With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （v...With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （values）, those in position of global-, national-, and local-political power make major decisions of the use （or non-use） of scientific knowledge and technology. As a result, the human being has created a non-scientifically based cultural environment that is affecting his ability to survive. In effect, cultural evolution is occurring more rapidly than biological evolution that can adapt to the changes brought about in the physical and psycho-social environments. In a pluralistic cultural world, where each society has generated a different view of human nature and different ethical values, the use, misuse, or non-use of scientific and technological advances are derived from these unscientific views of human nature. Since all life depends on limiting interacting environmental and ecological factors, it is imperative that scientific information be used to govern how to minimize irreversible effects on life-sustaining ecological factors, but also scientific information bearing on understanding human nature ought to be integrated into a ＂global bioethics＂. While ethical values cannot be directly derived from scientific factors, it is also true that human values or our ＂ought＂ cannot be maintained in ignorance or defiance of the facts or the ＂is＂.展开更多
Personal ethics are strongly influenced by emotions, particularly secondary emotions, because these emotions expand ethical reasoning and development as the child matures. A well-developed consciousness profoundly inf...Personal ethics are strongly influenced by emotions, particularly secondary emotions, because these emotions expand ethical reasoning and development as the child matures. A well-developed consciousness profoundly influences a person＇s actions and conduct when solving problems of what is thought, or taught to be, right or wrong Compelling neurological evidence supports the claim that children begin to develop enduring ethical standards at an early age and that these standards are largely based on the experiences of early childhood. Essentially, the innate sense of ethics requires nurturing during infancy before it can be cognitively understood and practiced in maturity. In biological terms, the development of neural networks that regulate emotional growth, and subsequently, the capacity for ethical discrimination, depends on the infant＇s early social environment. Thus, the toddler＇s early epigenetic experiences enhance, or impede, its innate still dormant genetic potential. Importantly, personal character development and ethical discrimination begins long before the child＇s formal educational years. As a consequence, early learning has to discover ways of conserving adaptive thinking which can be applied to the choices that may confront future generations. Early ethics education, including accurate access to scientific, medical, and technological knowledge, is thus critical. Future generations will increasingly require education from a global perspective when making major ethical decisions in areas, such as nuclear technology, disposal of wastes, preservation of biodiversity, global warming, and unregulated human population growth. As long as our culture continues to reflect advances in science and technology, there is an obligation to make science education overlap with crucial periods in the advancement of ethical consciousness. Significantly, when considering the human capacity for excess at times of conflict, it is incumbent on the scientific community to integrate research-based knowledge with wide-ranging learning and problem-solving skills. Bioscience ethics, the established interface bridging applied science and applied bioethics, can assist in this process of integration. To become fully responsible adults, we must share our extraordinary cognitive talents and respect life on earth in all its rich diversity. In biological terms, human uniqueness resides primarily in our brains with its products being co-operation in family and ancestral units, long education, sophisticated language and culture, and importantly, ethical consciousness-all attributes held in trust by knowledge and wisdom for future generations.展开更多
This article studies whether Aristotle＇s understanding of magnanimity excludes women. I examine Aristotle＇s concept of the biological, moral, and intellectual capacities of women in theory and practice. Although Ari...This article studies whether Aristotle＇s understanding of magnanimity excludes women. I examine Aristotle＇s concept of the biological, moral, and intellectual capacities of women in theory and practice. Although Aristotle＇s biology describes key differences between the sexes, it does not exclude women from magnanimity. While the ethical and political writings also note key differences between men and women, they leave the theoretical possibility of attaining magnanimity open. Practically, the lack of leadership opportunities available to actual women may hinder the development of prudence, leading to an inability to achieve complete virtue and hence magnanimity. Thus, if women are unable to be magnanimous, this is due to practical political and familial arrangements, not to innate feminine defects. This finding provides a unique argument for feminine leadership and political participation. Truly exceptional women may need to actively seek out leadership opportunities and political involvement in order to complete their virtue展开更多
This article begins with three problems of ＂dual loyalties＂ in medicine, the supposed fact that military physicians are, as medical officers, sometimes required to do what violates ordinary medical ethics--for examp...This article begins with three problems of ＂dual loyalties＂ in medicine, the supposed fact that military physicians are, as medical officers, sometimes required to do what violates ordinary medical ethics--for example, ignore medical need in order to treat their own wounded before civilians or wounded enemy, help make chemical or biological weapons more deadly, or assist at a rough interrogation. These problems are analyzed as special cases of a problem that could arise in any profession, a problem easily resolved using a theory of professional ethics （more or less） absent from medical ethics until now though common outside. Employing a physician--rather than an ordinary officer, some other kind of healer, or scientist--is to enter a sort of ＂Ulysses contract＂ requiring the physician＇s professional standards to preempt obligations otherwise applying to an employee. In this way, the article also illustrates the benefits that might accrue to medical ethics from drawing （more than is now common） on other fields of practical ethics.展开更多
The aim of this paper is to discuss whether the increasing intervention of the state in the private sphere-as is evidenced in labor laws, consumer rights, bioethics, and Internet crimes-is compatible with the liberal ...The aim of this paper is to discuss whether the increasing intervention of the state in the private sphere-as is evidenced in labor laws, consumer rights, bioethics, and Internet crimes-is compatible with the liberal ideal of neutrality, or, on the contrary, whether it can be seen as a turning point towards the position of communitarian or republican authors, for whom the state must endorse a substantive good. Such a turning point could lead to a reformulation of the public and private spheres, and of course, raise questions over which values justify which kinds of intervention. This paper will cover these debates in three parts： First, by presenting briefly the history of the liberal conception of rights, I will try to show that, from a starting point based mostly on individual protection, the liberal tradition has become more interventionist, which can be seen through the notion of ＂claim rights.＂ Departing from John Rawls＇s work, I will argue that this notion allows for some level of intervention, without betraying liberal neutrality. Subsequently, I will discuss the difference between this kind of intervention and the ones proclaimed by communitarians and republicans authors： The former will be illustrated by Michael Sandel＇s criticism of Rawls in Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, and the later by Richard Dagger＇s position in Civic Virtues, Citizenship, and Republican Liberalism. Finally, in the third part, we＇ll discuss whether liberal principles can be harmonized with the republican and communitarian focus on civic virtues and good life.展开更多
文摘With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （values）, those in position of global-, national-, and local-political power make major decisions of the use （or non-use） of scientific knowledge and technology. As a result, the human being has created a non-scientifically based cultural environment that is affecting his ability to survive. In effect, cultural evolution is occurring more rapidly than biological evolution that can adapt to the changes brought about in the physical and psycho-social environments. In a pluralistic cultural world, where each society has generated a different view of human nature and different ethical values, the use, misuse, or non-use of scientific and technological advances are derived from these unscientific views of human nature. Since all life depends on limiting interacting environmental and ecological factors, it is imperative that scientific information be used to govern how to minimize irreversible effects on life-sustaining ecological factors, but also scientific information bearing on understanding human nature ought to be integrated into a ＂global bioethics＂. While ethical values cannot be directly derived from scientific factors, it is also true that human values or our ＂ought＂ cannot be maintained in ignorance or defiance of the facts or the ＂is＂.
文摘Personal ethics are strongly influenced by emotions, particularly secondary emotions, because these emotions expand ethical reasoning and development as the child matures. A well-developed consciousness profoundly influences a person＇s actions and conduct when solving problems of what is thought, or taught to be, right or wrong Compelling neurological evidence supports the claim that children begin to develop enduring ethical standards at an early age and that these standards are largely based on the experiences of early childhood. Essentially, the innate sense of ethics requires nurturing during infancy before it can be cognitively understood and practiced in maturity. In biological terms, the development of neural networks that regulate emotional growth, and subsequently, the capacity for ethical discrimination, depends on the infant＇s early social environment. Thus, the toddler＇s early epigenetic experiences enhance, or impede, its innate still dormant genetic potential. Importantly, personal character development and ethical discrimination begins long before the child＇s formal educational years. As a consequence, early learning has to discover ways of conserving adaptive thinking which can be applied to the choices that may confront future generations. Early ethics education, including accurate access to scientific, medical, and technological knowledge, is thus critical. Future generations will increasingly require education from a global perspective when making major ethical decisions in areas, such as nuclear technology, disposal of wastes, preservation of biodiversity, global warming, and unregulated human population growth. As long as our culture continues to reflect advances in science and technology, there is an obligation to make science education overlap with crucial periods in the advancement of ethical consciousness. Significantly, when considering the human capacity for excess at times of conflict, it is incumbent on the scientific community to integrate research-based knowledge with wide-ranging learning and problem-solving skills. Bioscience ethics, the established interface bridging applied science and applied bioethics, can assist in this process of integration. To become fully responsible adults, we must share our extraordinary cognitive talents and respect life on earth in all its rich diversity. In biological terms, human uniqueness resides primarily in our brains with its products being co-operation in family and ancestral units, long education, sophisticated language and culture, and importantly, ethical consciousness-all attributes held in trust by knowledge and wisdom for future generations.
文摘This article studies whether Aristotle＇s understanding of magnanimity excludes women. I examine Aristotle＇s concept of the biological, moral, and intellectual capacities of women in theory and practice. Although Aristotle＇s biology describes key differences between the sexes, it does not exclude women from magnanimity. While the ethical and political writings also note key differences between men and women, they leave the theoretical possibility of attaining magnanimity open. Practically, the lack of leadership opportunities available to actual women may hinder the development of prudence, leading to an inability to achieve complete virtue and hence magnanimity. Thus, if women are unable to be magnanimous, this is due to practical political and familial arrangements, not to innate feminine defects. This finding provides a unique argument for feminine leadership and political participation. Truly exceptional women may need to actively seek out leadership opportunities and political involvement in order to complete their virtue
文摘This article begins with three problems of ＂dual loyalties＂ in medicine, the supposed fact that military physicians are, as medical officers, sometimes required to do what violates ordinary medical ethics--for example, ignore medical need in order to treat their own wounded before civilians or wounded enemy, help make chemical or biological weapons more deadly, or assist at a rough interrogation. These problems are analyzed as special cases of a problem that could arise in any profession, a problem easily resolved using a theory of professional ethics （more or less） absent from medical ethics until now though common outside. Employing a physician--rather than an ordinary officer, some other kind of healer, or scientist--is to enter a sort of ＂Ulysses contract＂ requiring the physician＇s professional standards to preempt obligations otherwise applying to an employee. In this way, the article also illustrates the benefits that might accrue to medical ethics from drawing （more than is now common） on other fields of practical ethics.
文摘The aim of this paper is to discuss whether the increasing intervention of the state in the private sphere-as is evidenced in labor laws, consumer rights, bioethics, and Internet crimes-is compatible with the liberal ideal of neutrality, or, on the contrary, whether it can be seen as a turning point towards the position of communitarian or republican authors, for whom the state must endorse a substantive good. Such a turning point could lead to a reformulation of the public and private spheres, and of course, raise questions over which values justify which kinds of intervention. This paper will cover these debates in three parts： First, by presenting briefly the history of the liberal conception of rights, I will try to show that, from a starting point based mostly on individual protection, the liberal tradition has become more interventionist, which can be seen through the notion of ＂claim rights.＂ Departing from John Rawls＇s work, I will argue that this notion allows for some level of intervention, without betraying liberal neutrality. Subsequently, I will discuss the difference between this kind of intervention and the ones proclaimed by communitarians and republicans authors： The former will be illustrated by Michael Sandel＇s criticism of Rawls in Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, and the later by Richard Dagger＇s position in Civic Virtues, Citizenship, and Republican Liberalism. Finally, in the third part, we＇ll discuss whether liberal principles can be harmonized with the republican and communitarian focus on civic virtues and good life.
