Although mutually advantageous cooperative strategies might be an apt account of some societies, other moral systems might be needed among certain groups and contexts. In particular, in a duty-based moral system, people do not behave morally with an expectation for proportional reward, but rather, as a fulfillment of debt owed to others. In such systems, mutualistic motivations are not necessarily a key component of morality.

I argue that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), as an organization and through its individual members, can and should be a far greater ally in the prevention of violence against women. Specifically, I argue that we need to pay attention to obstetrical practices that inadvertently contribute to the problem of violence against women. While intimate partner violence is a complex phenomenon, I focus on the coercive control of women and adherence to oppressive gender norms. Using physician response (...) to alcohol use during pregnancy and court-ordered medical treatment as examples, I show how some obstetrical practices mirror the attitudes of abusive men insofar as they try to coercively control women's behavior through manipulation and violence. To be greater allies in the prevention of violence against women, obstetricians should stop participating in practices that inadvertently perpetuate violence against women. (shrink)

Oriented toward the question of God, this book sets up a dialogue between Heidegger and four medieval authors: St. Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and Jan van Ruusbroec.

In “Autonomy and the Feminist Intuition,” Natalie Stoljar asks whether a procedural or a substantive approach to autonomy is best for addressing feminist concerns. In this paper, I build on Stoljar’s argument that feminists should adopt a strong substantive approach to autonomy. After briefly reviewing the problems with a purely procedural approach, I begin to articulate my own strong substantive theory by focusing specifically on the problem of internalized oppression. In the final section, I briefly address some of the concerns (...) raised by procedural theorists who are leery of a substantive approach. (shrink)

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to create a conceptual framework, based on a structured literature review, to analyze the digital disability divide and help find solutions for it. A digital disability divide exists between people with impairments and those without impairments. Multiple studies have shown that people without impairments are less likely to own a computer or have an Internet connection than are people with impairments. However, the digital disability divide is seen in relation not only to access (...) but also to accessibility and use. For people with impairments, new technological innovations offer solutions for everyday challenges, such as finding information, communicating with others and using electronic services.Design/methodology/approach– For this study, 4,778 conference and journal publications were systematically analyzed.Findings– A number of key findings emerged. This field is relatively new, and the literature is highly focused on the technological and social aspects of the digital disability divide, with technology and societal attributes being the core sub-attributes for a comprehensive model. The previous literature did not significantly study the consequences of the financial situation of individuals; rather, the predominant focus was on the have-nots and countries with low income potentials. Furthermore, motivation reveals a compelling case within the digital disability divide subset.Originality/value– The review provides a consolidated view of past research on the general topic of the digital disability divide and the attributes that affect it. (shrink)

Studies on end-of-life care reveal different practices regarding withholding and/or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments between countries and regions. Available data about physicians’ practices regarding end-of-life care in ICUs in Egypt is scarce. This study aimed to investigate physicians’ attitudes toward end-of-life care and the reported practice in adult ICUs in Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt. 100 physicians currently working in several ICU settings in Ain Shams University Hospitals were included. A self-administered questionnaire was used for collection of data. Most of (...) the participants agreed to implementation of “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders and applying pre-written DNR orders (61% and 65% consecutively), while only 13% almost always/often order DNR for terminally-ill patients. 52% of the participants agreed to usefulness of limiting life-sustaining therapy in some cases, but they expressed fear of legal consequences. 47% found withholding life-sustaining treatment is more ethical than its withdrawal. 16% almost always/often withheld further active treatment but continued current ones while only 6% almost always/often withdrew active therapy for terminally-ill patients. The absence of legislation and guidelines for end-of-life care in ICUs at Ain Shams University Hospitals was the main influential factor for the dissociation between participants’ attitudes and their practices. Therefore, development of a consensus for end-of-life care in ICUs in Egypt is mandatory. Also, training of physicians in ICUs on effective communication with patients’ families and surrogates is important for planning of limitation of life-sustaining treatments. (shrink)

Using the moral work on trust and lying, I argue that allowing or encouraging children to believe you are their biological parent when you are not is a breach of trust in the parent-child relationship. While other approaches focus on specific harms or the rights of the child, I make a virtue theory argument based on our understanding of trust, lies, and the nature of the parent-child relationship. Drawing heavily on Nancy Potter's virtue theory of trustworthiness, I consider the nature (...) of trust in the parent-child relationship and what this means for being a trustworthy parent. (shrink)

The shift of missionary nursing from the center to the margins of nursing practice can be traced to the unceremonious closure of China as a mission field in the late 1940s. Building on a larger study of Canadian missionary nursing at the United Church of Canada North China Mission between 1888 and 1947, this paper traces Clara Preston's experiences during the last tumultuous days of the mission during the height of China's civil war. Drawing on rich data from the United (...) Church of Canada/ Victoria University Archives, private family collections (photos, letters, memoirs) as well as from three on‐site visits to the Weihui Hospital in Henan, China, this paper focuses on the questions ‘what happened during the last days of Canadian missionary nursing in China?’ and ‘why is so little known about missionary nursing?’ According to this study, three issues contributed to the silencing of missionary nursing after 1947: the self‐censorship of repatriated missionaries, the mission identity crises catalyzed by the ‘failure’ of the missionary enterprise in China, and the equating of the missionary movement with colonialism and imperialism in academic discourse. (shrink)

In this article, we discuss decision making during labor and delivery, specifically focusing on decision making around offering women a trial of labor after cesarean section. Many have discussed how humans are notoriously bad at assessing risks and how we often distort the nature of various risks surrounding childbirth. We will build on this discussion by showing that physicians make decisions around TOLAC not only based on distortions of risk, but also based on personal values rather than medical data. As (...) a result of this, we will further suggest that the party who is best epistemically situated to make decisions about TOLAC is the woman herself. (shrink)

Although Christianity's clout on sexuality has generally declined in Britain due to secularization, contemporary conservative Protestantism continues to encourage a conventional construction of sexuality — sex is only for the context of heterosexual marriage. Qualitative interviews with 26 heterosexual women and two lesbian women on how their Protestant church involvement impacted their sexuality revealed the pervasive discourse of a marital-confined sexuality and participants' sense of `accountability' to the group for carrying this out. Such accountability can result in a repressed sexuality (...) that is oppressive. Alternatively, it can produce a `sense of community' that functions as a source of empowerment. The oppressive and empowering nature of accountability, however, can be difficult to untangle because of women's religious commitment and supportive friendships found in church life. Relying on participants' accounts, this article addresses the oppression and empowerment young women experience when they negotiate their gendered identities in relation to a marital-confined sexuality. (shrink)

Many different and contradictory claims have been made about the political dimensions (or lack thereof) of the ancient Chinese text known as the Zhuangzi 莊子. The two main positions on this topic set the parameters of the debate. One interprets the Zhuangzi to be apathetic toward political participation, focusing on individual survival instead. The other emphasizes the text’s defiant streak and locates a deliberately subversive force within it. A third position redirects the focus of the debate to an important aspect (...) of the Zhuangzi, recognizing that the text intentionally embraces ambiguity and multivocality, and investigates the political implications of this characteristic of the text. This article further explores the Zhuangzi’s engagement with notions of social and political indeterminacy, but through the lens of role performance. Attending to the text’s portrayal of various social actors’ engagement with established roles reveals a different kind of polysemic stance that lies in the intricate dynamics between societal expectations and individual actions. The article employs these examples to examine a type of role enactment that I contend muddies the line between the place of power and the place of resistance. (shrink)

The author's goal in this article is to develop an argument for why women should have a right to abortion-as-termination even if some form of ectogenesis is created. First, the author shows why ectogenesis as an alternative to abortion does not protect women's bodily autonomy because women are being forced to submit to coerced medical treatment and perform reproductive labor for others. Second, the author considers a further implication of her argument: If abortion-as-termination is kept, how far into gestation should (...) this right extend? Third, and finally, the author considers whether people have the right to refuse genetic parenthood. (shrink)

This paper explores the heart and brain metaphors used in the meaning-making efforts of Chinese individuals diagnosed with depression. Past studies assert that the origin of Chinese language metaphors for thinking and feeling can be found in traditional Chinese medico-philosophical theory, where the heart is viewed as the seat of thought and emotion, and the brain, which constitutes the cognitive center in western theories of the self, is secondary. While most participants employed heart metaphors to express thinking and feeling, many (...) of the participants also employed brain metaphors. Instead of suggesting that this multiplicity implies westernization, this paper argues that cultural understandings of the self can be multiple. To appreciate this, it is necessary to look at spontaneously generated speech in a narrative context. This paper thus analyzes three participant narratives, a process that carries several implications for studies approaching the relationship between metaphor, culture, and the self. (shrink)

In 1991 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Principles for Older Persons as a framework for international policy responses to population ageing. These principles promote independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity as legitimate entitlements of all older people. Although these principles, or variations of them, are embedded in standards of best-practice in residential aged care facilities, the literature shows that in reality institutional care can deny older people opportunities to exercise some of these entitlements. More specifically, residential aged care (...) facilities can deprive older people of access and support to pursue opportunities for the full development of their potential, i.e. their entitlement to self-fulfilment. This discussion article explores the influence of institutional care on older people’s ability to exercise their entitlement to self-fulfilment. We identify the characteristics of a ‘good life’ in institutional care, according to aged care residents themselves. The Eden Alternative™ is presented as a model of aged care that aims to create the conditions for a ‘good life’ and self-fulfilment for aged care residents. (shrink)

The article links community resilience – the resilience of the political community, with the process of public policy-making. In the argumentation, the study investigates the formation of community resilience and the importance of individual attitudes, compared to the individualism-collectivism scale. The sample research is conducted among 669 respondents in Bulgaria, aged 15 to 77 years old (M=29.3; SD=13.39). The applied methodology is based on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) to measure people’s environmental attitudes, and the Ecological Consumer Behaviour Scale to (...) measure eco-anxiety and pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Empirical study measures self-efficacy, Big Five personality traits, and values orientations. The results confirm that there were gender differences on the NEP scale, including that women show higher environmental attitudes. The research findings provide explanations how human values were positively related to one’s awareness of the environmental crisis. Finally, neuroticism correlated positively with realising the limit to growth. Therefore, it is important, that the design and the implementation of public policies and educational programs, consider various psychological aspects of individual human behaviour. This approach may have key implications for engaging in future sustainable behaviour and increasing the degree of resilience. (shrink)

Bien que Caring for America ait fait l’objet de nombreuses recensions au moment de sa publication en 2012, ce n’est que maintenant, sept ans plus tard, que l’on peut saisir l’importance de son apport à la littérature sur le travail de care. Depuis une dizaine d’années, cette littérature s’étoffe, surtout dans les sciences sociales mais Caring for America s’en distingue par sa dimension historique. Eileen Boris et Jennifer Klein montrent que les caractéristiques associées par les chercheurs au...

This article, based on archival research and oral interviews, examines the personal and professional impact of desegregation on African American teachers in an urban southern setting by focusing on the life stories of two public school teachers, Kathleen Crosby and Bertha Maxwell-Roddey. Both taught in segregated schools, helped to desegregate Charlotte's public schools, and later forged successful career paths as administrators from 1946 to 1986. Focusing on the motivating factors and educational theories of these exemplary womanist teachers offers a window (...) into the lives of educators who forged new avenues for advancement in the urban South. This article also analyzes how the professional careers of Crosby and Maxwell-Roddey are emblematic of Tamera Beabuboeuf-Lafontant's theoretical concepts of womanist teaching. Patricia Hill Collins also argues that womanists strive to ensure group survival while pushing for institutional social change. Desegregation-era teachers such as Crosby and Maxwell-Roddey exemplify this dual purpose by expanding their mandate to serve to encompass political action as they challenged discriminatory school administrators and parents. These teachers practiced a form of caring activism that not only encouraged gender equality, but also adopted concepts of cultural nationalism to help Black children develop a positive self-identity (Beauboeuf-Lafonfant 2005, Collins 2000). (shrink)

Fraudulent analysis and reporting of psychological data have the potential to contaminate the scientific knowledge base and eventuate in the unjustified expenditure of public money and scientific effort (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 1998). Traditionally, the field has relied on quantitative methodologists to educate researchers in proper analysis and reporting practices, and to examine these via peer review. The field has also relied on psychologists with training or board service in ethics to establish standards and implement strategies to discourage misconduct. However, this (...) division of responsibility for examination, standard setting, and deterrence is shown to compromise the effectiveness of methodologists' and ethicists' respective gatekeeping efforts. Methodologically and ethically trained specialists instead need to coordinate efforts to safeguard analysis and reporting procedures. Researchers also need to increase self-monitoring. Potential obstacles to achieving these ends are considered, and three tactics are proposed to overcome them. (shrink)

We begin by distinguishing computationalism from a number of other theses that are sometimes conflated with it. We also distinguish between several important kinds of computation: computation in a generic sense, digital computation, and analog computation. Then, we defend a weak version of computationalism—neural processes are computations in the generic sense. After that, we reject on empirical grounds the common assimilation of neural computation to either analog or digital computation, concluding that neural computation is sui generis. Analog computation requires continuous (...) signals; digital computation requires strings of digits. But current neuroscientific evidence indicates that typical neural signals, such as spike trains, are graded like continuous signals but are constituted by discrete functional elements (spikes); thus, typical neural signals are neither continuous signals nor strings of digits. It follows that neural computation is sui generis. Finally, we highlight three important consequences of a proper understanding of neural computation for the theory of cognition. First, understanding neural computation requires a specially designed mathematical theory (or theories) rather than the mathematical theories of analog or digital computation. Second, several popular views about neural computation turn out to be incorrect. Third, computational theories of cognition that rely on non-neural notions of computation ought to be replaced or reinterpreted in terms of neural computation. (shrink)

This article draws a parallel between the Zhuangzi’s discussions of having no sense of “oneself” or “I,” on the one hand, and its critique of institutionalized order and visions of the unification of society, on the other. Highlighting the way the text distances itself from rituals and tradition, this article identifies the source of the shift in its view on personhood not simply in the situating of humans in the wider world or in acknowledgment of natural processes of change, but (...) in the character of one’s relation to the wider world and change. Although special attention is given here to the socially and politically disengaged tone of the text, I reject the view that the Zhuangzi’s goal is to help shed the “external,” “social,” or “constructed” layers of one’s person in order to unearth a “natural” or “authentic” core. (shrink)

This book considers what virtue theory can tell us about parenting in relation to both moral development and specific ethical dilemmas. It is of interest to those who work in virtue theory, applied ethics, and the ethics of parenthood.

The decline in providers and facilities that will allow a trial of labor after cesarean forces many women to choose a repeat cesarean. The choice is frequently not much of a choice, however, since the full range of options are often not on the table. This limited “choice” violates obstetricians' obligations both to respect patients' autonomy and to offer them good care. There has been a vigorous but so far not very fruitful debate in the last few years about the (...) lack of access to a trial of labor after cesarean. Some recently released documents express concern about the limited access women have to clinicians and facilities willing to offer a trial of labor after cesarean. But access is likely to remain a problem for the foreseeable future. (shrink)

The Panoply Vase Animation Project has created a new animation from the decoration on an ancient Greek hydria. The vase depicts the poet Sappho with a lyre. The animation enables her to move, touch the strings, and play the instrument. It also features the words from Fragment 44 of her poetry and geometric figures acting out the poem. The music accompanying the animation was scored from the original poem and therefore offers the melody that the poem would have been sung (...) to. This article discusses the decision-making process that informed the creation of the animation and suggests ways in which the animation and its vase can be used in the classroom or lecture-hall as a flexible learning resource. (shrink)

The Routledge Handbook of Language and Emotion offers a variety of critical theoretical and methodological perspectives that interrogate the ways in which ideas about and experiences of emotion are shaped by linguistic encounters, and vice versa. Taking an interdisciplinary approach which incorporates disciplines such as linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, psychology, communication studies, education, sociology, folklore, religious studies, and literature, this book: explores and illustrates the relationship between language and emotion in the five key areas of language socialisation; culture, translation (...) and transformation; poetry, pragmatics and power; the affective body-self; and emotion communities; situates our present-day thinking about language and emotion by providing a historical and cultural overview of distinctions and moral values that have traditionally dominated Western thought relating to emotions and their management; provides a unique insight into the multiple ways in which language incites emotion, and vice versa, especially in the context of culture. With contributions from an international range of leading and emerging scholars in their fields, The Routledge Handbook of Language and Emotion is an indispensable resource for students and researchers who are interested in incorporating interdisciplinary perspectives on language and emotion into their work. (shrink)

Different Beasts: Humans and Animals in Spinoza and the Zhuangzi studies conceptions of human and animal identity as articulated in the ancient Chinese text known as the Zhuangzi and in the works of the seventeenth-century European philosopher Benedict de Spinoza. By examining how, in these very different philosophies, notions of humanness and animality intersect with ideas about human unity and solidarity, social order, and categories of social difference (such as gender, descent, and ability), Different Beasts opens new paths for understanding (...) Spinoza and the Zhuangzi while also developing methodological insights into the practice of cross-cultural comparative philosophy. (shrink)

Donald J. Munro's essay, "When Science Is in Defense of Value-Linked Facts," takes a stand against the fact-value dichotomy which has been heavily pronounced within the Greco-European philosophical canon. As Munro also points out, the continuing persistence of the fact-value dichotomy is traceable to Moore's discussion of the "naturalistic fallacy" and Hume's discussion of the is-ought problem. In opposition to these two views, classical Confucian thinkers present us with descriptive statements about human commonalities, including their inborn affects....

Despite the fact that the requirement to obtain informed consent for medical procedures is deeply enshrined in both U.S. moral and legal doctrine, empirical studies and anecdotal accounts show that women's rights to informed consent and refusal of treatment are routinely undermined and ignored during childbirth. For example, citing the most recent Listening to Mothers survey, Marianne Nieuwenhuijze and Lisa Kane Low state that "a significant number of women said they felt pressure from a caregiver to agree to having an (...) intervention that they did not want during birth". Specifically, Nieuwenhuijze and Low cite that "19% of women who did not have epidural analgesia felt... (shrink)