Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935) served as the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Erets Israel during the period of the British mandate. Rav Kook was a polymath, equally talented as a Talmudic legalist and rationalist philosopher, on the one hand, and as a mystic and poet, on the other. Today, we would say that he was both "left and right hemisphere." The present collection brings together in English translation Rav Kook's contributions to the field of Jewish history, though perhaps "historiosophy" would (...) be the better word. Rav Kook joins the ranks of those great Jewish thinkers who preceded him in interpretation of history: Maharal of Prague, Moses Hayyim Luzzatto and Zadok Hakohen of Lublin. If Rav Kook's philosophy were to be summed up in a single word, it would be: Kelaliyut or universality. Whereas most of us are held captive by individual events, Rav Kook has a great gift for the overview of history. He brings this gift to bear in his ability to provide perspective on the modern rebirth of Israel against the backdrop of mankind's ongoing spiritual evolution. In the latter regard, his vision has sometimes been compared to that of Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobido, or more recently Ken Wilber. Contained in this collection are Rav Kook's eulogy for Herzl and Rav Kook's remarks at the opening of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The essays are placed in historic context and provided with copious scholarly endnotes. (shrink)

The Mesillas Yesharim / Path of the Just was the masterpiece of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the great mystic, philosopher, sage, and saint. For centuries, this classic text for better living has been every man's primer for ideal life. Wherever there were Jews there was a well-thumbed Mesillas Yesharim. In this book, Rabbi Twerski applies the text and themes of Mesillas Yesharim to the everyday challenges of the 90s. He shows us how we can succeed in the quest for (...) a better life and in bettering ourselves. (shrink)

Here are the most significant ethical writings of the 12th-century philosopher, physician, and master of rabbinical literature—newly translated from the original sources by noted Maimonides scholars Raymond L. Weiss and Charles E. Butterworth. Among these are the first English versions of Eight Chapters and the Letter to Joseph. Other selections include Laws Concerning Character Traits, Treatise on the Art of Logic, and gleanings from Maimonides’ medical writings. Introduction. Notes.

Written in the 12th century in Arabic by a faithful Jewish man, "The Guide" is a work that explores the contradiction a very intelligent mind clearly saw between the tradition he was raised to believe inherently and the growing philosophy of Arabian and Western culture. In Maimonides' time, there was an emerging disparity between the Law and a new level of philosophical sophistication, which he attempts to bridge in this work, primarily through the use of metaphor, though also acknowledging this (...) method's limitations. "The Guide" follows the form of a three-volume letter to a student, which was quickly translated to Hebrew and spread throughout the known world and carefully read by Jews and non-Jewish philosophers alike well through the Middle Ages. This work was so successful in its organization and arguments that it has long been a classic of the Jewish religion and of the secular world of philosophy. (shrink)

-- 3. Hilchot ta'aniot = The laws of fasts and Hilchot Megillah vaChanukah = The laws of (reading) the Megillah and of Chanukah -- 5. Sefer kedushah = The book of holiness -- 6. Sefer hafla'ah = The book of utterances -- 7. Sefer zeraim = The book of agricultural ordinances -- 8. Sefer ha'avodah = The book of (temple) service -- 11. Sefer nezikin = The book of damages -- 12. Sefer kinyan = The book of acquisition -- 14. (...) Sefer shoftim = The book of judges. (shrink)

Aus der vielsprachigen Korrespondenz des Aufklärers, Metaphysikers, Religionsphilosophen und Literaturwissenschaftlers Moses Mendelssohn liegen bisher 1038 Briefe im Druck vor. Der Band "Einsichten" bietet eine repräsentative Auswahl, die Mendelssohns wissenschaftliche Vielseitigkeit, geistige Produktivität und menschliche Größe beleuchtet. Sie zeigt den "Sokrates des 18. Jahrhunderts" als bedeutenden Denker seiner Epoche und Wegbereiter wesentlicher Erkenntnisse und Entwicklungen.

The current study highlights Ghanaian universities’ heads of department’s ethical principles and the influence on the attainment of departmental goals. Two reputable universities were selected as the focal of the study. The purpose of the study was to motivate ethical leadership practices as essential ingredients for the attainment of departmental goals. The empirical data set was generated through a number of individual face-to-face interviews with thirty heads of departments in two universities in Ghana to explore their ethical practice. Thematic analysis (...) was used for the data analysis. It was found among others that ethical principles influence departmental goal attainment. The conclusion drawn from the findings brought to fore that leadership ethics was central to leaders’ goal attainment thus ought to be enforced. The current study is useful for educational researchers and policymakers, educationists and educational leaders such as heads of departments, dean of faculties/schools, lecturers and other stakeholders interested in educational leadership ethics. The paper can also inform policy on leadership studies and development and help design best practices of leadership in universities. It is recommended that educational leaders be mindful of ethical values since they influence the attainment of their goals. There is a novel leadership ethics and goal attainment framework developed by the researcher that speaks volumes regarding the subject-matter. It is a major contribution to scholarship in the leadership literature. (shrink)

The framework, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Ethics and Accomplishment (TPACKEA) provides an extension to a modified TPACK framework by adding ‘Ethics’ and ‘Accomplishment’. The reason is that further theoretical formulations and deployments need to be carried out on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) if TPACK research is to harmonize and constructively strengthen the field of blended/full online learning in higher education. It is a qualitative study that employed in-depth interviews for data collection. The data collection procedure of this study employed (...) a judgmental sampling of twenty (20) lecturers who used Sakai/MOODLE Learning Management System (LMS) for teaching. It was observed that the extension of the modified TPACK framework to include ‘Ethics’ and ‘Accomplishment’ needs was in practical terms suitable and necessary for effective teaching and learning in higher education. It has been recommended that universities provide education on academic ethics and appropriate behaviours, sponsor lecturers in their academic careers and create an enabling environment for teaching and learning so that lecturers will get to the state of accomplishment in a blended learning milieu. (shrink)

The study sought to empirically examine the opposing encounter of the social media and suggests regulatory initiatives that will arrest the dilemmas. Eighteen academics and professionals were thoroughly interviewed. Thematic analysis was employed for the data analysis. It was found out that although there are great roles played by the online social media in sectors including social and community relations, business, education and politics, there are also several forms of abuses of the social media. The unprofessional behaviours of some users (...) of the online social media and poor media ethics need urgent management. Implications for moral and ethical, educational and business policy have also been discussed. The paper suggests ways to regulate the abuses of the social media, including censorship of information and controlled measures against those who abuse the use, and also exposes users to the benefits associated with the social media. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to provide a general discussion about the legitimacy of corporate social responsibility. Given that social responsibility projects entail costs, it is not always obvious under what precise conditions managers will have a responsibility to engage in activities primarily designed to promote societal goals.In this paper we discuss four distinct criteria for evaluating the legitimacy of corporate projects for institutionalizing social responsibility.

Wayne Norman and Chris MacDonald launch a strong attack against Triple Bottom Line or 3BL accounting in their article “Gettingto the Bottom of ‘Triple Bottom Line’” (2004). This response suggests that, while limitations to 3BL accounting do exist, the critique of Norman and MacDonald is deeply flawed.

Vier Untersuchungsfelder sind besonders hervorzuheben, die sich auf folgende Fragen konzentrieren: Was ist der Grund des Vergnügens? Welche Rolle spielt dabei die Konstitution des Kunstwerks, und wer kann es erschaffen? Wo verläuft die Grenze ästhetischer Wertschätzung? Welchen Einfluß hat die noch junge Wissenschaft der Ästhetik auf die Erkenntnistheorie und Morallehre? Mit seiner Theorie der vermischten Empfindungen, die eine Differenzierung zwischen der Beschaffenheit des schönen oder häßlichen Objekts, der künstlerischen Produktion und der Wirkung des Kunstwerks auf den Betrachter zuläßt, versucht Mendelssohn, (...) Antworten auf diese Fragen zu formulieren. Im Rückgriff auf die so erfaßbaren psychologischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten ästhetischer Wahrnehmung konzipiert er die Ästhetik als Integrationsmoment, das die verschiedenartigen und bisweilen gegenläufigen Bestrebungen, Gefühle und Erkenntnisse des Menschen zu einem harmonischen Ganzen vereinen kann.Die hier zusammengestellten Schriften umfassen die grundlegenden Texte zu Mendelssohns Ästhetik. (shrink)

"Genocide is a problem: not only the terrible fact of mass death, but also how the relatively new idea and law of genocide organises and distorts our thinking about civilian destruction. Taking the normative perspective of civilian immunity from military attack, this book argues that the implicit hierarchy of international law, atop which sits genocide as the "crime of crimes," blinds us to other types of humanly caused civilian death, like bombing cities, the "collateral damage" of missile and drone strikes, (...) blockades, and sanctions. In other words, talk of genocide functions ideologically to detract from systematic violence against civilians perpetrated by governments. The Problems of Genocide also contends that this violence is the consequence of "permanent security" imperatives: the striving of states, and armed groups seeking to found states, to make themselves invulnerable to threats. To solve the problems of genocide, this book proposes replacing it with permanent security, which should be criminalized"--. (shrink)

Philosophers generally agree that meaningful ethical statements are universal in scope. If so, what sense is there to speak about a business ethics particular to Judaism? Just as a Jewish algebra and a Jewish physics are contradictions in terms, so too, is the notion of a particularly Jewish business ethics. The goal of this paper is to deny the above assertion and to explore the potentially unique characteristic of a Jewish business ethics. Ethics, in the final analysis, is not like (...) algebra or physics. Specifically, it is argued here that – in terms of substance – Jewish business ethics differs from secular approaches in three very specific ways. Jewish ethics: (1) recognizes God as the ultimate source of value, (2) acknowledges the centrality of the community, (3) and holds out the promise that men and women (living in community) can transform themselves. We define Jewish ethics as the interpretation of the written and oral Torah to determine what God commands us to be and to do. The paper carefully explores this definition and examines its specific implications for modern business ethics. (shrink)

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in his recent book Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (2007), rejects outright the call for increased corporate social responsibility. He believes that social responsibility advocates are wasting resources and efforts on a doomed project. This article suggests that while Reich raises several interesting concerns in his counter-intuitive book, especially about the rise in corporate political power, ultimately his argument is unconvincing. Worse yet, a careful reading suggests that Reich does (...) not contemplate fully what it is he is asking business and society to give up in his call to jettison corporate social responsibility. The notion of corporate social responsibility is itself an extremely, valuable, and hard-won social asset. It is a vehicle for promoting transparency, more nuanced accountability, integrity, better communication, mutually beneficial exchange, and sensible development. In providing a language and vocabulary to critique business from both inside and outside its boundaries, it has becomes a necessary condition for business ethics and modern capitalism. It is especially important in a world of increasing global economics. Nevertheless, it is an extremely fragile asset. Books, like Reich's Supercapitalism, that dismiss corporate social responsibility in such a facile way, are dangerous and risky in ways that perhaps even the authors themselves are unaware. (shrink)

Die drei Dialoge des »Phädon« markieren einen Höhe- und Wendepunkt in der Geschichte der philosophischen Psychologie. Die wirkungsgeschichtliche Bedeutung des Hauptwerkes des »Klassikers der rationalen Psychologie« (Dilthey) reicht weit über einen neuen Beweis der Unsterblichkeit der Seele hinaus.