Background: Moral courage is required at all levels of nursing. However, there is a need for development of instruments to measure nurses’ moral courage. Objectives: The objective of this study is to develop a scale to measure nurses’ self-assessed moral courage, to evaluate the scale’s psychometric properties, and to briefly describe the current level of nurses’ self-assessed moral courage and associated socio-demographic factors. Research design: In this methodological study, non-experimental, cross-sectional exploratory design was applied. The data were collected using Nurses’ (...) Moral Courage Scale and analysed statistically. Participants and research context: The data were collected from a convenience sample of 482 nurses from four different clinical fields in a major university hospital in Finland for the final testing of the scale. The pilot comprised a convenience sample of 129 nurses. Ethical considerations: The study followed good scientific inquiry guidelines. Ethical approval was obtained from the university ethics committee and permission to conduct the study from the participating hospital. Findings: Psychometric evaluation showed that the 4-sub-scale, 21-item Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale demonstrates good reliability and validity at its current state of development showing a good level of internal consistency for a new scale, the internal consistency values ranging from 0.73 to 0.82 for sub-scales and 0.93 for the total scale, thus well exceeding the recommended Cronbach’s alpha value of >0.7. Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical construct of Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale. Face validity and expert panel assessments markedly contributed to the relevance of items in establishing content validity. Discussion and conclusion: Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale provides a new generic instrument intended for measuring nurses’ self-assessed moral courage. Recognizing the importance of moral courage as a part of nurses’ moral competence and its assessment offers possibilities to develop interventions and educational programs for enhancement of moral courage. Research should focus on further validation measures of Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale in international contexts. (shrink)

This paper examines Hannah Ginsborg's attempt to address the challenge raised by Saul Kripke's meaning sceptic. I start by identifying the two constraints that the sceptic claims must be met by a satisfactory answer. Then I try to show that Ginsborg's proposal faces a dilemma. In the first instance, I argue that it is able to meet the second constraint, but not the first. I then amend the proposal in order to make room for the first constraint. I go on (...) to argue that, under this new interpretation, it cannot meet the second constraint. (shrink)

Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) research involves the infection of otherwise healthy participants with disease often for the sake of vaccine development. The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the urgency of enhancing CHIM research capability and the importance of having clear ethical guidance for their conduct. The payment of CHIM participants is a controversial issue involving stakeholders across ethics, medicine and policymaking with allegations circulating suggesting exploitation, coercion and other violations of ethical principles. There are multiple approaches to payment: reimbursement, wage (...) payment and unlimited payment. We introduce a new Payment for Risk Model, which involves paying for time, pain and inconvenience and for risk associated with participation. We give philosophical arguments based on utility, fairness and avoidance of exploitation to support this. We also examine a cross-section of the UK public and CHIM experts. We found that CHIM participants are currently paid variable amounts. A representative sample of the UK public believes CHIM participants should be paid approximately triple the UK minimum wage and should be paid for the risk they endure throughout participation. CHIM experts believe CHIM participants should be paid more than double the UK minimum wage but are divided on the payment for risk. The Payment for Risk Model allows risk and pain to be accounted for in payment and could be used to determine ethically justifiable payment for CHIM participants.Although many research guidelines warn against paying large amounts or paying for risk, our empirical findings provide empirical support to the growing number of ethical arguments challenging this status quo. We close by suggesting two ways (value of statistical life or consistency with risk in other employment) by which payment for risk could be calculated. (shrink)

Empathy is a form of emotionally charged imaginative perspective‐taking. It is also the unique source of a particular form of understanding, which I will call humane understanding. Humane understanding consists in the direct apprehension of the intelligibility of others’ emotions. This apprehension is an epistemic good whose ethical significance is multifarious. In this paper, I focus on elaborating the sense in which humane understanding of others is non‐instrumentally valuable to its recipients. People have a complex but profound need to be (...) humanely understood. Because we respond to others’ very real need when we pursue this sort of understanding of their emotions, empathy is best understood as itself a way of caring, rather than just a means to promote other caring behavior. (shrink)

In Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, Saul Kripke articulates a form of scepticism about meaning. Even though there is considerable disagreement among critics about the reasoning in which the sceptic engages, there is little doubt that he seeks to offer constraints for an adequate account of the facts that constitute the meaningfulness of expressions. Many of the sceptic's remarks concern the nature of the guidance involved in a speaker's meaningful uses of expressions. I propose that we understand those remarks (...) as seeking to give shape to the idea that to use an expression under the guidance of one's understanding is to have a reason for that use, which one's understanding allows one to discern and act on. Any philosophical elucidation of meaning must adequately capture the rational nature of our linguistic acts. (shrink)

The motivations of health service users and health care professionals to engage in participative practices differ. Health service users want to improve the patient experience by reducing epistemic injustices and increasing well-being, from a social justice perspective. Six motivations underlying participation co-exist (utilitarian, methodological, democratic, consumerist, epistemic, and emancipatory). However, the compatibility of these motivations is not obvious. Moreover, democracy in health care has become protean and tensions are appearing between representative democracy and participatory democracy, of the indirect type. Combining (...) the epistemic profiles of users with the different motivations and reasons for action, and viewing them through the prism of complementarity could alleviate these tensions. (shrink)

Memory consolidation is the process in which memory traces are strengthened over time for later retrieval. Although some theories hold that consolidation can only occur during sleep, accumulating evidence suggests that brief periods of wakeful rest may also facilitate consolidation. Interestingly, however, Varma and colleagues reported that a demanding 2-back task following encoding produced a similar performance to a wakeful reset condition. We tested whether participants’ recall would be best following a wakeful rest condition as compared to other distractor conditions, (...) consistent with the extant wakeful rest literature, or whether we would replicate the finding by Varma and colleagues such that participants’ memory benefitted from both a rest and a 2-back task following encoding. Across two experiments, we used similar and the same encoding material as used the one by Varma and colleagues, employed a wakeful rest condition adapted for online testing, and compared participants’ recall across post-encoding conditions. In the first experiment, we used a between-subjects design and compared participants’ cued recall performance following a period of wakeful rest, a 2-back task, or a rest + sounds condition. The second experiment more closely replicated the experimental design used by Varma and colleagues using a within-subjects manipulation. Ultimately, our findings more consistently aligned with the canonical wakeful rest finding, such that recall was better following the rest condition than all other post-encoding conditions. These results support the notion that wakeful rest may allow for consolidation by protecting recently encoded information from interference, thereby improving memory performance. (shrink)

In his treatment of the Wittgensteinian paradox about rule-following, Saul Kripke represents the non-reductionist approach, according to which meaning something by an expression is a sui generis state that cannot be elucidated in more basic terms, as brushing philosophical questions under the rug. This representation of non-reductionism captures the way in which some of its proponents conceive of it. Meaning is viewed by these philosophers as an explanatory primitive that provides the basic materials for philosophical inquiry, but whose nature cannot (...) serve as an object for that inquiry. There is, however, an alternative way of conceiving of non-reductionism, which makes it possible to tackle philosophical questions about the nature of meaning head-on. (shrink)

Professional codes of ethics are regarded as elements of nurses' ethical knowledge base and consequently part of their ethics education. However, research focusing on these codes from an educational viewpoint is scarce. This study explored the need and applicability of nursing codes of ethics in modern health care, their importance in the nursing ethics curriculum, and the need for development of their teaching. A total of 183 Finnish nurse educators and 212 nursing students answered three structured questions, with an opportunity (...) to justify their responses, and one open-ended question. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the data. The results suggest that the existence of the codes was seen as important and their applicability mainly as appropriate, despite new challenges posed by modern health care. The codes were regarded as an important part of nurses' ethics education, but current integrated teaching methods require development. (shrink)

In this article it will be concluded that systematic menstrual tracking in women’s sport has the potential to cause harm to athletes. Since the ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) in the United States, concerns regarding menstrual health tracking have arisen. Research suggests that the menstrual tracking of female athletes presents potential risks to “women’s autonomy, privacy, and safety in sport” (Casto 2022, 1725). At present, the repercussions of systematic menstrual tracking are particularly under-scrutinized, and this paper (...) seeks to combine novel research in the sport sciences with present ethical debates in the philosophy of sports. Utilizing Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy (2011), this paper argues that systematic menstrual tracking may contribute to the wider system of women’s oppression by exploiting female athletes, as well as enabling the internalization of submissive behaviour in cultures where athletes are expected to comply unquestioningly. Five policy recommendations are made concerning autonomy, informed consent, education, safeguarding and data access. The overall findings of this paper propose that a more in-depth understanding of the links between data, privacy, and the menstrual cycle are required by sports organizations and governing bodies if athletes are to be protected in a future where systematic menstrual tracking is inevitable. (shrink)

This article discusses the triage response to the COVID-19 delta variant surge of 2021. One issue that distinguishes the delta wave from earlier surges is that by the time it became the predominant strain in the USA in July 2021, safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 had been available for all US adults for several months. We consider whether healthcare professionals and triage committees would have been justified in prioritising patients with COVID-19 who are vaccinated above those who are unvaccinated (...) in first-order or second-order triage. Given that lack of evidence for a correlation between short-term survival and vaccination, we argue that using vaccination status during first-order triage would be inconsistent with accepted triage standards. We then turn to notions of procedural fairness, equity and desert to argue that that there is also a lack of justification for using vaccination status in second-order triage. In planning for future surges, we recommend that medical institutions base their triage decisions on principles meant to save the most lives, minimise inequity and protect the public’s trust, which for the time being would not be served by the inclusion of vaccination status. (shrink)

Background: Nursing practice takes place in a social framework, in which environmental elements and interpersonal relations interact. Ethical climate of the work unit is an important element affecting nurses’ professional and ethical practice. Nevertheless, whatever the environmental circumstances, nurses are expected to be professionally competent providing high-quality care ethically and clinically. Aim: This study examined newly graduated nurses’ perception of the ethical climate of their work environment and its association with their self-assessed professional competence, turnover intentions and job satisfaction. Method: (...) Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational research design was applied. Participants consisted of 318 newly graduated nurses. Data were collected electronically and analysed statistically. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval and permissions to use instruments and conduct the study were obtained according to required procedures. Data were rendered anonymous to protect participant confidentiality. Completing the questionnaire was interpreted as consent to participate. Findings: Nurses’ overall perception of the ethical climate was positive. More positive perceptions related to peers, patients and physicians, and less positive to hospitals and managers. Strong associations were found between perceived ethical climate and self-assessed competence, turnover intentions in terms of changing job, and job satisfaction in terms of quality of care. Nurses at a higher competence level with positive views of job satisfaction and low turnover intentions perceived the climate significantly more positively. Conclusion: Nursing management responsible for and having the power to implement changes should understand their contribution in ethical leadership, as well as the multidimensional nature of nurses’ work environment and the interaction between work-related factors in planning developmental measures. Future research should focus on issues in nurse managers’ ethical leadership in creating ethical work environments. There is also a need for knowledge of newly graduated nurses’ views of factors which act as enhancers or barriers to positive ethical climates to develop. Interventions, continuing education courses, and discussions designed to promote positive ethical climates should be developed for managers, nurses, and multi-professional teams. (shrink)

The study of rare diseases has long been an area of challenge for medical researchers, with agonizingly slow movement towards improved understanding of pathophysiology and treatments compared with more common illnesses. The push towards evidence-based medicine (EBM), which prioritizes certain types of evidence over others, poses a particular issue when mapped onto rare diseases, which may not be feasibly investigated using the methodologies endorsed by EBM, due to a number of constraints. While other trial designs have been suggested to overcome (...) these limitations (with varying success), perhaps the most recent and enthusiastically adopted is the application of artificial intelligence to rare disease data. This paper critically examines the pitfalls of EBM (and its trial design offshoots) as it pertains to rare diseases, exploring the current landscape of AI as a potential solution to these challenges. This discussion is also taken a step further, providing philosophical commentary on the weaknesses and dangers of AI algorithms applied to rare disease research. While not proposing a singular solution, this article does provide a thoughtful reminder that no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach exists in the complex world of rare diseases. We must balance cautious optimism with critical evaluation of new research paradigms and technology, while at the same time not neglecting the ever-important aspect of patient values and preferences, which may be challenging to incorporate into computer-driven models. (shrink)

Organizations are increasingly expected by their stakeholders to tackle the “wicked” problems of society. These new pressures have created a highly equivocal corporate social responsibility (CSR) environment whereby firms face competing stakeholder perspectives regarding their CSR strategy. To reduce CSR environmental equivocality and determine a CSR strategy, organizations need to effectively and efficiently identify, evaluate, and exploit CSR initiatives to create financial and social value (i.e., shared value). In this paper, we explain how organizations can optimize their shared value creation (...) and promote the construction of intersubjective agreement, which can reduce CSR environmental equivocality. Theory is put forth that explains how the proper alignment of an organization’s level of CSR environmental equivocality, which is comprised of varying amounts of “unknowingness,” corporate entrepreneurship strategy, which promotes experimentation, and stakeholder engagement process, which facilitates information gathering and dissemination, supports the construction of intersubjective agreement. A typology of organizational shared value creation in equivocal CSR environments with four “ideal types” of organizations—Container, Explorer, Embracer, and Manager—is presented and an organization’s choice among and movement between types discussed. (shrink)

There is a negative influence of neoliberalism on poverty in Canada, specifically its impact on women in the lower socioeconomic sectors; the relationship between the government and women; and the importance of addressing women‟s issues in the context of welfare.

Research into early Chinese olfactory culture is only just beginning. This paper argues that before the arrival of Buddhism, elite scent culture had already begun to be transformed by the importation of foreign aromatics, though these substances arrived shorn of their original cultural context. Prior to the importing of intense foreign perfumes, the aromatics available were mostly local, and traditional Chinese practice stressed the use of individual scents in religious contexts, a concept which also had a profound influence on secular (...) usage. The same is true of early osmographies, which link particular kinds of smells—including many that might be considered unpleasant—to the changing seasons. When foreign spices and aromatics arrived in China for the first time, a phenomenon later literature specifically associates with the reign of Han Wudi, this resulted in the development of new complex and powerful perfumes. This in turn may have had a significant impact upon the material culture of Han China, with the spread of personal scenting devices and incense burners. (shrink)

My paper focuses on the pursuit of philosophical self-perfection. The starting point of my reflections is my experience with contemporary philosophy. Mainstream contemporary phi-losophy counsels the rational capacities of arguing and reasoning without affecting the philo-sopher′s ethical stance. I argue that this failure is due to the presuppositions made by contem-porary philosophical rationality: the agnostic belief in humankind as source of all existing sense. This agnosticism blinds one to a teleologically defined horizon of truth which is essen-tial for the philosophical (...) streaming for self-perfection. In order to regain the possibility of philosophical self-perfection I am looking for a reversion in faith. I find help in Pascal′s theory of liturgy. At the end of my proposal I try to show how a teleological horizon of truth in the Christian tradition enables philosophical self-perfection which has been abandoned by the agnostic contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

Los dilemas y desafíos metodológicos enfrentados en el trabajo de campo de una investigación doctoral durante la contingencia sanitaria por la pandemia del virus SARS-CoV-2 causante de la enfermedad covid-19, son el objeto de reflexión en este artículo. Al respecto se presenta una sistematización del proceso de indagación para construir rutas de acción ante tales desafíos. Las decisiones asumidas y ajustes emergentes al plan original de investigación contribuyeron a la recolección de los datos y aportaron nuevos aprendizajes y competencias en (...) la formación como investigadora educativa. (shrink)

Buddhist Path, Buddhist Teachings: Studies in Memory of L.S. Cousins, edited by Naomi Appleton and Peter Harvey. Equinox Publishing, 2019. 324pp. Hb. $53, ISBN-13: 9781781798928.

ABSTRACTThe ways that lawyers approach mediation vary considerably and there is value in contemplating potential explanations for the adoption of particular participatory roles. This article considers how ethical orientation to legal practice might correlate with the nature of lawyers' participation in mediation, using three of Rundle's models of lawyer participation in mediation. Role choices by lawyers who approach legal practice through the professional ethical lenses described by Parker and Evans are hypothesised, uncovering a range of potential explanations for and motivations (...) behind lawyers' behaviour in mediation. The discussion provides an opportunity for critical self-reflection by legal practitioners and better interprofessional understanding between lawyers and mediators. (shrink)

In this article, it will be concluded that the major automotive racing league, Formula 1, is failing in its efforts to be a truly unisex sport. In the current Formula 1 series, there are no female drivers. Although women have never been officially prohibited from competing in Formula 1, there have been fewer than 10 female drivers since its inception. This inquiry focuses on why women drivers have been prevented from securing professional driving positions in Formula 1 and racing on (...) equal terms with men. I argue that there are five major barriers which perpetuate women’s exclusion from this league: historical and current attitudes, assumed physical and mental inferiority, sexualisation, money, and representation and visibility. In this cultural examination, I demonstrate that the situation for women in Formula 1 appears to be bleaker than in other sports that are making progress in their quest for gender equality. However, I also suggest that, despite ethical issues, W Series – a new, women-only, single-seater car racing championship – could potentially motivates positive change for women’s car racing by promoting gender equity through a new league which enables women to improve themselves in a protected category. This article also considers the impact of sex in Formula 1, which is pertinent to the discussion surrounding alleged biological differences. The discussion employs Simone de Beauvoir’s conceptualisation of ‘Otherness’, as well as Helmut Pflugfelder’s account of female embodiment in motorsport. The overall findings are that more focused research is required for gender issues in Formula 1 to be accurately addressed. (shrink)

When categories of actors are discredited, epistemic inequalities produce testimonial or hermeneutic injustices. These injustices manifest themselves in the absence of recognition of the knowledge of others and in the fact that their ability to understand is called into question. Moreover, although they are subjected to exogenous norms in which they do not find themselves, the people subjected to these injustices find it difficult to assert this and to identify their own norms. These two types of injustice alter the quality (...) of care relationships, particularly in terms of relational ethics, by eroding the trust between caregivers and patients. In order to counteract these, a pedagogical experiment based on democratic and epistemic logics was proposed to health students. This experiment has three pillars: teaching on the partnership between health professionals and patients, patients as teachers or mentors and patients as colleagues. These three pillars are presented as interrelated, one not going without the other. On the democratic level, the aim is to rebalance the power relationships. Thus, it is patients who recruit patients and the latter have a status. At the epistemic level, the aim is to rebalance knowledge relationships, which involves questioning knowledge and standards in terms of their consequences on patients, or more precisely on the “patient experience”. Two different and complementary pedagogical programs have been implemented to create a pedagogical experience within a medical faculty (Sorbonne Paris Nord University) located in the city of Bobigny, which is now called the “Bobigny experience”. The aim of the first is to use the “patient perspective” to resolve clinical situations, while the second is to use narrative medicine to combine the experiences of students and patients on specific topics. (shrink)

This paper examines the meaningfulness of pointing in great apes. We appeal to Hannah Ginsborg’s conception of primitive normativity, which provides an adequate criterion for establishing whether a response is meaningful, and we attempt to make room for a conception according to which there is no fundamental difference between the responses of human infants and those of other great apes to pointing gestures. This conception is an alternative to Tomasello’s view that pointing gestures and reactions to them reveal a fundamental (...) difference between humans and other apes. (shrink)

Are there limits to what it is morally okay to imagine? More particularly, is imaginatively inhabiting morally suspect perspectives something that is off-limits for truly virtuous people? In this paper, I investigate the surprisingly fraught relation between virtue and a familiar form of imaginative perspective taking I call empathy. I draw out a puzzle about the relation between empathy and virtuousness. First, I present an argument to the effect that empathy with vicious attitudes is not, in fact, something that the (...) fully virtuous person can indulge in. At least one prominent way of thinking about the psychology of the virtuous person excludes the possibility that the virtuous could emotionally apprehend the world in a less than virtuous way, and empathizing with vicious outlooks does seem to run afoul of that restriction. Then, I develop an argument that runs in the contrary direction: virtue in fact requires empathy with vicious outlooks, at least in some situations. There is reason to think that a crucial part of being virtuous is ministering effectively to others’ needs, and there is also reason to think that other people may need to be empathized with, even if their emotional outlooks are at least minorly vicious. Finally, I outline two different solutions to this puzzle. Both solutions hold some promise, but they also bring new challenges in their train. (shrink)

Critics contend that Aristotelianism demands too much of the virtuous person in the way of knowledge to be credible. This general charge is usually directed against either of two of Aristotelianism’s apparent claims about the necessary conditions for the possession of a single virtue, namely that 1) one must know what all the other virtues require, and 2) one must also be the master of a preternatural range of technical/empirical knowledge. I argue that Aristotelianism does indeed have a very high (...) standard when it comes to the knowledge necessary for the full possession of a virtue, in both of these respects. However, focus on the necessary conditions for full virtue tends to obscure an important fact: some kinds of knowledge are much more important to various virtues than others are. A proper appreciation of the significance of this fact will go a long way toward answering critics’ worries about Aristotelianism’s knowledge requirements. (shrink)

Background: Nursing as an ethical practice requires courage to be moral, taking tough stands for what is right, and living by one’s moral values. Nurses need moral courage in all areas and at all levels of nursing. Along with new interest in virtue ethics in healthcare, interest in moral courage as a virtue and a valued element of human morality has increased. Nevertheless, what the concept of moral courage means in nursing contexts remains ambiguous. Objective: This article is an analysis (...) of the concept of moral courage in nursing. Design: Rodgers’ evolutionary method of concept analysis provided the framework to conduct the analysis. Data sources: The literature search was carried out in September 2015 in six databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and The Philosopher’s Index. The following key words were used: “moral” OR “ethical” AND “courage” OR “strength” AND “nurs*” with no time limit. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 31 studies were included in the final analysis. Ethical considerations: This study was conducted according to good scientific guidelines. Results: Seven core attributes of moral courage were identified: true presence, moral integrity, responsibility, honesty, advocacy, commitment and perseverance, and personal risk. Antecedents were ethical sensitivity, conscience, and experience. Consequences included personal and professional development and empowerment. Discussion and conclusion: This preliminary clarification warrants further exploring through theoretical and philosophical literature, expert opinions, and empirical research to gain validity and reliability for its application in nursing practice. (shrink)

Dans une perspective systémique, les auteurs, spécialistes de la psychologie de l’enfant, relèvent toute l’importance de la fratrie et de sa dynamique propre au sein de la famille. Cet article vise à apporter des éléments théoriques sur la dynamique fraternelle, dans le cadre d’un placement fraternel. L’observation d’une fratrie de deux enfants prolonge une réflexion sur le placement fraternel conjoint ou séparé. Il est souligné l’intérêt de réaliser une évaluation avant le placement afin de dégager des indicateurs sur la dynamique (...) de la relation fraternelle. Dans l’étude de cas présentée, un placement fraternel séparé a été privilégié pour favoriser l’individuation et la protection de chacun des enfants. Une évaluation tout au long du placement reste également nécessaire, concernant tant le développement individuel des enfants que l’évolution de la relation fraternelle. (shrink)

The reality-virtuality continuum encompasses a multitude of objects, events and environments ranging from real-world multisensory inputs to interactive multisensory virtual simulators, in which sensory integration can involve very different combinations of both physical and digital inputs. These different ways of stimulating the senses can affect the consumer’s consciousness, potentially altering their judgements and behaviours. In this perspective paper, we explore how technologies such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality can, by generating and modifying the human sensorium, act on consumer consciousness. (...) We discuss the potential impact of this altered consciousness for consumer behaviour while, at the same time, considering how it may pave the way for further research. (shrink)

Are extremists (incels, neo-nazis, and the like) characteristically answerable for their moral and political convictions? Is it necessary to offer them reasoned arguments against their views, or is it instead appropriate to bypass that kind of engagement? Discussion of these questions has centered around the putative epistemic autonomy of extremists. The parties to this discussion have assumed that epistemic autonomy is solely (or at least primarily) a matter of epistemic independence, of believing based on epistemic reasons one has assessed for (...) oneself. Here, though, I make the case for shifting the terms of the debate. Epistemic independence is not sufficient to make one answerable for one’s beliefs. Epistemic autonomy, in the sense that matters for answerability, is also a matter of what I call epistemic receptivity. Extremists may be fiercely epistemic independent, but that commitment is characteristically paired with severe deficiencies in empathic orientation. Severe deficiencies in empathic orientation undermine extremists’ ability to adequately engage with competing evaluative perspectives, and thus compromise extremists’ epistemic autonomy. I consider how this conclusion should inform our thinking about what we owe to extremists. (shrink)

Although undergraduate engineering ethics courses often include the development of moral sensitivity as a learning objective and the use of active learning techniques, teaching centers on the transmission of cognitive knowledge. This article describes a complementary assignment asking students to perform an ethics “experiment” on themselves that has a potential to enhance affective learning and moral imagination. The article argues that the focus on cognitive learning may not promote, and may even impair, our efforts to foster moral sensitivity. In contrast, (...) the active learning assignments and exercises, like the ethics “experiment” discussed, offer great potential to expand the scope of instruction in engineering ethics to include ethical behavior as well as knowledge. Engineering ethics education needs to extend beyond the narrow range of human action associated with the technical work of the engineer and explore ways to draw on broader lifeworld experiences to enrich professional practice and identity. (shrink)

Our collective enthusiasm for empathy reflects a sense that it is deeply valuable. I show that empathy bears a complex and surprisingly problematic relation to another social epistemic phenomenon that we have reason to value, namely testimonial trust. My discussion focuses on empathy with and trust in people who are members of one or more oppressed groups. Empathy for oppressed people can be a powerful tool for engendering a certain form of testimonial trust, because there is a tight connection between (...) empathy and a approval of another's outlook. I then argue that the qualities of empathy that make it such a powerful tool for bridging differences and building trust also have a problematic upshot: they make it the case that reliance on empathy will sometimes have a distorting effect upon the ways we extend testimonial trust. (shrink)