Applied Ethics

Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld was an American jurist who published a series of articles between 1909 and 1917 that were very important for 20th century analytical philosophy of right. In these articles, Hohfeld analyzed how jurists and judges alike use the word ‘right’ to speak of the rights of groups and individuals. Since he presented his articles, it has been commonplace among ‘hohfeldian specialists’ to distinguish rights into four groups: privileges, or claims, powers and immunities. This paper has four sections. In (...) section I, I present Hohfeld’s notion of privilege and point to a difficulty that has long been known by specialists, namely, that there are actually two significantly different legal relations that this notion is supposed to cover. In section II, I analyze and criticize the way (Wenar 2005) proposes we should define these two legal relations. In section III, I do the same with suggestion proposed by (Moritz 1960, 1073). In section IV, I present my own suggestion about how we should understand them. (shrink)

According to common-sense morality, agents can become morally connected to the wrongdoing of others, such that they incur special obligations to prevent or rectify the wrongs committed by the primary wrongdoer. We argue that, under certain conditions, voluntary and unjustified observation of another agent’s degrading wrongdoing, or of the ‘product’ of their wrongdoing, can render an agent morally liable to bear costs for the sake of the victim of the primary wrong. We develop our account with particular reference to widespread (...) modern phenomena such as so-called ‘revenge porn’, ‘up-skirting’, and the online observation of sexual assault and murder. On our account, observation is not a sui generis basis of liability. Instead, observation grounds liability in virtue of manifesting three, more general, grounds of liability. First, observation can compound a primary wrong, making that wrong more harmful for the victim. Second, observation can constitute degrading treatment of the victim. Third, in certain cases observation can enable primary wrongdoing. We conclude by discussing the conditions under which observing degrading wrongs might be morally justified. (shrink)

Should we take into account an artist's personal moral failings when appreciating or evaluating the work? In this essay, I seek to expand Berys Gaut's account of ethicism by showing how moral judgment of an artist's private moral actions can figure in one's overall evaluation of their work. To expand Gaut's view, I argue that the artist's personal morality is relevant to our evaluation of their work because we may only come to understand the point of view of the work, (...) and therefore the work's prescribed attitude, by examining the values, attitudes, and behaviors of the artist. This view is defended against a rival account offered by Bernard Wills and Jason Holt, which holds that the artistic evaluation of an artist's work is independent from the moral evaluation of their life except in extreme cases. (shrink)

We engage with the nature and the value of achievement through a critical examination of an argument according to which biomedical “enhancement” of our capacities is impermissible because enhancing ourselves in this way would threaten our achievements. We call this the argument against enhancement from achievement (AEA). We assess three versions of it, each admitting of a strong or a weak reading. We argue that strong readings fail, and that weak readings, while in some cases successful in showing that enhancement (...) interferes with the nature or value of achievements, fail to establish that enhancement poses an unusual threat to achievement. (shrink)

The current trend of asymmetrical migration of mostly female domestic workers from developing countries to wealthier nations is an emblematic intersection of global and gender injustice. I relate theories of global injustice and Susan Okin’s feminist critique of liberal philosophy to the situation of migrant domestic workers. According to Okin, a problem with liberal philosophers is that they refuse to subject the domestic sphere to assessments of justice. Due to its confinement to the home and the history of invisibility of (...) this kind of work, domestic work has a particularly precarious nature, rendering domestic workers especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Using cosmopolitan theories of justice, I show how the interdependence of local economies make it possible to speak of an unjust global economic order, where powerful nations dictate and shape the landscape of global trade and activity. In wealthy, self-identified liberal countries, the entry of affluent women into the traditional labor force created a need for the importation of cheap, migrant domestic labor. The Philippines’ top export is female domestic labor. Many governments that accept migrant domestic workers, including the UK, default on their responsibility to regulate the condition of domestic workers. Migrant domestic workers share an acute form of exploitation in that, unable to find decent jobs in their home countries, they are forced, on pain of destitution, to do invisible, undervalued work in their host countries, where they are prone to more abuse and more exploitation. This phenomenon of migrant domestic workers is a manifestation of the lack of gender progress. I argue that insofar as women who have entered the traditional paid labor force have outsourced their ‘domestic duties’ to women of lesser economic and social standing, claims of gender-advancement are but mere simulacra, or a smokescreen concealing the continuing lack of gender progress within gendered domestic expectations. (shrink)

This article explores and defends the idea that the etiquette conventions governing dinner parties, whether formal or informal, have moral significance. Their significance derives from the way that they foster and facilitate shared moral aims. I draw on literary and philosophical sources to make this claim, beginning with Isak Dineson's short story, Babette's Feast. I employ the concept of ritual from Confucius and Xunzi, as well as Immanuel Kant's detailed discussion of dinner parties in the Anthropology. Kant's account in particular (...) helps illuminate how properly conducted dinners can enhance our understanding and promote moral community among the people who attend. I conclude that dinner parties play an important role in the moral life, and that the etiquette conventions governing them derive their binding force from their contribution to that role. (shrink)

This study contributes to the growing literature on individual-level outcomes of corporate social responsibility. Employing a sample of 339 subordinate–supervisor dyads, we explored the differential impact of CSR attributions on employees’ creative performance in the telecom industry. We also introduced and tested the role of psychological safety as a mediator underlying this relationship. The results indicate that although intrinsic CSR attributions are not directly related to creative performance, extrinsic CSR attributions have a significant negative effect on creative performance. We also (...) found that psychological safety mediates the positive relationship between intrinsic CSR and creative performance and the negative relationship between extrinsic CSR and creative performance. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed. (shrink)

Institutional Review Boards have expressed concern that research into sensitive topics such as mental disorder will cause participants undue distress. This study investigated the emotional responses of 5,220 Australians to a survey on mental-health-related discrimination. Participants were interviewed about their mental health and experiences of discrimination across 10 life domains and then the emotional impacts of the survey. Results suggested that a minority experienced a negative reaction in contrast to 88% reporting positive experiences. A mental health problem was associated with (...) both negative and positive reactions. (shrink)

The behavior of some nightlife-setting patrons would be unacceptable in workplaces or public settings and could cause distress to other patrons. This quantitative study determined 381 young Australian’s descriptive and personal norms regarding four types of sexual behavior. Participants’ personal norms were that these behaviors are wrong, but they reported that the behaviors are common in a nightlife setting. Behaviors such as these could theoretically be prevented by modifying patrons’ descriptive norms with evidence that their beliefs are contrary to individuals’ (...) personal norms of acceptable behavior in nightlife settings. (shrink)

This article investigates the pervasive influence of the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan and primarily the attitudes of the medical community toward such interactions. We used an inductive approach informed by grounded theory principles to analyze interviews and focus groups with consultants, residents, medical students, and a pharmaceutical industry representative in Karachi and Lahore, and participant-observation data from two biomedical conferences. Data were then analyzed through a deontological and teleological ethical theoretical framework. Findings highlight the reasons leading to the continuation of (...) norms including weak regulations, physicians’ expectations of receiving favors, and limited exposure to bioethics education. Recommendations for practice, policy, and research are discussed. (shrink)

The present study investigated school counselors’ ratings of the importance of factors in deciding to report adolescent risk-taking behaviors to parents. Turkish school counselors were surveyed. Differences based on gender, years of experience, level of education, attendance of a counseling ethics course, and geographic region were investigated. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used in data analysis. Protecting the student was the highest rated factor. Women and those who took an ethics course rated protecting the student higher than others. (...) Implications for counseling ethics training are discussed, and recommendations for future research are outlined. (shrink)

ABSTRACTOne natural application of Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarist moral theory is found in the context of moral and intellectual character education. Zagzebski discusses this application in her recent book, commenting that ‘exemplars can serve as a guide for moral training’ and endorsing ‘the learning of virtue by imitation’. This theme has been pursued compellingly by authors working at the intersection of virtue ethics and education, contributing to an emerging case for exemplarist-based approaches to character education. I focus on intellectual character education (...) and draw attention to an interesting case in which exemplarism in the classroom may be seen to inhibit, rather than promote, the development of intellectually virtuous character. This is the case of virtuous inquisitiveness. (shrink)

This article introduces an account of moral education grounded in Zagzebski’s recent Exemplarist Moral Theory and discusses two problems that have to be solved for the account to become a realistic alternative to other educational models on the market, namely the limited-applicability problem and the problem of indoctrination. The first problem raises worries about the viability of the account in ordinary circumstances. The second charges the proposed educational model with indoctrinating students. The main goal of this article is to show (...) how an exemplar-based account of moral education can handle both problems without compromising its structure and upshot. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe article makes a number of critical remarks concerning Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarism. On the positive side, I argue that one of its strengths is the focus on motivation as an important factor in moral education whilst, on the negative, I draw attention to two issues. The first is that Zagzebski’s notion of moral exemplars is insufficient since it is too narrow, merely focusing as it does on high standard moral heroes while neglecting more usual moral agents who at least in (...) some respects may also play the role of exemplars. Secondly, I find Zagzebski’s view of admiration to be somewhat circular. (shrink)

ABSTRACTLinda Zagzebski’s exemplarist moral theory claims that admiration for a person is a necessary condition for her to be a moral exemplar. I argue that this claim is empirically unsupported. I provide two counterexamples, astronauts and brain data. I demonstrate that they play the role of exemplars well but receive no admiration and, accordingly, are entitled to be called nonadmirable moral exemplars. I conclude that my argument suggests why Aristotle, distinct from Zagzebski, does not emphasise the role of the praiseworthiness (...) of virtue in his theory of virtue development in the Nicomachean Ethics. (shrink)

This paper proposes that Catherine Elgin’s and Nelson Goodman’s work on exemplification is relevant for discussions within moral philosophy and moral education. Generalizing Elgin’s and Goodman’s account of exemplification to also cover ethics the paper develops a two-factor account of moral exemplarity. According to this account, instantiation and expressivity are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for someone or something to function as a moral exemplar. Applying this two-factor account of exemplarity to discussions within the philosophy of moral education the (...) paper then argues that it is the expressive aspect of moral exemplars, which explains and justifies the educational significance of such exemplars. The paper concludes by discussing the similarities and differences between the expressivity account and the transparency criterion formulated by Michel Croce and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza in a recent paper. (shrink)