This paper examines the professions as examples of “moral community” and explores how professional leaders possessed of moral intelligence can make a contribution to enhance the ethical fabric of their communities. The paper offers a model of ethical leadership in the professional business sector that will improve our understanding of how ethical behavior in the professions confers legitimacy and sustainability necessary to achieving the professions’ goals, and how a leadership approach to ethics can serve as an effective tool for the (...) dissemination of moral values in the organization. (shrink)

. In this paper, we consider the nature of recent corporate abuses both in the U.S. and in Europe, and how globalization has had an impact on amplifying their consequences. We discuss the rules-based and principles-based remedies that have been proposed in each region, respectively. With a focus on the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA), we examine the principles forwarded by this act, and how it addresses those principles with specific rules and governance mechanisms. Invoking Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT), we (...) conclude with a reconciliation of the principles and rules-based approaches to corporate governance as suggested by theory. (shrink)

This paper examines the advent of the Web as a critical media tool in the promotion and sale of goods to consumers and the ethical questions it raises that are issues of public policy. We examine four traditional ethical rationales that guide organizational decision-making – utilitarianism, distributive justice, moral rights of man and relativism, further characterized as "ends-based", "equity-based", "rules-based" and "comparison-based" rationales – and we apply them to four moral dilemmas attributed to the proliferation of dot.com companies as they (...) relate to consumer welfare. We find that ethical rationale in the New Media is largely non-existent, and where it exists, it is primarily reactive and driven by utilitarian or relativistic reasoning. We attribute this condition to the newness of the industry and to its economic context, representing, as it does, many characteristics embodied in the concept of the "perfect market." We offer some remedies to improve ethical conduct by e-business. (shrink)

This paper outlines a formal application of the decision tree analysis technique to Pascal's Wager. The author utilizes Pascal's Wager to engage students in various methods for interpreting and utilizing decision tree analyses. The method targets students’ comprehension of the reward system as it is interpreted in Pascal's philosophy. In addition, students are able to engage with philosophical questions concerning the existence of God in view of the questions’ application.

There is little doubt that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now a global concept and a prominent feature of international business, with its practice localised and differing across countries. Despite the growing body of research focussing on CSR in developing countries, there is dearth research on CSR institutionalisation in African countries. Drawing on institutional theory (IT), this article examines the focus and form of CSR practice of companies in Kenya. It is evident from our findings that the nature and orientation (...) of CSR differ across companies with operations only in Kenya and those headquartered abroad or with international operations. Significantly, firm-related drivers such as public relations and performance, as well as global institutional pressures explain the focus and form of CSR in Kenya. This article concludes that for the institutionalisation of CSR in Kenya, attention must be paid to conditions that stifle CSR uptake such as lack of government regulations, and the government's capacity and commitment to enforce regulation. The establishment of functional CSR institutions and a vibrant civil society that advance civil regulation ought to be encouraged. (shrink)

In pursuit of sustainable living, ethics researchers as well as consumers themselves have challenged the status quo of consumption as an institution. Fueled by global economic, environmental, and societal concerns, responsible consumption has become an integral part of the sustainability and consumption ethics literature. One movement toward sustainability consists of confining living space into a smaller ecological footprint. Although motivations for such a lifestyle have been examined, little research has investigated the process of how members of the tiny house movement (...) reconfigure learned consumption practices. This study investigates tiny house dwellers’ transformational experiences through the theoretical lens of contemporary institutional change. Qualitative analysis reveals that these challengers of the status quo face significant normative, regulatory, and cognitive hurdles. However, by engaging in sensemaking, validation, and change agency practices, tiny house dwellers have attempted to legitimize a new way of sustainable living that can be in conflict with existing institutions. Implications and future research are discussed in terms of how examining institutional change processes can be a vital part of ethics and sustainability research. Implications are also provided for how marketing organizations can consider modifying their market offerings to capitalize on this segment of society. (shrink)

This book develops and applies a unified interpretation of John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness in order to clarify the account of citizenship that Rawls relies upon, and the kind of educational policies that the state can legitimately pursue to promote social justice. Costa examines the role of the family as the "first school of justice" and its basic contribution to the moral and political development of children. It also argues that schools are necessary to supplement the education that (...) families provide, teaching the political virtues that support just social institutions. The book also examines the questions of whether civic education should aim at cultivating patriotic feelings, and how it should respond to the deep cultural pluralism of contemporary democratic societies. (shrink)

Speakers of English have available a set of terms dedicated to doing individual self-reference: `I' and its grammatical variants, `me', `my', `mine', etc. Speaker selection of other than these dedicated terms may invite special attention for what has prompted their use. This article draws on field recordings of talk-in-interaction in which speakers use `third-person' reference forms when speaking about themselves. We show that third-person forms are recurrently used for representing the views of someone else. We also show how — by (...) drawing on resources such as the distinction between recognitional and non-recognitional person reference forms, and on category bound attributes — the particular third-person term selected can be fitted to and thereby contribute to the action a speaker is implementing through their turn at talk. (shrink)

O artigo aborda a relação entre masculinidade e intimidade e tem como objetivo mostrar como os modos como os modos de pensar e vivenciar as intimidades dos homens na AMBA afetam o modo como eles constroem uma subjetividade que se evidencia na transformação. Partindo de uma investigação socioantropológica baseada em entrevistas semiestruturadas com homens de setores médios e populares da AMBA e trabalhando com histórias de vida, focamos em particular nas formas de pensar e vivenciar intimidades para e por homens (...) e como elas estão ligadas às transformações e disputas nas próprias subjetividades masculinas. Interessa-nos, em primeiro lugar, reconstruir o lugar que a intimidade teve na emergência da modernidade e na consolidação das esferas pública e privada e depois analisar a forma como a esfericalização do mundo permitiu a construção de uma série de oposições e dualismos e, mais contemporaneamente, permitiu-nos começar a pensar num tipo de intimidade sobreposta ao mundo público. Em segundo lugar, refletir sobre os limites e possibilidades de modificação das identidades genéricas na reconfiguração das suas intimidades a partir das transformações contemporâneas nos modos de sobreposição entre o público e o privado. (shrink)

In both the philosophical and visual sense, ‘seeing is believing’ does not apply to nanotechnology, for there is nothing even remotely visible to create proof of existence. On the atomic and molecular scale, data is recorded by sensing and probing in a very abstract manner, which requires complex and approximate interpretations. More than in any other science, visualization and creation of a narrative becomes necessary to describe what is sensed, not seen. Nevertheless, many of the images generated in science and (...) popular culture are not related to data at all, but come from visualizations and animations frequently inspired or created directly from science fiction. Likewise, much of this imagery is based on industrial models and is very mechanistic in nature, even though nanotechnology research is at a scale where cogs, gears, cables, levers and assembly lines as functional components appear to be highly unlikely. However, images of mechanistic nanobots proliferate in venture capital circles, popular culture, and even in the scientific arena, and tend to dominate discourse around the possibilities of nanotechnology. The authors put forward that this new science is ultimately about a shift in our perception of reality from a purely visual culture to one based on sensing and connectivity. (shrink)

This study surveys debates on citizenship, the state, and the bases of political stability. The survey begins by presenting the primary sense of 'citizenship' as a legal status and the question of the sorts of political communities people can belong to as citizens. (Multi)nation-states are suggested as the main site of citizenship in the contemporary world, without ignoring the existence of alternative possibilities. Turning to discussions of citizen identity, the study shows that some of the discussion is motivated by a (...) perceived need for citizens to have a sense of political belonging, on the assumption that such a sense promotes political activity and has other personal and social benefits. But there are serious problems with the strategy of understanding the relevant sense of belonging in terms of identification with the nation-state. The study explores a more promising way to generate this sense of belonging. First, societies should function, to a sufficiently high degree, in accord with political principles of justice and democratic decision making. Second, there should be a general consensus on political principles among citizens, as well as high levels of engagement in democratic deliberation. (shrink)

Many new scholars have emerged and started to explore novel directions of research in neuroethics. Last year, we hosted the Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young Researchers to highlight the development of these new scholars and to honour the evolving complexity of the field. As part of this conference, we invited young researchers involved in neuroethics all around the world to submit their work for consideration in an essay contest. Here, we proudly introduce the three best essays we received for this (...) competition and a collection of 21 top-ranked abstracts for the poster contest. (shrink)

We prove that it is not possible to define an appropriate notion of rank in set theories without the axiom of foundation.

This article addresses theoretical problems around the notion of ‘choice’, using empirical data from a three-year, ESRC-funded study of identity, transition and footwear among both women and men. With a focus on female participants who wore, or had worn high-heeled shoes, it draws on Budgeon’s argument for viewing the body as event, as becoming, and Finch’s use of the concept of display, to explore the temporalities of high-heeled shoe wear, particularly as an aspect of ‘dressing up’. Data from both focus (...) groups and year-long case studies allowed everyday and life course patterns of high-heeled shoe wear to be explored – in many cases, as they unfolded. This material has led us to critique the linear, goal-oriented nature of a modernist ‘project of the self’, and to argue that identification, as a dynamic process, may often be erratic, partial and temporary. Emphasized femininity, it is suggested, can be ‘displayed’ episodically, as an aspect of ‘doing gender’, a perspective that problematizes notions of a ‘post-feminist masquerade’ that inevitably secures gender retrenchment. Through an examination of the occasions and non-occasions that pattern the temporalities of women’s lives, therefore, the article demonstrates a distinction between displaying femininity and doing gender, one that simultaneously sheds light on their relationship with one another. (shrink)

This paper investigates the intersection of architecture, philosophy, and sexual difference in Plato’s notion of khōra as it appears in the Timaeus. By engaging first with Jacques Derrida's deconstruction of Plato’s khōra, the paper shows how the interplay between architecture and philosophy not only reflects but also perpetuates patriarchal structures. Khōra, sometimes solely described as a passive receptacle, stages a complex relationship with femininity that challenges traditional notions of space and identity. Drawing on the works of feminist theorists such as (...) Julia Kristeva and Fanny Söderbäck, the paper examines how khōra serves as a foundational moment in the construction of sexual difference within philosophical discourse. Ultimately, this exploration calls for a reimagining of khōra as a site of resistance and transformation—one that, while existing before the architect-demiurge created the universe, nonetheless conditions his work. (shrink)

Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.

RESUMEN Más allá de ser un mero recurso ornamental, la alusión a los perros que hace Platón en diferentes pasajes de la República parece realizarse con miras a defender importantes tesis políticas. Este artículo tiene como propósito develar algunas de estas tesis y busca defender la elección que hace Platón del perro, de entre otros animales, para caracterizar la figura del guardián y del filósofo. El texto aborda la analogía presentada en República según la cual la disposición natural para vigilar (...) es el elemento común que comparte un buen cachorro con un joven de buen linaje y pone en el centro de su interés el rol que tiene el perro, descendiente de un antepasado más bestial y salvaje, el lobo, por ser capaz de sintetizar fiereza y mansedumbre por medio del aprendizaje y la domesticación. ABSTRACT Plato's reference to dogs in different passages of the Republic is more than a mere embellishment; it also serves to defend important political theses. The purpose of this article is to reveal some of these theses and to defend the author's choice of the dog, among other animals, to characterize the figures of the guardian and of the philosopher. The text discusses the analogy presented in the Republic according to which the natural disposition to guard is the common element shared between a puppy and a young man from good descent. The article focuses on the dog's role - descending from a wilder and more beastly animal, the wolf - as that of being able to synthesize fierceness and gentleness through learning and domestication. (shrink)

The ideal model of a just society defended by John Rawls entails the existence of certain institutions—those that form the basic structure of society—that guarantee citizens' basic rights and liberties, equality of opportunity, and access to material resources. Such a model also presupposes a certain account of reasonable citizenship. In particular, reasonable citizens will have a set of moral capacities and dispositions and will voluntarily support just institutions. According to Rawls, the need for such citizens is related to the following (...) important consideration in favor of a normative theory of justice: that it be stable. That is, such a theory must be capable of generating its own support over time. This means that it has to be possible for citizens to come to endorse the theory's principles of justice, integrating them into their personal conceptions of the good life. Rawls explicitly draws attention to the stability requirement on ideal theories of justice. Somewhat surprisingly, when Rawls explains how a widespread and deep moral consensus on the principles of justice might be generated in actual societies—a problem that is closely related to the issue of how such consensus could be maintained over time—he pays very little attention to the potential contribution of schools to the production of reasonable citizens. This neglect can be explained, in part, by his confidence that the functioning of just institutions will spontaneously generate, in citizens who live under them, the necessary support for principles of justice and will encourage the development and exercise of the virtues characteristic of reasonable citizens. But this confidence seems misplaced. (shrink)

Drawing on the hypothesis that workplace harassment may be considered a genre of negative communication serving malicious purposes, the purposes of this paper are threefold. In the first place, we consider the difficulties involved in proving workplace harassment before administration or in court. In the second place, we analyse the challenges workplace harassment poses to linguistic analysis, with special reference to genre theory, and suggest ways of making the theory compatible with the new linguistic input the language of harassment provides. (...) Finally, we illustrate the knowledge the expert linguist can offer from the perspective of genre theory in cases involving workplace harassment. In order not to build a castle in the sky, our analysis is grounded in an exemplary case study relating to a specific type of harassment in the workplace that Leymann named « workplace mobbing ». (shrink)

Este trabajo busca indagar sobre una posible interpretación del totalitarismo en el pensamiento de Hannah Arendt. Si bien es cierto que para Arendt el totalitarismo es un régimen político específico y delimitado en un contexto histórico particular, también es posible encontrar en su pensamiento una idea más amplia del totalitarismo en la estela de la crítica a la tradición de la filosofía política que la autora desarrolla. Según Arendt, esta tradición no habría hecho otra cosa que idear modos de gobierno (...) que permitan controlar la acción y con ello también la contingencia de los asuntos humanos. Así, esta tradición de la filosofía política habría terminado por comprender los asuntos humanos como una obra por realizar, sin dejar espacio, de este modo, al despliegue de la pluralidad humana. Se trata entonces de pensar en esas “corrientes subterráneas del pensamiento occidental” que cristalizaron en la Alemania nazi y la URSS. Esta lectura del totalitarismo estará iluminada en ciertos puntos por la idea de inmanentismo desarrollada por Jean-Luc Nancy en La Comunidad Inoperante. This paper attempts to provide an interpretation of Hannah Arendt's understanding of totalitarianism. Although Arendt conceives totalitarianism as a specific political regime, my claim is that it is also possible to find a broder conception of totalitarianism in Arendt's work if we consider her critical approach to the tradition of political philosophy. According to Arendt, the western tradition of political philosophy has brought forth nothing but different types of government that are only concerned with subjecting human action and thus the contingency of human affairs. Thereby, the philosophical tradition understands human affairs qua work and in doing so hinders and obstructs the deployment of human plurality. Hence, my aim in this paper is to reflect upon the underground stream that according to Arendt crystallized both in the Nazi Germany and in the USSR. To accomplish this task, I take into account the notion of “immanentism” developed by Jean-Luc Nancy in The inoperative Community. (shrink)

This Special Issue examines ethics in fashion to further critical understanding of the various drivers and barriers, nuances and layers of complexity in fashion production, marketing, and consumption, and aims toward a more future-oriented perspective through the lens of ethics. Research on ethical issues in fashion is growing but is fragmented across diverse domains, from supply chain and operations management, to psychology and sociology, to marketing and consumption. Furthermore, there has been only a peripheral focus on ethics and limited application (...) of ethical theories or frameworks to fashion’s ethical dilemmas. This Special Issue brings together diverse domains and unpacks salient ethical issues using the lens of ethical theories and frameworks to advance theory development on balancing social justice with environmental responsibility, decision-making in ethical situations, and newer forms of greenwashing and consumerism. The selected papers use varied methodologies and offer novel insights across different global contexts. (shrink)

Although subsistence hunting is cross-culturally an activity led and practiced mostly by men, a rich body of literature shows that in many small-scale societies women also engage in hunting in varied and often inconspicuous ways. Using data collected among two contemporary forager-horticulturalist societies facing rapid change, we compare the technological and social characteristics of hunting trips led by women and men and analyze the specific socioeconomic characteristics that facilitate or constrain women’s engagement in hunting. Results from interviews on daily activities (...) with 121 Tsimane’ and 159 Baka show that Tsimane’ and Baka women participate in subsistence hunting, albeit using different techniques and in different social contexts than men. We also found differences in the individual and household socioeconomic profiles of Tsimane’ and Baka women who hunt and those who do not hunt. Moreover, the characteristics that differentiate hunter and non-hunter women vary from one society to the other, suggesting that gender roles in relation to hunting are fluid and likely to change, not only across societies, but also as societies change. (shrink)

Citizen science is growing quickly, given its potential to enhance knowledge coproduction by diverse participants, generating large and global data sets. However, uneven participation in CS is still an important concern. This work aims to understand participation dynamics in CS and how they are shaped by participation barriers and drivers. We do so by examining participation in CONECT-e, a CS project that uses a wiki-like platform to document traditional ecological knowledge. More precisely, we analyze quantitative data on participants’ profile and (...) activity patterns and qualitative data on barriers and drivers of participation. Our findings suggest that overcoming the education, age, and residence participation barriers is challenging even in cocreated CS projects. This is potentially due to issues of perceived self-illegitimacy and low access to information and communication technologies. Our results also point out that participants’ alliance with the project’s objectives and trust relationships with the project team are important drivers of participation in CS projects. Finally, we also highlight the need to think beyond participation as single actions and rather consider participation diversity in CS as functional diversity in ecosystems, with participants performing a diverse set of interconnected tasks or functions. (shrink)

A questão do relacionamento entre a normatividade e valoração e sua incorporação no discurso racional é um dos problemas mais relevantes na filosofia contemporânea e é claramente desdobrada em todas as suas complexidades no debate paradigmático mantido entre Hilary Putnam e Jürgen Habermas durante a primeira década do século XXI. A partir dessas posições que reivindicam a tradição do pragmatismo americano, os filósofos discutem a objetividade dos juízos de valor e normativos defendendo, com diferenças significativas, uma posição cognitivista. A presente (...) contribuição aborda essa discussão com o propósito de apresentar o pragmatismo conceitualista de Clarence Irving Lewis como uma alternativa e posição profícua com os recursos para interagir com algumas das principais questões discutidas por Putnam e Habermas. Meu propósito é mostrar o modo como Lewis explica o caráter cognitivo das normas e valores enquanto sustenta, simultaneamente, uma demarcação significativa entre ambos os conceitos. Argumentarei que essa distinção é pragmática – não epistêmica –, e que isso permite ao pragmatista defender um cognitivismo que pode articular um naturalismo não reducionista referente aos valores com um conceito racionalista de normas, uma posição que pode evitar algumas das objeções que enfrentam Putnam e Habermas. (shrink)

Los juegos funerales en honor de Patroclo presentan como componente estructural el catálogo de los contrincantes en tres versiones diferentes. El presente trabajo analiza el modo en que este componente estructural revela los aspectos accidentales o inexplicables de la existencia humana desde la perspectiva de la ética homérica The Funeral Games in honor of Patroclus shows the catalogue of contenders as a structural component in three different versions. The present work analyzes the way in which this structural component reveals accidentals (...) or unexplainable aspects of human life from the point of view of Homeric Ethic. (shrink)

Public and government outrage over recent tax fraud and tax shelter cases led to significant changes in the preparer penalty laws under the Small Business Work Opportunity Act of 2007. This study experimentally examines the effectiveness of the revised preparer penalty provisions at reducing tax preparer aggressiveness. Specifically, we examine the impact of two significant components of the changes to the preparer penalty provisions - the increase in penalty amount and the increase in the likelihood of sustaining the tax position (...) required to avoid penalty imposition (required likelihood threshold) - on tax preparers’ willingness to (1) recommend an uncertain position and (2) sign a tax return containing an aggressive position. The results suggest that both the increase in penalty amount and the increase in required likelihood threshold reduce tax preparers’ willingness to recommend an uncertain position and/or sign a tax return containing an aggressive position. Of the two components, the results indicate that the increase in required likelihood threshold is more effective at reducing tax preparer aggressiveness than the increase in penalty amount. Congress may want to rethink its recent decision to reduce the required likelihood threshold for many of the decisions that tax preparers make with their clients. (shrink)