Is there a relationship between the psychological construct of hierarchic managerial role motivation and the moral construct of role-related ethical orientation? In this study we examine this question using responses from a sample of 147 business students in Hong Kong. Managerial role motivation or motivation to manage is defined as an internal force that leads select individuals to pursue, enjoy, and succeed in management positions in relatively large hierarchical organizations. As hypothesized, respondents with higher levels of managerial role motivation demonstrated (...) greater managerial role-related ethical orientation as compared with their less managerially motivated counterparts. Similarly, respondents with higher levels of respect for authority figures, competitive games, competitive situations, assertive role, imposing wishes, and a liking for routine administrative functions possessed greater ethical orientations. The research significance, limitations and future field applications are discussed. (shrink)

Phenomenal Conservatism is an approach to epistemological justification that, based on "appearances" and "seemings" and in line with the theory of common sense epistemology, attempt to set up an internal and non-inferential justification, at least for some kind of beliefs. According to this view, justification and non-justification have a direct relationship with the mental state of the agent. Based on this assumption that “Things are as they seem”, phenomenal conservatism offers its central idea that if, for an agent, something seems (...) to be true -and there is no defeater for that until doubting in - that agent thereby has at least some justification for believing that. In this article, we will interpret this new approach with an empathetic attitude and, in addition to explaining its main components, we will effort to answer the most important objections of phenomenal conservatism and show that this view is a significant approach to the justification and rationality of human beliefs. (shrink)

This study examines the contestability of “relevance” as an abstract construction with no fixed meaning when applied, and questions its usage in the research quality debate. It finds that different research agendas and approaches have their own idiosyncratic logic and that any logic has its own criteria for assessing quality which cannot be applied to assess the quality of others. This is illustrated by delineating practitioner-led research from academic-led research and by comparing and contrasting research perspectives as examples. The research (...) quality debate becomes meaningless when it is limited to a singular research agenda or approach as in practice these are invariably combined. Having said this, however, every agenda and approach can be argued to be legitimate as potentially each can find what otherwise cannot be noticed. As a result, this study challenges the conventional unitarist wisdom that conceptualises knowledge as commodity, and suggests instead that heterogeneity, linked to tolerance and relative independence of means and mind, free from the control or influence of others to enable critical distance from context and status quo and facilitate judgement, is the key to those seeking a meaningful research quality debate that acknowledges tolerance of the diversity of knowledge, difference, contestation and struggle. Although such heterogeneity may at first appear to add confusion rather than clarity, without first looking at this heterogeneity it is not possible to develop a dialogue, in the context of the present neo-liberal post-political drift that emphasises consensus, the annulment of dissensus and diverts attention from relationships of power, through which a positive contribution can be made to the research quality debate. (shrink)

Quʹest-ce que lʹêre? Cette question passe pour fonder la philosophie. Encore faut-il s'entendre sur le sens du mot "être ". L'essence des choses détermine-t-elle leur existence? Devons-nous affirmer, au contraire, que l'existence conditionne l'intensité d'être qui qualifie une certaine réalité? Molla Sadr Shirazi, dans ce traité écrit en Iran au siècle de Descartes et de Leibniz, médite ces questions qui sont encore les nôtres. Mais les solutions qu'il propose s'évadent hors de nos perspectives, après avoir opéré une révolution décisive (...) dans la métaphysique des Orientaux. Penseur shi'ite en butte à la persécution, Molla Sadra est la plus haute figure de la philosophie iranienne islamique au temps splendide de la cour safavide d'Ispahan. Sa doctrine du primat de l'existence, que le présent ouvrage expose complètement, ouvre sur une interprétation spirituelle de la résurrection des corps. Cette traduction par Henry Corbin, qui fut aussi l'éditeur du texte original, a fait événement : par son ample introduction, il situe la question de l'être et déploie une explication comparée de ce que l'Occident grec puis médiéval en ont fait, avec la tradition shi'iite. -- Back cover. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a shift to online teaching of bioethics, a field that relies on discourse and interactive teaching methods. This paper aims to highlight the challenges faced and lessons learned while describing the experience of having to shift to teaching bioethics online to students enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Biomedical Ethics (PGD) and Master of Bioethics programs at the Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) in Pakistan. Opinions of students, mainly compromising mid-career healthcare related professionals, were (...) obtained through a survey (n = 13) and an in-depth group discussion via Zoom. Observations from core faculty (n = 7) were recorded through conducting a content analysis of monthly faculty meetings, enhanced by faculty narratives published in the Centre’s bi-annual newsletter. Faculty and students alike expressed unease with the online mode since it minimized chances of interaction with peers and faculty thus negatively affecting learning process. Juggling work responsibilities while taking synchronous online classes proved to be difficult for students particularly for clinicians, with unique issues for women. Faculty faced increased workload due to the necessity for development of innovative teaching methods and new assessment tools in order to maintain the standard of the academic programs. Despite the problems surrounding the online mode, students and faculty also acquired new skills during this period. Overall, there was a clear preference for on-campus learning, however against the backdrop of a pandemic, online mode was considered as the only viable option. (shrink)

This paper examines whether low income is a barrier to contraceptive use in Pakistan, a country in which economic conditions are deteriorating at a time when the private sector is becoming a more important supplier of contraception. Multivariate regression analysis performed using the Pakistan Contraceptive Demand Survey suggests that low income is a deterrent to modern contraceptive use in Pakistan. This is particularly the case for contraceptive methods supplied through the private sector. It is concluded that, if the aim of (...) family planning programmes is to reach low[hyphen]income people, the prices of contraceptives supplied through the private sector should be kept as low as possible. (shrink)

The influence of popular management gurus derives from two factors: the willingness of their management audience to outsource or subcontract thinking and the ability of gurus to deliver apparently relatively simple messages to an audience that probably does not want or need to think deeply, while retaining their leadership status. As managers look to management gurus to provide them only with reasons to be, to behave or act as opposed to reasons to think, per se, the nature of a popular (...) guru’s output can never address the unseen innovating process which true leadership demands. As a result, popular management gurus are not in a position to promote insights, awakening or higher consciousness in others and cannot fulfil the traditional raison d’être of a guru as an enlightened being. The output of popular management gurus probably communicates more about their audience than it usefully communicates about the guru’s thinking. (shrink)

Organisations are socially constructed in that their members are socialised in a world of language that enables them to understand, communicate and share. They use language to create patterns that help them make choices and relate their actions to the patterns they create and the choices they make. The world of organisations and their management is, therefore, a matter of language. In this world, rationality plays a fundamental role in legitimising choices together with the actions that express them. This study (...) suggests that the limited expressive resources of a dominant version of rationality limit the world of management in a way that undermines its legitimacy and that it is possible for management to break free from this limited world by learning to think in other languages that express contrasting versions of rationality. (shrink)

The central issue in this work is self-knowledge. The human soul is created in the Image of God with a purpose.

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. Requires signed TDF. ;Two elements in Kripke's notion of "rigid designation" are distinguished: "genuine reference", which has to do with the semantic function of a singular term, and "rigid designation", which has to do with the behaviour of a singular term in modal contexts. Accordingly, the discussion is divided into two parts. ;In Part I, arguments from functionalism against "genuine reference" are considered and rejected, but it is claimed that certain Cartesian (...) arguments constitute a formidable objection against this notion. Therefore, while descriptivism must be rejected "genuine reference" is too strong as an alternative. "Weak reference" is suggested as the required notion, and some of its characteristics are delineated. ;In Part II, the problems concerning the contingent a priori and the necessary a posteriori arising from the second element in Kripke's notion are discussed, depending on whether the names involved are ordinary proper names, or "descriptive" names. Evans' arguments concerning descriptive names are considered, and it is argued that, because of a new distinction between deep vs. superficial rigidity, Davies and Humberstone fail in formulating them more exactly; but the informal arguments, though inconclusive, are intuitive. As for ordinary proper names, and on the basis of conclusions reached in Part I, the case for contingent a priori truths involving such names is undermined. In the case of necessary a posteriori truths involving ordinary proper names, the strategies of denying the necessity or the a posteriority of the examples are discussed, and found wanting. However, since there are reasons from other areas for denying the coincidence of the necessary and the a priori, Kripke's examples do not call for a radical departure from currently held views. (shrink)

The research aims to harness spatial interpolation techniques to produce maps with a high level of perceptual accuracy in representing the population data of the study area. This is achieved after exploring the statistical and spatial nature of the databases used, analyzing them, and determining their distribution using a variety of spatial data exploration tools available within the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) environment. These tools contribute to evaluating the characteristics, distribution, and analysis of data, including testing data distribution, identifying its (...) direction, and uncovering its spatial correlations. This highlights the importance of the study and understanding the distribution pattern of the population data in the study area, thereby facilitating the preparation of future that serve spatial organization by building spatial models for the numerical distribution of the data for age groups: young, middle-aged, and elderly, at the level of administrative units of the study area by relying on the inductive approach and the quantitative analysis approach. This is done using Geostatistical Analysis methods within the concept of spatial interpolation in GIS. The research also seeks to predict the population maps for Thi Qar Governorate by comparing spatial interpolation methods, namely Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Simple Kriging (SK). The study concluded, after verifying the accuracy of the results using the Cross-Validation curve, that the Simple Kriging (SK) method is the most accurate model in spatial prediction of population data for representing the data of the young age group in the study area, as it had the lowest Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 10.012. It was followed by the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method for representing the data of the elderly age group with an RMSE of 350.48. This indicates that the use of statistical criteria improves the accuracy of spatial interpolation and that the spatial prediction of the population data for the study area using the Simple Kriging (SK) method was more accurate than the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method based on statistical indicators. (shrink)

Language holds great importance within clinical encounters, particularly when healthcare professionals are dealing with life-threatening diseases, such as cancer. This study is an attempt to explore the perceptions of women under treatment for breast cancer in Karachi, Pakistan, with respect to language employed by healthcare professionals for the disclosure of disease, and the impact that language used has on patients. Using exploratory qualitative methods consisting of 24 in-depth interviews with patients and one interview with a healthcare professional, this study reveals (...) various nuances of language at play. We find that in Pakistani society, there is reluctance to use the word “cancer” during the disclosure of disease by healthcare professionals, family members and patients alike due to fear of imminent death and to retain hope in patients. Instead, colloquial language, such as “rasoli [mass]” and “this illness” is used to refer to the disease. The disease is disclosed with a deliberate attempt to avoid the use of the word “cancer”, and often done in a series of steps rather than the diagnosis being spelt out bluntly, with the former practice generally preferred than the latter. Despite this manner of disclosure, patients remain aware that they are suffering from a disease. This has important implications for clinicians in Pakistan, where there are no standardized practices for breaking bad news, and where clinicians have to tailor their communication styles according to the type of patient, thus the onus rests on physicians to impart information in an empathetic manner to patients suffering from serious diseases. (shrink)

The aim of the present research is studying the relationship between the salespersons’ ethical philosophy and their ethical decision-making process and seeks to answer two fundamental questions: first, what is the ethical philosophy of salespersons? And second, how does the salespersons’ ethical philosophy affect their ethical decision-making process? Statistical population of this research is salespersons who have passed the sales training course at the Department of Commerce Research Centre. One hundred thirty-seven questionnaires of total 300 accessible populations were analyzed through (...) path analysis method. The findings indicate that most salespersons are idealists. Although this idealism affects the ethical judgment directly, but the effect of relativism on ethical intention is more considerable. (shrink)

[full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] Armstrong’s theory of laws and causation may be articulated as something like the following, which we may refer to as the received view: “Laws are intrinsic higher-order relations of ensuring between properties. The instantiation of laws is identical with singular causation. This identity is a posteriori.” Opponents and advocates of this view, believe that it may fairly and correctly be attributed to Armstrong. I do not deny it; instead I seek to reconsider (...) the received view, specifically by treating it as a part of Armstrong’s metaphysics. The main features that should concern us are truthmaker theory and the formal account of the constitutive parts of states of affairs. I also discuss Bird’s ultimate argument against Armstrong and show how its impact is weakened by this proper reading. (shrink)

In Islam, the acquisition of knowledge is a form of worship. But human achievement must be exercised in conformity with God's will. Warnings against feelings of superiority often are coupled with the command to remain within the confines of God's laws and limits. Because of the fear of arrogance and disregard of the balance created by God, any new knowledge or discovery must be applied with careful consideration to maintaining balance in the creation. Knowledge must be applied to ascertain equity (...) and justice for all of humanity. Research in Islam must be linked to the broad ethical base set forth in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Whether embryonic stem cell research or cloning is ethically acceptable in Islam depends on the benefits derived from such applications. What is most important for the scholars is to adhere to the concepts of compassion, mercy, and benefit to everyone. (shrink)

Medical practice is practiced morality, and clinical research belongs to normative ethics. The present book elucidates and advances this thesis by: 1. analyzing the structure of medical language, knowledge, and theories; 2. inquiring into the foundations of the clinical encounter; 3. introducing the logic and methodology of clinical decision-making, including artificial intelligence in medicine; 4. suggesting comprehensive theories of organism, life, and psyche; of health, illness, and disease; of etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, and therapy; and 5. investigating the moral and (...) metaphysical issues central to medical practice and research. Many systems of (classical, modal, non-classical, probability, and fuzzy) logic are introduced and applied. Fuzzy medical deontics, fuzzy medical ontology, fuzzy medical concept formation, fuzzy medical decision-making and biomedicine and many other techniques of fuzzification in medicine are introduced for the first time. -/- . (shrink)

Religiosity has been linked with prosocial behavior and a preference for religious ingroups over outgroups. Yet, there are important differences in religious people’s beliefs, values, and practices. Fundamental and quest orientation toward religion may differentially predict intergroup bias in prosociality. Also, individualizing and binding moral foundations may have diverse effects on ingroup and outgroup bias in helping, as moral foundations theory suggests that individualizing and binding foundations differ in how much they focus on ingroup and outgroup moral considerations. In this (...) study, we examined the relationship between religious dimensions, moral foundations, prosocial behavior, and intergroup bias in helping. We found evidence for the effect of individualizing foundations, religious fundamentalism, and quest religion above and beyond demographics and other religious dimensions on intergroup bias in helping. Furthermore, there were independent positive effects of individualizing foundations, religious activity, and age, and independent negative effects of female gender and religious fundamentalism on prosocial behavior. This study provides a more nuanced understanding of the relations between religion, prosociality, and moral intuitions in a Muslim context. (shrink)

According to the principles of transcendent philosophy, the human soul as a contingent existence after being created in this world has a continuous motion from an actuality to another one until becoming immaterial. This means that he leaves his body and continues to his evolution immaterially. According to the principle of “Impossibility of Return” it seems impossible for human being to return to the mundane life after his death. This belief is apparently inconsistent with the Islamic doctrine of “dead human (...) beings’ return to the life”. So, since transcendent philosophers reject the doctrine of reincarnation on the basis of the principle of “Impossibility of Return”, they should explain the doctrine of Raj’ah in a consistent way. Sayyed Abolhasan Rafī’ee-Qazvīnī is one of the few transcendent philosophers who have taken this issue into account. Although he validates the principle of Impossibility of Return, he asserts that it does not include the doctrine of Raj’ah. He tries to defend the doctrine of Raj’ah and differentiate it from the doctrine of reincarnation through a couple of philosophical principles. For example he accepts that Coercion does not last and every existent has its exclusive existential influence which is necessarily emergent. (shrink)

The history of Hejaz especially in one century before Islam was affected by Quraysh tribe. All political, social and economical changes were under the control of Quraysh leaders. Qsy Ibn Kalab was the most influential leader of this tribe during history. His unique courageous deeds have change Quraysh from some dispersed tribes to a unified effective tribe. Among such acts of this leader was foundation of "Dar-Al-Nodveh" which was very significant. Dar-Al-Nodveh guaranteed the success of all acts performed in Quraysh (...) and other tribes. Leaders of Quraysh organized their important deeds within the framework of the making opportunities resulted in expansion of this city due to decisions made by elites of the city and consequently Mecca was turned into the biggest business republic of Arabestan. Even they leaded a part of commercial market of the world. They could keep that safe and dispelled all probable dangers. The question is that the idea for formation of this government city, "Dar-Al-Nodveh", is that how came to the mind of Qsy Ibn Kalab and how much was the influence of Dar-Al-Nodveh in Mecca and how did it gave identity to the city? It seems that the international conditions of that time and personality of Qsy Ibn Kalab had very significant influence on the future of the city of Mecca. His corrective actions did much in turning Mecca to a prominent city in peninsula. The present article aimed to study general formation process of this government city with emphasis on the role of Qsy Ibn Kalab. (shrink)

The importance of spiritual capital of individuals can be traced back to the resistance of independent auditors in the face of client manager power in ethical dilemma situations. This capital which is defined as a component of intellectual capital is integrated to auditors’ livelihood. This research found some related individual factors in auditing area and classified them under SpCi. Morals, ethics, personal values, and culture are the four most related factors which are applied as dimensions of SpCi in auditing area. (...) Hence, this paper attempts to investigate into the effect of SpCi and its four dimensions on an independent auditor’s opinion. The respondents of this research were 321 Iranian audit managers and partners. The data were collected through questionnaires, and multiple regressions were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the SpCi and its dimensions affect an independent auditor’s opinion. (shrink)

Philosophy Modern -- History- Philosophy European -- History.

Linguistics, in general, is the basic science of all language studies. It is concerned with the nature and structure of language and with the role it plays in human communication. Medical linguistics uses some methods of general linguistics and also creates additional ones. This is motivated by the following practical needs: Computer-aided data record, storage, and retrieval in medical practice and research require that medical data be stored in such a manner that enables their computational processing. However, databases written in (...) natural medical language cannot be easily processed. To enable efficient natural language processing, medical terms and sentences used in them must be made amenable to syntactic and semantic operations by computer programs. Medical linguistics is an ill-defined, interdisciplinary branch of medical informatics and medical information and library sciences concerned with methods and problems of natural language processing in medicine. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of internet filtering, and its impact on marginalized groups including non‐governmental organizations, female activists, ethnic, and religious minorities, the younger generation and the increase of the digital divide in Iran.Design/methodology/approachThe paper raises two main questions: to what extent do information and communications technologies and in particular, the internet, promote freedom of speech, and gender equality in Iran? What is the impact of state censorship and ICT filtering on these activities? To (...) answer these research questions, the author uses narratives of the internet's usage along with a comparison study with other Middle Eastern countries to analyze the impact of ICTs on citizen's freedom of expression.FindingsThe paper argues that restrictions imposed on ICT tools and services by the Government of Iran which has been claimed to protect country's national security against the corruption and immorality imposed by Western countries not only affect the expansion of ICTs negatively but also civil liberties – thus increasing the digital divide internally, regionally, as well as on a global scale.Research limitations/implicationsAlbeit this research is limited to the case study of Iran, the author believes that lessens learned from the Iran's case study can be applied to other Islamic countries and in particular countries located in the Middle East region.Practical implicationsICT tools and services such as the internet and short message service are effective emancipatory media for citizens' participation and mobilization in democratic processes.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing knowledge and understanding of the impact of ICTs on freedom and democracy. (shrink)