Lisa Tessman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199396146
- eISBN:
- 9780199396160
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199396146.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Chapter 1 introduces the concepts of impossible moral requirements and unavoidable moral failure by reviewing and rethinking the philosophical debates about whether or not any moral conflicts are ...
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Chapter 1 introduces the concepts of impossible moral requirements and unavoidable moral failure by reviewing and rethinking the philosophical debates about whether or not any moral conflicts are genuine moral dilemmas. When a moral conflict occurs and one chooses to fulfill one of the conflicting requirements, the other requirement thereby becomes impossible to fulfill. What happens to a moral requirement that becomes impossible in this way? The chapter claims that some moral requirements, those one can call negotiable, can be negotiated away in the course of resolving a conflict, while other moral requirements, which are non-negotiable, remain binding no matter how the conflict is resolved for the purpose of deciding which action to perform. After discussing moral value pluralism, the chapter argues that non-negotiable moral requirements—which concern significant values for which there can be neither substitutions nor compensations—remain binding even if they become impossible to fulfill.Less
Chapter 1 introduces the concepts of impossible moral requirements and unavoidable moral failure by reviewing and rethinking the philosophical debates about whether or not any moral conflicts are genuine moral dilemmas. When a moral conflict occurs and one chooses to fulfill one of the conflicting requirements, the other requirement thereby becomes impossible to fulfill. What happens to a moral requirement that becomes impossible in this way? The chapter claims that some moral requirements, those one can call negotiable, can be negotiated away in the course of resolving a conflict, while other moral requirements, which are non-negotiable, remain binding no matter how the conflict is resolved for the purpose of deciding which action to perform. After discussing moral value pluralism, the chapter argues that non-negotiable moral requirements—which concern significant values for which there can be neither substitutions nor compensations—remain binding even if they become impossible to fulfill.
Jenny Trinitapoli and Alexander Weinreb
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195335941
- eISBN:
- 9780199979080
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335941.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter summarizes key empirical patterns in the relationship between AIDS and religion in sub-Saharan Africa. It then elaborates on four patterns which are particularly pertinent for ...
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This chapter summarizes key empirical patterns in the relationship between AIDS and religion in sub-Saharan Africa. It then elaborates on four patterns which are particularly pertinent for understanding AIDS's past and prospective pathway. First, on most behavioral dimensions, differences across denominations and religious traditions are much weaker than differences by religiosity. Second, moral debates at the center of religious discourse about AIDS focus as much on how to treat HIV+ individuals and the duty to provide care as they do on sexual behavior. Third, there are marked differences between established authoritative discourses about AIDS and practice on the ground. Fourth, substantial Christian/Muslim differences in congregational caregiving beg important questions about these communities' structural predisposition to different types of socioeconomic and political development. The chapter closes with a simple but comprehensive claim: scholars and policy makers who ignore the profound ways in which religion affects AIDS in Africa do AIDS, and Africa, an injustice.Less
This chapter summarizes key empirical patterns in the relationship between AIDS and religion in sub-Saharan Africa. It then elaborates on four patterns which are particularly pertinent for understanding AIDS's past and prospective pathway. First, on most behavioral dimensions, differences across denominations and religious traditions are much weaker than differences by religiosity. Second, moral debates at the center of religious discourse about AIDS focus as much on how to treat HIV+ individuals and the duty to provide care as they do on sexual behavior. Third, there are marked differences between established authoritative discourses about AIDS and practice on the ground. Fourth, substantial Christian/Muslim differences in congregational caregiving beg important questions about these communities' structural predisposition to different types of socioeconomic and political development. The chapter closes with a simple but comprehensive claim: scholars and policy makers who ignore the profound ways in which religion affects AIDS in Africa do AIDS, and Africa, an injustice.
Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- March 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190900151
- eISBN:
- 9780190900182
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190900151.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy
People used to hold out great hope for a public square in which individuals put petty disputes aside and engage in rational discussion about important issues. Unfortunately, public discourse ...
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People used to hold out great hope for a public square in which individuals put petty disputes aside and engage in rational discussion about important issues. Unfortunately, public discourse today—especially on the internet—is full of adults behaving like poorly socialized children, acting out to show off for people they want to impress. In short, they engage in moral grandstanding, or the use of moral talk for self-promotion. Drawing from work in psychology, economics, and political science, this book develops an explanation of why people grandstand when they talk about morality and politics. Using the tools of moral philosophy, it argues that grandstanding is not just annoying, but morally bad. And finally, it explains what we can do to encourage people to support a public square worth participating in, by avoiding grandstanding.Less
People used to hold out great hope for a public square in which individuals put petty disputes aside and engage in rational discussion about important issues. Unfortunately, public discourse today—especially on the internet—is full of adults behaving like poorly socialized children, acting out to show off for people they want to impress. In short, they engage in moral grandstanding, or the use of moral talk for self-promotion. Drawing from work in psychology, economics, and political science, this book develops an explanation of why people grandstand when they talk about morality and politics. Using the tools of moral philosophy, it argues that grandstanding is not just annoying, but morally bad. And finally, it explains what we can do to encourage people to support a public square worth participating in, by avoiding grandstanding.
Calum Carmichael
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199246601
- eISBN:
- 9780191697616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246601.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
The archbishop of Canterbury recently condemned the views of the bishop of Edinburgh, who in his book Godless Morality had argued that God should be left out of the contemporary moral debate. The ...
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The archbishop of Canterbury recently condemned the views of the bishop of Edinburgh, who in his book Godless Morality had argued that God should be left out of the contemporary moral debate. The archbishop believed that the bishop was ignoring fundamental scriptural rights. This chapter argues that although the archbishop was correct to insist that God be kept in any discussion of morality, his assumption that the idea of God he attributes to the Bible is one in which the deity is on the side of good, the just, and the enlightened is, deeply flawed. It looks into the fact that the Bible figures so much in contemporary claims made about God. It shows that the role of God is such a multifaceted one that to ignore its richness is not just to distort the sources but irresponsibly to cast aside profound insights about the human condition that are as valid today as they were in biblical antiquity.Less
The archbishop of Canterbury recently condemned the views of the bishop of Edinburgh, who in his book Godless Morality had argued that God should be left out of the contemporary moral debate. The archbishop believed that the bishop was ignoring fundamental scriptural rights. This chapter argues that although the archbishop was correct to insist that God be kept in any discussion of morality, his assumption that the idea of God he attributes to the Bible is one in which the deity is on the side of good, the just, and the enlightened is, deeply flawed. It looks into the fact that the Bible figures so much in contemporary claims made about God. It shows that the role of God is such a multifaceted one that to ignore its richness is not just to distort the sources but irresponsibly to cast aside profound insights about the human condition that are as valid today as they were in biblical antiquity.
David Wastell and Sue White
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447322337
- eISBN:
- 9781447322351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447322337.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This chapter examines how ideas about early intervention and damage to the infant brain are making their way into child protection practice. It uses evidence from policy reports and government ...
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This chapter examines how ideas about early intervention and damage to the infant brain are making their way into child protection practice. It uses evidence from policy reports and government initiatives to illustrate how the notions of harm and ‘good enough’ parenting are changing.Less
This chapter examines how ideas about early intervention and damage to the infant brain are making their way into child protection practice. It uses evidence from policy reports and government initiatives to illustrate how the notions of harm and ‘good enough’ parenting are changing.
Gregory E. Kaebnick and Thomas H. Murray
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780262019392
- eISBN:
- 9780262314961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262019392.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
The Introduction contextualizes the purpose of the book, which is to discuss the ethical questions and concerns that arise in synthetic biology about the idea of creating a “synthetic cell.” ...
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The Introduction contextualizes the purpose of the book, which is to discuss the ethical questions and concerns that arise in synthetic biology about the idea of creating a “synthetic cell.” Synthetic biology has wider implications for the human relationship to the natural world, because discoveries like the M. mycoides cell at the J. Craig Venter Institute show a degree of human control over the basic mechanisms of life that humans have never attained before. Ideas that will be addressed in the book about the potential for synthetic biology and the moral and ethical debates around it are introduced.Less
The Introduction contextualizes the purpose of the book, which is to discuss the ethical questions and concerns that arise in synthetic biology about the idea of creating a “synthetic cell.” Synthetic biology has wider implications for the human relationship to the natural world, because discoveries like the M. mycoides cell at the J. Craig Venter Institute show a degree of human control over the basic mechanisms of life that humans have never attained before. Ideas that will be addressed in the book about the potential for synthetic biology and the moral and ethical debates around it are introduced.
Alan Forrest
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- February 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199568956
- eISBN:
- 9780191757617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199568956.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, World Modern History
The chapter examines the moral threat to slaving in the last years of the Ancien Régime with the rise of abolitionism, first in Britain, then more gradually, in France. Moral qualms about slavery had ...
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The chapter examines the moral threat to slaving in the last years of the Ancien Régime with the rise of abolitionism, first in Britain, then more gradually, in France. Moral qualms about slavery had first been expressed by Enlightened authors like Raynal and Condorcet; but the writings of some English abolitionists, notably Thomas Clarkson, proved equally powerful. However, in merchant circles, especially the chambers of commerce, slaves continued to be seen as a commodity, and the slaving interest was violently defended as the Revolution approached. The chapter examines pamphlets produced by both sides in the debate, and discusses the role of masonic lodges, clubs, and learned societies in the port cities themselves.Less
The chapter examines the moral threat to slaving in the last years of the Ancien Régime with the rise of abolitionism, first in Britain, then more gradually, in France. Moral qualms about slavery had first been expressed by Enlightened authors like Raynal and Condorcet; but the writings of some English abolitionists, notably Thomas Clarkson, proved equally powerful. However, in merchant circles, especially the chambers of commerce, slaves continued to be seen as a commodity, and the slaving interest was violently defended as the Revolution approached. The chapter examines pamphlets produced by both sides in the debate, and discusses the role of masonic lodges, clubs, and learned societies in the port cities themselves.
