The increasing interest in online shopping in recent years has increased the importance of understanding customer engagement valence in a virtual service network. There is yet a comprehensive explanation of the CEV concept, particularly its impact on multi-actor networks such as web stores. Therefore, this study aims to fill this research gap. In this study, past literature in the marketing and consumer psychology field was critically reviewed to understand the concept of CEV in online shopping, and the propositional-based style was (...) employed to conceptualize the CEV within the online shopping context. The outcomes demonstrate that the valence of customer engagement is dependent on the cognitive interpretation of signals that are prompted by multiple actors on a web store service network. If the signals are positively interpreted, positive outcomes such as service co-creation are expected, but if they are negatively interpreted, negative outcomes such as service co-destruction are predicted. These notions create avenues for future empirical research and practical implications. (shrink)

This article examines the risk and return profiles of stock indices composed of companies meeting environmental, social and governance screening criteria [such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices ] and conventional composite indices of eight Asian countries from 2002 to 2014. The results indicate that there are no significant differences in the returns or risk-adjusted returns between the ESG indices and the composite indices within countries. The results do reveal that the market volatility of the ESG indices is higher than (...) the market volatility of the conventional indices. Market betas of DJSI and ESG equity indices are significantly lower than betas of the composite equity indices. The overall results indicate that the performance of ESG equity indices of many Asian countries is similar to the performance of conventional indices, suggesting that investors can pursue socially responsible investing objectives without a material difference in portfolio performance from conventional investing. (shrink)

Leadership which lacks ethical conduct can be dangerous, destructive, and even toxic. Ethical leadership, though well discussed in the literature, has been tested empirically as a construct in very few studies. An empirical investigation of ethical leadership in Singapore's construction industry is reported. It is found that ethical leadership is positively and significantly associated with transformational leadership, transformational culture of organization, contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership, leader effectiveness, employee willingness to put in extra effort, and employee satisfaction with the (...) leader. However, it is also found that ethical leadership bears no correlations with transactional leadership. Also, it is negatively correlated with laissez-faire leadership and transactional culture of the organization. The findings also reveal that ethical leadership plays a mediating role in the relationship between employee outcomes and organizational culture. Practical implications of these findings are discussed. Directions for future research are also suggested. (shrink)

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on workers and workplaces across the world while putting regular work practices into disarray. Apart from the obvious effects of COVID-19, the pandemic is anticipated to have a variety of social–psychological, health-related, and economic implications for individuals at work. Despite extensive research on psychological contracts and knowledge sharing, these domains of pedagogic endeavor have received relatively little attention in the context of employee creativity subjected to the boundary conditions of the organization’s socialization and work-related (...) curiosity. This study investigates, empirically, the role of psychological contracts in escalating employee creativity through knowledge sharing by considering the moderating role of an organization’s socialization and work-related curiosity. The response received from 372 employees of the manufacturing sector has been investigated and analyzed through Smart PLS software. The results have revealed that knowledge sharing is mediating the relationship between psychological contract and employee creative performance, whereas the moderators significantly moderate the relationships between psychological contract and knowledge sharing and between knowledge sharing and employee creative performance accordingly. It has also been depicted that the moderating impact shown by both moderators is significantly high. (shrink)

Most studies have shown that reading is an important source of incidental vocabulary learning, and repeated reading may have a positive effect on learning gains. However, the study of incidental vocabulary learning through listening is still limited, and the immediate and long-term effects on different vocabulary knowledge dimensions are unclear. Furthermore, no empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the association between learning gains and preexisting vocabulary knowledge in listening. This article examines the effects of listening to English songs on (...) unintentional vocabulary learning and vocabulary retention through three different vocabulary knowledge dimensions: word recognition, meaning association, and grammar identification. A total of 114 Chinese college students participated in the study, and they were given vocabulary evaluations at different times based on three separate components of vocabulary knowledge. The effects of repeated listening and learners’ prior vocabulary knowledge were also investigated. According to the findings, listening to songs can improve vocabulary knowledge, particularly in the area of word recognition, which can be retained 4 weeks later. Furthermore, the effect of listening three times was superior than listening one or five times, which provides teachers and learners with guidance for teaching or learning vocabulary more effectively. Finally, for low, intermediate, and high-level learners, there was an immediate and positive effect on the dimensions of word recognition and meaning connection after listening, and this knowledge is likely to be preserved 4 weeks later. (shrink)

In a communication network with a source node, a multicast tree is defined as a tree rooted at the source node and all its leaves being recipients of the multicast originating at the source. The tree or bandwidth cost is normally measured by its utilization of tree links along with the quality of service measures such as delay constraint and end-to-end delay. However, if nodes are allowed to join or leave the multicast group at any time during the lifetime of (...) the multicast connection, then the problem is known as dynamic multicast routing problem. In this article, we combine a greedy approach with static multicast routing using Tabu Search to find a low-cost dynamic multicast tree with desirable QoS parameters. The proposed algorithm is then compared with several static multicast routing algorithms. The simulation results show that, on a large number of events, i.e., where nodes are leaving or joining, the proposed algorithm is able to find multicast trees of lower cost and more desirable QoS properties. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility has become a very common buzz word in the field of marketing since many years. This empirical paper assesses the attitude of devout and nondevout customers towards CSR in the context of a religious society. As making clear distinction between devout and nondevout customers may have associated measurement problems in a single-religion-dominated country, this paper initiates the discussion of peculiarity between two important religiosity measures, that is, observation based and solicited. A hypothetical story board with embedded CSR (...) information in a scenario supporting a religious cause is presented to the highly and less religious subjects in text written form. The scenario is followed by questions pertaining to their religious behaviors and attitude towards the company in question. The results illustrate that highly religious customers show slightly greater preference towards CSR as compared to less religious customers and the observation-based religiosity measure has a tendency of more reliability if the researchers have deep cultural and religious know-how about a specific society. Results of this study might help international marketers about choosing a particular cause under its umbrella CSR activities particularly when entering in a highly religious society dominated by a single religion. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of supervisor support on the relationship between the need to be unique and the innovative behavior. People not only strive to belong to a group but also want to be unique from others and feel exceptional. Individuals’ innovative behavior is one of the things that makes them feel different from other people. Because developing a new idea, supporting this idea, putting this idea into practice, and the positive achievements of (...) this idea distinguish people who exhibit innovative behavior from others. It depends on the behavior of supervisors whether people who break away from typical practices and procedures to feel unique and special continue to act in innovative ways. In this context, it is vitally essential for supervisors to support people who display innovative behavior. The research was conducted on employees working in the education sector in Mersin. We employed the confirmatory factor analysis to examine the fitness of the model and moderation was tested. As hypothesized, the need to be unique had a significant and positive effect on innovative behavior. This finding is consistent with existing literature and thus advance knowledge on need to be unique and innovative behavior, particular in education sector. Nonetheless, it has been determined that supervisor support doesn’t have a moderator role on the relationship between the need to be unique and innovative behavior. Although there are some researches in the literature on consumer experiences about the need to be unique and innovative behavior, but literature on education section is sparse and still long way to go to evaluate its’ reflections on the workplace. (shrink)

This study examined how social media marketing activities influence consumers’ engagement behaviour in developing countries. Based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, we examined the effect of SMMA on consumers’ engagement intention and further investigated the moderating effect of social media sales intensity. The study employed a time-lagged design with two waves to confirm the hypothesised framework. The study findings showed that SMMA positively influence consumers’ engagement intention and engagement behaviour. In addition, social media sales intensity strengthens the link between engagement intention (...) and engagement behaviour. This study adds to the literature on social media and discusses its practical implications. (shrink)

Face detection plays important roles in many applications such as human–computer interaction, security and surveillance, face recognition, etc. This article presents an intelligent enhanced fused approach for face recognition based on the Voronoi diagram and wavelet moment invariants. Discrete wavelet transform and moment invariants are used for feature extraction of the facial face. Finally, VD and the dual tessellation are used to locate and detect original face images. Face recognition results based on this new fusion are promising in the state (...) of the art. (shrink)

Numerous authors indicate that the influence of academic education extends beyond the growth of specialized knowledge gained by the graduates. Scholars are trying to identify and examine the potential impact of higher learning on students’ attitudes and choices. One of the dimensions considered by the researchers is the effect of university training on students’ moral choices. Our paper attempts to identify differences between the students’ declared moral choices and their majors (fields of studies). Working with a sample of university students (...) of Economics and Sociology (N = 181), and using three variants of the Trolley Problem, the subjects’ responses are used to identify the similarities and differences between their choices. The participants were asked to respond to three hypothetical situations regarding a runaway trolley. Their decision in the first scenario could save a person’s life or let her be run over by the trolley. In the second scenario, their decision could either let one person die and save five lives or save one life and let five people be killed. These two scenarios required pulling a lever to switch the trolley from one track to another. The third scenario requires pushing an obese person in front of the runaway trolley to stop it from killing five persons. As expected, we found a significant difference between the two groups (the economists and the sociologists) in the case of our third scenario, however, we found no evidence supporting the indoctrination hypothesis. We conclude that the existing differences between the choices made by the future economists and sociologists may support the preselection hypothesis. (shrink)

The unsettling fear of COVID-19 infections has caused a new trend in consumer behavior in the food and beverage industry. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has shifted consumers’ preferences from eat-in to online delivery. This research aims to measure the impact of consumers’ motivation to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19, which explains why people switch from eat-in to online food delivery. We adopted the theory of protection motivation to explain consumer switching behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study investigated the (...) mediating effect of switching intention on the relationship between vulnerability, altruistic fear, anticipated regret, and switching behavior. Simultaneously, we examined the role of brand awareness as a moderator of behavioral choices of consumers switching from eat-in to online delivery. We collected data from 681 eatery consumers in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, using scenario-based survey questionnaires. Then, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. This new generation analysis was conducted using the analysis of moment structure and the statistical package for social science. The results indicated that consumer vulnerability, altruistic fear, and anticipated regret of COVID-19 increased consumers’ propensity to shift from eat-in to online food delivery. Allegedly, consumer behavioral control and intention of switching toward online delivery were pointedly affected by switching behavior. The results indicated that consumer vulnerability, altruistic fear, and anticipated regret of COVID-19 increased the shifting of restaurant dine-in patterns and made the intention to switch to online delivery. Consumers’ alleged behavioral control and their intention of switching toward online delivery were pointedly affected by switching behavior. We also found that brand awareness moderately affects switching behavior toward restaurant settings. The present research contributes to developing the consumer behavior model of switching from eat-in to online delivery. This study also provides eatery customers and the business community with a safer and healthier proposition of shifting to online food delivery during the pandemic. (shrink)

Bound-constrained optimization has wide applications in science and engineering. In the last two decades, various evolutionary algorithms were developed under the umbrella of evolutionary computation for solving various bound-constrained benchmark functions and various real-world problems. In general, the developed evolutionary algorithms belong to nature-inspired algorithms and swarm intelligence paradigms. Differential evolutionary algorithm is one of the most popular and well-known EAs and has secured top ranks in most of the EA competitions in the special session of the IEEE Congress on (...) Evolutionary Computation. In this paper, a customized differential evolutionary algorithm is suggested and applied on twenty-nine large-scale bound-constrained benchmark functions. The suggested C-DE algorithm has obtained promising numerical results in its 51 independent runs of simulations. Most of the 2013 IEEE-CEC benchmark functions are tackled efficiently in terms of proximity and diversity. (shrink)

Based on the Guest 1997 organizational outcome model, this explanatory study examined the effects of five dimensions of practices of HR. i.e. performance evaluation, recruitment & selection, compensation & reward, career opportunities within organization and training & development on proximal business outcomes. The study validates components of GUEST model by integrating between HRM dimensions and banking operations, thus strengthens the existing theoretical model of GUEST by improving the comprehensiveness as it provides analytical framework for studying HR. Exploratory factor analysis and (...) confirmatory factor analysis was utilized in the current study, and tested the study hypotheses by SEM to analyze the proposed conceptual model. It was found that all five chosen HR practices had significant influence on the quality of operations however for flexibility of operations, performance appraisals and career within organization have shown significant role for banking industry of the country, Pakistan. The study contributed to the construction and validation of structural. path and measurement models of SHRM practices and two selected operational competitive outcomes based on theoretical and empirical foundations, which will help progress the human resource management future researches and important implications for HR mangers, as very little work has been done on interdisciplinary framework of HR and OM specifically within context of South Asian banking Industry. (shrink)

In the modern business environment, characterized by rapid technological advancements and globalization, abetted by IoT and Industry 5.0 phenomenon, innovation is indispensable for competitive advantage and economic growth. However, many organizations are facing problems in its true implementation due to the absence of a practical innovation management framework, which has made the implementation of the concept elusive instead of persuasive. The present study has proposed a new innovation management framework labeled as “Absolute Innovation Management (AIM)” to make innovation more understandable, (...) implementable, and part of the organization’s everyday routine by synergizing the innovation ecosystem, design thinking, and corporate strategy to achieve competitive advantage and economic growth. The current study used an integrative literature review methodology to develop the “Absolute Innovation Management” framework. The absolute innovation management framework links the innovation ecosystem with the corporate strategy of the firm by adopting innovation management as a strategy through design thinking. Thus, making innovation more user/human-centered that is desirable by the customer, viable for business and technically feasible, creating both entrepreneurial and customer value, and boosting corporate venturing and corporate entrepreneurship to achieve competitive advantage and economic growth while addressing the needs of IoT and Industry 5.0 era. In sum, it synergizes innovation, design thinking, and strategy to make businesses future-ready for IoT and the industry 5.0 revolution. The present study is significant, as it not only makes considerable contributions to the existing literature on innovation management by developing a new framework but also makes the concept more practical, implementable and part of an organization’s everyday routine. (shrink)

The single most influential and widely accepted objection against any form of dualism, the belief that human beings are both body and soul, is the objection that dualism violates conservation laws in physics. The conservation laws objection against dualism posits that body and soul interaction is at best mysterious, and at worst impossible. While this objection has been both influential from the time of its initial formulation until present, this paper occupies itself with arguing that this objection is a fleeting (...) one, and has successful answers from both scientific and philosophical perspectives. It is to this end that I provide three groups of responses to the conservation laws objection. First, I outline responses which take the ‘laws of nature’ as the proper entry point into the discussion. Secondly, I provide an analysis of those who argue that contemporary quantum physical data requires that the objection itself involves scientifically unjustified premises. Finally, I layout a philosophically oriented answer which argues that the objection is linguistically problematic since its demands on the dualist are categorically fallacious. From these groups of answers, I conclude that while the conservation laws objection has been arguably the most widely accepted objection against dualism, the objection is without philosophical justification. (shrink)

This research investigates the factors that affect male gamers' behavioral intention to play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which is one of the most widely played online games of today's era. We examine the factors through the lens of the hedonic consumption model and use the gratification theory to predict behavioral intention to play PUBG. Data from 248 male PUBG gamers were analyzed using PLS-SEM analyses. The study involved an initial stage where an estimation model was analyzed to assess the constructs' reliability and (...) validity. Following this, the second stage involved assessing the theoretical model to test the relationship between the principle constructs. The study found that playful-consumption experience factors, such as escapism, emotional involvement, sensory experience, enjoyment, and arousal, significantly influenced the behavioral intentions to play PUBG. The research findings further indicate that role-projection and fantasy failed to impact consumers' intention to play PUBG. This study provides both theoretical and practical implications. It fills the literature gap by focusing on predicting the behavioral intention to play PUBG through the playful-consumption experiences of a popular online multiplayer game. Practically, this study could potentially open avenues for gaming companies to address how different playful-consumption experiences impact game users' behavioral intentions. (shrink)

In our current era, a new rapidly spreading pandemic disease called coronavirus disease, caused by a virus identified as a novel coronavirus, is becoming a crucial threat for the whole world. Currently, the number of patients infected by the virus is expanding exponentially, but there is no commercially available COVID-19 medication for this pandemic. However, numerous antiviral drugs are utilized for the treatment of the COVID-19 disease. Identification of the appropriate antivirus medicine to treat the infection of COVID-19 is still (...) a complicated and uncertain decision. This study’s key objective is to develop a novel approach called _q_-rung orthopair probabilistic hesitant fuzzy rough set, which incorporates the _q_-rung orthopair fuzzy set, probabilistic hesitant fuzzy set, and rough set structures. New _q_-ROPHFR aggregation operators have been established: the _q_-ROPHFR Einstein weighted averaging operator and the _q_-ROPHFR Einstein weighted geometric operator. In this study, we explored some basic features of the developed operators. Afterward, to demonstrate the viability and feasibility of the established decision-making approach in real-world applications, a case study related to selecting drugs for COVID-19 pandemic is addressed. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison with the _q_-rung orthopair probabilistic hesitant fuzzy rough TOPSIS technique is also presented to illustrate the benefits of the new framework. The obtained results confirm the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed approach for finding uncertainty in real-world decision-making. (shrink)

PurposeThis study aimed to apply “multi-criteria decision approach and attitude-change theory” to examine post-COVID-19 impact on entrepreneurial mindset by investigating the link between entrepreneurs social capital and entrepreneurial success. Specifically, this study analyzed entrepreneurs' dispositional factor as an underlying mechanism to bridge trust and entrepreneurial success. Furthermore, it also analyzed entrepreneurs' situational factor as boundary condition.Design/methodology/approachWe applied time-lagged data collection from 505 industrial entrepreneurs. Survey method was used for data collection. A 7-point Likert scale was used for the respondent response. (...) Hayes developed PROCESS models 4 and 7 were used to test the hypothesis.FindingsThe direct impact of trust on three elements of the ecosystem was found significantly positive on both startup behavior and entrepreneurial success. The direct impact of startup behavior on entrepreneurial success is also significantly positive. The impact of startup behavior on indirect mediation between trust and entrepreneurial success is visibly positive. The moderated and moderated mediation impact of entrepreneurial strategy found positively significant at low and medium values. However, this study found an insignificant moderated impact at high values of entrepreneurial strategy between trust on media and startup behavior. Furthermore, this study also found insignificant moderated mediation impact at high values of entrepreneurial strategy by interacting with two elements of ecosystem through startup behavior on entrepreneurial success.Originality/valueThe authors suggested that startup behavior is an underlying mechanism through which industrial entrepreneurs trust achieved desired entrepreneurial success. The authors also suggested that the influencing role of “low level of entrepreneurial strategy” in comparison with “high level entrepreneurial strategy” is more helpful to achieve entrepreneurial success.ImplicationsThis study contributed to the literature on entrepreneurial strategy for its conditional indirect moderated impact on startup behavior and moderated mediation impact on firm entrepreneurial success. It also contributed to owners of the manufacturing industry for their startup behavior as an underlying mechanism through which trust influences entrepreneurial success. (shrink)

Workers can be fired from jobs, citizens sent to jail, and adolescents more likely to experience depression, all because of algorithms. Algorithms have considerable impacts on our lives. To increase user satisfaction and trust, the most common proposal from academics and developers is to increase the transparency of algorithmic design. While there is a large body of literature on algorithmic transparency, the impact of unethical data collection practices is less well understood. Currently, there is limited research on the factors that (...) affect users’ trust in data collection practices and algorithmic transparency. In this research, we explore the relative impact of both factors as they relate to important outcome measures such as user’s trust, comfort level, and moral acceptability. We conducted two pilot studies to learn what real users consider to be ethical and unethical data collection practices, as well as high and low transparency for algorithms. We then used these findings in a 2 × 2 design to examine how transparency and the acceptability of data collection practices impact users’ acceptance, comfort, and trust in algorithms. Our results suggest that the singular emphasis on algorithmic transparency may be misplaced. Given the difference in their impact to increase acceptance, trust, and user satisfaction, a more effective strategy would be to also understand and abide by users’ views of ethical data collection practices. (shrink)

Rashad Rehman, Nipa Chauhan and Rebecca Greenberg argue that beneficent paternalism should be integrated into shared decision-making in the NICU to maximize the patient’s best interests.

Rashad Rehman calls for the bioethical community to help contribute conceptual clarity to the debate about the ethics of intersex pediatric surgery.

Is intersexuality a mere difference or disorder? Since the 2006 Chicago consensus statement's disorder of sexual development (DSD) nomenclature, intersex scholars have criticized and repudiated the use of “disorder” by arguing that it is medically inaccurate, yields unwarranted surgical implications, unnecessarily pathologizes intersex individuals, and that, most importantly, intersex individuals do not prefer it. They argue for linguistic alternatives such as “difference” and other similar alternatives, for example, “variation,” “divergence,” and so forth. These criticisms of “disorder” have had significant uptake (...) by scholars writing on intersexuality. While the motivation(s) for using “mere difference” is doubtless rooted in beneficence for intersex persons, medically inaccurate intersex terminology compromises optimal clinical care and should consequently be either abandoned or revised. This focus paper argues (moderately) for the thesis that some cases of intersex are disorders, and some mere differences. The upshot of my proposal is not only that it conceptually disambiguates disorder and mere difference, but by failing to generalize unique intersex individuals their care is prioritized. (shrink)

This paper investigates the prospects of a distinctively Plotinian argument for God’s existence. Specifically, this paper assesses Plotinus’ argument for the One/Good (Enneads; V.1,V.4), a principle rooted in Plato’s Republic (509b6-9), as a philosophical motivation for an argument for God’s existence. While the appropriative task of using Plotinus’ argument for natural theological purposes is not original to this work, this project remains in its philosophical infancy. It is to this end that the Plotinian background from which the argument proceeds is (...) articulated, and thereafter contextualised in Edward Feser’s Plotinian argument. This work defends Feser against two objections he does not consider, concluding that the appropriative strategy is successful and is a significant contribution to natural theology. (shrink)

Josef Pieper’s critique of Martin Heidegger’s Wahrheitsbegriff has been virtually ignored in both Pieper and Heidegger scholarship; however, Pieper’s critique of Heidegger is both lethal and affirmative. On the one hand, Pieper makes a strong case against Heidegger’s Wahrheitsbegriff in “Vom Wesen der Wahrheit” and yet on the other he affirms his thesis that “the essence of truth is freedom.” This paper attempts to mend this gap in the literature by first presenting Heidegger’s “Vom Wesen der Wahrheit,” the essay in (...) which Heidegger explicates his concept of truth. Second, I exegete the critique of Josef Pieper found in his “Heideggers Wahrheitsbegriff.” Third, I conclude the paper by contextualizing Pieper’s critique within Pieper’s Werke, and make a note of the philosophical insights derivative from Pieper’s less than simple relationship to Heidegger. (shrink)

Josef Pieper (1904–1997) wrote his autobiography in three distinct volumes. Composing one volume of his complete works in his Gesammelte Werke (Felix Meiner Verlag, 1995) edited by Berthold Wald, he writes on his early (1904–1945), middle (1945–1964), and late years (1964–1985). Between Ignatius Press and St. Augustine’s Press, Pieper’s autobiographical writings have been translated into English over the last three decades. The first volume, Noch wusste es niemand: Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen 1904–1945 (Kosel-Verlag, 1979), was translated into English as No One Could (...) Have Known: An Autobiography: The Early Years 1904–1945 (Ignatius, 1987). Three decades later the second volume, Noch nicht aller Tage Abend: Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen 1945–1964 (Kosel-Verlag, 1979), was published in English as Not Yet the Twilight: An Autobiography 1945–1964 (St. Augustine’s Press, 2017). Finally, the third volume, Eine Geschichte wie ein Strahl: Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen seit 1964 (Kosel-Verlag, 1988), has been published under the title A Journey to Point Omega: Autobiography from 1964 (St. Augustine’s Press, 2020). (shrink)

What is Augustine’s commentary on Alypius’ curiosity (curiositas) at the gladiatorial show in Confessiones 6, 8, 13 fundamentally about? Augustinian scholars have interpreted the story widely. Following recent scholarly developments, this work argues for a distinctively Thomistic reading of Alypius’ curiositas. In 1987, Joseph Torchia interpreted this passage as putting only a secondary focus on the story’s emphasis on, in his words, «conflict with God, its inner self, and others». However, this triadic conflict is found in Aquinas: in his Commentary (...) on the Gospel of John (14, 7), Aquinas argues that a conflict with God, self and others is what it means to lack peace (pax). Confessions 6, 8, 13 is read here through a Thomistic lens: the presentation of Alypius’ curiositas is fundamentally a statement about Alypius’ lack of peace. (shrink)

It is a relatively uncontroversial proposition that without “ethics,” an “ethics of homelessness” is impossible. What is less uncontroversial, though, is that philosophy—or at least philosophical analysis—is a necessary condition of ethical discourse. The distrust—or skepticism regarding the utility of— philosophical analysis is predicated on rendering philosophy as useless. This, though, should create a sense of cognitive dissonance, since we universally acknowledge that ethics informs how we interact with ourselves and others, while we also accept, and rightly so, the uselessness (...) of philosophy. While pop- ular parlance has it that uselessness is logically and semantically equivalent to not needed or conceptually irrelevant, this, I will argue, is mistaken. This mis- take, as I see it, is a result of the failure to recognize that liberal arts are intrinsi- cally useless—and ought to be treated as such. To mend this mistake, I will outline the liberal arts in contrast to the servile arts and explain how Aristotle, and his later defender Josef Pieper, correctly understood the distinction. I will then move onto suggest that while philosophy—as a liberal art—is useless, and rightfully so, it is a conceptually relevant, necessary condition for dealing with conceptual problems which arise in ethics—and therefore in the ethics of homelessness. To explicate and defend this thesis, I argue that Plato’s three- fold division of goods, originating in Book ii of his Republic, helps to amalgamate our reservations in accepting philosophy as useless—strictly speaking—and simultaneously useful. From this, I move on to provide various ways in which philosophy is relevant to questions of home and homelessness generally, and display how philosophers themselves have, historically, taken seriously the question of home and homelessness as serious philosophical concepts. Finally, I outline how philosophers can work on the ethics of home- lessness by taking seriously the necessary presuppositions which make work- ing on the alleviation of homelessness not merely possible, but morally obligatory. Having sketched a broad picture of how philosophy interacts with the practical problems of homelessness, I conclude that progress in the field of the ethics of homelessness—as a conceptual endeavor—will ultimately arise from overcoming our prima facie interpretation of the liberal/servile arts distinction and thereby preserve its original meaning. (shrink)

This article supplements Julio Tuleda, Enrique Burguete, and Justo Aznar's “The Vatican opinion on gender theory” (Linacre). It supplements their article by providing a stronger argument for the thesis that “intersex” does not violate binary sex in human beings. In their response to Timothy F. Murphy's criticism of “the Vatican's” (rightfully corrected as the Magisterium of the Catholic Church's) position on the sex binary, they argue subsidiarily that “intersex” does not violate the sex binary. However, their argument against Murphy as (...) stated is implausible; however, I provide a much stronger argument for their conclusion that intersex does not violate the sex binary. I intend to perform this supplementation in two stages, assuming the reader's familiarity with “The Vatican opinion on gender theory.” First, I provide a broader background than Murphy's to the challenge that “intersex” conditions violate the sex binary, showing both how Murphy's criticism is unoriginal and how “intersex” both has been, and continues to be, misunderstood. Second, I problematize Tuleda’s argument, and offer the strongest argument for the conclusion that “intersex” does not violate the sex binary on purely secular/nonreligious grounds (addressing Murphy's complaint). I conclude that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church remains correct that sex is binary. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019 has created an acute fear of economic crisis, and people have experienced the state of perceived job insecurity. Several measures were taken to control this deadly pandemic, but it still affected the majority of global operational activities. This study addresses the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal number 8 that relates to decent work and economic growth. This quantitative study examines the impact of fear associated with economic crisis and perceived job insecurity on mental (...) health with the moderating effect of surface and deep acting. Surface acting is displaying fake emotions, and deep acting is modifying inner feelings according to the required emotions. This study used sample data from private-sector employees and applied SmartPLS for structural model assessment. As many organizations took more challenging decisions to sustain their business operations, the study therefore analyzes the impact of the pandemic on private sector employees. The two main findings of the study are: surface acting moderates the relationships of fear of economic crisis and perceived job insecurity with mental health and declines the impact of both on mental health, while deep acting negatively moderates the relationships of fear of economic crisis and perceived job insecurity with mental health and improved mental health even in the presence of both. The study highlighted the importance of deep acting at workplaces to sustain employees’ mental and psychological stability. Organizations could introduce emotional labor strategies and strengthen the mental health of their employees against the underlying fear of economic crisis and perceived job insecurity. (shrink)

An interview with professor of philosophy Dr. Michael Fox of St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario.

This chapter asks the following question: What are the conditions, within and fostered by contemporary educational institutions, for social justice to be grounded philosophically and put into concrete action? In answer- ing this question, I argue that a defense of the liberal arts is a plausible candidate for grounding the possibility of “social justice,” understood as fulfilling an obligation to another in virtue of their intrinsically being owed that obligation. The liberal arts are not merely mechanical, special- ized disciplines; instead, (...) they embody a philosophical anthropology in which human beings are responsible, reflective and contemplative indi- viduals capable of intrinsically meaningful actions. It is to this end that I argue that Josef Pieper’s defense of the Geisteswissenschaften (liberal arts), and the philosophical anthropology which underlies it, is a plausi- ble way to ground social justice. I begin this chapter by outlining what the liberal arts are and how they have been challenged implicitly and explic- itly. I then outline a specific consequence of this explicated in Bryan Met- calfe’s dissertation Pedagogy of Mythos (2013). Having done this, I outline Pieper’s defense of the liberal arts, offer objections to his defense and respond to them. In the end, I conclude that while Pieper’s defense grounds a requisite philosophical anthropology for social justice, a contemporary defense of the liberal arts will always be needed, especially given contem- porary “sophistry.” I finish this chapter in the hope that this always- contemporary defense can be done with an aim to change, while main- taining peaceful, civil discourse. (shrink)

This chapter asks the following question: What are the conditions, within and fostered by contemporary educational institutions, for social justice to be grounded philosophically and put into concrete action? In answer- ing this question, I argue that a defense of the liberal arts is a plausible candidate for grounding the possibility of “social justice,” understood as fulfilling an obligation to another in virtue of their intrinsically being owed that obligation. The liberal arts are not merely mechanical, special- ized disciplines; instead, (...) they embody a philosophical anthropology in which human beings are responsible, reflective and contemplative indi- viduals capable of intrinsically meaningful actions. It is to this end that I argue that Josef Pieper’s defense of the Geisteswissenschaften (liberal arts), and the philosophical anthropology which underlies it, is a plausi- ble way to ground social justice. I begin this chapter by outlining what the liberal arts are and how they have been challenged implicitly and explic- itly. I then outline a specific consequence of this explicated in Bryan Met- calfe’s dissertation Pedagogy of Mythos (2013). Having done this, I outline Pieper’s defense of the liberal arts, offer objections to his defense and respond to them. In the end, I conclude that while Pieper’s defense grounds a requisite philosophical anthropology for social justice, a contemporary defense of the liberal arts will always be needed, especially given contem- porary “sophistry.” I finish this chapter in the hope that this always- contemporary defense can be done with an aim to change, while main- taining peaceful, civil discourse. (shrink)

This chapter has two aims.* First, it exegetes Aquinas’ notion of peace (pax) in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John (14:7), which is centred around the definition, kinds and possibility of a perfected peace, as well as how love (amor) is the cause of peace. Second, rather than defending Aquinas’ position at length, I take the more humble task to defend one attractive, plausible feature of Aquinas’ position, showing how it reveals Medieval wisdom for the establishment of modern (...) peace. The position is two-fold: First, Aquinas’ position – at least how Josef Pieper (1904–97) reads him – that love is essentially the affirmation of the goodness of the existence of the other person. I read this as an empirically-supported, plausible source of peace. This thesis also reiterates Aquinas’ rejection of monadic theories of peace which hold that peace need only be outward (exterius) e.g., establishing socio-political peace by fighting for human rights, and not inward (interius) e.g., peace with oneself by cultivating the inner life (14, 7, 1962). Second, Aquinas’ position that love, and not other candidates e.g., tolerance, as the cause of peace, is an alternative, plausible position that merits critical attention. (shrink)

Phenomenology is linked to ancient philosophers as its roots can be traced from the Socratic era. Various other philosophers have also contributed to develop this field. As Socrates’ ‘skepticism’, Plato’s ‘idealism’, Aristotle’s ‘realism’, Locke’s ‘epistemology’, Hume’s ‘positivism’, and Kant’s ‘existentialism’ are all of the respective concepts which provided the very fundamentals of phenomenology. After these great philosophers, others have also played their significant role as milestones in this journey. In this work, researchers have reviewed the contributions of prominent phenomenologists in (...) historical order. The respective researchers have analyzed the difference and contrast between the approaches of different thinkers. On the basis of the review of selected thinkers by applying the method of relational analysis, researchers have concluded that with the passage of time phenomenology has also evolved and became more empirical as well as dialectic. (shrink)

The neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy set can efficiently handle the complex information in a decision-making problem because it combines the advantages of the neutrosophic cubic set and the hesitant fuzzy set. The algebraic operations based on Dombi norms and co-norms are more flexible than the usual algebraic operations as they involve an operational parameter. First, this paper establishes Dombi algebraic operational laws, score functions, and similarity measures in neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy sets. Then, we proposed Dombi exponential operational laws in (...) which the exponents are neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy values and bases are positive real numbers. To use neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy sets in decision-making, we are developing Dombi exponential aggregation operators in the current study. In the end, we present applications of exponential aggregation operators in multiattribute decision-making problems. (shrink)

Mike Shur’s Netflix-aired The Good Place has been a focus of philosophical attention by both popular-culture (written by pop-philosophers) and professional philosophers. This attention is merited. The Good Place is a philosophically rich TV show. The Good Place is based in three places: The Good Place, The Medium Place and The Bad Place. Every human being ends up in one of these places after they die based on their good points (points received for doing good actions e.g., chewing with your (...) mouth closed) and bad points (points received for doing bad actions e.g., virtue-signaling). Spoiler alert: by Season 4 of The Good Place (the fourth and final season), the main characters of the show – Eleanor, Chidi, Jason and Tahani – eventually reach the real Good Place (not the fake “Good Place” they had been tortured in by the human-formed, architect demon Michael in Season 1). However, when they reach the real Good Place after much struggle with ethical dilemmas, recognition of their moral flaws and moral development, they find themselves wanting to leave: they were unsatisfied with what The Good Place had to offer and wanted to be freed from it. This paper is concerned with the following questions: What accounts for their desire to be freed from The Good Place? What kind of freedom were they trying to achieve, and how did The Good Place represent it? Reflecting on these (and similar) questions, I argue that St. Thomas (who made it into The Good Place!) gives an ingenious and plausible answer: it was not merely that The Good Place was characterized by pure hedonism (a core deficit of The Good Place, identified by its creators), but more specifically that they had a positive desire for a freedom from temporal goods/experiences which do not satisfy the longings of the human heart and a freedom for the enjoyment of perfect freedom. While The Good Place ends in much perplexity, I argue that the freedom they desired was a rudimentary articulation of the freedom that St. Thomas identifies in heaven. (shrink)

The journey of phenomenology apparently is not so extensive, because it was the first half of the twentieth century when Edmund Husserl appeared as the founder of phenomenology. But, it has its very roots in the works of ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. This journey did not stopped here, as various phenomenologists have also been contributing in this field and establishing the linkage between phenomenology and symbolic interactionism as well as its very relation to research. Researchers in (...) the presented work have critically analyzed the contributions of prominent phenomenologists, i.e. from Hegel to Dreyfus and have applied relational analysis. The present study propounds that with the passage of time, the concept of phenomenology has been constructively evolving; in a sense that it has become more calculative. (shrink)

Philosophers have various responsibilities. Articulating these responsibilities, however, is contingent on what one means by “philosophy” and what philosophers have “expertise” in. Responsible philosophers must therefore interact with the following kinds of questions: What do philosophers have expertise in? What responsibilities do philosophers have as intellectual experts, and to whom are they responsible? What are philosophers supposed to know and be able to publicly convey? What is the role of a philosopher in contributing to local, institutional, and global responsibilities? This (...) paper concerns itself with defending and articulating one such responsibility philosophers have: the invitation to others to engage in philosophizing. Using Josef Pieper’s (1904-97) life and writings as paradigmatically embodying this invitational-approach to philosophy, this paper articulates – by means of stories from his life – how this approach to philosophizing is pedagogically effective for instructors and students of philosophy i.e., in making philosophy worthwhile, accessible and relevant. (shrink)

Before achieving universal acclamation as professor of philosophical anthropology at the University of Munich, German philosopher Josef Pieper (1904–1997) was research assistant under Johann Plenge at The Research Institute for Organization Theory and Sociology from 1928 to 1932. The fruit of Pieper’s work under Plenge was his 1931 Grundformen sozialer Spielregln, and two years later (in 1933) the simplified, second edition. For the first time in the English-speaking world, we have this second edition translated into English by Dan Farrelly under (...) the title Rules of the Game in Social Relationships. The text responds to Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch’s (1911–1991) “exaggerated affirmation of community” and consequent utopic desire for a (global) “conversion to a community.” The novelty of Pieper’s argument is that he, like Frisch, affirms community; however, Pieper does so without accepting communitarianism. The difference between Pieper and Frisch is that the latter’s exaggerated affirmation of community, that is, communitarianism, was able to theoretically justify political totalitarian consequences. (shrink)

In this article, complete synchronization and antisynchronization in the identical financial chaotic system are presented. The proposed control strategies depend on first-order sliding mode and adaptive integral sliding mode for complete synchronization and antisynchronization of the identical financial chaotic system. In the primary case, the system parameters should be known, and first-order sliding mode control is utilized for synchronization and antisynchronization while in the second case, the system parameters are considered unknown. An adaptive integral sliding mode control strategy is utilized (...) for synchronization and antisynchronization of the system considering the parameters unknown. The error system is changed into a particular structure containing a nominal part and several unknown terms to utilize the adaptive integral sliding mode control. Then, this error system is stabilized using integral sliding mode control. The stabilizing controller is usually developed based on the nominal part plus the compensator control part. To suppress the high-frequency oscillation phenomenon, smooth continuous compensator control can be used rather than conventional discontinuous control. The compensator controller along with the adapted law is derived such that the time derivative of the Lyapunov function becomes strictly negative. The effectiveness of the proposed method was tested through computer simulations. The proposed control strategies are verified for that Identical 4D hyperchaotic financial system to attain complete synchronization and antisynchronization along with the improved performance. (shrink)

What do we owe to those who are homeless? This ethical question, difficult both in theory and practice, is doubly difficult in the context of a global pandemic e.g., COVID-19. The traditional answer to this question appeals - in many variations - to becoming benefactors. As benefactors, the beneficiaries - those who are homeless - are better off in virtue of the benefactors' causing a degree of hardship upon themselves via monetary donations, providing food and shelter, et cetera. However, this (...) work argues that while there is a moral responsibility to become benefactors to those who are homeless, there is another moral responsibility not exhausted by the traditional answer. Following its rudimentary articulation in G.K. Chesterton's (1874-1936) essay "The Glass Walking-Stick" (1905), we both articulate and defend the thesis that we are morally obligated to actively participate or share in the suffering of those who are homeless. [Please note the Vol/Iss information is not correct - the link to access this article is currently unavailable]. (shrink)

Augustine’s commentary on Alypius’ curiositas at the gladiatorial show (6, 8, 13) recounts one of the most well-known stories in Augustine’s Confessiones. Despite the various interpretations or explications of the story in Augustinian scholarship, this paper argues that the story centres around Alypius’ curiositas as a function of Alypius’ preceding, morally deficient character. The author provides a fourfold, cumulative and philological case for this thesis. He develops this case by means of four evidences. First, Augustine uses the phraseology of animus (...) forti temperantia (6, 7, 12), the virtuous character describing Alypius when he had overcome his love of the gladiatorial games. Second, Augustine distinguishes between “supreme” and “a surface level” virtue, the existence of which is best explained by its application in Augustine’s remark that Alypius had been audax rather than fortis. Third, Augustine uses the language of talis in reference to Alypius, a term describing sorts or kinds of things or persons; in this context, this is the language of character. Finally, Augustine’s use of adhuc implies that there is a type of character Alypius had been, the remedy of which was to acquire an animus forti temperantia. The author then argues that Augustine envisions that the healing of curiositas (as a vice) is from God, especially when a virtuous character – the means by which one is able to overcome curiositas – itself is articulated as a gift of God’s grace. The response to such healing, then, is gratitude. The author concludes that this paper contributes both to a more comprehensive interpretation of the Alypius narrative (6, 8, 13) as well as contemporary scholarship on Augustine’s relation to (psychotherapeutic) healing. (shrink)