Positive public perceptions of academic quality and professional ethics are critical to the long-term legitimacy of American colleges and universities. Faculty codes of conduct are one mechanism whereby the professoriate can define acceptable practice, exercise social control, and maintain public confidence in higher education, yet the drivers of their adoption are not well understood. Building upon previous research into such organizational behavior by institutional type, this study examined the prevalence and content of publicly posted faculty codes of conduct within an (...) organizational field of institutions that share a common religious identity but differ in their institutional types and employment structures. Faculty handbooks from American member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, an international association of faith-based institutions, were gathered and analyzed. Although only 27% of CCCU member institutions in the U.S. publicly posted faculty codes of conduct, the average number of tenets present in each code was higher than suggested by previous research. Study findings also revealed that membership category, institutional type, and employment structures influence the content of faculty codes of conduct, indicating that isomorphic pressures operate within this particular organizational field. The piece concludes by commending publicly posted codes of conduct as an affirmation of the personal responsibility, fairness, and care exercised by ethical professionals in the academy. (shrink)

In this essay, we consider questions arising from cases in which people request medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in unjust social circumstances. We develop our argument by asking two questions. First, can decisions made in the context of unjust social circumstance be meaningfully autonomous? We understand ‘unjust social circumstances’ to be circumstances in which people do not have meaningful access to the range of options to which they are entitled and ‘autonomy’ as self-governance in the service of personally meaningful goals, (...) values and commitments. People in these circumstances would choose otherwise, were conditions more just. We consider and reject arguments that the autonomy of people choosing death in the context of injustice is necessarily reduced, either by restricting their options for self-determination, through their internalisation of oppressive attitudes or by undermining their hope to the point that they despair.Second, should MAiD be available to people in such circumstances, even when a sound argument can be made that the agents in question are autonomous? In response, we use a harm reduction approach, arguing that even though such decisions are tragic, MAiD should be available. Our argument engages with relational theories of autonomy as well as recent criticism raised against them and is intended to be general in application, although it emerges in response to the Canadian legal regimen around MAiD, with a focus on recent changes in Canada’s eligibility criteria to qualify for MAiD. (shrink)

Assumptions about obesity—e.g., its connection to ill health, its causes, etc.—are still prevalent today, and they make up what I call the medical model of fatness. In this paper, I argue that the medical model was established on the basis of insufficient evidence and has nevertheless continued to be relied upon to justify methodological choices that further entrench the assumptions of the medical model. These choices are illegitimate in so far as they conflict with both the epistemic and social aims (...) of obesity research. I conclude the paper with a partial solution to these epistemic and social shortcomings. (shrink)

Growing evidence suggests the presence of a female leadership advantage (FLA), such that women leaders tend to be associated with more effective outcomes in uncertain conditions. However, mechanisms linking women's leadership to effective outcomes are less well understood. We integrate FLA insights with ethics of care philosophical framework to conceptualize how women leaders achieve effective outcomes in the context of the urban revitalization crisis in the United States. We propose and empirically test the mediating role of ethics of care leadership (...) in the relationship between women mayors and economic health of their cities. We used data from the Urban Institute that includes 272 United States cities and measures of variables in our conceptual model at five points in time spanning 36 years (_n_ = 1185 city-year observations). We capture ethics of care leadership focused on racial inclusion with an index measure of a city’s racial spatial segregation, homeownership gap, poverty gap, and education gap, and we capture economic health with an index measure of a city’s employment growth, unemployment rate, housing vacancy rate, and median family income. We found that female-led cities were associated with better economic health, and this association was mediated by female-led cities’ association with greater racial inclusion. Ethics of care leadership appears to be one pathway through which a FLA manifests itself in the context of the urban revitalization crisis. This underscores the importance of city leadership that balances social and economic prerogatives. Implications are discussed. (shrink)

This paper critically interrogates the anti-fat beliefs that are employed in environmental bioethics, particularly in response to climate change. Fat bodies have been associated with climate change because they are presumed to consume more resources and produce more greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we argue that such interpretations employ mistaken assumptions to justify placing disproportionate blame on already oppressed individuals, reinforcing weight stigma, which increases the vulnerability of fat people to a range of harms and disproportionately affects communities of (...) color. For these reasons, conceiving fat bodies as harmful to the environment is both misguided and unjust. (shrink)

The allocation of critical care resources and triaging patients garnered a great deal of attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is a paucity of guidance regarding the ethical aspects of resource allocation and patient prioritization in ‘normal’ circumstances for Canadian healthcare systems. One context where allocation and prioritization decisions are required are surgical waitlists, which have been globally exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we detail the process used to develop an ethics framework to support prioritization (...) for elective surgery at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, a tertiary pediatric hospital. Our goal was to provide guidance for the more value-laden aspects of prioritization, particularly when clinical urgency alone is insufficient to dictate priority. With this goal in mind, we worked to capture familial, relational, and equity considerations. As part of our institution’s concerted efforts to ethically and effectively address our surgical backlog, an ethics working group was formed comprising clinicians from surgery, anesthesiology, intensive care, a hospital bioethicist, a parent advisor, and an academic bioethics researcher. A reflective equilibrium process was used to develop an ethics framework. To this end, the same methodology was used to create a support for patient prioritization that identifies clinically and morally relevant factors for prioritization among medically similar surgical cases, with a substantive goal being to identify and redress health inequities in surgical prioritization, inasmuch as this is possible. While further steps are needed to validate several aspects of the framework, our research suggests that an ethics framework grounded in the practical realities of hospital operations provides consistency, transparency, and needed support for decisions that are often left to individual clinicians, as well as an opportunity to reflect upon the presence of health inequities in all domains of healthcare delivery. (shrink)

Recent findings regarding the cellular biology and immunology of BST‐2 (also known as tetherin) indicate that its function could be exploited as a universal replication inhibitor of enveloped respiratory viruses (e.g., influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, etc.). BST‐2 inhibits viral replication by preventing virus budding from the plasma membrane and by inducing an antiviral state in cells adjacent to infection via unique inflammatory signaling mechanisms. This review presents the first comprehensive summary of what is currently known about BST‐2 anti‐viral function against (...) respiratory viruses, how these viruses construct countermeasures to antagonize BST‐2, and how BST‐2 function might be targeted to develop therapies to treat respiratory virus infections. The authors address the current gaps in knowledge, including the need for mechanistic understanding of BST‐2 antagonism by respiratory viruses, that should be bridged to achieve that goal. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore some of the influences that computer‐mediated communication has and could have on the maintenance of interpersonal relationships. In doing this, ethical dilemmas and implications that arise from the technical affordances offered to CMC participants are discussed. Relational maintenance is integral to people's everyday lives. Yet, the ethical issues involve in using CMC to support this have not been explicitly explored.Design/methodology/approachThe concept of relational maintenance will be explored independently and as it relates to (...) CMC and ethics. This paper will examine current literature and briefly discuss a pilot study relevant to these areas. The pilot study consisted of a survey distributed to undergraduate students in non‐platonic long distance and short distance relationships.FindingsThe exploration of prior literature and the findings of a pilot study support the notion that, with the increase of CMC use to maintain relationships follows the potential increase of unethical behavior in this medium. A number of ethical questions have risen that can be used to inform and direct future research.Originality/valueThis paper is original as it explores the concept of ethics from a relational maintenance perspective through electronic communication. It adds value by integrating these three areas and enhancing the understanding of this integration, while providing information of both theoretical and practical relevance. (shrink)

Extravagantly rich and exotic come to mind when thinking of the bygone world of Indian royalty, yet almost all of the 565 princely states abruptly and peacefully came to an end in 1947. In fact, the dazzling princely dress had come to represent subordination to the Queen of Britain. Because Indian rulers were unable to perform the princely duties of defending their state under colonial rule, Indian royalty directed their excess resources to the consumption of luxury goods. These goods, most (...) notably represented in their dress, came to symbolize the ruling class’s increasing incompetence in the governing of their states. (shrink)

Definition of the problem: In parallel with public and philosophical discussions, there is an ongoing debate about euthanasia in theological ethics. In this situation it is helpful to provide a systematic overview of the different arguments and judgements. Arguments: A short introduction is followed by a first part dealing with the definition of terms. The second and major part concerning normative arguments is subdivided into three steps: the level of principles, the more concrete level of actions and finally the level (...) of social consequences. The third part presents some reflections following the eudaimonistic ethical tradition (the ethics of a good life and death) focusing on the central question: how to find meaning in life when faced with suffering. Conclusion: It would be fruitful to intensify the ethical reflection both on the problems concerning the foundations of social life, especially the meaning of dignity, autonomy and inviolability of human life, and social consequences of a liberal practice of euthanasia. In this context ethicists are challenged to reflect on the different approaches to what is or can be a good life and a human death. (shrink)

In her 1927 diary, Simone de Beauvoir documents her intent to mix literary style with philosophical content. However, in Anglophone research environments, her works are formally classified as either literature or philosophy. This article questions the legitimacy of this classification by arguing that The Ethics of Ambiguity’s stylistic use of first-person plural narration, metaphor, conversational style, and parable help us understand ambiguity and freedom as necessarily embodied by invoking experiences of both phenomena.

Poor air quality is a pressing global challenge contributing to adverse health impacts around the world. In the past decade, there has been a rapid proliferation of air quality information delivered via sensors, apps, websites or other media channels in near real-time and at increasingly localized geographic scales. This paper explores the growing emphasis on self-monitoring and digital platforms to supply informational interventions for reducing pollution exposures and improving health outcomes at the individual level. It presents a technological case study (...) that characterizes emerging air quality information communication mechanisms, or ‘AQ channels’, while drawing upon examples throughout the literature. The questions are posed: which air quality channels are ‘freely’ available to individuals in London, UK, and when and where are they accessed? Digital trace data and metadata associated with 54 air quality channels are synthesized narratively and graphically. Results reveal air quality channels derive air pollution estimates using common data sources, display disparate messaging, adopt variable geographic scales for reporting ‘readings’ and maintain psychosocial barriers to access and adoption of exposure-reducing behaviours. The results also point to a clear association between the publication of a high-profile news article about air pollution and increased air quality channel access. These findings illuminate a need for greater transparency around how air quality channels generate personalized air pollution exposure estimates and tailor messaging. The paper concludes by calling for air quality channel developers to exercise co-creative methods that can support sustainable, democratic data and knowledge production around air quality, while critically approaching disproportionate patterns of both pollution and information exposure. (shrink)

Béatrice Acklin Zimmermann Barbara Schmitz An der GrenzeTheologische Erkundungen zum BösenUnter dem Eindruck der schrecklichen Ereignisse vom 11. September 2001, von Beslan, Abu Ghraib und Kana ist das Interesse "am Bösen"wiedererwacht. Dabei fällt auf, dass die in Politik und Gesellschaft erfolgten Deutungen des Bösen geprägt sind durch klare Grenzziehungen zwischen "gut"und "böse", die zunehmend auch auf religiöse Kategorien wie Licht-Finsternis, gerecht-sündig, Tod-Leben rekurrieren. Dies provoziert die Frage nach der Trennschärfe von "gut"und "böse": Wo genau verläuft die Grenze zwischen "gut"und (...) "böse"und wer zieht diese Grenze? Ist "das Böse"eine unabhängige Größe oder tritt es vielmehr in Vermischung mit "dem Guten"auf? Und was bedeutet die Grenzziehung zwischen "gut"und böse"im Blick auf Genderkonfigurationen?In ökumenischer Aufgeschlossenheit und aus verschiedenen theologischen Blickwinkeln erkunden die Autoren und Autorinnen dieses Bandes "das Böse"unter dem Gesichtspunkt von Grenzziehungen. Zur Debatte stehen dabei ebenso die Grenzziehung zwischen "gut"und "böse"und die damit verbundenen Dualisierungen wie die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von "Gender"und den Konstruktionen des "Bösen". In kritischer Abgrenzung zur gegenwärtigen gesellschaftlich-politischen Tendenz, das Böse primär beim Anderen, einer bestimmten Nation, Kultur, Gesellschaftsschicht oder Weltanschauung zu verorten, wird in den verschiedenen Beiträge gezeigt, dass eine strenge Grenzziehung zwischen dem "Bösen"und dem "Guten"der Komplexität der Wirklichkeit nicht standhält. Mit Beiträgen von Béatrice Acklin Zimmermann, Ruth Albrecht, Pierre Bühler, Barbara Henze, Ralph Kunz und Ute Nürnberg, Walter Lesch, Karl Matthias Schmidt und Barbara Schmitz. Die HerausgeberinnenBéatrice Acklin Zimmermannist Privatdozentin für Systematische Theologie an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Freiburg/Schweiz und Leiterin des Bereiches Theologie und Philosophie an der Paulus-Akademie Zürich. Barbara Schmitzist Studienrätin im Hochschuldienst für den Bereich Altes Testament und Sprachen an der Universität Duisburg-Essen. (shrink)

The intervention ladder, developed by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, is a framework intended to help evaluate the ethical acceptability and justification of public health interventions according to their intrusion on liberty.1 In their recent article, Paetkau2 argues ‘the ladder obscures potential interventions that operate on a systemic rather than individual level’ (p. 1) and that ‘it is crucial that systemic interventions not be left off the table when considering potential concrete interventions’ (p. 3), leading them to propose instead the (...) ‘intervention stairway’. Yet, in this commentary we argue the intervention ladder does not delimit the sorts of public health interventions that may be considered to address a public health issue, although it may speak to their putative justification. Hence, despite its other considerable shortcomings,3 4 there is no need, as Paetkau argues, to broaden the intervention ladder to include systemic factors. Contrary to Paetkau’s claim, the intervention ladder does not preclude policymakers from considering systemic factors’ impact on health outcomes or the public health interventions and strategies that could be implemented to address them. Paetkau adduces the example of measures to protect patients, healthcare workers and healthcare capacity from the threat of infectious diseases. They argue that certain …. (shrink)

Beginning in the late 1990s we became convinced that our undergraduate psychology students needed classroom experiences that set the conditions for them to become more engaged with beauty. We recognized the intrinsic importance of beauty to human psychological development, beyond any utilitarian concerns.1 But we also believed that there were important psychological benefits to be gained by becoming increasingly engaged with beauty. In this paper we briefly describe some of those benefits that have been documented in the psychological research literature (...) in the last decade. This paper primarily outlines a curricular recipe for infusing beauty into an Introduction to Psychology course at the undergraduate .. (shrink)

Antisocial behaviors including bullying, violence, and aggression have been an area of intense interest among researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and the general public because of their grievous consequences on individuals and society. Our understanding of the origins and development of these behaviors in individuals has recently progressed with the application of new scientific advancements and technologies such as neuroimaging, genomics, and research methods that capture behavioral changes in the first few years of life.The Origins of Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Perspective (...) provides an overview of the recent research on the development of antisocial behavior and synthesizes this information to inform readers not only of the risks, but also how they interact, to result in antisocial and aggressive behavior. The volume is divided into three sections: advances in neuroscience, advances in behavioral and clinical research, and legal and policy implications. Specific topics include genetic markers and aggressive behavior, the use of fMRI to track adolescent brain development, the role of peer influences on aggression, parenting and temperament, screening tools for diagnosing antisocial behavior in toddlers and adolescents, and how new research will influence interventions, policy, and future study. Experts from genetics, neuroimaging, and developmental science discuss the insights these scientific approaches have provided in understanding how nature and the environment interact in the emergence of antisocial behavior. The Origins of Antisocial Behavior is an important and unique resource that will be of use to developmental scientists, mental health professionals, and policymakers involved in the juvenile justice system. (shrink)

Orthodox business ethics, conventional management theory, and a great deal of higher education embody the overriding emphasis accorded to analysis by yesteryear''s science. An alternative strategy, exemplified by the war stories told by a Confederate Genral, is more consistent with late 20th century science in general and soft systems methodology in particular.The characteristic way of management that we have taught... is to take a complex system, divide it into parts, and then try to manage each part as well as possible. (...) And if that''s done, the system as a whole will behave well, and that''s absolutely false because it''s possible to improve the performance of each part taken separately and destroy the system at the same time. (shrink)

Corporations, which in the past have been hesitant to contribute to conversations regarding political and social issues, are increasingly speaking out on current issues such as race, sexual orientation, gender, immigration, and environmental issues. Despite this trend, limited academic research has focused on how corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA) efforts impact firm value. In addition, extant studies have not fully identified the extent to which the firm and their message influence the outcomes of this approach. The current study explores how sociopolitical (...) stances communicated on Twitter affect firms’ stock prices. Results from an event study of 260 incidents of CSA show that CSA efforts decrease firm value by an average of 0.22%, indicating that wading into social or political issues is a risky strategy. However, further analysis highlights the importance of clearly articulating stances on social issues that align with the firm’s core values. (shrink)

Youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits showed reduced amygdala responses to fearful expressions under low attentional load but no indications of increased recruitment of regions implicated in top- down attentional control. These findings suggest that the emotional deficit observed in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits is primary and not secondary to increased top- down attention to nonemotional stimulus features.

Achieving a high quality of life is dependent upon how individuals face adversity. Positive psychological interventions are well-suited to support coping efforts; however, experimental research is limited. The purpose of the current research was to examine whether different savoring interventions could increase important coping resources in response to a social-evaluative hassle. We completed an experimental mixed subject design study with a university student sample. All participants completed a hassle induction task and were then randomly assigned into different intervention groups. Positive (...) emotion ratings were collected at three points in time. Results revealed a significant time x intervention interaction effect, such that individuals in the savoring the moment intervention reported higher levels of positive emotions compared to individuals assigned to the true control group, guided imagery control group, and savoring through reminiscence intervention. Such findings represent a significant extension to savoring theory and offer support for savoring the moment exercises as a primary prevention strategy to bolster effective responses to social-evaluative hassles. (shrink)

In response to its current crisis, scholars call for the revitalisation of democracy through democratic innovations. While they make ample use of life metaphors describing democracy as a living organism, no comprehensive understanding of ‘life’ has been established within democratic theory. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement articulates the urgency of refocusing on life and its meaning through radical democratic practice. This article employs a grounded theory approach, enriched with participatory methods, to develop a radical democratic concept of life in (...) conversation with BLM. It conceptualises life as the existence of a perspective that constantly transforms through its fundamental interconnectedness. Building on this concept, the article outlines four principles of a living democracy that go beyond the revitalisation discourse. A living democracy (1) safeguards the existence of all humans and nonhumans, (2) nurtures a diversity of perspectives, (3) fosters social and planetary connectivity, and (4) enables self- and collective transformation. (shrink)

The ability to generate diverse ideas is valuable in solving creative problems ; yet, however advantageous, this ability is insufficient to solve the problem alone and requires the ability to logically deduce an assessment of correctness of each solution. Positive schizotypy may help isolate the aspects of divergent thinking prevalent in insight problem solving. Participants were presented with a measure of schizotypy, divergent and convergent thinking tasks, insight problems, and non-insight problems. We found no evidence for a relationship between schizotypy (...) and insight problem solving. Relationships between divergent thinking and insight problem solving were also surprisingly weak; however, measures of convergent thinking had a stronger relationship with problem solving. These results suggest that convergent thinking is more important than divergent thinking in problem solving. (shrink)

The editors of the JRE collected short essays from scholars of religion in response to a recent incident at Hamline University that made national headlines. Last fall, Hamline University administrators refused to extend a contract to an adjunct professor of art history after a Muslim student accused her of Islamophobia for showing a 14th‐century image of Mohammad in an online class. The event provoked intense conversations about issues of academic freedom, religious diversity, the status of contingent faculty, and race. These (...) essays bring together scholarly and personal reflections about the incident at Hamline and what it means for the pedagogy of religious studies. (shrink)

The Philosophy Outreach Project gets high school students across Indiana thinking. POP creates alternative spaces for learning in classrooms, clubs, online, and conference settings. By curating philosophical content and fostering philosophical discussion, POP provides high school students with tools and a platform to engage with each other and the world. POP is run by three teams of Ball State students with a variety of different interests and backgrounds. POP's team includes students studying philosophy, psychology, English, communications, criminal justice, and more. (...) This diversity of interests and knowledge allows for an impressive level of collaboration, which is ultimately what makes POP successful in promoting and facilitating pre-college philosophy. (shrink)

Past research demonstrates that mood can influence level of perceptual processing (global vs. local). The present research shows that level of perceptual processing can influence mood as well. In four studies, we manipulated people’s level of perceptual processing using a Navon letter task (Study 1), landscape scenery (Study 2), and Google Maps Street View images (Studies 3 and 4). Results from these studies and a meta-analysis support the conclusion that global processing results in higher happiness than local processing. In conjunction (...) with previous findings that mood affects level of cognitive processing, these results suggest that the link between level of processing and mood may be reciprocal and bidirectional. (shrink)

There is an increasing movement toward accessibility in arts spaces, including recent legislative changes and commitments at individual, organizational, and systemic levels to integrating access into the arts across Canada. In this article, we explore Relaxed Performance in the context of this movement. We present the results of a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews conducted with participants who completed RP training offered by the British Council to. understand the training’s effectiveness and impact. We explore the significance of the training, and (...) of RP in general, and in relation to disability studies and cultural and political activism. We undertake this exploration against a backdrop of interrogating who RP is for and by. The themes we describe are: Committed to Access, Training is Critical, Inviting Bodies to be Bodies, and Imagining Audiences. These themes tell a story of how RP relates to broader access work, the importance of training grounded in and led by disability/difference, the need to consider the relationships between bodies and spaces, and the tensions inherent to billing RP as “for all.” We conclude with an exploration of possible modifications, enhancements, or theoretical imaginings that could help RP to become more radically open to difference as it emerges, shifts, and changes. (shrink)

Background: When adolescent boys experience close, secure relationships with their parents and peers, the implications are potentially far reaching, including lower levels of mental health problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Here we use rare prospective intergenerational data to extend our understanding of the impact of adolescent attachments on subsequent postpartum mental health problems in early fatherhood.Methods: At age 17–18 years, we used an abbreviated Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment to assess trust, communication, and alienation reported by 270 male (...) participants in their relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers. More than a decade later, we assessed the adult males, now fathers, at 12 months postpartum for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Logistic regression was used to examine the extent to which attachment dimensions predicted paternal postpartum mental health, adjusting for potential confounding, and with assessment for interactions between parent and peer attachments.Results: Trust in mothers and peers, and good communication with fathers during adolescence, were associated with 5 to 7 percentage point reductions in postpartum mental health symptoms in early fatherhood. Weak evidence of parent-peer interactions suggested secure attachments with either parent or peer may compensate for an insecure attachment with the other.Conclusions: Our results suggest that fostering trust and communication in relationships that adolescent boys have with parents and peers may have substantial effects on rates of paternal postpartum mental health problems. The protective benefits may be preventative in intergenerational cycles of risk for mental health problems. (shrink)