Ethical Criticism Research Articles

The value foundations of the university teacher’s orientation towards the implementation of personality oriented education ideas

The paper substantiates the importance of the implementation of personality-oriented education in higher education. The author reveals specifics of personality-oriented education at the university, an integral component of which is subjectivity. The author substantiates the legitimacy of extrapolating the ideas of personality-oriented education, the implementation of which is effective in a secondary school, to the university educational process and proposes the formulation of these ideas in relation to the university: the idea of recognizing a particular students personality value; development of the students personal experience; the ascent of the student to culture. The role of a university teacher in the implementation of personality-oriented education ideas in the process of interaction with students is revealed and the need to identify the value foundations of the university teachers orientation towards the implementation of such ideas is substantiated. The author considers that knowledge has a direct impact on human morality, the development of which is carried out through the choice of values and their subsequent appropriation by a person. The author also reveals the role of the teachers moral consciousness in understanding the value foundations of the orientation towards the implementation of personality-oriented education ideas. An example of determining the value foundations of personality-oriented education idea as the recognition of the value of a particular students personality is given and it is substantiated that this value basis is the value of good. The author proves that it is possible to assess the implementation of personality-oriented education ideas according to moral criteria, in the role of which are the values that take on the meaning as values for oneself and for another, the concepts of morality good, duty, mercy, justice, honor. It is substantiated that the axiological space of the university filled with values, the meaning of which is acquired by the concepts of morality, can become a means of teachers orientation towards the implementation of personality-oriented education ideas.

The impact of twenty-first century personalized medicine versus twenty-first century medicine\u2019s impact on personalization

BackgroundOver the past decade, the exponential growth of the literature devoted to personalized medicine has been paralleled by an ever louder chorus of epistemic and ethical criticisms. Their differences notwithstanding, both advocates and critics share an outdated philosophical understanding of the concept of personhood and hence tend to assume too simplistic an understanding of personalization in health care.MethodsIn this article, we question this philosophical understanding of personhood and personalization, as these concepts shape the field of personalized medicine. We establish a dialogue with phenomenology and hermeneutics (especially with E. Husserl, M. Merleau-Ponty and P. Ricoeur) in order to achieve a more sophisticated understanding of the meaning of these concepts We particularly focus on the relationship between personal subjectivity and objective data.ResultsWe first explore the gap between the ideal of personalized healthcare and the reality of today’s personalized medicine. We show that the nearly exclusive focus of personalized medicine on the objective part of personhood leads to a flawed ethical debate that needs to be reframed. Second, we seek to contribute to this reframing by drawing on the phenomenological-hermeneutical movement in philosophy. Third, we show that these admittedly theoretical analyses open up new conceptual possibilities to tackle the very practical ethical challenges that personalized medicine faces.ConclusionFinally, we propose a reversal: if personalization is a continuous process by which the person reappropriates all manner of objective data, giving them meaning and thereby shaping his or her own way of being human, then personalized medicine, rather than being personalized itself, can facilitate personalization of those it serves through the data it provides.

Essential Moral Sources of Ethical Standards in Child and Youth Care Work

It is proposed that an ethical framework for child and youth care practice should take into account the differences between descriptive ethical inquiry on the one hand and normative and analytical ethical inquiry on the other. This will help us avoid the error of deriving our ethical principles from our practices, when in fact what we need is a moral criterion originating outside our practice that is not based on efficiency. Mattingly (1995) suggests this in recommending that we “Develop an ethical vision.” This ethical vision should take into account the domains of morality proposed by Taylor (1989), including respect for human life, issues of what makes a rich, meaningful life, and ideas about dignity. Doing so may provide a moral foundation not just for a code of ethics, but a moral framework for evaluating the entire range of our practice with children and youth.

Axiological Problems of Statutory Interpretation

The paper discusses the question of axiological determinants of statutory interpretation in the context of statutory law. The author formulates the argument that the paradigm of the so-called non-axiological statutory interpretation, originating from the non-axiological jurisprudence approach, does not offer an effective protection against obtaining meanings which are contrary to elementary moral rules. The paper focuses on axiological instructions for an interpreter, i.e. how to look for morally objective meanings and what the moral objectivity criteria of meaning in the law are.

Mathematics, ethics and purism: an application of MacIntyre\u2019s virtue theory

A traditional problem of ethics in mathematics is the denial of social responsibility. Pure mathematics is viewed as neutral and value free, and therefore free of ethical responsibility. Applications of mathematics are seen as employing a neutral set of tools which, of themselves, are free from social responsibility. However, mathematicians are convinced they know what constitutes good mathematics. Furthermore many pure mathematicians are committed to purism, the ideology that values purity above applications in mathematics, and some historical reasons for this are discussed. MacIntyre’s virtue ethics accommodates both the good mathematician (and good pure mathematics) and the ethics of the social practice of mathematics. It demonstrates that purism is compatible with acknowledging the social responsibility of mathematics. Four aspects of this responsibility are mentioned, two concerning the impact of mathematics via education, and two concerning explicit and implicit applications of mathematics. The last of these opens up the performativity of mathematical and measurement applications in society, which change the very processes they are supposed to measure. Although these applications are not explored in detail, they illustrate the importance of considering the ethics and social responsibility of mathematics in society. MacIntyre’s virtue theory opens a broad approach to the controversial topic of the ethics of mathematics encompassing purism, and absolutist and social constructivist philosophies of mathematics, but still enabling ethical critiques of the impact of mathematics on society.

Predatory and Alternative Hedonism – Better Later than Now?

Hedonistic ethos is to intensify in the environment of consumer culture and in the atmosphere of unlimited consumerism, intentionally supported by market mechanisms. The value patterns of hedonistic life style are defined by experience motivations, excitement, sensual pleasures, delight, self-satisfaction, intensive need for emotional stimulations, present-time orientation or accelerated pace of life. It is considered identical with radical inclination towards individualization life practices, rapidly growing egoism and narcissistic tendencies confirming the meaning of one’s own existence. Life philosophy of independence, non-determination and “inner orientation” logically leads to the application of such life strategies that can support and develop this attitude to life. Predatory hedonism focusing on the values of pleasurable experience requires mobility, flexibility and variability; it refuses to accept stability and obligations, i.e. anything that could tie and restrict life movement focusing on the fleeting and shifting world of experiences. It is a life “without ties”, unpredictable, unsettled, wild and impulsive. Hedonistic life style oriented towards consumer values, however, meets with frequent social, ecological and ethical criticism. There is room for discussion related to the alternative model of hedonism based on more responsible and well-considered approach towards consumption and voluntary modesty, which shall eventually enhance the sense of personal happiness and general satisfaction with life. Ethical consumption, as part of fulfilling the idea of alternative hedonism, may become an attractive objective of this lifestyle, based on a non-ascetic, but socially and environmentally friendly, way of life. The alternative hedonism is further compared with ideas of economics of productive consumption and with development of financial market.

Formation of Artistic Historicism in the Early Work of I. I. Lazhechnikov

The article is devoted to the formation of artistic historicism in the work of Lazhechnikov. The relevance of the study is associated with the need for a deeper study of the early work of the writer. It is proved that the foundations of artistic historicism were laid in the early works of Lazhechnikov. It is noted that in the stories “Malinovka” and “Portrait” there is a transformation of sentimental stories with a setting on a historical theme. In the course of the study, the authors of the article conclude that in these works Lazhechnikov does not yet feel the need for historical stylization in the spiritual appearance of the heroes depicted, although he is inclined to preach moral categories, therefore the historicism of these works is of a didactic nature. The “Travel notes of a Russian officer” is also examined in the article. It is noted that in this work the writer’s individual experience becomes a part of historical experience, the accumulation of which is perceived by Lazhechnikov as a process that forms the moral and ethical criteria of the nation. The authors of the article dwell on the fact that the writer creates his own poetics of historical narration, artistic historicism manifests itself in the transfer of historical flavor, in the writer’s reflections on the role of the Russian nation in history. It has been established that Lazhechnikov’s artistic historicism presupposes the interconnection of the past and the present, the comprehension of historical time becomes the basis for the formation of the writer’s historical thinking. The idea is expressed that the historicism of Lazhechnikov’s early works became the basis for the development of the historical theme in the novels of the 1930s.

Analysis on Lolita’s Tragic Fate and Self-Redemption From the Perspective of Sphinx Factor

Lolita’s life is short and tragic. The teenage girl’s Sphinx factor ties her fate to the fate of the three men around her. Based on ethical literary criticism, this paper analyzes the entanglement between Lolita and the fate of the three men in her life under the influence of her sphinx factor. Through the free will of the animal factor of the Sphinx factor, Lolita’s fate is tragically interwoven with Humbert and Quilty’s; through the rational will of human factor of sphinx factor, Lolita and Dick’s destinies are intertwined. The different components of the Sphinx factor affect Lolita’s fate. The existence of the animal factor leads to her tragic fate, but the human factor ultimately overcomes the animal factor and achieves the soul’s self-redemption.

Cosmopolitan Democratic and Communicative Rights: The Danish Cartoons Controversy and the Right to Be Heard, Even Across Borders

During the Danish cartoons controversy in 2005–2006, a group of ambassadors to Denmark representing eleven predominantly Muslim countries requested a meeting with the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to protest against the cartoons. Rasmussen interpreted their viewpoint as one of demanding limits to freedom of speech and he ignored their request for a meeting. Drawing on this case study, the article argues that it is an appropriate, and potentially effective, moral criticism of anyone who is in a position of political power—taking into account reasonable constraints of feasibility and practicality—that they have refused to receive information, ideas, or opinions from individuals, or their representatives, with dissenting viewpoints. The article also articulates one possible theoretical ground for such a moral criticism: that they could be violating a fundamental (cosmopolitan) moral right of people to submit information, ideas, or opinions to those who wield power over them and to be meaningfully heard—a right which can span state borders.

Reading the Book of Habakkuk through a Lens of Cultural Trauma

Despite numerous helpful efforts to ascertain Habakkuk’s historical context, few scholars ask how Habakkuk addresses itself to audiences across varying contexts. Employing Jeffrey Alexander’s concept of cultural trauma, this essay argues that Habakkuk’s portrait of victims and perpetrators facilitates a didactic representation of ancient Israel’s collective trauma beyond its original settings. Examining Habakkuk’s trans-historical nature, this study demonstrates that the book’s portrayal of the prophet and the Babylonians communicates cultural trauma in two ways: through the personalization of trauma and through the universalization of evil. The prophet’s direct speeches to YHWH personalize trauma by deepening the identification to victims of trauma from earlier generations, while representing the prophet as an archetype of victims. Simultaneously, Habakkuk’s moral and religious critiques of past perpetrators of trauma correspond to the cultural phenomenon of universalizing evil, which raises readers’ moral awareness and increases resistance to re-traumatization.

Novel Model to Predict HCC Recurrence after Liver Transplantation Obtained Using Deep Learning: A Multicenter Study.

Simple SummaryAlthough several models have been developed to extend the criteria for liver transplantation in hepatocellular carcinoma beyond the Milan criteria, there are still no standard criteria. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel model to predict hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver transplantation by adopting artificial intelligence (MoRAL-AI). The MoRAL-AI showed significantly better discrimination (c-index = 0.75) than previous models in the independent validation cohort: the Milan (c-index = 0.64), MoRAL (c-index = 0.69), UCSF (c-index = 0.62), up-to-seven (c-index = 0.50), and Kyoto (c-index = 0.50) criteria (all p < 0.001). We assessed the weighted parameters for tumor recurrence in the MoRAL-AI with the deep learning method: tumor diameter, followed by alpha-fetoprotein, age, and PIVKA-II.Several models have been developed using conventional regression approaches to extend the criteria for liver transplantation (LT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) beyond the Milan criteria. We aimed to develop a novel model to predict tumor recurrence after LT by adopting artificial intelligence (MoRAL-AI). This study included 563 patients who underwent LT for HCC at three large LT centers in Korea. Derivation (n = 349) and validation (n = 214) cohorts were independently established. The primary outcome was time-to-recurrence after LT. A MoRAL-AI was derived from the derivation cohort with a residual block-based deep neural network. The median follow-up duration was 74.7 months (interquartile-range, 18.5–107.4); 204 patients (36.2%) had HCC beyond the Milan criteria. The optimal model consisted of seven layers including two residual blocks. In the validation cohort, the MoRAL-AI showed significantly better discrimination function (c-index = 0.75) than the Milan (c-index = 0.64), MoRAL (c-index = 0.69), University of California San Francisco (c-index = 0.62), up-to-seven (c-index = 0.50), and Kyoto (c-index = 0.50) criteria (all p < 0.001). The largest weighted parameter in the MoRAL-AI was tumor diameter, followed by alpha-fetoprotein, age, and protein induced by vitamin K absence-II. The MoRAL-AI had better predictability of tumor recurrence after LT than conventional models. The MoRAL-AI can also evolve with further data.

Weaving pedagogy in early childhood education: on openings and their foreclosure

ABSTRACT Arising from the question ‘How might we think of pedagogy in early childhood education?’, this article traces pedagogy’s histories, conceptual difficulties, inherent foreclosures, and contextual particularities. It argues that within the context of early education, pedagogy has become an obscure, sophisticated supplement of some sort rather than an indeterminate field of responsive, generative, and collaborative practice of interpretation, ethical critique, and invention. Thinking through the trilogy of repair, release, and return, we make three significant moves in the paper. First, we repair pedagogy from unfortunate and quite common misunderstandings. Second, we release early childhood education from the suffocating dominant narrative of child development as its primary source of intelligibility and moral legitimacy. Finally, we return to the idea of early childhood education as a pedagogical project and offer a series of interconnected propositions that respond to the conditions of our times. Overall, we argue that if early childhood education studiously attends to pedagogical thought, its problematic developmentalism might become obsolete.

Not Sitting Down for It: How Stand-Up Differs from Fiction (And How Neither Is Immune to Ethical Criticism)

ABSTRACT One of the standard defenses of Daniel Tosh, Andrew Dice Clay, Bernard Manning, and other stand-up comedians who have been accused of crossing moral lines is that the responses they elicit belong to an aesthetic rather than a moral domain to which standard methods of ethical evaluation are therefore inapplicable. I argue, first, that fictionality does not confer immunity to ethical criticism and, second, that the stance adopted by the stand-up artist is not fully analogous to a fictive one in any event. Whatever the case with respect to the adoption of an alternative persona, the stand-up artist refers in his or her pronouncements to the actual world in a way that a fiction does not. That also suggests susceptibility to ethical criticism, just for different reasons.

Calculated Ageism: Generational Sacrifice as a Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ObjectivesPopular responses to the pandemic illustrate ageism’s pervasiveness and the extent of collective acquiescence to its newest expressions. We explore these themes by analyzing Twitter reactions to “calculated ageism” – a term we use to refer to a political figure’s edict that older adults should sacrifice their lives if it will mitigate the pandemic’s economic damage to younger people.MethodsUsing thematic analysis, we examine tweets (n=188) responding to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s March 23, 2020, statement that encouraged generational self-sacrifice. Themes that emerged included positions of support or opposition and tweeters’ critiques.ResultsThe large majority of tweets – 90 percent – opposed calculated ageism, while only 5 percent supported it and 5 percent conveyed no position. Opposition centered on moral critiques, political-economic critiques, assertions of older adults’ worth, and public health arguments. Support centered on individual responsibility and patriotism.DiscussionWhile prior research reveals ageism to be solidly entrenched in popular culture, our study finds that limits prevail and identifies the reasons underlying them. The most common reasons for opposing calculated ageism center on its immorality and on its privileging of the economic interests of the powerful few over the many, patterns suggesting that the boundaries of ageism are influenced by core beliefs about fairness. They also are shaped by a bedrock conviction that older lives have value. This intergenerational solidarity could be leveraged to reduce ageism during the pandemic and beyond.

View the Cultural Identity and Acculturation of Overseas Chinese in Modern China from the Perspective of Chen XingtangChen Xingtang, Traditional culture, Braids, Cultural identity, Cultural adaptation

Chen Xingtang was a native Chinese of straits and the first native-born Chinese writer in Singapore. It can be seen that Chen Xingtang’s family education and adult behavior in his early childhood were deeply influenced by Chinese traditional culture through sorting out his collected works, which showed a “different kind” in the Chinese society at that time. Facing the pressure of changing times and westernization, he not only showed hesitation and anxiety about the traditional culture, but also showed recognition and adherence to traditional culture. Especially in the dispute of cutting braids, although he compromised and conceded, his adhering to the principle actually reflected the cultural adaptation side. In addition, the truth of his respecting Confucius and the criticism of the traditional ethics was also a proof. From this point of view, the attitude of the native Chinese community represented by Chen Xingtang was to adapt to the local social life, but also to adhere to the cultural traditions.

A Social Mission is Not Enough: Reflecting the Normative Foundations of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is not just an objective description of a phenomenon; it also carries a positive normative connotation. However, the academic discourse barely reflects social entrepreneurship’s inherent normativity and often grounds it implicitly on the mission of a social enterprise. In this paper, we argue critically that it is insufficient to ground social entrepreneurship’s inherent normativity on a social mission. Instead, we will show how such a mission-centric conception of social entrepreneurship, when put into practice, is prone to enhance rather than diminish societal grievances. In order to give social entrepreneurship an explicit and sound ethical grounding, we draw on integrative economic ethics as a frame of reference. From this perspective, social entrepreneurship necessitates adherence to the discourse-ethically reasoned moral principle in order to live up to its inherent normative validity claim of good entrepreneurship. The consideration of social entrepreneurship practices is crucial to make this approach less vulnerable to ethical critique. The addition of a practice dimension overcomes the mission-centric view of social entrepreneurship and opens up a typology of enterprise forms, thereby enabling a more fine-grained distinction between social enterprises and other forms of organization.

The Genealogical Ethics of Leadership-as-Practice

Mensch and Barge in their interpretation of Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique of genealogical ethics as a basis of ethical weakness in the emerging field of “leadership-as-practice,” suggest that L-A-P is lacking in ethical grounding especially because of its relativist philosophy. I address this valid ethical concern in L-A-P theory by arguing that there is a form of realism in Nietzchean axiology and that the dialogic potentialities in material-social interactions may offer a greater capacity for ethical reflexivity than a reliance on rules.

Care Robots, Crises of Capitalism, and the Limits of Human Caring

“Care robots” offer technological solutions to increasing needs for care just as economic imperatives increasingly regulate the care sector. Ethical critiques of this technology cannot succeed without situating themselves within the crisis of social reproduction under neoliberal capitalism. What, however, constitutes “care” and its status as a potential critical resource, and how might care robots damage this potential? Although robots might threaten norms of care, I argue that they are by no means necessarily damaging. Critiques of care robots must not entrench exclusionary images of the ideal carer. Instead, critical reflection on their use should trouble dominant paradigms of care.

Heautonomy: Schiller on freedom of the will

AbstractIn his book “Schiller as Philosopher”, Frederick Beiser laments that “contemporary Kant scholars have been intent on ignoring him. If they know anything at all about Schiller, it is only as the author of an epigram satirizing Kant”. Therefore, Beiser calls us “to consider Schiller as a philosopher, to reconstruct and appraise the arguments of his philosophical writings” (Beiser, 2005, p. vii). In this paper, I shall argue that it is Schiller's conception of freedom of the will as “heautonomy” that stands behind his critique and modification of Kant's ethics. However, the systematic significance of Schiller's theory of freedom is not obvious. Its argumentative structure must first be reconstructed—as Beiser has demanded—because it is concealed by an esthetic discourse. A reconstruction of Schiller's theory of freedom shows that he contrasts his concept of heautonomy as individual self‐determination with the Kantian concept of an autonomy or autocracy of reason by the universal moral law. Schiller's own philosophical contribution to the debate on freedom after Kant must therefore not be understood as a mere esthetic balancing and softening of Kant's ethical rigorism. Rather, it shows serious transformations of Kant's approach, which justifies understanding it as a critical step beyond Kant's theory of the autonomy of reason.

Justice in Emmanuel Levinas and John Rawls

ABSTRACT This paper draws attention to overlooked similarities between John Rawls’s and Emmanuel Levinas’s understandings of justice. Its first part provides a synopsis of each philosopher’s ideas as well trends in the secondary literature on their comparability. I then focus on an especially thoughtful attempt to open a dialogue between Levinas and Rawls—Flora Bastiani’s ‘Égalité, équité et justice.’ Bastiani identifies several points of comparison but concludes that a different, superior ‘moral criterion’ inspires Levinas’s idea of justice. Bastiani bases her analysis on Rawls’s Theory of Justice. However, Rawls substantially revised his theory in Political Liberalism. I argue that he was not unaware of criticisms like the ones which Bastiani raises and that he sought to address them in Political Liberalism. Moreover, I show that his revised ‘political conception’ of justice has surprising affinities to Levinas. For both, justice arises out of an ethical exigency imposed onto us by those whose values and perspectives cannot be assimilated to our own—an ethical demand that we refuse the temptation to impose our will onto them and endeavor instead to enact peaceful compromises.