Secular Ethics Research Articles

Political Religion and Pragmatics in Soviet Atheisation Practice: The Case of Post-Stalinist Soviet Lithuania

ABSTRACT The article discusses the outcomes of Soviet attempts to create an atheist society. It uses the concepts of political pragmatics and political religion to explain the kind of secular society Soviet atheisation politics created. It claims that the politics of secularization was led primarily by political pragmatics in order to build a society of loyal Soviet citizens rather than by the dogmatically declared claim of creating a society of atheists with strong materialist views. The article focuses on political measures to develop a non-religious worldview (or ethics) in Soviet Lithuania in the 1960–1980s: the authority's motivation to promote secular ethics, the efforts to institutionalize the ethical search, and the acknowledged failures in satisfying the needs of the society. It shows that by the end of the 1980s, atheisation policies had resulted in a plurality of secular worldviews: ideological as well as religious indifference, secular humanism, New-Age like spiritualism, and even neo-paganism.

Cossack folklore of Orenburg region as a basis of additional educational program for develoing pupils’ spiritual and moral values

The article is devoted to the creation of the additional general education program "Cultural and historical heritage of Orenburg Cossacks (literary and song folklore)". Most of modern students show a low level of upbringing: weak ideas about secular ethics, culture of traditional religions, the meaning of morality. The changes that have taken place recently in our country have affected the weakening of attention to the patriotic, spiritual and moral education of the younger generation. For this reason, we have developed a program that is aimed at preserving the folklore traditions of the Orenburg Cossacks through the formation of spiritual and moral values among students during training sessions (electives).

Methodological problems of primary school teachers advanced training in the subject area “Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics”

Methodological problems of primary school teachers advanced training in the subject area “Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics”

Политико-правовая институционализация религиоз- ного компонента в современном российском образовании

Introduction: the article is devoted to institutionalization of the religious component in Russian education; the main stages that determine the specificity of its manifestation are outlined. Objectives: identifying the stages and features of political and legal institutionalization of the religious component in modern Russian education. Methods: analysis of public authorities documents, secondary data analysis. Results: four stages in the institutionalization process have been highlighted: preliminary stage, characterized by a wide public discourse on the necessity and legitimacy of including a religious component in education; the stage of formalization and testing the norms; the stage of final integration of religious component into education; stage of discussing the new Federal State Educational Standard and the secularization of modules. The features of institutionalization process have been revealed. Conclusions: attempts have been made to find a middle ground between the secularity of education and the spiritual and moral education of students by teaching the course on “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics”. However, there is reason to believe that formal requirements are not fully met or are tacitly ignored locally, which creates new challenges for legislative regulation and a field for further research.

The attitude of teachers to the opportunities and risks of spiritual and moral education in the context of digitalization

The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the digitalization of the world educational system as a modern trend in the development of education requires serious reflection and solutions to a number of problems. The use of digital educational content, in addition to its obvious advantages, also contains a number of very likely risks. Including risks related to the spiritual and moral sphere of the individual. The purpose of our research is to study the attitude of teachers to the opportunities and risks of spiritual and moral education in the context of digitalization, as well as to find ways to minimize possible risks. The study involved teachers of the Chelyabinsk region who had advanced training in teaching the discipline "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics" (on the basis of the Institute of continuing and additional education of the South Ural state humanitarian and pedagogical University). The survey method was used in the study. As a result of the survey, it was revealed that the main effect of using digital technologies, according to teachers, is better memorization of visually perceived information (72% of students), a third of respondents note the possibility of taking into account the individual characteristics of students, and a quarter of respondents – an increase in creative potential. Achievement of subject-based learning outcomes is, in the opinion of teachers, the main effect of using digital content, the educational effect of digitalization is not noted by respondents. More than 80% of teachers see the risk of using digital technologies in reducing the time for live communication, more than 60% – in reducing the communicative activity of children, in reducing interest in printed sources of information. The conclusions are related to the need for further research of this problem in the following areas: analysis of educational opportunities of existing digital educational content of spiritual and moral orientation and determination of criteria for evaluating such content; selection and creation of effective methods of using digital technologies that ensure the formation of students ' experience of emotional and value attitude to spiritual, historical and cultural heritage, as well as the ability to apply the knowledge gained in various life situations; training of teachers who are competent in the field of spiritual and moral education.

Secular Clinical Ethicists Should Not Be Neutral Toward All Religious Beliefs: An Argument for a Moral-Metaphysical Proceduralism

Secular clinical ethics has responded to the problem of moral pluralism with a procedural approach. However, defining this term stirs debate: H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr. has championed a contentless proceduralism (P1), while others, conversely, argue for a proceduralism that permits some content in the form of moral claims (P2). This paper argues that the content P2 permits ought to be expanded to include some metaphysical commitments, in an approach referred to as P2+. The need for P2+ is demonstrated by analyzing and rejecting three standards (the best interest or harm principle, internal reasonability, and the child’s right to an open future) used by P2 to justify overriding religiously motivated refusals of treatment for children. These approaches fail because each maintains a neutral stance regarding the truth of religious belief. This paper drives at the broader thesis that the proceduralism of secular clinical ethics requires some moral and metaphysical commitments.

Presentation of the author’s course «Spiritually-oriented Pedagogy and Psychology»

This article presents a general description of the author’s course «Spiritually-oriented Pedagogy and Psychology», intended for undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students in «Theology», «Philosophy», «Psychology»; for educators and psychologists teaching in universities, that implement the «Theology» training direction; for school teachers leading the courses of «The Fundamentals of Religious Culture and Secular Ethics», as well as for the members of the Association of Psychological Assistance to Muslims who work with religiously oriented clients. The article also reveals the reasons of the course creation, its goals and objectives, specifies the course structure and provides the results of its approbation.

Evaluating the Theistic Implications of the Kantian Moral Argument that Postulating God is Essential to Moral Rationality

I contend that Kant’s moral argument that postulates God and an afterlife in order to justify moral rationality counts strongly in favor of theistic ethics even though it cannot on its own justify that God exists. In moving toward this conclusion, I assess Kant’s moral argument and note how both Kant and the utilitarian Henry Sidgwick, in their own ways, recognize that morality cannot reasonably be seen as completely overriding if God and an afterlife are rejected. I then critique a theistic moral rationality argument offered by C. Stephen Layman, as a flaw in this argument helps to reveal why arguments centering upon moral rationality likely cannot reach an ontological conclusion concerning theism; nevertheless, I contend that moral rationality arguments like Kant’s have apologetic significance for theism. They reveal a dilemma for secular ethics: either appeal to the possibility of theism in order to justify moral rationality or else accept that morality is not fully rational.

Ghost, host, hostage: a poet(h)ics of vulnerability in Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder

ABSTRACT This paper considers how Emma Donoghue’s novel The Wonder addresses the historical phenomenon of “fasting girls”. Premised on the idea of the body as a condition for exposure, my reading of the narrative is organised around the affective ties that bring into relief the ethical salience of vulnerability highlighted in the figure of the female faster. Insofar as vulnerability is both a social and ontological condition it also offers a structural foil to the narrative’s engagement with the discourse of hospitality formalised through the use of the Victorian tropes of detective work, medical science, sensationalist journalism, and Christian dogma. Borrowing ideas from Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler, and Erinn C. Gilson, among others, I argue that through its visceral construction of hospitality The Wonder calls our attention to the nineteenth century’s anxiety about female autonomy, the encroachment of empirical knowledge, the traps of imperial power, and the precariousness of life. Seen through the lens of the eschaton of hospitality, the novel examines the ambivalence of the soteriological promise tied to the Christian guilt ethic and the imperative of redemption, suggesting instead a secular ethics of care rooted in empathy, compassion, and unconditional love as the ultimate agents of resurrection.

Foreign direct investment vs. cross-border trade in environmental services with ethical spillovers: a theoretical model based on panel data

ABSTRACT This paper develops a dynamic theoretical model based on empirical panel data to support decisions about whether favouring international environmental services that require ethical improvements, due to replicating behaviours or conforming to social pressures (e.g. waste management WM, organic farming OF, and energy conservation, EC), through either foreign direct investment (FDI) or cross-border trade (CBT) policy. The numerical simulations based on a dynamic model for the policy feasibility (i.e. whether there are realistic parameter values such that a policy can achieve its goal), and the statistical estimations based on panel data for the policy reliability (i.e. whether there is a strong relationship between a policy and its goal), suggest that there is no trade-off between effectiveness and efficiency. WM is promoted, but not reliably, by CBT, and some religious and secular ethics are crucial. In contrast, OF is promoted by neither FDI nor CBT, although some religious and secular ethics are important. EC is promoted, but not reliably, by FDI, and only a secular ethic is significant. Income and education (i.e. economic development) as well as the unemployed and elderly population (i.e. social status) have different effects on the dynamics and levels of WM, OF, and EC.

Is there a right and left when the question is about right and wrong? – The irreducible difference between ethics and politics, religion, and morality

Summary Ethics is not culture bound or culturally relative, or Western. It is not true for some people, but not for others. We may not always know what is best or right, but we can always work to improve our knowledge and raise our standards. In this, ethics is no different from science. Applying this to bioethics leads to important consequences. All ethics, including bioethics, is built on a presumption of universal values. Millennials may worry that what we have now is white men's bioethics. Mill was white; but his ethics do not privilege white men. In fact, the growth in universal and secular ethics has forced us to recognize and address the problems with sexism, racism, and colonialism over the past 150 years. Immoral social practices that were considered acceptable for thousands of years, invisible to those with undeserved power, have become visible. Mill and Kant gave us the tools to discover injustices in the social structures of where we live, or where we worship. That is not to imply bioethics ignores or opposes religion. Bioethics allows everyone to make decisions based on their own personal religious beliefs. That's called “autonomy”, and it respects religious freedom and defends pluralism. Ethics is evidence-based morality. To arrive at an ethical conclusion one must be willing to submit all of one's moral reactions and beliefs to scrutiny and critical thinking, and objective assessment. Ethics requires putting dispassionate reflection above ideology, and its success depends on listening to all sides of a dispute, “right” and “left”, and giving reasons for preferring one solution over others. Fortunately, every religious belief can be mitigated by ethics, so long as we realize that ethics is not merely one additional set of subjective beliefs, but must be rationally and scientifically justified and universal. That is why the arc of history bends towards justice…and away from many fundamentalist religious beliefs. Conservative, racist, and divisive belief systems, and the reactionary political parties and authoritarian leaders who promote them, are unlikely to support ethical responses to social problems or political and economic crises . Nevertheless, it is important to not equate left and right with right and wrong. Philosophers must judge issues based only on the ethical arguments, and let the political ramifications fall where they may.

Secular Ethics and Socialist Spirit: Reflections on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Secular Ethics and Socialist Spirit: Reflections on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Religion & Democracy: Interactions, Tensions, Possibilities

Religion & Democracy: Interactions, Tensions, Possibilities

Cultural and axiological examination of the content of general education

The paper deals with the possibilities of cultural and axiological examination of the content of textbooks and curricula of general education in Russia. We are talking about such disciplines as Social Studies, History, World Art Culture, Local History, Fundamentals of the spiritual and moral culture of the peoples of Russia, Fundamentals of religious culture and secular ethics. It is shown that axiological components are an obligatory part of the content of these disciplines, regardless of whether they are consciously oriented to being a conductor of any ideology, or to abandon all ideological attitudes. Culturology as the science of value models that generate culture as an integral system of artifacts, implemented in a specific time and place, allows us to identify the axiological content of any of these artifacts, including textbooks and programs. It is within the framework of general education that this is an extremely urgent task, since general education performs an educational function, determining the values of the younger generation and the future of our country.

Moralization of Modern Education for Serving the Purpose of Life

Humanity is at the cross-roads of secular (atheistic) and sacred (religious) approaches to civilization. Modern education is structured based on secular ethics of material well being following ‘hungry man is an angry man’ type of philosophy where education is viewed not really as an intellectual exercise but primarily as a project of development of skills and technology for material advancement. As a result, it has largely failed to produce capable individual with ‘efficiency combining morality’ required for serving the purpose of life – establishing world peace and prosperity and successes here and the hereafter. This study aims to meaningfully integrate religiosity and morality into modern education for making it more effective. It is a library research analysing the contents of related literature on the subject for meaningfully integrating revealed and rational sources of knowledge for developing a desired conceptual model of goals of education with the linkage that where science ends the philosophy begins, and where philosophy ends religion begins; and where no prejudice to any revealed religion exists. It has developed a conceptual model on the ideal goals of education and argued for the necessary moralization of the modern education system by incorporating religious moralities and values centering the purpose of life. Its findings have implications for education policy makers, academic institutions, educators, scholars, clerics, social thinkers, and civil societies for use as guides for necessary moralization of modern education.

Religious Education in Russian Schools: Plans, Pains, Practices

Since 2012 the compulsory course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” has been taught in all public schools of Russia. The introduction of the course compelled Russian scholars to engage in comparative research on the development of normative framework and teaching practice in religious education. Despite the importance of global trends and international debates, it is crucial to observe the local dynamics and discover how particular conceptualizations of religion, education goals, principles and teaching practices affect religious education and its development. In our research, we focus on the case of religious education in Sverdlovsk region with the view to discover how successful are the plans which originated in the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church to gain entry to public schools, but were moderated by the resistance of educational and academic community. How effective are the practices? What unforeseen issues transpired in its implementation? Intending to highlight some major characteristics of the emerging model of religious education in Russian Federation we conducted a set of semi-structured interviews with the representatives of major groups involved in teaching (public authorities; established religious organizations; education officials; educators; parents whose children attend the course modules and, finally, academic community in Religious Studies) and on its basis we conclude that religious education at Russian schools today rests on a discrepancy between the alleged goals of the course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics”, which emphasize multicultural education, and its implementation, which stems from practical constraints and local agendas.

Ethics in the secular and religious life of man

This paper is devoted to the study of ethics in the context of secular and religious life. The article postulates that religious ethics is addressed to the spiritual world of a person for whom the criteria of moral development are constant. Within the limits of secular ethics the norms of morality are dictated by public moods and fashion at a certain time period. An important feature of religious ethics is its appeal to faith in God, and therefore it is designed to promote the spiritual salvation of man. Secular ethics is focused on the socialization of the individual in the team and ensuring his physical security. Modern society proclaims the freedom of man in choosing between secular and religious ethics, however, social realities and features of the information space predispose people to focus on secular ethics. Of particular importance here is the Russian Orthodox Church, it is important to avoid participation in the political struggle between various secular parties that do not enjoy authority in the eyes of society.

Этическая система Тадеуша Котарбинского

В статье анализируются особенности этической системы польского философа Тадеуша Котарбинского. Выявлены ее неопозитивистские основания (стремление к преодолению религии и метафизики, апелляция к нравственным чувствам и интуиции) и евангельские истоки (этика милосердия). Рассмотрены основные характеристики независимой этики (универсализм, практический реализм, минимализм, последовательность, ориентация на моральное творчество). Автор ставит под сомнение декларируемую независимость этики Котарбинского, полагая, что совесть, занимающая центральное место в его этиче­ской системе, формируется в процессе воспитания, интериоризируя поступки, мнения, оценки людей, которые зависимы от определенного мировоззрения. Спорным моментом концепции Котарбинского можно считать и практический реализм, который предлагает удовольствоваться борьбой со злом вместо того, чтобы стремиться к добру. Практиче­ская реализация такого идеала, скорее всего, привела бы к сведению духовных потреб­ностей человека к минимуму, нивелированию амбиций и остановке социального разви­тия. Тем не менее автор полагает, что этика Котарбинского имеет преимущества перед многими другими системами в тех профессиональных и прикладных сферах, где чело­век обязан оберегать зависимых от него людей – педагогике, социальной работе, сест­ринском деле. Принципы независимой этики Котарбинского, фактически представляю­щие программу морального воспитания, могли бы придать смысл проекту школьной светской этики. Наконец, идеи практического реализма могут использоваться в экологи­ческой этике, где положения Котарбинского представляются более перспективными, чем господствующие в системе отношений «человек-природа» принципы утилитаризма. Автор делает вывод, что независимая этика способна внести заметный вклад в современные споры об универсальности и ситуативности, негативной и позитивной этике, внешнем авторитете и индивидуальном моральном творчестве.

Accounting Student’s Moral Judgment and Integrated Cultural Religious-Based Ethics Concept

Research aims : Despite its widely recognized importance, there is a lack of today's business ethics education regarding the method used for teaching ethics to college students. The conventional business ethics courses are criticized for applying learning approaches limited to the abstract, impersonal moral logic of secular ethics that is less natural, meaningful, and motivating, which cannot have a significant and lasting impact on the moral judgment of its graduates. This current study addresses the issue by investigating the effect of integrating cultural and religious-based ethics concept, named Tri Kaya Parisudha (the Three Holy Deeds—think good, speak good, and do good) into ethical training toward moral judgment development of accounting students. Design/Methodology/Approach : Data were collected from 46 accounting undergraduate students of a large public university in Bali Province of Indonesia by conducting Pre-test-Post-test Control Group experimental design. Research findings : The results showed that participants who were receiving ethical training integrate with the Tri Kaya Parisudha concept (treatment group) exhibited higher moral judgment development (that is, have significantly higher DIT p-score) than those who did not (control group). Besides, there was evidence of a statistically significant increasing DIT p-score in the treatment group from pre to post-test, but not in the control group. Theoretical contribution/Originality : This research contributes to the development of academic studies on Tri Kaya Parisudha and its integration to ethical learning on the development of students’ morality. Practitioner/Policy implication : The results of this study indicate the importance of integrating the value of local wisdom and religiosity values into ethical learning at universities to improve students’ morality. Research limitation/Implication : Although this study found that ethical education at the college level will be more effective if the aspect of religiosity is included within the education process, there are some limitations of this study. First, this study used an experimental method using cases that did not reflect the actual condition and have not been sufficiently related to ethical cases occurring in the business world. Secondly, this study has not been able to fully capture the influence of Tri Kaya Parisudha on students’ behavior. Thirdly, this research did not consider another demographic variable that could affect students’ moral judgment.

Motivation of future primary school teachers to the teaching of the course "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics"

Motivation of future primary school teachers to the teaching of the course "Fundamentals of religious cultures and secular ethics"