Applied Ethics

This article focuses on the epistemic transition to testimonial justice. It argues that the recognition of testimonial injustice in the context of reproductive rights may play a central role in this transition. First, I show how testimonial injustice undermines women’s legal protection against sexual violence and rights triggered by it such as the right to abortion. Second, I argue that the epistemic transition initiated by the #MeToo and #YoSiTeCreo movements call for transitional justice. In support, I review the circumstances of (...) transitional justice for cases like the transition to testimonial justice. Finally, I focus on the area of reproductive rights. I argue that policies of recognition contribute to epistemic transitional justice and complement other strategies aimed to overcome testimonial injustice such as the virtue of the responsible hearer and institutional compensatory virtues. (shrink)

Journal of Applied Philosophy, EarlyView.

Journal of Applied Philosophy, EarlyView.

In this article, we aim to map out the complexities which characterise debates about the ethics of vaccine distribution, particularly those surrounding the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. In doing so, we distinguish three general principles which might be used to distribute goods and two ambiguities in how one might wish to spell them out. We then argue that we can understand actual debates around the COVID-19 vaccine – including those over prioritising vaccinating the most vulnerable – as reflecting disagreements (...) over these principles. Finally, we shift our attention away from traditional discussions of distributive justice, highlighting the importance of concerns about risk imposition, special duties, and social roles in explaining debates over the COVID-19 vaccine. We conclude that the normative complexity this article highlights deepens the need for decision-making bodies to be sensitive to public input. (shrink)

Journal of Applied Philosophy, EarlyView.

Journal of Applied Philosophy, EarlyView.

Party switching by members of Parliament is a common phenomenon in democracies. Despite several empirical investigations of this phenomenon, party switching has not yet been investigated from a moral point of view. This article aims to fill this gap. By analyzing party switching from the point of view of relational egalitarianism, the article argues that party switching may be wrong because (i) the politician thereby acts on selfish interests which should be excluded from their decision-making as a representative; (ii) the (...) politician thereby treats their constituents and/or party members paternalistically; and (iii) it expresses relational inequality between the member of Parliament and their voters or between the member of Parliament and their party members. There are instances, however, in which party switching is not wrong, and the last part of the article discusses what this means for whether party switching should be prohibited. (shrink)

This article evaluates communicative approaches to responsibility within the Strawsonian tradition. These approaches consider reactive attitudes to be forms of moral address and consider responsiveness to moral address a condition on responsible agency. The article consists of a critical and a positive part. In the first part, I identify a risk for these theories. They often provide an overly narrow account of how we can communicate with others about perceived moral disregard. I argue that, when read this way, a conversational (...) approach has implausible implications and falls prey to a familiar objection to Strawsonian theory: it would incorporate social injustices inherent to our responsibility practices. In particular, it would affirm ableist attitudes towards autistic individuals, by exempting them as moral agents on the basis of irrelevant criteria. In the second part, I propose an inclusive reading of the communicative approach. This inclusive account steers clear of ableism towards autistic individuals and accommodates diversity. Although it is also derived from our practices and psychologies, it does not incorporate the biases and injustices that are part of those practices, and instead it provides us with a means to criticize them. (shrink)

According to relational egalitarianism, a society is just insofar as the relations in that society are equal. Exclusively, relational egalitarians have been concerned with why humans, in particular adults, must relate as equals. This is unfortunate since relational egalitarians claim to be in line with the concerns of real-life egalitarians; but real-life egalitarians, such as vegans and vegetarians, clearly care about injustices committed against non-human animals. In this paper, I thus explore the role of non-human animals in relational egalitarianism. I (...) distinguish four accounts of relational egalitarianism and argue that they differ in what they imply for relationships between humans and animals. Interestingly, it will also become clear that in relational egalitarianism, a relation may not only be unequal or equal; it may also be non-unequal. (shrink)

Relational egalitarianism is a theory of justice according to which justice requires that people relate as equals. According to some relational egalitarians, X and Y relate as equals if, and only if, they (1) regard each other as equals; and (2) treat each other as equals. In this paper, we argue that relational egalitarians must give up (1).

ABSTRACT The question of when moral identity first develops in childhood deserves more considered investigation. In this article, we examine the claim that moral identity first emerges in middle-childhood. An approach is taken here whereby a tendency to attribute moral shame under conditions entailing moral identity failure is considered as indicating the presence of an emerging moral identity. Differences in the emotion attributions of 7- and 9-year-olds under moral and non-moral identity failure conditions were examined. Results showing that older children (...) tended to attribute shame under all identity failure conditions while younger children did not, and furthermore that both age groups tended to attribute predominantly guilt under accidental harm conditions, lend weight to the suggestion that moral identity may first emerge in middle-childhood. Implications of this study and its novel approach are discussed. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Adolescence has been highlighted as a significant period in an individual’s character development and autonomous decision-making. Social cognitive theories of character emphasise the importance of the interaction between person and context in making decisions which promote the good. A Grounded Theory methodology was used to explore how adolescents apply their virtue beliefs when faced with moral dilemmas, an ability which has been called ‘practical wisdom’ in some theories of character development. Eighteen participants aged 12–15 took part in interviews to (...) explore their moral decision-making processes. The findings suggest the interaction between adolescents’ virtue beliefs and contextual factors can vary according to the individual’s prior experience, the factors salient to them within the immediate context and the weight they assign to possible consequences of their decisions. The study concludes that adolescents’ moral decision-making processes vary between individuals and across situations, with social cognitive theories of decision-making offering a possible explanation for these variations. (shrink)

ABSTRACT For researchers interested in how pedagogy within schools can be used as a catalyst for adolescent moral development, investigating practitioner-based studies of classroom practices that support the growth of prosocial behaviors is crucial. This paper delineates a qualitative study conducted in an ethnically diverse high school language arts classroom where texts were being utilized to promote moral development across multiple domains. Authors describe how the critical reading and discussion of the comic Yummy led students to express emotional responses to (...) the text centered in feelings of empathy, gratitude, and community awareness. Findings suggest that these specific emotional reactions demonstrate potential for critical, social consciousness and the development of empathic and prosocial behaviors. Fundamentally, this paper seeks to enrich scholarship in the field of adolescent moral development by arguing that pedagogy within schools can be utilized to promote emotions and cognitions that lead to community action. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper considers two studies that address negative affective states and moral reasoning while taking the Defining Issues Tests. Both studies confirmed earlier findings that the DIT dilemma, ‘Heinz and the Drug,’ and the DIT2 dilemma, ‘Famine,’ are related to increased anger and sadness and decreased moral reasoning. Similar findings were observed in the context of a video consideration of a real-life dilemma paralleling these two dilemmas. Comparable findings pertaining to Famine were also observed among three samples of different (...) moral judgment developmental levels, further implicating the role of dilemma content where the trends observed are concerned. Overall, both studies illustrated similar patterns of affective states and moral reasoning across all considered DIT/dit2 dilemmas thereby offering further evidence of the joint involvement of rational deliberation and affective states in the consideration of DIT/dit2 dilemmas. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Forgiveness involves a shift from negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to positive ones after a transgression. Previous research supports the benefits of forgiving, particularly for physical and emotional health. However, debates within the character development literatures exist regarding whether forgiveness is a strength that benefits all parties involved in the transgression. For example, forgiveness is often linked to pardoning, condoning, or justifying bad behavior and forswearing justice. Nietzsche regarded forgiveness as a weakness, and as an undesirable attribute or vice; (...) Gandhi, however, believed forgiveness reflected good moral character and virtuous behavior. I propose a relational developmental systems -based model of forgiveness as a character strength that benefits both individuals and contexts following a transgression. I situate forgiveness within RDS metatheory and character development and assess forgiveness across two contexts: school bullying and criminal behavior. Implications for research, education, and intervention promoting adaptive social relationships and thriving are discussed. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether empathy is capable of mediating the relationship between perceived parental support and juvenile delinquency. This hypothesis was tested in a path analysis of 3,865 Australian schoolchildren using three waves of data with two years between each wave. The dependent variable was regressed onto cross-lagged independent and mediating latent variables. As predicted, the pathway running from perceived parental support to empathy to delinquency was significant, the pathway running from empathy to perceived (...) parental support to delinquency was nonsignificant, and the difference between the two pathways was significant. These findings indicate that parental support, as perceived and reported by the child, is instrumental in promoting empathy, which, in turn, may protect the youth against future delinquency. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In order to help students become scientifically literate citizens, science education should allow them to gain a more concrete understanding of the potential social and ethical impacts of scientific and technological change. Using Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as an imaginative tool, we designed simple hands-on activities and a digital narrative game experience for middle school students, to open up new ways for students to think and talk about ethical issues around scientific creativity and exploration. After taking part in these activities, (...) we interviewed 16 participants to investigate how the activities and the game affected their perceptions of science ethics. Although our respondents had difficulties conceptualizing science ethics in the abstract, we found that the activities gave them a variety of new ideas about the ethical and social implications of scientific work. Results from this study can help educators and researchers design, implement, and evaluate science ethics activities for middle school students. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The relation between children’s guilt proneness and theory of mind was examined in children aged 7- to 11-years. Guilt proneness was assessed with a self-report scenario-based measure and ToM was examined with a battery of first-order and second-order mental-state tasks. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that second-order, but not first-order, mental state understanding, predicted children’s guilt proneness. Age and gender did not have a moderating influence on this relation. These results add to research investigating the significance of ToM for children’s (...) moral emotions. (shrink)

There is widely thought to be a proportionality constraint on harming others in self-defense, such that an act of defensive force can be impermissible because the harm it would inflict on an attacker is too great relative to the harm to the victim it would prevent. But little attention has been given to whether a corresponding constraint exists in the ethics of compensation, and, if so, what the nature of that constraint is. This article explores the issue of proportionality as (...) it applies to the liability to compensate. The view that some perpetrators are not liable to pay full compensation because doing so would be disproportionately burdensome is clarified and defended, and it is asked what view we should adopt instead. A key step in that inquiry is an argument that someone is liable to bear the cost of compensating for an injury if and only if she would have been liable to bear that same cost in defense against that same injury ex ante. (shrink)