Moral Outlook Research Articles

The difficulty of seeing the world differently: a pedagogical and ethical aspect of moral persuasion

ABSTRACT This study examines the grammar of moral persuasion that leads to moral outlook transformation, exploring Cora Diamond’s insights in the ‘difficulty of reality’ (2008) and Wittgenstein’s concept of aspect change. Using J. M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals, Diamond illustrates the gulf between the character’s experiences and the audience’s interpretive deflections, highlighting the limitations of rational arguments in moral persuasion. Drawing on Wittgenstein, Diamond argues that we should imaginatively consider what seems nonsense as sense and understand the speaker’s intention to communicate. By comparing how reasons work in ethics to Wittgenstein’s methods, this study emphasizes both the difficulty educators face in persuading students to notice aspects they are blind to and the responsibility of educators to acknowledge seemingly nonsensical sentences uttered in children’s voices. It underscores the role of imaginative engagement and educators’ responsibility to share children’s sensitivities to our shared world in ethical and pedagogical approaches to moral persuasion.

Fish resilience as an ethical issue.

Fish resilience can be understood as the capacity of fish to successfully respond to a challenge so that they are able to function and flourish in much the same way as they did prior to the occurrence of the challenge. Resilience is a function not only of individual fish, but also of a whole fish population. Enhancing the resilience of fish requires both adapting the robustness of the animals and adapting the (production) environment to the specific needs of the fish. Rather than a mere biological capacity of fish, resilience also comes with ethical questions. These questions occur at four levels. First, in practice resilience often comes with a "rhetoric" of optimalization. The view that aquaculture that strives for resilient fish is good for both fish welfare and production is inherently normative. It assumes a 'win-win situation', but thereby makes certain normative assumptions. Second, especially when the win-win situation is not achievable, resilience means making trade-offs between preferred responses to challenges from the perspective of individual animals and groups or between individual housing and larger aquaculture systems. Third, the discussions on resilience and fish demonstrate the need to move beyond an animal welfare framework when discussing the treatment of fish in aquaculture. Recently, animal ethics has seen a turn towards centering animals' own agency. This means that we should not only focus on improving animal welfare, but also on asking what the animals themselves want and how they can be given more control over their situation. This may also impact the definition of resilience and how it is made operational. Finally, the use of the concept of resilience may reveal a certain moral outlook with regard to fish. On the one hand, resilience is portrayed as a positive characteristic of animals that enables improvement of the quality of life of fish. At the same time, it raises the question of how far we should stretch the "manufacturability" of fish. When we physically adapt animals so that they can cope with difficult circumstances we may be stretching moral boundaries. For example, this raises the objection that we are instrumentalizing animals. In this article, we reflect on these types of ethical issues and aim to show that the ethical dimensions of resilience need to be taken into account by professionals in aquaculture in order to make resilience operational and to contribute to a responsible interaction with fish in aquaculture.

HEYDAR ALIYEV AND THE AZERBAIJANI LANGUAGE

The mother tongue of every nation is the most important indicator of its existence, self-affirmation. The mother tongue is an irreplaceable national treasure that carries the uniqueness of the people, the nation, its historical background and culture, its rich vocabulary, beliefs and traditions, moral behavior and outlook, and transmits it from century to century. As Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of the Azerbaijani people, wisely said, "what makes a people a nation, what makes a nation a nation is its mother tongue." The Azerbaijani language, the state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan, currently has a unique place among world languages, as they say, a signature among signatures. In the words of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, "Our mother tongue is characterized by the richness of its possibilities, the fluency of the sound structure and the stability of the grammatical structure".

Art, Ethics, and the Relativism of Distance

Abstract To what extent, and on what grounds, can we ethically evaluate art from a generative context that is at some significant distance from our present reception context—at enough distance, at least, so that the two contexts differ, in important ways, in aspects of their moral outlooks? This paper has four aims. The modest task of the paper is to show that this question is much more difficult than has been recognised. The somewhat more ambitious goal is a methodological intervention: it is to highlight the need for interdisciplinary research that illuminates the socio-historical specificities of remote generative contexts in a way that allows us to see the relevant ways in which the moral outlooks overlap with ours (or do not). In relation, the third aim of the paper is to argue, with reference to Bernard Williams’s ‘relativism of distance’, that there are some cases in which the moral outlooks of a work’s generative and reception contexts differ so significantly that the warrant for our moral judgments of remote artworks is attenuated—if it exists at all. Finally, we try to demonstrate how the sort of interdisciplinary collaboration we’re advocating might inform our moral judgments of art—more specifically, in a way that invites a degree of quietude or uncertainty about remote artworks that are deeply morally troubling in our present reception context. We do this with reference to the paintings of Titian.

The impact of selfies on body image satisfaction and the chain mediating role of self-objectification and narcissistic personality.

This study explores the mediating effect of self-objectification and narcissistic personality on the relationship between selfies and body image satisfaction. A total of 368 college students were administered a survey that included general information, selfie-related questions, a body image satisfaction scale, a body surveillance scale, and a narcissistic personality scale. Selfies, body image satisfaction, self- objectifica- tion, and narcissistic personality were shown to be positively correlated. Mediation modeling analysis found that selfies had a direct effect on body image satisfaction and that self-objectification and narcissistic personality mediated this relationship. Consequently, this study holds suggestions for researchers and educators searching for better exploration and attention to improve the content of education, guide students to set up a correct moral outlook, outlook on life and values.

Exploration and Utilization of Curriculum Ideological and Political Education in Human Geography Teaching

Curriculum ideological and political education is an effective way to cultivate talents for socialist construction in the new era. Human geography urgently needs the integration of curriculum ideology and politics. Under the background of new requirements in the new era, the ideological and political construction of curriculum is explored. By excavating the ideological and political elements of human geography curriculum, starting from the concept of national conditions, life values, sustainable development concept, and human-land coordination concept, this paper explores the corresponding integration points of ideological and political elements in each chapter, and integrates the ideological and political contents such as world outlook, political outlook, moral outlook, outlook on life, and rule of law into the human geography classroom, so as to cultivate students' cognitive ability and practical ability, improve their social responsibility and ability to identify right and wrong, and realize the educational effect of “moistening things silently”.

Is Deceitful Autobiographical Memory Really Forgotten?

Autobiographical memory for deceitful events is said to be forgotten over time to reduce guilt and stress. People who engage in deceitful behavior continue to do so because they are able to stretch their memories to match their moral outlook. In this study, the authors wanted to see if participants who engage in deceitful behavior will change their behavior if they are reminded of their previous misdeeds and compare it with reminding them of past moral behavior and any neutral event. We also studied how the experience, or phenomenology of remembering, differs between immoral and moral memories. In Experiment 1, we found evidence to suggest that reminding deceptive autobiographical memory does not reduce deceptive behavior. In Experiment 2, we found evidence to suggest phenomenological characteristics of Immoral and moral memories are not significantly different from each other but they are both significantly different from that of neutral memory. This contradicts established results in the field. It is interesting to note that only emotional valence is significantly different between immoral and moral memory.

Moral economies in the community of Norwegian folk music practices

ABSTRACT This article investigates the moral outlooks and obligations that are intertwined in the teaching and learning processes of the traditional folk music community in Norway and how moral aspects affect the development of professional identities. Theoretically, we combine the concept of a community of practice with a moral economy perspective. This allows us to see that professional folk musicians are positioned between two different moral economies, one that builds on voluntary values and gift exchange and another that builds on professional ideals of the market-based economy of the music industry. In this way, we extend existing knowledge on teaching and learning processes by specifying the moral content that is learnt by participating in the practices of the folk music community. Being socialised into the moral outlook of the Norwegian folk music community means internalising specific norms and values that create moral obligations and shape social contracts.

Recent metaphors of Brexit in the British press

In the referendum of 23 June 2016, the UK's decision to leave the EU in the course of a Brexit was very close, with 51.9% (Leave) versus 48.1% (Remain). A year after the final withdrawal from the European Union, disillusionment seems to have spread in Great Britain. The focus of previous linguistic studies is mostly on the language used during the Leave and Remain campaigns. Charteris–Black (2019) is the first book-length study to provide a systematic description of the plethora of metaphors of Brexit. His analysis is based on the evaluation of a variety of data published in connection with the Brexit referendum, ranging from newspaper articles to social media posts and cartoons: [ . . . ] once we look under the surface we find that understanding the metaphors of the Brexit debate provides rich insight into the profoundly moral outlooks that influenced both those who sought to leave the European Union and those who wished to remain in it. Members of the public, opinion formers and politicians relied on metaphor as a way of framing political issues and creating persuasive stories and allegories. Understanding these better helps us to understand not only what divided the two sides but also what both sides held in common: a belief and desire that they could improve their country. (Charteris–Black, 2019: 2)

Human enhancement technologies and the arguments for cosmopolitanism

According to political minimalism, a debate is considered political when it revolves around the question “What shall we do?” This account suggests that certain issues related to human enhancement technologies (HETs), which have traditionally been addressed in the realm of applied ethics, could be better approached from a political standpoint. However, this raises the question of who constitutes the “we” – the communities that face the political challenges posed by HETs. We argue that there is a global human community that directly faces at least some of these challenges, and this fact underscores the relevance of a cosmopolitan perspective. While some authors have already advocated for a cosmopolitan approach in addressing issues such as poverty or climate change, they often do so from a moral outlook, without adequately distinguishing between ethics and politics. In contrast, we assert that HETs present compelling arguments in favour of cosmopolitanism as a political stance. In support of this claim, we consider two cases: the pills that would allow people to eat at will without gaining weight, and the choice between different types of cognitive enhancers.

What Is Wrong with Eating Pets? Wittgensteinian Animal Ethics and Its Need for Empirical Data.

Wittgensteinian approaches to animal ethics highlight the significance of practical concepts like 'pet', 'patient', or 'companion' in shaping our understanding of how we should treat non-human animals. For Wittgensteinian animal ethicists, moral principles alone cannot ground moral judgments about our treatment of animals. Instead, moral reflection must begin with acknowledging the practical relations that tie us to animals. Morality emerges within practical contexts. Context-dependent conceptualisations form our moral outlook. In this paper, we argue that Wittgensteinians should, for methodological reasons, pay more attention to empirical data from the social sciences such as sociology, psychology or anthropology. Such data can ground Wittgensteinians' moral inquiry and thereby render their topical views more dialectically robust.

Making the left behind as a subject of crisis

Working through the narrative construction of the left behind, the article explores how groups become visible as subjects of crisis, with reference to material conditions, attitudinal disposition and moral outlook. It suggests that crisis provides a panoramic vision that is crucial for understanding how authors delineate left behind subjectivity, suggest relational dispositions and put audiences and spectators into the frame. Considering book-length titles and policy proposals, the article examines contributions to a body of work that speaks on behalf of populations and makes them subject of social-diagnostic, moral and political evaluation. It argues that this type of image-making renders left behind constituencies visible as subjects of resentment but without history, self-authorship and depth. With this focus, the article adds a critical perspective to the study of crises at a point when their permanence and multiplication challenge existing frameworks.

Medical imagery in Maximus of Tyre's Orations.

Imagery is an overarching feature of Maximus of Tyre's Orations which has never been the subject of systematic investigation. This paper provides a starting point by focusing exclusively on medical imagery, one of the most pervasive and instrumental types of imagery in Maximus' work that has gone entirely unnoticed in the literature to date. This paper shows that Maximus uses medicine (especially its scientific basis and historical development), the physician (e.g. his skill, provision and sensitivity towards the patient), the body (its physiology and workings) and notions of health and disease with considerable diversity and creativity, in ways that make his examples stand out in relation to earlier (Platonic) or contemporary applications of the medical parallel. It argues that the use of the medical imagery in the pedagogical context in which Maximus' Orations were performed facilitated not just clarity but also concept formation and the shaping of a moral outlook as well as the familiarisation with the proper literary references and verbal and conceptual topoi for admission into the group of the educated elite. Another main thesis is that medical imagery valorises Maximus' philosophical status and his claims to Imperial-period acculturation, thus functioning as a trademark for the rhetorical philosophy he wished to promote.

The moral economy of the cultural sector

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to deepen our understanding of the moral outlook that characterizes cultural organizations as political actors. Through a review of contributions to a public consultation on cultural policy in Norway, we seek to elucidate the moral economy these actors bring to bear on their relations to the state. More specifically, we focus on the actors’ understandings of the state’s moral obligations towards the cultural sector and how these notions relate to the experiences and concerns of cultural organizations. One such experience that surfaces in the public consultation is the strong engagement of members of cultural organizations, while another is a sense of vulnerability and perceived threats to art and culture posed by various forces in society. Against this background, we explore different understandings of the roles and responsibilities of the state in cultural policy that cultural organizations give voice to, noting the dominance of a conception of cultural policy as state patronage. In accordance with this understanding, the obligations of the state are to recognize the unique value and importance of cultural organizations, to provide them with the necessary resources, and to protect them from external threats.

Pragmatist quietism: A meta‐ethical system. By Andrew Sepielli, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2022. vi + 231 pp. £55 (Hbk)

Pragmatist quietism: A meta‐ethical system. By Andrew Sepielli, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2022. vi + 231 pp. £55 (Hbk)

#MeToo with Chinese characteristics – analysis through a lens of Chinese feminism

ABSTRACT As a victim-survivor and feminist activist who participated in the #MeToo movement in China, I always have confusion and questions generated from my experiences and observations. The limited literature on Chinese social movements rarely utilises China situated frameworks, which reduces the understanding. This article focuses on ‘how #MeToo movement(s) manifest and evolve in China’ and aims to find out its ‘Chinese characteristics’. Through an analysis of two archives and my autoethnography using He-Yin Zhen’s feminist analytical concepts ‘nannü’ (man/woman) and ‘shengji’ (livelihood), Confucian moral outlook, and ‘Chinese characteristics’, I find that the movement displays ‘Chinese characteristics’ in multiple aspects. There is not one monolithic #MeToo movement in China but many with different agendas, although some of which are prioritised more than others. These findings stress the importance of privileging the historic-cultural context and personal perspectives in studying social movements. This article illustrates that situated feminist research is needed to reconstruct feminist studies in the global South, and that feminist movements need to consider the historical and cultural context, and challenge dominant romanticising and elitist discourses, in order to develop sustainably.

Moral Formation in a Culture of Relativism: Correlates of Universalism and Relativism in the Moral Outlooks of Emerging Adults

Moral Formation in a Culture of Relativism: Correlates of Universalism and Relativism in the Moral Outlooks of Emerging Adults

Judge the Evil of Human Nature: “Moll Flanders” and Defoe's View of Conscience

“Moll Flanders” is a companion piece of Daniel Defoe's “Robinson Crusoe”, known as Defoe's "female version of spiritual autobiography". For a long time, Defoe researchers have focused on the "individual self-sufficiency" and social problems in his works. However, the research on Defoe's moral outlook is slightly fragmented, involving money and morality, Christian morality, national morality and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to start from the text of “Moll Flanders” to deeply explore the core of Defoe's moral thought, reveal Moll Flanders' crime and punishment under the threshold of his view of conscience, and analyze the birth context of Defoe's view of conscience, which mainly includes the following aspects: The relationship between Moll Flanders and the spirit of early capitalism, the lack of national welfare policy and Moll Flanders’s moral crisis, Moll Flanders' criminal predicament and spiritual redemption. Finally, this paper aims to explore the similarities and differences between Defoe's view of conscience and David Hume's and Adam Smith's view of conscience in the context of moral philosophy, to reveal the continuity and development of the ideas, to provide the thought resources from Defoe for the modern society. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the behavior and moral concepts of the heroine Moll Flanders in Defoe's work and to explain how the social values and ideas implied in it reflect Defoe's notion of conscience. The significance of this paper is to explore the moral philosophy of Defoe's work and the connection between his conscience and Hume and Adam Smith.

Missionary Cosmopolitanism in Nineteenth-Century British Literature

Missionary Cosmopolitanism in Nineteenth-Century British Literature

The Moral Outlooks of Cultural Workers in Pandemic Times

The Moral Outlooks of Cultural Workers in Pandemic Times