Moral Resources Research Articles

Apología a la diversidad. Sobre el caso del matrimonio de parejas homosexuales en Colombia

En este artículo se discute, en el contexto de la filosofía moral, sobre el matrimonio de parejas homosexuales en Colombia. La hipótesis de lectura es: la aceptación de la diversidad sexual en la conformación de parejas homosexuales por parte de una sociedad decente está directamente relacionada con la dignidad y la capacidad de reconocimiento de esta sociedad en el ámbito de la filosofía moral. Reiteradamente los homosexuales han sido tratados como personas enfermas, incapaces de paternar o maternar o con carencias racionales o con ausencia de recursos morales y afectivos. Acusados de no ser el resultado del normal y esperado ciclo vital de las personas, son tratados de formas humillantes e indignas tanto en ambientes educativos, laborales, religiosos, como sociales. Se concluye que la forma en que se lleva a cabo la humillación y el desprecio a las parejas homosexuales y a la comunidad LGBTI tiene la particularidad de ser aplicada por una mayoría sobre una minoría. Unos abiertamente discriminatorios, otros en un franco rechazo desde sus intimidades y otros desde su indiferencia. Lo que está en entredicho es el nosotros como sociedad y la manera de hacer nuestra deliberación moral.

Principle, Practice, and Precedent: Vindicating Justice, According to Law

The idea of justice according to law is exemplified by common law thought, in which principle and precedent are interlocked and interdependent. The law is constituted neither by its socially authoritative sources, regarded as social fact, nor by moral judgment about their *effects*. It is a moral construction of legal practice, interpreting its various rules and arrangements as parts of an integrated scheme of justice. Justice is sought by adherence to practice, understood in the light of the ideals it embodies on correct analysis. Legal obligations are moral obligations and legal reasoning is moral reasoning; law and morality should be conceived as mutually supporting parts of a unified normative domain. The requirements of justice are discerned, in large part, by exploration of the legal tradition in which particular issues arise for decision. It is an internal, interpretative inquiry, drawing on the moral resources of that tradition. Conflict between political ideals must be resolved internally as part of that inquiry; we are obligated to obey the law as correctly determined. These points are reinforced by critique of work by Dworkin, Greenberg, Hershovitz, and Waldron.

The crisis of patient-physician trust and bioethics: lessons and inspirations from China.

Trust is indispensable not only for interpersonal relationships and social life, but for good quality healthcare. As manifested in the increasing violence and tension in patient-physician relationships, China has been experiencing a widespread and profound crisis of patient-physician trust. And globally, the crisis of trust is an issue that every society, either developing or developed, has to face in one way or another. Yet, in spite of some pioneering works, the subject of patient-physician trust and mistrust - a crucial matter in healthcare especially because there are numerous ethical implications - has largely been marginalized in bioethics as a global discourse. Drawing lessons as well as inspirations from China, this paper demonstrates the necessity of a trust-oriented bioethics and presents some key theoretical, methodological and philosophical elements of such a bioethics. A trust-oriented bioethics moves beyond the current dominant bioethical paradigms through putting the subject of trust and mistrust in the central agenda of the field, learning from the social sciences, and reviving indigenous moral resources. In order for global bioethics to claim its relevance to the things that truly matter in social life and healthcare, trust should be as vital as such central norms like autonomy and justice and can serve as a potent theoretical framework.

The Grammar of Trust and Distrust under State Socialism after Stalin. Introduction

The Grammar of Trust and Distrust under State Socialism after Stalin. Introduction The introduction to the special issue defines trust/distrust from an interdisciplinary perspective, treating these emotions as analytical categories and outlining their potential for historical analysis. Inspired by the emotional and sensory turns, the guest editor examines the shift from Stalinist violence towards a politics of trust and empathy. This new politics saw these feelings as powerful emotional forces and moral resources that not only made it possible to renegotiate a social contract between the state, society and the individual, but also enabled the stabilisation of the Eastern bloc as a whole in the post-Stalin era. Differentiating between regimes and communities of trust/distrust, the author sheds light on the grammar of trust and distrust under state socialism, which impacted the shared sense of stability and inner hybridity of the socialist personality. By connecting trust and distrust with the key analytical categories of gender and generation, morality and power, consumption and materiality, and self and subjectivity, this special issue is a contribution to a history of trust and distrust that provides further reflection on the unceasing debate about what socialism was and what the lived experience of socialism continues to be in post-communist space.

Literature, Rival Conceptions of Virtue, and Moral Education

Two key claims in the work of Alasdair MacIntyre are identified for the purposes of this paper. The first, that human virtues are capacities required to sustain social practices defined in terms of rival moral traditions, is rejected in favor of a neo-Aristotelian conception of virtues as needed for general (cross-cultural) human flourishing. However, while the second claim (also found in Aristotle)--that the literary products and inheritances of human cultures provide the best possible insight into human moral character and virtue--is fully endorsed, it is also recognized that such literature inevitably shows moral life and experience to be a site of tension and conflict between moral imperatives and virtues. Notwithstanding this, it is argued that, since initiation into rational appreciation of such tension and conflict is the very stuff of moral education, such literature should be regarded as significant moral educational resource.

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AS A SYNDROME OF MENTAl IMMUNODEFICIENCY IN THE 4D-MIRROR OF MENTAl MEDICINE

Conceptual and methodological, instrumental and technological resources of mental medicine (MM) in the diagnostics and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are systematized in the article. Mental medicine is a system synthesis of clinical psychiatry (thesis) and anti-psychiatry (antithesis) that continuingly and harmoniously integrates preventive and correctional, treatment and rehabilitation approaches. With the creation of mental medicine, anti-psychiatry century ends and a new stage in the development of clinical neuroscience begins based on a synergetic multidimensional methodology. Isolation of the mental immunodeficiency syndrome (MIS) is justified as the pathogenic mental disorder of mental immunity (MI). MI is biopsychosociospiritual matrix of identity and the basis of personal security. Identity is self-determination (for children self-perception) of an individual in terms of his physical and mental, social and moral traits. The synergetic functional diagnostics (SFD) is proposed as an expanded mental 4D-mapping, which gives not only clinical, psychological, social and spiritual evaluation of phenomenology, but also helps to identify the preserved and potentially claimed new resources of personalized assistance and adaptation enhancement. Definition of standard functions of MI is given. Clinical phenomenology of MIS is provided manifesting in disorders of identity and communication. MIS can be congenital and early, childhood and late, acquired or induced. The technological platform of mental medicine is revealed, synergetically accumulating molecular genetic and medical-biological, social and psychological, spiritual and moral resources that increase the effectiveness of the early intervention due to the screening batteries of mental 4D-mapping and multidisciplinary brigade block-modular assistance programs. Pathogenetic treatment of MIS is sanogenetic therapy - adaptive engineering and management of mind and health for the recovery of mental immunity. The article gives examples of the positive regional experience in the implementation of pilot models. Autism as a "mystery of the nineteenth century" was isolated and developed by many prominent psychiatrists. The modern ASD became "a problem of the twentieth century", breaking out of the nosocentric boundaries of the clinical psychiatry. The demand for a synergetic scientific-practical paradigm of the MM has emerged, particularly in the made by us allocation of MI and MIS, having become one more step that makes neurosciences closer to the tomorrow "opening of the XXI century".

Integrated care network for long term care in Portugal: cost estimation and patient’s characteristics

Background: Portugal began the implementation of an integrated care network for Long Term Care (LTCIN) in 2006. Its main objective is to deliver services of health and social support including post-acute and long term care. There are four different types of inpatient LTC units: Palliative Care Units (PCU), Convalescent Care Units (CCU), Medium Stay and Rehabilitation Care Units (MSRCU) and Long-Stay and Maintenance Care Units (LSMCU) (1). These units are financed both by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs.In 2014 LTC represented roughly 0.1% of Portuguese GDP. Despite the rapid growth verified (in 2014 the available beds were ten times higher than in 2006), LTC resource allocation was still far from 1% of GDP verified in developed countries such as Australia, UK or Germany (2, 3, 4).The growing demand for LTC, the increase need of public funding, budget constraints and fourth age demographic pressure triggered the need for rethinking the structure of care provision (5). The knowledge of analytical costs per episode and the specific factors that influence cost variation is a relevant issue to the development of alternative ways for resource allocation.Purpose: The main objective of this study was to estimate LTC episode costs and assess their association to patient characteristics and inpatient unit types.Methods: A cross sectional retrospective study was conducted. Data was collected from LTCIN information system including administrative inpatient data (gender and age), physical autonomy and cognitive status of patients from 2010 to 2012. Cost Information (Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss Statement) was provided voluntarily by seventeen LTC providers. To meet the purpose of the analysis we included inpatient episodes only and excluded palliative care units due to organizational issues.Submitted financial data allowed the estimation of costs of 1.856 distinct episodes, roughly 4.1% of all inpatient LTC episodes reported within the timeframe.A top-down cost accounting method was adopted and average per diem cost was estimated for each provider. Each episode cost was achieved multiplying the per diem cost by the LOS of the specific episode.In order to assess the association between costs and patient characteristic and provider type a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analysis with stepwise variable adoption approach was performed and the following formula was adopted:Model 1: Cost i=β_0+β_1 〖Gender〗_i+β_2 〖Age〗_i+β_3 〖PhisicalAutonomy〗_i+β_4 〖CognitiveStatus〗_i+〖β_5 〖ProviderType〗_i+u〗_iTo isolate the effect of patient characteristic per se the same method was used in Model 2 excluding the variable provider type.Results: Per diem average cost of each inpatient episode was 84.28€. Costs differ according to type of unit considered; CCU (96,85€); (MSRCU) (84,84€); LSMCU (67,85€).Results from Model 1 shows that provider type is relevant for explaining cost variation. MSRCU has average per diem costs more than two times higher than CCU. Cognitive status is not relevant for explaining cost variation except for patients with poor cognitive status which have smaller average per diem costs. Results from Model 2 show that even when we exclude provider type patients’ characteristics remain not relevant for explaining cost variation.Discussion: Provider type is the most relevant variable for explaining cost variation. This suggests that supply characteristics are more relevant than considered demand characteristics to define resource allocation and costs. The referral to specific type of provider according to treatment plan seems to drive the cost and, according to it, patients with similar characteristics may represent different per diem LTC costs.During the study we found some limitations. The most relevant is the absence of detailed cost information and complete diagnosis data. We used the best information available (Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement), which are the legal economic documents imposed by the fiscal system. We recognize that the adoption of standardized minimum dataset of financial elements for LTC providers or bottom-up patient costing method (recommended solution), would allow us a better cleaner picture on what is relevant for explaining cost variation.Despite limitations and recognizing that different results could be found if different methods were adopted, we believe in our study’s relevance. As far as we know It is the first study in Portugal that aims explaining LTC cost variation at episode level, , reinforces the need for the adoption of a robust cost accounting method and concludes that further research is required.Conclusion: The subject LTC is receiving increasing attention because of demographic trends and the pressures on public finances. Identifying the factors that may influence costs is a relevant issue to inform decision makers on resource allocation planning and ultimately to ensure that healthcare system organization does not promote negative externalities such as access barriers, moral hazard behaviours or resource allocation inequity.

Kategoria "moral capital" w etyce społeczno-gospodarczej

The theory of human capital is a vital common point of economics and social-economic ethics. In the economic literature there are two accounts of human capital. In the first account, the human capital is the human himself, as a creator of goods and services (A. Smith, J.S. Mill, T.W. Schultz). In the other account, the capital consists of the skills, abilities, knowledge, energy and health that the human possesses (D. Begg, J.B. Say, G.S. Becker). In economic ethics, human capital is profoundly analysed in relation to economic growth. However, the growth depends not only on the physical and mental health of businesspersons and employees, their education and professional skills, but also on their moral development. The category of human capital – although it remains quite trendy – gets interpreted in reductionist ways, i.e. in economic dimensions only, whereas the human factor in the economy should be extended to the category of moral capital. These days, the concept of moral capital begins to play a very serious role in the foundations of social sciences. The objectives of this paper are: to compare different theories of human capital, to emphasize the need for a comprehensive account of the subject, and to defend a thesis that moral capital resources support business efficiency.

Reclaiming Proportionality (Society for Applied Philosophy Annual Lecture 2016)

Reclaiming Proportionality (Society for Applied Philosophy Annual Lecture 2016)

La prosperidad y la codicia: transformaciones en los repertorios morales y políticos en una ciudad intermedia de la Costa Atlántica bonaerense

By the middle of the twentieth century, Villa Gesell (located on the Atlantic coast about 350 km from Buenos Aires) became one of the fastest growing cities in Argentina. Through a rapid process of development fueled by land valuation, real estate speculation and commercial activities related to tourism, a small group of local entrepreneurs was able to secure a preeminent economic position, which in time, and sanctioned by a series of canonic moral repertoires, would convert into a political legitimacy which would allow the group to hold the reins of the city for more than three decades. By the end of the century, however, the moral resources that made this conversion possible would become disputed and challenged. In due time, alternative resources would be assembled within the frame of a new historical narrative, which would enable another process of conversion through which novel actors would seek to build their own legitimacy, disputing their predecessors’. On that basis, the following paper seeks to retrace the origins of this new repertoire, its main contents, and outline some of the ways in which they would be mobilized on the verge of a recent process of moral and political dispute between old and new political actors.

The Myth of Catholic Italy in Post-Fascist Newsreels

This article analyzes how Catholicism had a central role in the identity-creation process after the War. The study employs the online archive of the national agency ‘Istituto Luce’ to analyze 261 newsreels about religion released between 1946 and 1965. The article uses (i) Benedict Anderson’s work on imagined communities and (ii) Roland Barthes’ concept of mythology as theoretical frameworks. This study indicates that the majority of newsreels presented Catholicism as intertwined with Italian politics, and as a central element of both tradition and modernity. These findings suggest that the newly formed Italian democracy used the media to emphasize certain aspects of Catholicism, while overlooking others, such as its implications with the Fascist regime. In this way, the media contributed to create a post-war myth where Catholicism represented a moral resource for the country’s leaders and citizens. This historical process contributes to explain the contemporary pervasiveness of Catholicism in Italian media.

Silence, shame and abuse in health care: theoretical development on basis of an intervention project among staff.

As health care exists to alleviate patients’ suffering it is unacceptable that it inflicts unnecessary suffering on patients. We therefore have developed and evaluated a drama pedagogical model for staff interventions using Forum Play, focusing on staff’s experiences of failed encounters where they have perceived that the patient felt abused. In the current paper we present how our preliminary theoretical framework of intervening against abuse in health care developed and was revised during this intervention.During and after the intervention, five important lessons were learned and incorporated in our present theoretical framework. First, a Forum Play intervention may break the silence culture that surrounds abuse in health care. Second, organizing staff training in groups was essential and transformed abuse from being an individual problem inflicting shame into a collective responsibility. Third, initial theoretical concepts “moral resources” and “the vicious violence triangle” proved valuable and became useful pedagogical tools during the intervention. Four, the intervention can be understood as having strengthened staff’s moral resources. Five, regret appeared to be an underexplored resource in medical training and clinical work.The occurrence of abuse in health care is a complex phenomenon and the research area is in need of theoretical understanding. We hope this paper can inspire others to further develop theories and interventions in order to counteract abuse in health care.

Институциональные предпосылки формирования парадигмы экономической безопасности

The article explores the institutional paradigm shift as the theoretical basis of economic security through the prism of perception of the role and importance of social, political, economic, military or religious institutions. There were presented traditional and new consensual approaches to economic security in the context of the transition from the accumulation of forces as a tool for achieving secure coexistence of countries, peoples, businesses and citizens, to address the challenges of protecting their own economic interests through bargaining institutions. It is discussed that economic security is a way of thinking and acting, based on the ability to formulate and address the causes of the use of means of force, and in their place have come political and moral resources. Attempts were made to substantiate the thesis that in the world of competition and rivalry it is possible to avoid violence. The author proceeds from the position that within some societies and in international relations, where different nationalities divided by borders and among peoples, where they live in the same state of different nationalities, dominated by violence because there is no idle or institutions of morality and morals. There were reviewed the scientific origins of the formation of the paradigm of the new institutional economics and its requirements, because, obviously, it must be accepted by consensus of most researchers and should not be questioned, since this belief system is taken for granted and is not contrary to existing research. Through the use of the methodology of institutional economic theory analyzes the concept of scientific research programs, the structure of which is allocated a “hard core” and “protective belt”. There were made the conclusion that the concept of the new paradigm of the new institutional economics can be considered as the result of all the existing views of the contemporary representatives of different schools of institutionalism, and in relation to society security is about meeting the needs of existence, survival, confidence, stability, integrity, independence, preservation of level and quality of life within certain society. Economic security is defined as a process that requires the continuous activity of individuals, businesses, communities, states and international organizations for the economic state security.

Teamwork: A Valuable Moral Resource for Enacting Moral Purpose

Teamwork: A Valuable Moral Resource for Enacting Moral Purpose

Moral Resources, Political Capital and the Development of Environmental Protection Organizations in China: A Case Study of City J

AbstractThis article combines the moral resources and political capital perspective with the theoretical arguments of guanxi and resource dependence theory to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both the Chinese government-organized and the grassroots environmental protection organizations (ENPOs). Qualitative methods were applied in this study, and the impact of these two entities on environmental protection was also analyzed. The findings mainly include: First, the ascribed political capital can ensure good guanxi with governmental departments, and thus improve an NPO’s opportunities to receive resources. Second, although the ascribed political capital enables government-organized ENPOs to run smoothly, their transparency and management need to be improved. Third, though grassroots ENPOs have little of political capital, they possess advantages in terms of the self-chosen moral resource, which can help them become relatively independent from the government and assume responsibility for monitoring the environment. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for policy highlighted by the findings.

CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED BY MIDWIVES ON THE USE OF PARTOGRAM AT LIMPOPO PROVINCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

A partogram is regarded as a valuable tool recommended by the World Health Organization to monitor and document aspects of labour, but often not used effectively in clinical practice. The researchers were interested in exploring the challenges that contribute to the under utilisation of a partogram in the district and to make recommendations for improvement. A qualitative, descriptive and contextual research study was conducted at three hospitals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen midwives who were purposively selected. Data was coded and analysed using Tesch's steps of data analysis. Several challenges were highlighted including lack of resources such as staff, time, casebooks and photocopy machines, challenges with allocation of midwives and misunderstanding of the partogram. It is recommended that moral support, in-service training and resources be provided to improve the use of the partogram.

Editorial Introduction

Editorial Introduction

Slow boat from China: public discourses behind the ‘going global’ media policy

What mission and objectives does China want to achieve through its project of globalizing Chinese media? What are its moral and intellectual justifications? What key recommendations are being made in its policy deliberations so far, and to what extent do they represent continuity with or departure from China’s past? I pursue these questions in this paper through an analysis of a range of policy statements and scholarly research published in China. First, I examine the extent to which China’s public diplomacy policy has shifted, paying particular attention to both continuity and change over time. I then outline the major policy recommendations that have been proposed as part of China’s efforts to improve its global image through media expansion. Finally, I consider the ways in which various moral and intellectual resources have been marshalled to justify and propel such initiatives.

An fMRI investigation of moral cognition in healthcare decision making.

This study used fMRI to investigate the neural substrates of moral cognition in health resource allocation decision problems. In particular, it investigated the cognitive and emotional processes that underpin utilitarian approaches to health care rationing such as Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Participants viewed hypothetical medical and nonmedical resource allocation scenarios which described equal or unequal allocation of resources to different groups. In addition, participants were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments in which they either did or did not receive advanced instructions about the principles of utilitarianism. In all cases, participants were asked to judged the proposed allocations as “fair” or “unfair.” More brain activity was observed within the superior parietal lobe, angular gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and bilateral caudate nucleus when participants viewed scenarios depicting equal divisions of resources. Conversely, unequal resource divisions were associated with more activity in the inferior frontal gyrus and insula cortex. Furthermore, instructions about the principles of utilitarianism led to significant activation differences within the inferior frontal gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus. Significant differences in activity were also found within the inferior frontal cortex and anterior insula between medical and nonmedical scenarios. The implications for cognitive control mechanisms and the cognitive and neural bases of utilitarian ethical judgment are discussed.

Etyczne i ekonomiczne uwarunkowania wielkości produkcji społecznej w ujęciu Stanisława Głąbińskiego

Stanisław Głąbiński (1862–1941), economist and politician, and one of the main representatives of the historical trend, sought to develop the national school in the Polish economy. The nation and national idea were to become its starting point. By ‘people’ he meant the population in the political sense, i.e. the whole of society within the state, including the factions and national minorities. The subject of national economics is the national or social economy. It is the total unit of a higher order, including all the households in the country linked by ties of mutual dependence, both material and spiritual. Its purpose and subject is the society, the nation. Therefore, national economics is a social science. Production is characterized by a social dimension, its size determined by both economic and non-economic factors as well as moral and ethical ones. These two aspects are characteristic of the two categories associated with it, i.e. the social resources and factors of production. The category of social resources is similar to Frederick List’s concept of productive forces, meaning the production capacity of the nation, the power of producing wealth. Głąbiński divides them into moral and material resources, attaching more importance to the moral resources. They are the fullest expression of the nation’s culture condition, the nation’s moral level and they also provide stable social bonds. The concept of moral resources involves two production factors: entrepreneurship as well as knowledge and work. The material resources represent the earth (nature) and capital.