteeism, and lack of parental support need to be addressed through the implementation of clear teaching methods, improved teacher competencies, and improved facilities. This research is expected to make a significant contribution to understanding the effectiveness of religious and moral learning programs and provide suggestions for improving the quality of education at TPQ Al-Hasanah.

Peranan Sila Ketuhanan dalam Mewujudkan Kesejahteraan Masyarakat

The role of Divine Principles in Pancasila is very significant in achieving the welfare of Indonesian society. As a moral and ethical foundation, Divine Principles encourage the formation of a harmonious and just society. This article discusses how the principle of belief in the Almighty God is the foundation for education, moral and ethical values, as well as the role of religious communities in everyday life. Through ontological, epistemological and axiological foundations, Divine Principles offer the view that humans have an inherent relationship with God, which emphasizes moral and spiritual responsibility in maintaining balance between humans, nature and His creator. This principle also encourages the development of character and attitudes that are in accordance with religious teachings, creating an environment full of love, tolerance and social justice. By integrating Pancasila values ​​in policies and regulations, Indonesia can build a prosperous and sustainable society. This article concludes that the Divine Principles of Pancasila are a solid foundation for achieving equitable and sustainable prosperity for all members of society.

Integrasi Teori Belajar dan Nilai Islam Dalam Pendidikan Modern: Konvergensi Untuk Pembelajaran Efektif

This study aims to explore the application of learning theories within the perspective of Islamic teachings, emphasizing the convergence between religious values and modern teaching methods. In the current educational context, integrating religious approaches with contemporary learning strategies is increasingly important for building a moral and spiritual foundation in students. This research employs a qualitative methodology with an in-depth library research approach. The analyzed literature includes relevant journals, books, and official documents. The key findings reveal that Islamic teaching methods, such as hiwar (dialogue), qishah (stories), and amtsal (analogies), are effective in enhancing student understanding and engagement while reinforcing moral values. The implications of this study highlight the need for adaptation and implementation of Islamic teaching methods in modern educational contexts to create a more holistic and integrated approach. This research also opens opportunities for further studies focusing on the development of curriculum based on religious values that are relevant and effective in addressing the challenges of education in the era of globalization.

Measuring Moral Dimensions in Social Media with Mformer

The ever-growing textual records of contemporary social issues, often discussed online with moral rhetoric, present both an opportunity and a challenge for studying how moral concerns are debated in real life. Moral foundations theory is a taxonomy of intuitions widely used in data-driven analyses of online content, but current computational tools to detect moral foundations suffer from the incompleteness and fragility of their lexicons and from poor generalization across data domains. In this paper, we fine-tune a large language model to measure moral foundations in text based on datasets covering news media and long- and short-form online discussions. The resulting model, called Mformer, outperforms existing approaches on the same domains by 4–12% in AUC and further generalizes well to four commonly used moral text datasets, improving by up to 17% in AUC. We present case studies using Mformer to analyze everyday moral dilemmas on Reddit and controversies on Twitter, showing that moral foundations can meaningfully describe people’s stance on social issues and such variations are topic-dependent. Pretrained model and datasets are released publicly. We posit that Mformer will help the research community quantify moral dimensions for a range of tasks and data domains, and eventually contribute to the understanding of moral situations faced by humans and machines.

Déprotection sanitaire des étrangers, de quoi la démission d’Aurélien Rousseau est-elle le nom ?

In late December 2023, the French parliament debated legislation that would endanger access to state medical aid (AME) for seriously ill migrants living undocumented in France. The limits of an over-restrictive approach to health care are well known: poorer access to care, additional burden on public hospitals, and the weakening of the whole system. The risks weigh particularly heavily on migrants living with HIV. Yet we know that the number of HIV-positive diagnoses continues to rise among men who have sex with men and who were born abroad. This situation raises public health concerns and risks undermining the ethical foundations of medicine. The French health minister, Aurélien Rousseau, resigned the day after the bill was passed last December, having repeatedly stated his opposition to measures abolishing or weakening AME. In doing so, he demonstrated his commitment to the humanist foundations of medicine, setting an example for all political leaders.

Nexus between Faith and Therapeutic Interventions in the Rehabilitation of Offenders: A Case Study of the Muslim Minority Community in South Africa

Throughout history, religion has been known to play an important role in regulating behaviour contributing to social order. It provides a moral foundation based on religious values and norms that prescribe and proscribe behaviour. Despite such a role, religion has been subjected to secular forms of social control through enacted rules for appropriate behaviour in society. Deviations from such rules are subject to prosecution and, in many instances, incarceration in correctional centres. In an attempt to rehabilitate the offender, both faith-based and secular therapeutic programmes are important aspects of rehabilitation. While this article briefly addresses secular intervention programmes, it focuses on how faith-based approaches can support and collaborate with other helping professions in promoting prosocial behaviour of offenders. The study draws on the experiences of other minority Muslims communities in the northern hemisphere, who have engaged with faith-based programmes in correctional centres. The case of the South Africa Muslim chaplaincy is presented to examine its nature, scope, and programmes offered to offenders in South African correctional centres. The study concludes that there is a space for faith-based approaches to be interfaced with and integrated in therapeutic programmes.

Investigating the Relationship between Religion and Morality: Insight from Hume

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between religion and morality. David Hume, an influential figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, provides insightful contributions to this discourse through his philosophical works. This article explores Hume's nuanced views on the relationship between religion and morality, drawing from his key texts such as "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals." Hume challenges the traditional notion that religion is a necessary foundation for morality. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he argues that moral principles do not derive from religious doctrine or divine commandments but instead from human sentiment and reason. Hume contends that moral judgments are based on a natural sense of empathy and utility rather than religious authority. Furthermore, Hume critiques the idea that religion is essential for maintaining moral order within society. He suggests that religious beliefs and institutions may, in fact, be detrimental to morality by promoting superstition, intolerance, and dogmatism. Hume advocates for a secular approach to morality, where ethical principles are grounded in rational reflection and social cooperation rather than religious doctrine. While Hume challenges the traditional link between the two, he acknowledges the historical influence of religion on moral development and societal norms. Hume recognizes the social utility of religion in fostering moral virtues and promoting social cohesion, albeit without attributing morality exclusively to religious sources.

Between Donating and Alienating: Face Transplants and the Problem of Biomedical Objectification of Human Being

The paper addresses some philosophical aspects of face transplantation and starts with a brief overview of more or less successful surgeries in international clinical practice. Related discussions about medical and ethical risks are also brought into the picture. The issue of the ethical and axiological grounds and consequences of face allotransplantation is placed into the context of a broader problem of biomedical objectification. The author suggests understanding the biomedical objectification in that the patient is regarded as a clinical body taken out of the psychosocial context of her/his life, considered redundant for diagnostic and therapeutic tasks. This view finds expression in various practices that alienate the patient’s subjectivity, including the alienation of her/his name, face or body from her/his personality. Within the existent donation practices, two types of biomedical objectification can be outlined, such as instrumentalisation and alienation for protective purposes. In terms of face transplant, objectification as instrumentalisation consists in reducing the face to a collection of tissues and turning it into a biomedical artifact endowed with instrumental value. In this context, the distinction between the notions of “somatic face” (facial structures) and “psychosocial face” (subject identity) is introduced. As for alienation for protective purposes, the recipient who has to adjust to her/his new face is required to detach from the donor’s personality. The author concludes that face transplantation, similar to donation practices in general, may cause the tension between the rhetoric of gift-giving, essential for the development of transplantology, and the logic of alienation inherent in biomedicine.

Phan Chu Trinh's Ideology on National Self

Phan Chu Trinh is a famous Vietnamese intellectual in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He believed that national self-strengthening is the decisive factor for the existence and the development of a nation. He emphasized that the spirit of national autonomy and national solidarity is considered as a weapon against oppression, to protect the national culture and identity. Phan Chu Trinh had searched for a new moral foundation for the nation based on the combination of East and West. He believed that it was necessary to expand the people's knowledge, revive the people's morale, and restore the people's livelihood in order to strengthen the national self-strengthening. His ideology had expressed a strong desire for national patriotic tradition, a sense of national independence and national self-strengthening. His contribution is not only to the Vietnamese but also to the expanding impact on the world political philosophy. In this article, we will clarify the Phan Chu Trinh's ideology on national self-strengthening and his contribution to the world political philosophy.

Ética e Organização do Conhecimento

This article seeks to relate the foundations of Ethics and Knowledge Organization, perceiving them as internally connected, in order to build conceptual bridges between the two fields. The objective is to propose a characterization of Ethics and Social Justice, pointing out the consequences of its denial or absence in the Knowledge Organization. For this, a qualitative investigation was carried out that places the ethical debate in Plato and in the formation of ancient Greek philosophy, as well as presenting the concept of Social Justice as parity of participation, along the lines established by Nancy Fraser. The results indicate that the practice focused on Social Justice can be considered a super value for the Organization of Knowledge, acting in the sense of strengthening its own theoretical foundation and its orientation towards the expansion of democracy.

The Enlightenment prophet: Muhammad in early modern Europe

This article examines the place of Islam in the intellectual history of the European Enlightenment. In 1649, the English civil war resulted in the establishment of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell and the execution of King Charles I; in the same year, the first English translation of the Quran was published in London. For some royalists, the two events were linked: they both signalled the moral demise of the kingdom, and indeed some polemicists depicted Cromwell as a ‘new Mahomet’ seeking to gain power by attacking the moral and religious foundations of the nation. Authors writing in English, such as Henry Stubbe, John Toland and George Sale, embraced the comparison, presenting the Muslim prophet as a reformer who preached pure monotheism and who abolished the powers of a corrupt clergy. They used the prophet and Islam to argue for the curtailing of the power of the Anglican Church; 18th-century French authors similarly lionised him as a polemical tool against the Catholic church. Muhammad, seen as an imposter or a reformer, was at the centre of European debates on the proper relations between Church, Crown and people. The article arises from a British Academy Lecture delivered on 18 May 2023.