Make Value Judgments Research Articles

Pedagogy as Influencing Nursing Students' Essentialized Understanding of Culture

In this qualitative study, we explored how students understood "culture." Participants defined culture and wrote narratives regarding specific cultural encounters. The sample comprised both nursing (n=14) and non-nursing (n=8) students to allow for comparison groups. Content analysis of the narratives revealed two broad paradigms of cultural understanding: essentialist and constructivist. Essentialist narratives comprised four themes: determinism (culture defied individual resistance); relativism (the possibility of making value judgments disappeared); Othering (culture was equated to exotica, and emphasized difference); and, reductionism (personhood was eclipsed by culture). In contrast, the constructivist narratives were characterized by influence (non-determinism), dynamism (culture was dynamic and evolutionary); and, relationship-building. The unintended negative consequences of essentialist notions of culture were revealed in the nursing students' narratives. Pedagogy is implicated in nursing students' essentialized understanding of culture.

A representação do passado e a moral no século XV em Portugal

O problema que conduz este texto é o da complexa articulação entre compromisso de memória e compromisso moralista na construção da verdade histórica pelos cronistas portugueses do final da Idade Média. São confrontadas passagens que mostram como não era controversa para os cronistas quatrocentistas a aproximação entre pretensão de fidelidade aos eventos e o comprometimento valorativo, pois esses dois traços funcionavam como arrimos de uma verdade construída sobre o acontecido, mas atenta ao que estava por acontecer. Para os historiadores quatrocentistas, essa conjugação era o fundamento do seu realismo e da sua verdade.

The difference of being human: Morality

In The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871, Charles Darwin wrote: "I fully ... subscribe to the judgment of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important." I raise the question of whether morality is biologically or culturally determined. The question of whether the moral sense is biologically determined may refer either to the capacity for ethics (i.e., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong), or to the moral norms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. I propose that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature, whereas moral codes are products of cultural evolution. Humans have a moral sense because their biological makeup determines the presence of three necessary conditions for ethical behavior: (i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one's own actions; (ii) the ability to make value judgments; and (iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action. Ethical behavior came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself but as a necessary consequence of man's eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection. That is, morality evolved as an exaptation, not as an adaptation. Moral codes, however, are outcomes of cultural evolution, which accounts for the diversity of cultural norms among populations and for their evolution through time.

Environmental water requirements: demand management in an era of water scarcity

Water allocations for the environment and demand management of environmental water in the context of growing water scarcity are examined in this article. The consumptive use of water is increasing with growing populations and wealth, and water scarcity is being further exacerbated by climate change. In the context of conflicting global and national government policy decisions, water availability to sustain environmental values and benefits is threatened. Freshwater conservation proponents are calling for allocation of environmental flows, requiring societies to make value judgements between socio-economic benefits from consumptive water use versus benefits from instream ecosystem services. Because there will always be trade-offs made in situations of water scarcity, and because many water management systems are adopting finer scale and more flexible management approaches, we argue that environmental flows alone will not adequately conserve many key freshwater ecosystem attributes. Building on Lankford (Lankford BA. 2003. Environmental water requirements: a demand management perspective. J Chart Inst Water Environ Manage. 17:19–22), this article argues that an increased emphasis on demand management for water allocations within the environment is required to manage the growing water scarcity and conserve key freshwater ecosystem attributes. This article outlines options for environmental water demand management, arguing that these freshwater conservation methods are required alongside the provision of environmental flows.

Can Public Artwork Assist in Remembering, Memorializing and Honoring Events, Heroes and Icons?

Events, Heroes, Icons and Visions: How Can Public Artwork Assist in Remembering Honoring and Memorializing Community Values By: Salvatore M. Di Mauro To add a paper, Login. The presentation will use the Q150 Mosaic Project completed in 2009 as a case study to highlight how remote and often culturally diverse communities can come together to celebrate difference and at the same time unite using the public art project as the catalyst. It will discuss the process used to gather information and how local councils were encouraged to seek out the creative thinkers within their communities, and how they in turn gathered together like-minded creative artists to collaboratively respond to place past and future. The project was completed over a period of about twelve months and involved 73 communities from 73 shires from all over the state of Queensland Australia. The project was intended to encourage communities to look into their past, thoughtfully analyze where they had come from and question their values. From this body of reference they were able to isolate events heroes and icons and make value judgments about their future. Their research manifest as a collection of over 150 panels (individual artworks) covering an area of about 45 square meters. Keywords: Public Art, Community Art, Memorialising, Linking Regional Communities, Reflections on the Past, Celebrating Difference

Indicator development as 'boundary spanning' between scientists and policy-makers

In sustainability impact assessments the development of widely accepted indicators that structure the subject area and provide the framework for assessing sustainability impacts is clearly important. We argue that the development of sustainability indicators in science-based initiatives works across the science/policy interface where social and natural scientists as well as stakeholders and policy-makers both translate concepts and ideas to each other and thus make value judgments about the selection of indicators and related sub-classes. This explains why pure scientific indicator initiatives based on simple ‘knowledge transfer’ models are unlikely to succeed. Instead, sustainability indicator development requires a ‘knowledge transaction model’ which spans the boundary between the scientific and the political domains.

Nick Dubin: Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety—A Guide to Successful Stress Management

Nick Dubin: Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety—A Guide to Successful Stress Management

The End of Originalism

Much has been written about originalism - the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted according to its original meaning. This essay goes beyond previous works by asserting that originalism may be nearing its demise. Ironically, the beginning of the end of originalism may have been prompted by the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, marking the first time that a majority of the Court signed onto an opinion emphatically taking an originalist slant. Heller may represent the apogee of originalism and, because it exposes the fundamental flaws of originalism, may also mark the beginning of its decline. This essay further differs from previous works concerning originalism. First, the essay shows that originalism is a radical departure from the Supreme Court's well-established jurisprudence of a living Constitution. From its very inception, constitutional law has been a dynamic process of creativity and the vast majority of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution have been non-originalist in their methodology. Originalism cannot explain the large body of constitutional doctrine that has developed over the years since the Constitution was adopted. The essay also focuses on fundamental flaws of originalism neglected in other works. At the most fundamental level, originalism misperceives the nature of history by presuming that it has an objective meaning that can be discovered through assiduous study of ancient material. However, the belief in a hard core of historical facts existing objectively is an illusion. The meaning of the Constitution does not reside in the past, and any attempt to ascertain the original meaning of the Constitution necessarily entails reconstructing the past in one's mind. Originalism, therefore, cannot eliminate the necessity of making value judgments to interpret the Constitution. Rather, it obscures the policy-making function of constitutional interpretation by pretending that the meaning of constitutional provisions can be recovered from historical annals. There is also a serious question of whether past understanding of the Constitution can be meaningfully transposed from one generation to another. Whatever the original meaning of the Constitution may once have been, it was formed in the context of a past reality and in accordance with past attitudes, both of which have changed considerably since the Constitution was drafted. Blindly following the presumed original meaning of constitutional provisions formulated in reaction to past conditions and attitudes that have long since changed is dysfunctional, an instance of cultural lag whereby the meaning of the Constitution is left dormant while the world around it changes. Heller displays all of the flaws of originalism. It succumbs to the illusion that the original meaning of the Second Amendment has an objective existence that can be recovered by studying the past. In falling prey to this illusion, Heller perpetrates a pretense of objectivity that functions as a facade for policy-making. Moreover, Heller refuses to consider that the world around us has changed and that whatever meaning the Second Amendment may have had when it was adopted in 1791 cannot simply be transposed to the present. Heller reveals the fundamental failure of originalism; based on an illusion and dismissive of reality, originalism cannot sustain a viable constitutional jurisprudence.

Theorizing the Charitable Tax Subsidies: The Role of Distributive Justice

Distributive justice plays a starring role in many fundamental tax policy debates, from marginal rate structure to choice of base to propriety of wealth transfer taxes. In contrast, current tax scholarship on charitable tax subsidies generally either ignores or explicitly disavows distributive justice concerns. Instead, it focuses on efficiency and pluralism-enhancing advantages of having charities provide public goods instead of or in addition to government. While identifying these advantages is a necessary and important contribution to our understanding of charitable giving policy, avoidance of distributive justice concerns ignores very purpose of charity: voluntary redistribution. After all, it's called charitable deduction, not public goods deduction. As a result, current body of work on charitable tax subsidies is incomplete: It purposely under-theorizes the good in order to avoid making value judgments about which projects should be subsidized. Although this sounds appealing, completely avoiding such judgments is both impossible and counter-productive. Current scholarship thus over under-theorizes good, creating confusion about charitable tax subsidies in both theory and practice. Explicitly addressing distributive justice - in addition to pluralism and efficiency - will enhance our understanding of subsidies for three reasons. First, existing scholarship - which generally ignores distributive justice issues - is incomplete and inconsistent for so doing. It is incomplete because it does not adequately identify which projects deserve a subsidy; it is inconsistent because it implicitly contains value judgments that have distributive justice implications but that are unacknowledged (and often disavowed) by their proponents. Second, popular criticisms of charitable tax subsidies raise distributive justice issues that have not been adequately addressed. And lastly, law governing charitable tax subsidies is itself confused on role of distributive justice. Extending our understanding of subsidies in this manner has three benefits. First, it will help efficiency- and pluralism-minded scholars better address how to structure tax subsidies to best promote those benefits. Second, a better understanding of distributive justice will help us assess existing justice-related criticisms of subsidies. And lastly, because our society currently spends a great deal of resources subsidizing charity, such a discussion will help us allocate our resources in a more systematic fashion.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Evaluation of the Safety of Animal Clones

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced recently that food products derived from some animal clones and their offspring are safe for human consumption. In response to criticism that it had failed to engage with ethical, social, and economic concerns raised by livestock cloning, the FDA argued that addressing normative issues prior to issuing a final ruling on animal cloning is not part of its mission. In this article, the authors reject the FDA's claim that its mission to protect and advance public health can be accomplished without considering ethical issues or without making value judgments. The authors offer two arguments in support of their position. First, the agency's mission statement presupposes significant normative commitments and judgments. Second, the FDA's risk assessment of food products from cloned animals and their offspring is itself clearly shaped by a variety of normative commitments.

A Nice Dandelion: Visual experiences at a shopping centre in Trondheim

The Dandelion, a nine meters tall naturalistic sculpture painted in bright green and yellow car paint, was installed on a traffic island outside the City Syd ShoppingCentre on August 9th 2007. The sculpture provides an example with which to study the role art plays within public places. Aesthetic qualities are a useful place to start when trying to understand the role of public art. The Dandelion’s form, colour and physical connection with elements within the same location, give the sculpture an opening to establish a relationship with its public. The Dandelion’s public is the focus of this paper. What the public sees may lead to talk of other things connected to the Dandelion, but it is the sculpture’s physical form and visual qualities which initiate the response. The judgement of form is a constant preoccupation; we make value judgements about many of the objects around us in day-to-day life. Taste is based on everyday experiences, and not on fixed standards. The dandelion provides visitors to the shopping centre with something with which to consider and measure other elements in the area with. It is likely that they would have done this anyway, but the Dandelion provides them with an aesthetic standard with which to do this. This paper is based on fieldwork experiences in 2007 and 2008 at the City Syd Shopping Centre, which is located in the Tiller neighbourhood on the outskirts of Trondheim, Norway. 
 Keywords: public art, aesthetics, shopping centres, agency

Satisficing Coordination and Social Welfare for Robotic Societies

The design of robotic systems that are capable of sophisticated social behavior such as cooperation, compromise, negotiation, and altruism, requires more complex mathematical models than are afforded by the classical mechanisms for making value judgments and decisions. A new concept of multi-agent satisficing, defined in terms of relative effectiveness and efficiency, is an alternative to classical optimization-based decision making. Conditional utilities, which take into account the interests of others as well as the self, represent an alternative to the categorical utilities of classical decision theory. A multi-agent utility aggregation structure is developed that avoids the sure subjugation of the interests of any individual to the interests of the group. By expressing a society as a directed acyclic graph, Bayesian network theory is applied to artificial societies. A satisficing social welfare function accounts for the influence relationships among decision-making agents.

Can Philosophers Be Patriots?

Can Philosophers Be Patriots? Annette Baier (bio) Richard Rorty challenged the profession of philosophy to examine its own activities, to avoid false consciousness of what it is that we do. We are not, he claimed, scientists of the mind, nor discerners of eternal moral truths. Ours is not a view sub specie aeternitatis, but a view from a given culture at a given time. This challenge is salutary, and has been influential, but largely outside philosophy. The Princeton philosophy department is still doing the sorts of things they were doing when Rorty left and turned his back on the analytic philosophy he had practiced up until then.1 I attended a graduate seminar he gave on the philosophy of mind as a visitor in Pittsburgh shortly before he left Princeton, and I was a member of the APA board on the memorable occasion when he quarreled with his old friend Ruth Marcus and wept with the anguish of it. I myself came in for some flak from defenders of analytic philosophy for my championing of "pluralists," so felt for Rorty in this confrontation. And I, too, had raised the question of what our professional ethics were for our own profession, what made us think public moneys should support us in our intellectual games. Yet I stayed in a philosophy department, while Rorty ended with only an honorary place in Stanford's. Why did I stay? Largely because I felt that teaching ethics in the way I was doing, and teaching the history of philosophy, was increasing understanding and reflectiveness in my students. Rorty had not been an analytic moral philosopher, and it is interesting to speculate on what arc his thought might have taken had he begun, not with potentiality and the mind-body problem, but with the moral potential of American democracy, and good reasons in ethics. For he ended as a social and political philosopher, indeed as a patriot philosopher, defending the U.S. ideal of democracy, which he took to have an egalitarian component, believing in moral progress, and looking for the right version of human solidarity. He was very much a patriot, but also a globetrotter, speaking in Teheran and Beijing as well as Frankfurt and Paris. Rorty raised the question of whether any claim about what does and does not exist can be raised independently of our current cultural and social goals. We interpret what we find to be the facts in terms of their [End Page 121] bearing on our hopes and our fears. To say that we currently face dangers from climate change, and from violence from disaffected groups, is certainly to make factual claims and also to make value judgments. I see social philosophers as having a duty to think about clear and present dangers, and I think that study of such philosophers as Grotius, Hume, Kant, Hegel, and Rawls can help us to do so. At any rate I shall hope that I am doing the sort of philosophy Rorty would have approved of, in what follows, when I consider two grave dangers currently facing all of us. My tone, however, will scarcely be ironical, since I know of no alternative debunking vocabulary for describing these dangers, so I fail Rorty's criteria for an ironist.2 It is difficult to recontextualize climate change, unless we go back to Noah, and the only way I know to recontextualize terrorism is to attempt to see it from the terrorist's point of view.3 I shall be speaking as a critical citizen both of my native country, New Zealand, and of the country where I spent most of my working life, the U.S. I shall also be speaking as a committed cosmopolitan (who spent over three years in Britain, one in Berlin, and every summer for three decades in Austria), trying to advance the cause of what David Hume called "the party of humankind, against vice and disorder."4 Travel helps the would-be world citizen, and my double citizenship also gives me, I like to think, an advantage, in that I can see each of my two countries from the standpoint of the other. Just as learning another language instructs...

Exceptional Creators to the World of Children: Investigating Children's Authors

Exceptional creators develop existing domains or create new domains through their contribution of products that are highly valued by society in a particular domain. Typically, adults make these value judgments. This study explored whether Gardner's (1997) model of an Exceptional Creator [EC], which was developed from a cross‐domain analysis and adult judgments of quality, would also hold true in a domain in which children made value judgments. The analyses confirmed that outstanding children's authors also demonstrated the key traits of an EC, namely, their use of childhood experiences and their tendencies to question assumptions and strike out on their own, and to explore their domains exhaustively. Additionally, four unique traits of outstanding children's authors were identified. These were extended links to childhood; the creation of “new worlds” for children that differed from their everyday world; a reliance on pictures and conversation; and demonstrations of strong visual‐spatial intelligence through illustrations and descriptions.

Pain: Psychological Perspectives

As physiotherapists, we can learn and adapt many concepts from a psychological perspective on pain. Many theories and models of pain have come from psychological research, most notably the gate control theory,1 used by many to explain how treatments work in modulating pain. Hadjistavropoulos and Craig's book highlights new concepts of pain and identifies some factors that influence clients' perception of nociception or other somatic input. Although primarily intended for psychologists managing and studying pain, the editors acknowledge that their book “would also be of interest to a variety of other professionals working in this area (e.g., physicians, nurses, physiotherapists).” (p. xi). In Pain: Psychological Perspectives, the editors have invited many top experts in pain research to share their findings and to indicate the direction in which their research is heading and how it can be used in clinical practice. In most of the book's 12 chapters, discussion of empirical evidence outlining the strengths and weaknesses of certain theories and treatment approaches was provided to assist in understanding the overall evolution of pain theory and treatment. The introduction outlines the book's framework and presents a brief historical review of pain from the Middle Ages to the present, as well as an overview of material that will be discussed in detail in the following chapters. Chapter 1 identifies shortcomings of the traditional biomedical specificity theory and underscores the need for the gate control theory to explain observed clinical phenomena. The authors then focus on the progression of the gate control theory to the new neuromatrix concept. Chapter 2 presents the biopsychosocial model and how the interplay among biology, psychology and social factors affects one's perception and response to pain. The biopsychosocial model has led to fear-avoidance theories that are used to explain chronic pain and disability. The implications of how pain experience can alter the autonomic nervous system and how negative cognition can impact pain perception and experience are discussed in Chapter 3. Chapters 4 through 7 address social influences and ethnocultural differences and their influence on how pain is communicated, as well as how pain perception and communication change over the life cycle. Chapter 8 deals with chronic pain assessment and discusses interview strategies and risk factors for chronic pain, as well as assessment of impairment, disability, vocational assessment and malingering. Chapters 9 and 10 describe psychological interventions for persons with acute or chronic pain. The discussion on cognitive-behavioural therapy provided interesting and helpful approaches for treatment of chronic pain, such as how graded activity and exercises “guided by physiotherapists” (p. 280) can address fears of certain movements and other physical demands. Chapters 11 and 12 discuss controversies and ethical concerns. The discussion on operant conditioning, malingering and pain in the workplace was very helpful. It was encouraging to see that our skill as physiotherapists can be linked to positive results for persons with pain-related disability. With our focus on function, we inherently move clients forward. We are often the first to initiate the return to work planning, and “when return to work during treatment is encouraged, outcomes are more favorable” (p. 315). Ethical concerns addressed include treatment of pain in the elderly and assessment of malingering and symptom exaggeration. Therapists working with workmen's compensation boards or other third-party payers may find these chapters especially useful. As physiotherapists, pain is one of the most common concerns we address, with many of our treatment goals geared toward decreasing pain. At times, we must make value judgments about clients' reports of pain to third-party payers, who require comment on the reliability of complaints considering the clients' diagnoses. In today's evidence-based world, we need to have a sound, research-based understanding of the complicated factors that mediate pain and disability. This book will enhance our understanding of the meaning of pain and ultimately make us more effective and informed clinicians.

Photojournalism as a Creator of Values: otherness in Sámi representations

The research draws on the insights provided by photojournalism to examine the values and value formation of journalism in relation to power and ethnic minorities. News photos are representations which affect emotions; they engender meanings about reality and settings more subtly than texts. Photojournalism makes value judgments on issues, groups and persons through the size of the photos, settings, poses, the roles depicted, and simply by choosing who is photographed.
 
 The material to be analysed consists of news photos dealing with the Sámi published in the Arctic press. My particular focus is the news items dealing with the Sámi and how the ethnic minority is depicted in those representations. The methods to be used are content analysis and formal photo analysis. I use the concept of otherness for determining journalists’ valuations. A simple definition of otherness could be ‘being an outsider’.

An unbearable lightness?

This article considers various notions of `beauty' and how these have informed the creative and critical processes of graphic design, specifically typography. The author considers how the Renaissance revival of Greek mathematics to support a `universal beauty' was gradually unpicked by Enlightenment thinkers such as Descartes, Kant and Hume, and how this process has subsequently shaped modernist and postmodernist attitudes towards `beauty'. From our current vantage point it could be argued that `beauty' should now be considered a redundant concept; however, design schools and studios continue to make value judgements dividing the `beautiful' from the `ugly'. On what basis are these judgements made and are they still valid in a pluralistic society? Is it possible that we now have a new sensibility, a different notion of beauty? Reflecting upon important questions raised by the American designer and writer Steven Heller in his controversial essay `The Cult of the Ugly' in Eye magazine in 1993, the author proposes that 14 years on from the article, we can indeed witness a new aesthetic sensibility, shared but not universal, rooted in loss yet also `found'.

Development of an Evidence-Based Application and Rubric for Evaluating Applicants' Qualifications for Promotion to Professor

Objective Every promotion committee is challenged by the need to make value judgments on the quantity and quality of peer work. Decisions based upon subjective assessments may not do justice to the applicant's or the institution's needs. The purpose of this article is to (1) describe the process a college promotion committee used to increase the objectivity brought to this activity, (2) present the tools developed that facilitated the collection and evaluation of faculty work, and (3) describe their usage in a promotion cycle. Methods The Professor Promotion Committee met weekly for 6 months engaging in lengthy and comprehensive discourse to capture the breadth of scholastic and service activities normally engaged in by faculty. Results The committee's work culminated in the development of 4 electronic applications soliciting specific evidence aligned with faculty work and 1 scoring rubric tied directly to the e-applications. More than 55 activities were identified, divided into 4 levels of accomplishment using quantitative and qualitative criteria and weighted according to their centrality to faculty work and relative importance to the institution. Each activity was assigned to one of the following categories: teaching/academic support, scholarship/research, service, and professional development. A consensus score based upon the evidence was used to generate promotion discussions. Conclusions The committee believes the online application aids applicants in recognizing the breadth and depth of promotable work. It provides them the opportunity to structure their work in ways that enhance their chances for promotion. The evidence-based rubric helps to reduce subjectivity in the evaluation process.

Can ethical reasoning contribute to better epidemiology? A case study in research on racial health disparities

A common belief among epidemiologists and other scientists is that they ought not engage in ethical evaluation or endorse any particular ethical, political, or social values while involved in scientific reasoning. Such values are irrelevant to collecting and interpreting data and can only lead to bias. This view is also reflected in scientists' education. The authors argue that ethical values are crucial to conducting much epidemiological research. Focusing on epidemiological research on racial health disparities, they show that value judgments are inescapable when performing such research. Values are implicit in the framing of research questions, the identification of the problem, and the choices of design and methodology. By making value judgments explicit, scientists will be more likely to pay attention to them and thus assess them in critical ways. Finally, the implications that this has for scientific training are discussed. Scientific training should prepare scientists to engage in ethical reasoning not only because it will make them more responsible human beings, but also because it will make them better scientists.

Communicating about haemophilia within the family: the importance of context and of experience

This study examines communication within families affected by haemophilia, focusing especially on communication about carrier status. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with family members in the UK revealed recurrent patterns in communication strategies and styles. Participants drew a marked contrast between the nature of communication within the clinic and within the home. In families, it is notable that communication usually occurs within the context of concrete experience of the condition. Noticeable differences existed in families with obligate carriers when compared with families with non-obligate carrier daughters. In families with affected sons, daughters may have more experience of haemophilia and consequently more understanding of their possible carrier status than in families with an affected father. Families also typically make value judgements and comments on coping strategies when they communicate about the condition. Readiness to receive information is very variable, and depends upon factors such as personality and life stage. Information may seem to be successfully communicated but the recipient may sometimes actually comprehend much less, only understanding more fully later or when the information becomes directly relevant to them. Periodic checking of understanding of different family members, and the provision of written information, may be helpful.