Proper Debate Research Articles

Business ethics: Between Friedman and Freeman? A response to A Puzzle about Business Ethics

AbstractThe biggest research programme within business ethics is arguably Corporate Social Responsibility and all its related streams (Corporate Citizenship, Social Justice, etc.) While there seems to be widespread agreement that business ethics is situated between the amoral or even immoral view of Milton Friedman as explicated in his 1970 New York Times paper, and the moral view expounded by R. Edward Freeman, this essay challenges that view. Friedman, maybe owed to his flamboyant writing style and crude and purely rhetorical oversimplifications has been misinterpreted to advocate for managers to be completely amoral maximisers of profitability. This misinterpretation has become common wisdom, despite him clearly stating that the law and the moral standards of surrounding society must limit profit‐seeking behaviour. Freeman's stakeholder theory, on the other hand, is seen as being on the other end of the continuum, arguing for selflessness—another misinterpretation, as I argue with Ed Freeman's help. Instead, I suggest that both Friedman and Freeman represent the virtuous mean of the business ethics continuum and not its extremes because they both base their theories on the idea of the free and socially embedded individual. The two vicious ends of the continuum are inhabited by the unreal, atomised, completely a‐social and selfish individual on the one end, and by the equally unreal collectivised self‐less individual on the other. The mainstream in business ethics has declared the collective and selfless end to be the ideal that must guide practice and research. The selfish and the selfless strawmen have prevented a proper debate in business ethics for too long.

From Café Culture to Tweets

From Café Culture to Tweets

Preserving identities in post-industrial Rust Belt cities: reconsidering Buffalo’s material memory

In the context of post-industrial Rust Belt cities, much needed investment seldom makes room for proper debate on the material memory and place identity embodied in the rich industrial legacy. However, a reflection on the intrinsic value of the vacant industrial structures of these cities leads to the unveiling of their most authentic identity. This identity is directly related to the material experience of their structures as it speaks to the qualities of a lasting presence in the collective memory. Post-industrial structures display material conditions that define their place character, constituting a negotiation between ruin and construction. This text contends that post-industrial materiality embodies necessary and strategic connections between past heritage and future interventions, implying the possibility of cyclical renovation in a context of reinforced identity. The text focuses on the potential of the existing post-industrial legacy of the city of Buffalo, NY, arguing that the material dimension that once defined its productive infrastructure frames the potential consolidation of its physical memory and future identity, and as such, a consolidation of its future growth.

Public Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Epidemic – The Case of Family Policy in the Czech Republic

Families with dependent children are among the social groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the development of measures applied by the Czech national government for compensating families with children during the COVID-19 crisis. It summarizes the aims of the measures as announced by the government or its ministries. This is supplemented by a summary of the available opinions of experts and other policy stakeholders. Based on this, the paper discusses the adequacy of the adopted measures and points out lessons for the future policymaking in the given area. A relatively high number of measures were identified. This suggests that the government strived for proactive policy to address families as a vulnerable social group. However, a rapid and sometimes unrestrained legislative process seems to have come at the expense of a proper public debate on the need for and impact of the new measures. Given the uncertain time horizon of the epidemic, the apparent lack of consideration regarding the budgetary implications of the measures seems worrying.

Labour Codes 2020 from Building Workers Point-of-View

In October 2020, the BJP-controlled Parliament had, in a tearing hurry, passed the remaining three Labour Codes-Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. The versions of these Codes tabled before the Parliament, were never put out in public domain for comments. The Codes were passed within a day through Lok Sabha without proper debate, and the next day-they were introduced and passed through opposition-boycotted Rajya Sabha. With this, the BJP government has undone many labour law legislations, rights and protections, in the name of mere consolidation exercise. In this piece, attempt is made to scrutinise how the Codes would impact the lives and rights of building workers.

U-9 The Ingenuity of Naskh in Hadiths, its Impacts on the Sharia Law and the Opinions of Islamic Scholars about Naskh

It seems inevitable from the Islamic History, when in the initial days companions started converted to Islam. Phase wisely, they would be trained for their practical life and mental grooming. This training continued for different times with various instructions. Like a doctor prescribes medicines to a patient for a period of time and then changes it, similarly Allah looked upon the capability and strength of men and sent commands accordingly. Such changes and modifications in Sharia Law are known Naskh. It is an indication that finding Naskh in hadith of the Holy Prophet is an important task. Even more important is to search and highlight Juristic Orders on that Naskh. Since there are so many disagreements among Islamic Scholars on Naskh and Mansukh. Till now, nobody has brought it to constant and proper debate. Moreover, the effects of abrogation can be found in the life of Muhammad (SAW). In the initial days, as the Holy Prophet (PBUH) forbade the Muslims from hoarding the meat of sacrifice because people could not find food for eating. Later on when the wealth increased gradually, he gave them permission for doing so. Since the knowledge of hadith has influence over such Sharia orders as well. So, this article tries to find out the essence of Naskh in hadit, its influence on Sharia law and the opinion of Islamic Scholars are analyzed in detail.

Reframing the refugee crisis: from rescue to interconnection

ABSTRACTIn this paper I argue that we should not frame the debate over whether or not we have duties to help refugees in terms of duties of rescue. This way of framing the issue, where Western states are depicted as rescuing refugees from harms unconnected to them, does not adequately represent the reality experienced by refugees in the 21 st century. I suggest that we need a framework that includes the secondary harms experienced by refugees as they try to seek refuge in camps, urban spaces and via asylum. These secondary harms constitute serious violations of human rights and prevent refugees from accessing the minimum conditions of human dignity. As a result, the rescue metaphor is inappropriate and, perhaps more importantly, prevents us from having a proper debate about the obligations of states in general, and Western states in particular, to refugees.

The Earliest Balance Weights in the West: Towards an Independent Metrology for Bronze Age Europe

Weighing devices are the earliest material correlates of the rational quantification of economic value, and they yield great potential in the study of trade in pre-literate societies. However, the knowledge of European Bronze Age metrology is still underdeveloped in comparison to Eastern Mediterranean regions, mostly due to the lack of a proper scientific debate. This paper introduces a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of standard weight-systems in pre-literate societies, and tests it on a large sample of potential balance weights distributed between Southern Italy and Central Europe during the Bronze Age (second–early first millenniumbc). A set of experimental expectations is defined on the basis of comparisons with ancient texts, archaeological cases and modern behaviour. Concurrent typological, use-wear, statistical and contextual analyses allow to cross-check the evidence against the expectations, and to validate the balance-weight hypothesis for the sample under analysis. The paper urges a reappraisal of an independent weight metrology for Bronze Age Europe, based on adequate methodologies and a critical perspective.

Protecting Japan from immigrants? An ethical challenge to security-based justification in immigration policy

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to the growing interest in both the ethics of immigration and Japanese immigration studies by analysing the ethical justification of Japan’s immigration policy. The main objective of this article is to specify and address security-based justifications as part of an investigation into the ethical dimension of Japan’s immigration policy. Security is systematically drawn upon as one of the most powerful rationales to justify the competence claimed by Japan to control immigration as it deems adequate. The article will first specify the types of justification at stake. Second, it unpacks four understandings of security in immigration matters: as public order, as protection of welfare mechanisms, as cultural stability and as protection of social trust. Each of these justifications is bound with specific ethical challenges. Overall, the article maps the different justification strategies, their shortcomings and their advantages. The article intends to launch a proper ethical debate on Japan’s immigration policy.

Back to the actual future

The purpose of the paper is to rethink the role of actuality in the branching model of possibilities. We investigate the idea that the model should be enriched with an additional factor—the so-called Thin Red Line—which is supposed to represent the single possible course of events that gets actualized in time. We believe that this idea was often misconceived which prompted some unfortunate reactions. On the one hand, it suggested problematic semantic models of future tense and and on the other, it provoked questionable lines of criticism. We reassess the debate and point to potential pitfalls, focusing on the semantic dimension of the Thin Red Line theory. Our agenda transcends the semantics, however. We conclude that semantic considerations do not threaten the Thin Red Line theory and that the proper debate should be carried in the domain of metaphysics.

Into the wild online: Learning from Internet trolls

An Internet troll is a person who deliberately upsets users of online forums or social media. The term has been taken up widely in media discourses about democracy and the Web. Internet trolls and the act of ‘trolling’ thus speaks to a renewed significance of monsters and the monstrous in modernizing liberal democracies. Following ideas developed in science and technology studies (STS), monsters have the generative political capacity to teach us about heterogeneity and hybridity. Indeed, trolls have historically been understood not just as dangerous, but also as invitations to try to come to terms with ‘the other’, which cannot be ignored. In this paper, I explore this potential in relation to online trolling. I start by examining the rise of the troll metaphor in relation to online discourse and observe a shift towards an increasingly broad usage. I argue that Internet trolls are no longer only understood as acting for the sake of controversy itself. Today, the designation is also used to demarcate the boundaries of proper debate, i.e., by expanding the label of trolling to include things like information warfare, hate speech, and sometimes even political activism. Using the troll figure in this way invokes and reproduces ideals about deliberative democracy, where an ongoing public debate that meets certain standards of rationality and inclusiveness is understood as central to democratic societies. However, trolls per definition defy such terms, which means that their subversive political potential as monsters is contained rather than exploited in this frame. With the help of Belgian philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers’ use of the figure of the idiot, I suggest that to enter into a more interesting relationship with online trolls, we may have to open for the possibility that ‘there is something more important’, which is not articulated ‘seriously’, but is nevertheless crucial for the sort of issue-oriented take on democratic politics currently being developed in STS. More specifically, online trolling may be politically generative in the sense that trolls challenge the dichotomy between serious ‘public’ issues and ‘private’ jesting.

Lex Artis y debido proceso: presupuestos de la disciplina parlamentaria contemporánea

La disciplina parlamentaria constituye un conjunto normativo tendente a facilitar el funcionamiento ordenado y el debate, a cuyo efecto se dota a ciertos órganos parlamentarios de un abanico de facultades cuyo uso proporcionado es condición sine qua non para el cumplimiento de los objetivos para las que fueron diseñadas. Para evitar que se produzca una vulneración de los derechos de los parlamentarios en el ejercicio de sus funciones, la jurisprudencia exige la aplicación de principios propios del ámbito sancionador, si bien tamizados por las peculiaridades de la vida parlamentaria.

El análisis de políticas públicas: la evolución de una disciplina y su relevancia en Colombia

For several decades, the so-called policy turn has become more relevant in the context of Latin America in general, and Colombia in particular. Both in the political and academic spheres, research projects or intervention have been put forward which, directly or indirectly, relate to a vague and general notion of public policy. However, the advances in the specific field of the policy theory are timid. Therefore, it is necessary to deepen and energize the proper disciplinary debates of policy, beyond the study of any policy in particular. Thus, this article explores the historical development of policy studies as an umbrella concept, and problematizes two different sub-fields -policy analysis and policy process research– to shed some light on the matter. Finally, the article concludes that despite difficulties and inconveniences while establishing definitive distinctions in this field, it is necessary to build some references to expand and maintain the dialogue between the workers within the different policy fields.

Definice, příčiny a důsledky kumulace mandátů zákonodárci

The article deals with various aspects of multiple-office holding. Although the phenomenon is especially influential in connection with legislators, the text offers a critical synthesis of recent findings on multiple-office holding on any level of political decision-making, thus providing a general framework for scholarly discussion and further research. The paper first provides a definition of the concept of multiple-office holding, which has been heretofore lacking in the Czech context. Causes of multiple-office holding are then delineated and divided into the three categories of historical reverberations, systemic elements and individual incentives. Both the positive and negative impacts on a political system are discussed as well. Next, three approaches (direct, indirect, and autoregulatory) of dealing with the practice of multiple-office holding, which are employed by particular political systems, are distinguished. Then, the role of a multiple-office holding in the Czech political system is depicted. The final part of the paper discusses a specific controversy linked to the phenomenon and criticises the lack of proper debates and scientific analyses on the practice.

How defining clinical practices may influence their evaluation: the case of continuous sedation at the end of life.

Continuous sedation at the end of life is an end-of-life practice that has gained considerable attention in the international literature. Nevertheless, significant confusion persists, even on how to label or define the practice. Several different terms and definitions exist, and these are often non-neutral and indicative of one's normative position on sedation at the end of life. This is problematic for two reasons. First, the use of such value-laden terms or definitions of continuous sedation may make it difficult, if not impossible, to agree on the facts surrounding continuous sedation. Second, including normative criteria in a definition can lead one to make disguised circular or tautological statements. This paper identifies commonly used terms and definitions and demonstrates how particular elements present in these are value-laden and can influence the ethical evaluation of continuous sedation at the end of life. Two commonly used terms, 'palliative sedation' and 'terminal sedation', have been strongly criticized. We propose to use another, more descriptive term, namely 'continuous sedation at the end of life'. As regards the different definitions of sedation, some are general, but most contain very specific elements, thereby clearly limiting the number of cases that are covered by the definition. Some definitions of sedation include the intention one should (not) have, the possible indications for the practice, and the type of patients the practice should be reserved for. Including value-laden elements in the very definition of a clinical practice runs the risk of pre-empting a proper normative debate about the practice. We explain why this is the case and why it is problematic, and we propose an alternative, descriptive, definition that seeks to avoid these problems.

Between Doctrine and Practice: The UN Peacekeeping Dilemma

Mandates of recent peacekeeping operations across Africa have shown substantial innovation in the thinking of the UN Security Council. Offen sive use of force, use of unmanned aerial vehicles, strategic intelligence and communication, and state-building mandates in the midst of conflicts have all expanded the scope of activities beyond what the UN peacekeep ers are accustomed to. The UN is entering a new era of enforcement peacekeeping. Enforcement peacekeeping manifests itself both in en forcement of political solutions through support of a government’s statebuilding ambitions and its attempts to extend state authority in the midst of conflict and in enforcement of military victories through the offensive use of force. These developments further unsettle the basic principles of UN peacekeeping—consent, impartiality, and nonuse of force—resulting in a schism between the doctrine and practice. This contribution argues that such fundamental challenges, when not properly acknowledged, cre ate a wall between operational activities and strategic considerations. They preclude a proper debate on the problematic externalities, in partic ular on political processes and peacebuilding. KEYWORDS : peacekeeping, peacebuilding, peace enforcement, enforcement peacekeeping, United Nations, African Union, DRC, Mali, Somalia.

Illegitimate: When Moderate Muslims Speak Out

Illegitimate: When Moderate Muslims Speak Out

Goodbye to all that: On small wars and big choices

This article reflects on a decade of British counterinsurgency operations. Questioning the idea that lessons have been learnt, the paper challenges the assumptions that are being used to frame future strategic choice. Suggesting that defence engagement is primarily focused on optimising overseas interventions while avoiding a deeper strategic reassessment about whether the UK should be undertaking these sorts of activities, the article calls for a proper debate on Britain's national security interests.

Developing an Understanding of Race Talk

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to give an outline of the discursive psychological literature focussing on prejudice and race talk and to show how recent findings suggest a development in this understanding. The paper begins with an outline of the discursive approach and the way in which it conceptualises race talk. Next, an overview of the ways in which people attempt to make prejudicial arguments so as to prevent them from appearing to be prejudiced, because of a norm against prejudice, is presented. It is then shown how challenges are being made to this norm against prejudice so that in some cases, prejudice can be viewed as acceptable, and in others, the taboo against prejudice is presented as being discriminatory on the grounds of preventing freedom of speech and proper debate.

Ready for school is not ready for life

Editor Ready for school is not ready for life The governmenT’s draft revision to the Early Years Foundation Stage continues to cause concern among sectors of the workforce. Just how much concern is difficult to gauge, as indeed are the levels of support and agreement with the document. I hope that everyone who works in the sector, at whatever level, will at least have read through both Dame Tickell’s review and the government’s draft revision. I cannot imagine a reason why you would not. This is the least you should expect of yourself as a caring, intelligent and hard-working individual who loves working with young children, helping them to develop into confident, caring, happy and curious individuals. If this was not motivation enough, then look at it from the other point of view. What would those children you care for want you to do? This is not emotional blackmail, this is reality. The children you see every day look to you as trusted and caring adults, they look to you for emotional support and in many ways they look to you as equal partners in their ongoing healthy and secure development. Would they expect you to read documents that will affect that relationship, and that will affect their learning and development – add to that their happiness and future life chances; no pressure then! This is the least you can do. What I would hope the majority of people working in the sector would do, is to discuss any proposed changes with colleagues, with parents and in staff teams, with local authorities, and with consultants and advisors. Then, I would hope that large majority would have the desire and passion to take part in the consultation – you can easily do so online. After all, once the consultation period is over, the government will be assessing the response to their changes and revising the eYFs accordingly. Therefore, if you think something has been missed, or that something is wrong, you can have no real cause for complaint if you have not had your say. You will be left with an eYFs that may not meed your needs, or more importantly, the needs of the children who trust you to do what is best for them. This is a big responsibility, but one that is not that hard to meet. of course, you could still end up with an eYFs that you are not happy with, but you will have done your bit to make positive change. This is not meant to admonish, or hector you into action, it is your choice. But we are all champions of what is best for children, and it would be a shame to not take part in a consultation that could have huge ramifications for young children. For example, Dr richard house’s opinion piece on page 6, looks at the issue of ‘school readiness’ that has caused much concern in the draft eYFs. It is not a new issue, school starting age and what happens at school are constant talking points, yet government seems unwilling or unable to take part in a proper debate, regardless of the successes of other countries. Dr house hits the nail on the head when he calls for a child’s first experience of school to focus on ‘readiness for life’. That seems infinitely more sensible to me. Editor Neil Henty MSc