Moral Conflict Research Articles

Moral conflicts from the justice and care perspectives of japanese nurses: a qualitative content analysis

BackgroundHealthcare professionals use the ethics of justice and care to construct moral reasoning. These ethics are conflicting in nature; different value systems and orders of justice and care are applied to the cause of actual moral conflict. We aim to clarify the structure and factors of healthcare professionals’ moral conflicts through the lens of justice and care to obtain suggestions for conflict resolutions.MethodSemi-structured interviews about experiences of moral conflict were conducted with Japanese nurses recruited using the snowball sampling method. Interviews were conducted based on the real-life moral conflict and choice interview. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, then analyzed based on the interpretive method of data analysis. Verbatim transcripts were read four times, first to get an overall sense of the conflict, then to understand the person’s thoughts and actions that explain the conflict, and third and fourth to identify perspectives of justice and care, respectively. Each moral perspective was classified into categories according to Chally’s taxonomy.ResultsAmong 31 responses, 2 that did not mention moral conflict were excluded, leaving 29 responses that were analyzed. These responses were classified into six cases with conflict between both justice and care perspectives or within one perspective, and into two cases without conflict between perspectives. The “rules” category of justice and the “welfare of others” category of care were included in many cases of conflict between two perspectives, and they frequently occurred in each perspective.ConclusionsThe nurses in this study suggest that they make moral judgments based on moral values that are intertwined with justice and care perspectives complex manner.Organizational, professional, and patient-related factors influenced conflicts between justice and care. Additionally, multiple overlapping loyalties created conflicts within justice perspectives, and multifaceted aspects of care-provider’s responsibility and patient need created conflicts within care. Decision-making biased towards one perspective can be distorted. It is important to consider ethical issues from both perspectives to resolve conflicts, especially the effective use of the ethics of care is recommended.

The Causality between Offensive Language Use and Negative Emotions in the Public Event— An Empirical Study Using Convergent Cross Mapping

ABSTRACTThe mutual causal interdependence between offensive language use and negative emotions has been largely underexplored in the public event. Using 784,179 posts about the Tangshan violence event collected from Sina Weibo, nine themes were recognized based on framing theory. The mutual causal relationship between offensive language and negative emotions under each theme was examined through Convergent Cross Mapping. Results suggested that the mutual causal relationships between offensive language and negative emotion intensity under various themes were different with bidirectional causality under moral judgement, emotional venting, and power conflict, unidirectional causality under the vulnerable framework and the trust framework, and no causality under other themes. More detailed examination revealed special bidirectional or unidirectional causality between offensive language and some fine‐grained negative emotions under the vulnerable framework, the trust framework, and secondary opinion. This study provides insight into the interaction between offensive language and negative emotions and helps emergency managers make targeted strategies to solve the problems of offensive language use and negative emotions.

A Survey of Clinicians Who Provide Aid in Dying.

Little is known about the identity and moral experience of clinicians who provide the option of aid in dying to terminally ill Americans. In May 2023 we distributed an email survey to clinicians registered for the American Clinician's Academy on Medical Aid in Dying listserv. Of the 72 clinicians who responded, 90% were of white race, 50% were over 60years old, and 47% had been in practice for over 20years. Most clinicians report practicing primary care (39%) or hospice/palliative care (33%); 25% of clinicians had training in palliative medicine. 22% described their practice as a specialized "aid-in-dying practice" and 26% either "rarely" or "never" cared for the terminally ill outside the context of aid in dying. A majority (56%) of clinicians were either affiliated with an independent practice or unaffiliated. Before they began aid-in-dying work, 26% of clinicians reported having felt "somewhat" or "very" morally conflicted; after having written an aid in dying prescription, 96% felt "hardly" or "not at all" conflicted. On average, clinicians felt that aid-in-dying laws balance protection of patients with access; 39% believed that the laws were "somewhat" or "overly" protective. Many responding clinicians report caring for patients considering aid in dying in specialized practices or otherwise in unaffiliated or independent practice. Clinicians report that providing aid in dying (and writing an aid-in-dying prescription) resulted in less reported moral conflict toward aid in dying.

Current Knowledge and Future Possibilities of Medical Digital Technologies based on Mobile Health

Medical digital technologies have the potential to improve public access to healthcare by enhancing its flexibility. The availability of complementary details about health, ailments, complications, and the most recent advancements in biomedical research are all included. Diagnostic and medical services are now becoming more available and accessible, especially in low-income countries. Regarding digital health technology, there are still a lot of challenges that need to be overcome, such as dependability, safety, testing, and ethical concerns. We propose that mobile technology should enhance rather than replace the psychiatrist-patient connection in the existing environment of inadequate regulatory oversight and scientific research to lessen possible clinical and moral harm to patients at risk. We identify potential areas of moral conflict between consumer-driven mobile businesses and healthcare practice and create a decision tree model for putting ethical safeguards in place. Informed consent, confidentiality, and shared treatment expectations are the main areas of attention for this paradigm when it comes to risk management in the therapeutic partnership. To comprehend the utility, capacity, and limitations, this study covers recent breakthroughs in mobile technologies, their applications, and a comparative analysis of their performance metrics. Understanding the weaknesses of current technologies can facilitate the creation of new frameworks with increased performance capabilities and superior service quality.

Can Video Games Promote Moral Cognition? Supporting Epistemic Play in Papers, Please through Dialogue

Research shows an increasing interest in video game use for educational purposes. However, their use does not always give rise to positive learning, particularly when moral learning is analysed. This result can be explained since video games promote pragmatic goals aimed at success. Therefore, we believe that to facilitate moral learning, it is necessary to promote a moral cognition focus on epistemic goals oriented towards reflection on the actions and events that take place in the game. To identify if epistemic goals can promote moral cognition with a video game, we used Papers, Please. In this game, players take on the role of a customs officer who should face moral dilemmas related to allowing immigrants to cross the border into their country. We analysed the dialogues and decisions made by 12 pairs of students through a category system. The dialogue between players facilitated greater moral activation compared to studies that analysed spontaneous play. In addition, we identified that the game mechanics that promoted moral conflicts between players fostered more moral dialogue. Likewise, when the players empathised with the immigrants, the moral dialogue was more frequent. Therefore, we believe that these characteristics should be considered when designing educational practices using video games to promote moral cognition.

Religious Disaffiliation From Orthodox Judaism: Social, Psychological, and Intellectual Factors Related to Exiting

Studies investigating disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism typically utilize samples composed of disaffiliated individuals, without a comparison group of affiliated individuals for reference. This research investigation measured 21 social, psychological, and intellectual experiences in disaffiliated and affiliated Orthodox Jewish individuals primarily in the United States to determine which factors were predictive of disaffiliation, a type of religious change. Experiences were measured with Yes/No questions and a Likert rating scale to indicate the extent to which respondents believed each factor contributed to their disaffiliation. Participants were 730 individuals who grew up practicing Orthodox Judaism and had either stopped or continued practicing (disaffiliated N = 387; affiliated N = 343). Based on regression analysis, factors predictive of disaffiliation were: (1) emotional abuse, (2) feelings that Orthodoxy is restrictive, (3) diagnosis of/treatment for a psychological disorder, (4) poor secular education in school, and (5) intellectual conflicts regarding Orthodox Judaism or questioning God. When rating each factor’s contribution to their disaffiliation, exiters most frequently reported moral or social conflicts with Orthodox Judaism, intellectual conflicts regarding Orthodox Judaism or questioning God, and feelings that Orthodoxy is restrictive. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of religious exiting and draw out the factors uniquely predictive of disaffiliation in this population.

Тематика раннего творчества Владислава Авдеева

The paper analyses the early creative work of V. I. Avdeev, a Russian writer whose life and writings are connected with Yakutia. The aim of the research is to identify the uniqueness of the range of themes and problems in V. I. Avdeev’s early prose. In this regard, the writer’s works are examined in the context of moral and genre searches in the Russian Soviet literature of the 1970s-1980s. The paper analyses the transformation of industrial and moral conflict, the thematic range in the writer’s novels and short stories created during this period. The scientific originality of the paper is accounted for by the fact that Avdeev’s heritage remains little studied. The paper is the first to suggest a periodisation of Avdeev’s oeuvre, to pay special attention to the early stage, as it largely determined all his further creative work. The research findings show that the writer’s prose raised social and moral problems, which brought it closer to the “urban” and “rural” literature of that time, the industrial themes were combined with the features of slice-of-life literature. The thematic and genre preferences inherent in his early writings made it possible for Avdeev to continue his active work as a writer in the post-Soviet period.

Dissecting moral judgements: Using moral foundation theory to advance the contingency continuum

Incorporating Moral Foundation Theory, this study introduces an enhanced Contingency Continuum to advance the Contingency Theory of Strategic Conflict Management by dissecting the origins of conflict formation. The enhanced Contingency Continuum treats conflict as a function of moral judgment based on which people judge right and wrong. This study explores how an event’s moral implication could be deconstructed into the enhanced Contingency Continuum and contribute to the formation of a conflict through a case study of Harvey Weinstein’s scandal. Our analysis and findings of the case were then validity-tested in an extensive verification interview with a practitioner/educator who has been in the PR field for more than 40 years. Three attributions of how the enhanced Contingency Continuum could advance the Contingency Theory are identified and summarized as a three-step-cyclic model, Moral Attitude Dynamic Model (MADM) to fully exploit the potential of the enhanced Contingency Continuum on managing not only moral conflicts but also conflicts that lack resolution such as long-standing social controversial issues.

The Protestants’ Dilemma: When Cultural Mismatches Shape Deliberate Action

Abstract Drawing from an ethnographic study and 63 interviews of Protestant professionals in the workplace, this article develops a conceptualization of how a cultural mismatch—defined here as a moral conflict between actors’ beliefs and values and their contextual norms and practices—catalyzes actors to strategically and deliberately shape future lines of action. In this study, a range of Protestant executives, professionals, and workers in China experience a cultural mismatch and respond in a number of ways. This study builds on accounts of culture in action to argue that when actors’ values and beliefs conflict with their organizational context, such cultural mismatches can shape action in not only unconscious, automatic ways or as post hoc justifications, as much of the extant scholarship has emphasized, but can also deliberately shape future lines of irrational, strategic, and creative action.

Dissolute Libertine or Venerable Confucian?

Abstract This work aims to explore the moral conflict that many Northern Song (960–1127) scholar-officials (shidaifu 士大夫) experienced as a result of their involvement in the ci 詞 song lyric, by focusing on Ouyang Xiu’s 歐陽修 (1007–1072) collection. The song lyric was held in low regard by many exponents of high culture for several reasons, but primarily due to the fact that it exposed the literati’s relationships with courtesans. A lyricist who belonged to the Confucian elite thus found himself in a complicated position: he had to publicly advocate a moral system that was particularly conservative on matters such as sex, when he in fact privately wrote songs that would be seen as “lascivious” (yin 淫) by the very moral standards that he preached. Firstly, I will approach the problem by exploring the conflict between the Confucian ideal of sexual moderation and the diverging tendencies to sexual freedom that emerged from the practice and the poetics of the eleventh-century song lyric. I will then discuss the long critical tradition aimed at denying Ouyang Xiu’s authorship of the erotic songs attributed to him by some sources. My goal is to try to understand why so many critics espoused this view, regardless of the fact that other literati were also known to have composed rather explicit lyrics. In doing so, I shall seek to demonstrate that the attempts to dissociate Ouyang Xiu from the authorship of the “contested” erotic songs in his collection were mainly motivated by a moralistic need to preserve his reputation as a great master of the literati culture.

Between Motive and Result: Rethinking the Methods of Kant and Machiavelli in the Resolution of Moral Conflicts

Abstract The study analyzes the importance which we attach to how moral conflicts are generated and resolved. It contrasts Machiavelli’s allusion to the attainment of a good result by using the method which could make the good result attainable, with Kant’s allusion to the motive behind human actions, where the motive dictates how moral conflicts are resolved. It posits that the methods adopted by Machiavelli and Kant in resolving moral conflicts differ. And that just as it may be difficult to accept the method adopted by Machiavelli because it could use a wrong method to resolve moral conflicts and possibly justify the rightness of the wrong method, the allusion of Kant to motive in the attempt to resolve moral conflicts cannot, also, be accepted because no moral agent has the moral capacity to predict or futurize the reason behind the motive of the action of others. It concedes that given these failings, Machiavelli’s method is more pragmatic or socially realistic than Kant’s allusion to the motive. This is because the Kantian motive is not as socially viable with many socio-political options to be made or opened to humans to accept as social agents. Thus, Machiavelli’s allusion to result is as a result of the philosophical import of his political or social orientation. The study adopts the methods of conceptual analysis and philosophical argumentation.

Erotics of War and Sovereignty in Iris Murdoch’s The Red and the Green

In The Red and the Green the Irish writer Iris Murdoch creates a narrative universe that focuses on the Easter Rising of 1916, one of the most tumultuous turns in twentieth century Irish history, and introduces a rich web of moral conflicts and dilemmas experienced by members of an Anglo-Irish community in Dublin. The main concern of this article is to introduce a reading of Murdoch’s The Red and the Green in the context of the mythopoetic discourse of the Easter Rising of 1916, which predominantly reflected the nationalist rhetoric of the Irish Revivalist Movement, and to show how Murdoch revisualizes recent Irish history through her own cultural origins. The argument is grounded on the premise that Millie features in the novel as the embodiment of the feminine archetype and symbolic representation of the Erotic in stark contrast to the war rhetoric of the Easter Rising that relies heavily on the desexualized, romanticized and idealized versions of the feminine in Celtic mythic imagination. Millie’s feminine archetypal image and her symbolic representation of Eros distorts and shakes the masculine rhetoric of the Rising. As a response to the desexualized, sterile, and therefore displaced representations of the Sovereignty Goddess in the literature of the Irish Revival, Murdoch introduces a critical ethos in the novel by restoring the essence of this feminine element in the portrayal of Millie, the central character around whom the plot largely revolves.

Professional ethics for infectious disease control: moral conflict management in modern public health practice

ObjectivesDespite scientific evidence that confirms their effectiveness, use of vaccines and microbiological mass testing during the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with social and moral controversies. In this commentary, it is suggested how such conflicts originating from moral/normative imperatives can be managed in infectious disease control. Study designThis was a commentary analysis. MethodsA case example of scientific and public debate regarding infectious disease control and policy-making during the early pandemic response is first presented. The case is used to characterize how conflicts arising from moral constraints occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. These features are thereafter used as a basis for outlining a strategy for moral conflict prevention and management. ResultsA challenge for infectious disease control throughout the pandemic was how to manage persuasive initiatives originating from social forces competing with science for influence. Purposively maneuvered information distributed through social media and internet websites could predispose population factions to contest legitimate (evidence and legally based) pandemic response measures. During the pandemic, fact-based criticism of professionals responsible for infectious disease control was mixed with a critique of their moral standards and intentions so as to diminish effectiveness and credibility. Such blending could be curtailed if infectious disease control professionals are made accountable for public health decisions made in the light of prevalent scientific evidence and legislation. ConclusionsIf the infectious disease control community would embrace the international code of medical professional ethics, this would help to deal with moral conflicts, especially ones arising from external threats, in modern public health.

The moral deliberation pathway in veterinary practice: a qualitative study.

Veterinarians may face various ethical decisions and potential moral conflicts in clinical practice. The ethical decision-making process often leads to a satisfying resolution. However, when such a process is accompanied by a perceived inability to act according to a person's values, it can lead to psychological distress that characterises moral distress. Theoretical models in professions such as nursing attempt to explain the evolution of moral conflict into moral distress. In veterinary professionals, a model has been proposed to explain this pathway (the moral deliberation pathway). However, empirical data are still lacking on whether veterinary clinicians experience a moral deliberation pathway as hypothesised. Using thematic analysis, this qualitative study investigates veterinary clinicians' experiences with moral distress and aims to explain the moral deliberation pathway in these veterinarians. The results suggest that veterinarians' experiences with moral distress follow a deliberation process that can be explained by the proposed moral deliberation pathway. Experiencing a moral conflict leads to moral stress, then either to moral distress or resolution into moral comfort. Self-selection of participants and possible recollection bias may have biased the findings. The empirical data provided by this study can inform future research and intervention strategies to identify, measure and manage moral distress in the veterinary context.

Rights and duties of genetic counsellors in Germany related to relatives at risk: comparative thoughts on the German Genetic Diagnostics Act

Genetic testing has familial implications. Counsellors find themselves in (moral) conflict between medical confidentiality (towards the patient) and a potential right or even duty to warn at-risk relatives. Legal regulations...

The Ideas of French Existentialism in the Drama of Jean-Paul Sartre

The article analyses J.-P. Sartre’s philosophical plays, their main ideas and the moral conflicts of the characters. Sartre largely expressed the features of the crisis of European culture in the first half of the twentieth century. The problems of freedom, responsibility, loneliness and existential choice that were on the agenda then are relevant again today. On the threshold of a change of cultural paradigms we are also experiencing a crisis of spiritual values, turning to the basic categories of ethics, and dealing with complex moral and political issues. In this context, many of the problems touched upon by Sartre take on new meanings. Particularly important today are the issues of responsibility for personal choice, in particular the understanding of the inevitability of choice, the involvement of everyone in the events taking place, the need to express and defend one’s position. Refusal to make a choice is in itself a choice, we are in any case engaged. The problem of the choice between the personal and the social, between the observance of the fundamental precepts and the commitment to the common cause, also acquires new meanings. Sartre’s ethics is anarchic and socially significant at the same time. The philosopher rejects God as the guarantor of justification and some supreme, governing force, but asserts an ethics of personal responsibility. The article analyses the understanding of love, which the French existentialist interprets as sacrifice in his plays. From Sartre’s point of view, a person is a project of the self, a person can level bad deeds with good deeds and vice versa. Thus, the philosopher in his plays demonstrates the possibility of everyone’s struggle with his passions, personal perfection without higher intervention. The conclusion is that Sartre places the ethical above the aesthetic, affirms the involvement of everyone in the social situation, and demonstrates the application of philosophy in real life. His main ideas are not only of academic interest today, but also of practical interest.

Consequentialism and problem of role morality in legal ethics

ABSTRACT One of the frequent philosophical problems of legal ethics is the conflict between common and role morality. This situation is where a lawyer's actions are evaluated differently by these two sets of moral norms. The article seizes on this as a conflict between two conventional moralities that need to be resolved with the help of a justificatory morality and thus an appropriate theory of normative ethics. It offers as a possible response a variant of consequentialism that draws on utilitarianism and brings it closer to pragmatism. This approach seeks to preserve the traditional advantages of utilitarianism, which are minimalist and plausible normative assumptions, and an excellent ability to resolve moral conflicts. At the same time, it takes into account the complex nature of the world in which we live and our epistemic uncertainty, which brings it closer to pragmatism. The author confronts this theory with some existing approaches to resolving the conflict between the common and role morality and tries to show that it is at least as plausible as they are and should have a place among them. Finally, the article concludes with an analysis of the famous case of Alton Logan as its practical application.

Specifics of Psychoprophylaxis and Correction in Overcoming the Phenomenon of Compassion Fatigue in Volunteers

The purpose of the article is to empirically determine the features of psychoprophylaxis and correction in overcoming the phenomena of compas-sion fatigue of volunteers in the context of post­traumatic growth.research methods. Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS­21) and Pro-fessional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL) methods were used as psychodiagnostic methods in the empirical study of the phenomena of compassion fatigue to de-termine the stress resistance and professional quality of life of volunteers during the war. Mathematical and statistical methods, regression analysis, stochastic dependence between the investigated characteristics in groups, methods of psy-chological survey and comparison (Pearson’s χ2, df, ∆χ2, ∆df) were also used.research results. The internal moral conflict between the principles and challenges of reality, between universal human values and individual attitudes is attributed to the specifics of psychoprophylaxis and correction for overcoming the phenomena of compassion fatigue. Among the principles of psychohygiene and psychoprophylaxis of compassion fatigue phenomena of volunteers are such principles as the principle of complexity, the principle of systematicity, the prin-ciple of psychic development, and orientation to personal resources.conlusions. The results show that there are statistically significant differ-ences between the two groups of subjects according to the signs of compassion fatigue, among which we note the following indicators: a high level of depres-sion, professional burnout, traumatic stress and a moderate level of satisfaction with compassion. When carrying out psychological prevention of compassion fa-tigue phenomena of volunteers, at different levels (preventive, stress, resistance, exhaustion), it is necessary to focus on individual human resources and highlight psychological, biological, spiritual and social components of personality as indi-vidual parameters of human resistance.Consequently, those volunteers who directly provide assistance to victims are more prone to professional exhaustion, fatigue, psychophysical disorders and cognitive disorders than other volunteers who provide psychological interven-tions indirectly

Dirty Hands Defended

Abstract This paper defends the possibility of dirty hands against the longstanding skepticism that an action cannot be simultaneously right and wrong and that dirty hands cases are therefore impossible. While skeptics are right to recognize that prima facie reasons against violating moral duties may be overridden, they are wrong to deny that actions required by necessity may nevertheless remain wrong. Dirty hands cases capture the simultaneous necessity of disregarding moral duties in certain circumstances and the reprehensibility of wronging people even in cases in which this is all-things-considered permissible. Rather than indicating any deficiency in our moral reasoning, the capacity to accommodate the possibility of dirty hands, along with the reality of moral conflict, is a strength of a moral theory.

Moral and ethical conduct (and their absence) in groups, politics, and society: Introduction to the special issue

Morality—broadly defined as the distinction between “right” and “wrong” ways to behave—represents one of the most important and appealing inquiries within the realm of social sciences. Past research has consistently shown that morality dominates social perception and serves regulatory functions that help individuals define their social identities, regulate intragroup dynamics, and shape intergroup and political relations. We introduce a special issue that presents 10 articles that center on the theme of morality as a tool for regulating social life at different levels. These articles can be broadly organized into three interrelated macrothemes: intragroup processes, intergroup processes, and political processes. The research studies described in the special issue highlight the societal and political implications of morality; in particular, these studies allow us to map out particular strategies and policy recommendations aimed at diminishing the negative and enhancing the positive implications of morality, and at avoiding moral conflicts.