Koers (E-Journal)
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Die produktiwiteitsdimensie in minimumlone
Get PDFThe productivity dimension of minimum wagesAuthorities in South Africa are currently investigating the issue of introducing a national minimum wage in the economy. “Business South Africa", as a representative of the private sector, also made proposals in this regard at the beginning of November 1995. The minimum wage debate is really not a new one and much research has already been done on the economic merits of certain aspects regarding minimum wages. However, very little, if indeed anything, has been done concerning the ethical aspect of minimum wages. This article therefore addresses the issue of minimum wages from an ethical point of view. The discussion suggests that minimum wages cannot be paid in an economy without taking into consideration the productivity levels of the workers concerned. Productivity considerations must be taken into account in the determination of the level of minimum wages, or any other type of wages fo r that matter. There should certainly not be any \u27free lunch\u27 - especially not in a low-productivity economy
Ekonomiese groei versus herverdeling as metodes om armoede in Suid-Afrika te verlig
Get PDFEconomic growth versus redistribution as methods to relieve poverty in South AfricaThe most significant economic problems in South Africa are unemployment, concomitant with widespread poverty and an unequal distribution of income. One of the major mechanisms reducing poverty and inequality is the creation of employment opportunities resulting from economic growth. The sources of economic growth are capital accumulation (including all new investments in land, physical equipment and human resources), growth in the labour force, and technological progress. This article focuses on the issue of growth versus distribution. Job creation is investigated in terms of two paradigms, namely redistribution-through-growth (as associated with the NEM) and the growth-through-redistribution (as associated with the RDP). It is concluded that neither economic growth (as supported by the NEM) nor redistribution in itself (as supported by the RDP) is sufficient for job creation. An alternative or integrated approach, namely redistribution and growth, is recommended for South Africa
Die moontlikheid van Christelike onderwys in Suid-Afrika ná 1994
Get PDFThe possibility of Christian education in South Africa after 1994Conditions in South Africa have become decidedly unfavourable for the continued practice of Christian education in schools. A culture of fundamental human rights has become firmly established, which, among others, has resulted in the arrival of a secular-humanist educational dispensation. The issue facing the Christian community is how to exploit the prevailing conditions for the survival of Christian education in the system. The research reported in this article has revealed that the new system hinges on four principles, and that an understanding of these principles can afford scope and latitude for Christian education. The four principles are analysed in some detail with reference to a Constitutional Court decision and recent legislation
Etiese kodes in ondernemings: ontwikkeling en implementering
Get PDFEthical codes in corporations: development and implementationEthical codes wiihin corporations have become increasingly popular in corporations over the last three decades. In South Africa too this trend is visible, mostly as a result of the recommendations of the King Report on Corporate Governance and also as a result of the postmodern business culture which some corporations have opted for. In this article important choices which have to be made in the process of developing an ethical business code are identified, as well as the main options concerning these choices. The article is based on a literature study of research on ethical codes done in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa
Faith, scholarship and postmodernism
Get PDFFaith, Scholarship, and postmodernismPostmodernism represents perhaps the most important philosophical shift occurring in Western thought since the Enlightenment. It is thus crucial for Christian scholars to address the issues it raises. In the United States, Christian scholars have employed at least two different paradigms in discussing the relationship of faith and scholarship. In the integration model, scholars assume that faith and scholarship are two distinct entities that must be brought together, while the worldview model assumes that the scholar always begins with a narrative worldview that subsequently informs one\u27s scholarship. However, the worldview model holds that one\u27s worldview can be influenced and informed by one\u27s scholarship, life experiences, and cultural settings as well. After distinguishing between various kinds of postmodernism based upon their views of truth, unknowability, and cultural relativism - this article argues that worldview thinking may benefit from the academy’s embrace of postmodernism. Although Christian scholars have expressed a wide variety of opinions on postmodernism, I argue that postmodernism’s anti-foundationalism and recognition of the importance of perspectival thinking provide new opportunities for Christian scholarship
Against liberal pluralist political practice in South Africa
Get PDFIn this article I take issue with liberal pluralist political practice in South Africa. Multicultural civil society requires the recognition of cultural categories which modernity, in the shape of liberal pluralism, cannot accommodate and therefore ignore in the interests of fostering a single monocultural politics. In South Africa this trend has taken the usual route of difference-blind, assimilationisl political programmes aimed at nation building (under the slogan “one people - one nation"). I attempt to show that liberal pluralist practice can be adapted to make space for cultural and ethnic categories, and that a nation of a common political identity can be constructed out of this adaptation, but that a re-interpretaiion of liberal notions of liberty and equality is required
A Marxist interpretation of black attempts at political self-definition in South Africa
Get PDFIn this article I address the problem of political self-definition in South Africa. I attempt to trace and explain the rise of political consciousness among the black people of South Africa and indicate that the rise of political consciousness was expressed in a Marxist attempt at political self-definition This attempt has conceptual connections with communitarian politics, which explains why it was so easily accepted by black people. Black Consciousness made room for a wider political consciousness which included elements of traditional communitarian politics and elements of Marxism
Filosofíe en universitêre wetenskapsbeleid: caritas, sapientia, scientia
Get PDFWhat could a philosopher contribute to scholarship in terms of policy? It is possible to present a philosophical diagnosis of Modern Western culture, which determines scholarship internationally. Through this diagnostic analysis, an attempt is made to unmask the Hobbesian principles - in Girardian terms: "mimetic desire " - behind the economistic technocratic tendency of culture, and the transformation of scholarship into subjective power which imposes its structure onto "reality". It is argued that the university should row against this current, attempting to stabilize knowledge production, and to open up avenues to creative relational knowing and wisdom by adopting the caritas-principle as the basis of scholarship. Some practical consequences are drawn from this point of departure
Derdegolfbestuur: ’n prinsipiële besinning
Get PDFThird Wave management: A deliberation on the principlesThe postmodern understanding of reality revolves around the idea that there are no absolute values - everything is in flux. Postmodernism is a revolutionary epoch in man\u27s existence and implies a transitionary state from modernism to a new era of thinking. The science of management, being dynamic, is continually interpreting the status of presentday companies. Toffler proposed a managerial theory called Third Wave management. This theory embodies the current postmodern understanding of reality. While a superficial similarity exists between Third Wave management and the New Age Movement, it does not necessarily mean that Third Wave management shares the ideological and spiritual presuppositions of the New Age Movement. Third Wave management theory can be interpreted as part of a post-modernist paradigm which eventually precipitates in middle range management science (a mesoparadigm). Several managerial models and structures can thus be developed
Ou wyn in nuwe sakke: werk die ou etiek vir die nuwe geneeskunde?
Get PDFOld wine in new skins: Does the old ethics work for the new medicine?This article investigates and analyses the shifts that have taken place in the discourse about morality and ethics as they have developed in the history of Western medicine. The author argues that many of the forms of moral reasoning aligned to certain practices of medical care in the past have become inappropriate and obsolete for the challenges of a new, postmodern situation in medical care. He specifically investigates the consciousness of limits which is characteristic of the contemporary discourse on medical ethics, and in this regard analyses three manifestations of these limits, viz. the limits of competence, of compassion and of the rights ofphysicians