Normative Claims Research Articles

On Tradition and the Conservation of Equity

Abstract: This paper explores the question whether the normativity of tradition gives us reasons to preserve the norms of equity (more or less) in their historical form, i.e., as separate from neighboring common law doctrines. The main target of the paper are arguments that call for the replacement of equity with other, arguably more successful, means for attaining the goals equity sets to achieve. It begins by showing that even liberal, progressive and rationalist people should see traditions as making a normative claim on us, as they can potentially possess both instrumental and non-instrumental value that goes over and above the content of the beliefs, rituals or forms of action which they uphold. The second part asks whether equity qua legal tradition exemplifies such value. I find that the unique combination of legal and moral tradition that we find in equity endows it with a great value as an agent for social cohesion, an instrument of coordination and a source of invaluable know-how knowledge. With reference to two concrete examples of alternatives to equity—the continental doctrine of abuse of rights and a good faith principle—I argue that the fact that equity has been the way we do things around here for so long makes it a better platform for reform than an implant from foreign system or a newly devised set of norms. If reform is needed, we should take equity as its starting point rather than wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch.

Phosphorous, farms, and families: Institutional narratives about agricultural intensification and water quality in northeastern Wisconsin

Institutional narratives are a discursive form of power where people engage in the development and promulgation of narratives that connect descriptions of how institutions work with arguments for particular courses of action. This paper uses the concept of institutional narratives to analyze how the family farm as a social construct is used as a normative mechanism for meaning making around agricultural intensification and rural sprawl. We examined narratives among residents in the lower Fox River and Green Bay Watersheds of Wisconsin surrounding growth and change and the problem of poor water quality, which occurs primarily through excess phosphorous loading, and identified two institutional narratives among stakeholders, each with different framings of key problems related to water quality. The first narrative problematized agricultural intensification and the second problematized rural sprawl, yet both narratives relied on a societal construct of the family farmer as a cornerstone of ideal rural institutions and an indicator of how change ought to occur. Findings demonstrate ways in which notions of idealized rural community life are politicized though narratives that connect rural problems such as water pollution with normative claims about who has the right to inhabit and use rural spaces.

Ethical and Legal Implications of Remote Monitoring of Medical Devices.

Millions of life-sustaining implantable devices collect and relay massive amounts of digital health data, increasingly by using user-downloaded smartphone applications to facilitate data relay to clinicians via manufacturer servers. Whether patients have either legal or normative claims to data collected by these devices, particularly in the raw, granular format beyond that summarized in their medical records, remains incompletely explored. Using pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) as a clinical model, we outline the clinical ecosystem of data collection, relay, retrieval, and documentation. We consider the legal implications of US and European privacy regulations for patient access to either summary or raw device data. Lastly, we evaluate ethical arguments for or against providing patients access to data beyond the summaries presented in medical records. Our analysis of applicable health privacy laws indicates that US patients may have little access to their raw data collected and held by device manufacturers in the United States under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule, whereas the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) grants greater access to device-collected data when the processing of personal data falls under the GDPR's territorial scope. The California Consumer Privacy Act, the "little sister" of the GDPR, also grants greater rights to California residents. By contrast, our normative analysis argues for consistently granting patients access to the raw data collected by their implantable devices. Smartphone applications are increasingly involved in the collection, relay, retrieval, and documentation of these data. Therefore, we argue that smartphone user agreements are an emerging but potentially underutilized opportunity for clarifying both legal and ethical claims for device-derived data. Current health privacy legislation incompletely supports patients' normative claims for access to digital health data.

Making sense of evidence-based governance reforms: an exploratory analysis of teachers coping with the Austrian performance standard policy

ABSTRACT During recent years many European countries have modernized the governance of their education systems according to an ‘evidence-based model’ which, e.g., materialized in new school inspections and comparative performance assessment. Qualitative case study data of six primary and secondary schools is used to explore in-school processes of sensemaking and constructing consequences of the Austrian performance standard policy (which is taken as an exemplar for evidence-based reforms). Teachers’ understandings and actions are compared with the normative claims underlying this policy. Results show that only two of the five processes claimed to be effective for school improvement through performance standards are found in the data.

Boards of directors' influences on occupational health and safety: a scoping review of evidence and best practices

PurposeTo review the literature and identify research gaps in the role and influence boards of directors of companies have in occupational health and safety (OHS).Design/methodology/approachThis was done in a scoping review built on a structured search in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, CCInfoWeb, EconLit, Web of Science, CINAHL and gray literature. Citations and reference lists were tracked. Inclusion criteria were publication in English. Exclusion criteria were studies covering companies using subcontractors to arrange OHS, or with <250 employees.FindingsForty-nine studies were included. The majority contained empirical data (n = 28; 57%), some were entirely normative (n = 16; 33%), and a few contained normative claims far beyond empirical data (n = 5; 10%). Empirical studies gave no insight into the scope of impact of board activities on OHS, and no studies assess the causal mechanisms by which board activities influence OHS outcomes. Most studies focused on both health and safety (n = 20; 41%) or only safety (n = 15; 31%). Context might explain the focus on safety rather than health, but is not clearly elucidated by the studies. Several studies are describing leadership behavior, although not framed as such. A narrative summary is presented to facilitate future research.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should include: (1) which board activities influence OHS, (2) how board activities influence OHS, (3) the influence of context and (4) the leadership role of boards of directors.Originality/valueThis study identifies a total lack of research on the basic mechanics of the relationship between boards and OHS.

Must Realists Be Pessimists About Democracy? Responding to Epistemic and Oligarchic Challenges

AbstractIn this paper we show how a realistic normative democratic theory can work within the constraints set by the most pessimistic empirical results about voting behaviour and elite capture of the policy process. After setting out the empirical evidence and discussing some extant responses by political theorists, we argue that the evidence produces a two-pronged challenge for democracy: an epistemic challenge concerning the quality and focus of decision-making and an oligarchic challenge concerning power concentration. To address the challenges we then put forward three main normative claims, each of which is compatible with the evidence. We start with (1) a critique of the epistocratic position commonly thought to be supported by the evidence. We then introduce (2) a qualified critique of referenda and other forms of plebiscite, and (3) an outline of a tribune-based system of popular control over oligarchic influence on the policy process. Our discussion points towards a renewal of democracy in a plebeian but not plebiscitarian direction: Attention to the relative power of social classes matters more than formal dispersal of power through voting. We close with some methodological reflections about the compatibility between our normative claims and the realist program in political philosophy.

A review of socio-economic metabolism representations and their links to action: Cases in agri-food studies

Socio-economic metabolism (SEM) occupies a central place in the study of agri-food systems. While researchers are asked to address growing environmental and social issues, the link between theoretical choices of representation and action is rarely discussed as such. We propose a cross-sectional analysis between the way SEM is described and how researchers propose to act, based on a literature concerned with agri-food systems. We distinguish the metabolism representations based on funds, flows and stocks, scales and levels, as well as socio-economic analysis. Action is seen through the operational goals pursued by the researchers, the action-research interfaces in which they engage, and the partners with whom they interact. We identified eight schools of thought related to three different types of representations: (1) space and compartment-based representations; (2) economic agent-based representations; and (3) multi-faceted and composite representations. We show that metabolism representations and action are deeply intertwined. The analysis of the biophysical basis of society is neither independent of normative claims regarding how this basis should evolve, nor of the means to get there. We then discuss the consequences of this fact on the choices of representation of metabolism and particularly the interest of anchoring SEM in pragmatism.

Social values and public procurement in health: can ‘smart’ procurement enhance justice in health?

Abstract Governments spend 29% of total expenditure on procurement while the second largest area is health. However, the important question is what the impact of these expenditures on health is. Can one buy health justice through procurement? In order to answer this issue, the study firstly analyses theory of global health governance to substantiate whether procurement is a health governance tool whose efficiency and effectiveness determines health outcomes. Secondly, health as a social aspect is scrutinised because its governance and procurement have to be driven by a normative value. Within the study, health justice is justified to be such a value as it is a significant public health factor in practice. Following this normative claim, the study uses analysis of legislation, case law and examples from procurement practice to show whether procurement law can enhance health justice. In terms of methodology, the study establishes a normative framework of governance in health, health justice and procurement. On that basis, it distinguishes procurement categories (procurement of health, and procurement for health) and concludes what it is in procurement that health justice is transformed into. In order to answer the core research question, the study analyses harmonised transnational EU legislation, policy, case law of the CJEU, and examples from practice through stages of supply framework - at input, output and outcome. The study leads to a conclusion that procurement serves as a tool of governance in health. In order to reach effectiveness and efficiency of procurement in health, it is submitted that procurement needs to reflect on the argument of ethics and economics of health. Health inequalities are an operationalized factor to reach this. The EU procurement law enables to consider health justice. However, it is restricted by the requirement of proportionality. Therefore, health justice is perceived as distortion, rather than a goal of competition to be enhanced. Key messages In order to reach effectiveness and efficiency of procurement in health, it is submitted that procurement needs to reflect on argument of ethics and economics of health. The EU procurement law enables to consider health justice. However, it is rather perceived as distortion, than a goal of competition to be enhanced.

Are Referendums Directly Democratic?

Abstract Referendums are regularly defined as being directly democratic. Indeed, the term ‘direct democracy’ is often used synonymously with referendums. The label ‘direct democracy’ is used to make two different types of claims about referendums: (i) descriptive claims about what referendums are; and (ii) normative claims about how their use is justified. This article challenges the treatment of referendums as devices of direct democracy both in theory and in practice. I argue instead that referendums should be theoretically and practically understood as processes that provide direction to representatives. Indeed, one consequence of my argument is the broader claim that the term ‘direct democracy’ is generally misleading. In a contemporary context, all democratic processes are—at least in part—representative.

Critical reflections on the job guarantee proposal

This article assesses the job guarantee (JG) from two angles. First, by tracing some of the JG’s intellectual origins in the inflationary crises of the 1970s, it questions contemporary claims about the JG’s potential to increase workers’ bargaining power. Second, it critiques antiwelfare thinking among JG advocates by showing how their normative claims about the dignity of employment both obscure the centrality of unpaid social reproductive labour to capitalism and could potentially reinforce social welfare cuts and workfare.

Reconsidering a human right to democracy

ABSTRACT In this brief article, I will raise some challenges to each of Pablo Gilabert’s arguments for a HRD. First, I will question whether the instrumental case for affirming a HRD is as strong as Gilabert and others have suggested. I will then call into question the argument from moral risk, arguing that, for any particular country, we should not operate with a strong presumption that they should pursue further democratization as a high-priority goal. Finally, I will consider the strength of our intuitive support for a stringent human right to democracy. As Gilabert points out, there could be a genuine HRD, even if it did not always provide us with an overriding reason to call for the implementation of democracy. I will explore how much normative priority claims to respect democratic decisions have by considering what we have reason to do when democratic decisions would lead to violations of other, noncontroversial human rights.

American Philhellenes and the Poetics of War

ABSTRACT Between 1821 and 1829, the Greek War for Independence attracted widespread and enthusiastic support in the United States. While most were content to simply follow along with the war’s proceedings, a small but vocal group of “philhellenes” took the remarkable step of making Greece’s cause their own. American philhellenes used nationalistic appeals couched in the language of an emergent middle-class sentimentality to raise funds for the Greeks while also lobbying for deeper American involvement in the conflict. Greece’s revolution, American philhellenes argued, was not a foreign war to be avoided; it was an occasion for reaffirming the nation’s moral and political commitments. By studying the poetical justifications for American involvement with the Greek Revolution, we are afforded a glimpse of an important development in popular perceptions of U.S. foreign policy. Philhellenic poetry presents a case study in how popular reading habits blended with nationalistic rhetoric to“sentimentalize” popular perceptions of America’s place in the world. Philhellenes used the nation’s expanding market for print material to forward normative claims about the nation’s responsibility toward the Greek revolutionaries, bringing into sharp relief the permeable boundaries between popular culture and public perceptions of foreign policy.

American Philhellenes and the Poetics of War

ABSTRACT Between 1821 and 1829, the Greek War for Independence attracted widespread and enthusiastic support in the United States. While most were content to simply follow along with the war’s proceedings, a small but vocal group of “philhellenes” took the remarkable step of making Greece’s cause their own. American philhellenes used nationalistic appeals couched in the language of an emergent middle-class sentimentality to raise funds for the Greeks while also lobbying for deeper American involvement in the conflict. Greece’s revolution, American philhellenes argued, was not a foreign war to be avoided; it was an occasion for reaffirming the nation’s moral and political commitments. By studying the poetical justifications for American involvement with the Greek Revolution, we are afforded a glimpse of an important development in popular perceptions of U.S. foreign policy. Philhellenic poetry presents a case study in how popular reading habits blended with nationalistic rhetoric to“sentimentalize” popular perceptions of America’s place in the world. Philhellenes used the nation’s expanding market for print material to forward normative claims about the nation’s responsibility toward the Greek revolutionaries, bringing into sharp relief the permeable boundaries between popular culture and public perceptions of foreign policy.

Indeterminacy and Normativity

This paper develops and defends the view that substantively normative uses of words like “good”, “right” and “ought” (e.g. moral uses) are irresolvably indeterminate: any single case of application is like a borderline case for a vague or indeterminate term, in that the meaning-fixing facts (use, intentions, conventions, causal connections, reference magnets, etc.), together with the non-linguistic facts, fail to determine a truth-value for the target sentence in context. Normative claims, like vague or indeterminate borderline claims, are not meaningless, though. By making them, the speaker communicates information about the precisifications that s/he accepts. The analogy with vague/indeterminate language, I argue, lays out a new and interesting foundation for a subjectivist approach to normativity.

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.

Framing Ethical Concerns and Attitudes towards Human Gene Patents in the Chinese Press.

This study examines the representations of human gene patents in Chinese newspapers. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of news articles published between 2006 and 2017 to identify the major themes in media coverage, ethical considerations, perceptions of risks and benefits, and attitudes towards the patentability of human genes. The results show that two key ethical concerns were expressed by journalists: (1) that it is morally wrong to own or patent human genes and (2) that gene patents could potentially impede patients' access to healthcare services. Nonetheless, the press coverage has tended to be largely favorable (57.8%), rather than opposed (17.8%) to human gene patenting. There were no normative claims that human genes should not be patentable in China, which indicates a generally positive attitude towards patentability in media discourse. Most articles that expressed criticism toward gene patenting discussed challenges in other countries, with significant attention given to the United States Supreme Court's ruling in the Myriad case that invalidated Myriad Genetics' patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Overall, the newspapers were uncritical of the Chinese gene patenting regime. News reporting on the issue was highly suggestive of a strong pro-commercialization stance, although some discussions emphasized potential risks over benefits. Our analysis highlights the need for balanced media reporting on human gene patents in China and a top-down approach to engage the public in substantive discussions on the ethical and societal implications of the existing patent regime.

Form and Performativity in Organizational History Time and Space in Organizations

While research on the “uses of history” in organizations and organizing has grown rapidly, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of “form” in the representation or exchange of historical knowledge. We argue that attention to form is essential to understanding the performativity of history because it imbues it with normative claims. The paper explores the role of form in both the production and exchange of history. Historical form, we show, imbues the representation of time and space with value judgments related to the essence of things and the futures that ought to be. And, form governs the social production of historical knowing by governing the practices related to exchange of historical knowledge. We contribute to the literature by not only bringing attention to role of form but also by demonstrating how the choice of form in historical representation and exchange is crucial to the skill involved in use of history in organizations.

Legal Transitions without Legitimate Expectations*

Legal Transitions without Legitimate Expectations*

Self-esteem and social esteem: Is Adam Smith right?

Abstract In Part III of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith declares that people desire to be both esteemed and to be esteem-worthy, but that the latter desire both does and ought to take priority. The main object of this paper is to challenge that priority claim—mainly in its descriptive aspect. If that claim were true, then: agents would be at pains to eliminate any distortions in their self-evaluations; and the effects of the size (especially of total secrecy) and the character of audience on behaviour would be second-order. Empirical evidence suggests otherwise. Moreover the normative claim seems to overlook some advantages of inflated self-evaluation; and to allow no independent room for norms of modesty/humility.

Solving the Opioid Crisis Isn't Just a Public Health Challenge-It's a Bioethics Challenge.

Among those who discuss America's opioid crisis, it is popular to claim that we know what we, as a society, ought to do to solve the problem-we simply don't want it badly enough. We don't lack knowledge; we lack the will to act and to fund the right policies. In fact, I've heard two versions of this. Among those who focus on prescription opioids, it is clear that we ought to stop prescribing so many powerful opioid painkillers. And among my public health colleagues focusing on illicit drug use, it is clear that we ought to expand addiction treatment and harm-reduction services. The problem, however, is that the second claim is not obvious (and, indeed, is denied by many Americans), and the first claim probably isn't even true (at least, not in so crude a form). In short, the opioid crisis presents not only a problem of political will but also one of ethics. It will take work to discover or justify our normative claims in this arena.