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Consequentialist Ethics or Consequentialism in the Ethics?
No full textThe problem of the consequentialism in ethics is the subject of this paper. J. Nida-Rümelin, who is a professor of philosophy in Göttingen, criticizes in his book Critique of Consequentialism the following thesis: one acts in a rational way when one endeavors to achieve the best possible effects. In his opinion this thesis gives expression to the false consequentialist rationality which is often used in ethics. The author notices the following errors of the consequentialist rationality: it disturbs the persons’s integrity and one’s individual rights and excludes the possibility of the so-called coordination. This coordination expresses a possibility of the harmonization the individual action led (guided by) the consequentialist postulate on one hand and of the social action on the other hand (also led by consequentialist postulate).
We may say however that some intuitions of the consequentialist thesis are right. In fact everyone who acts, acts towards a certain effect. It does not mean however that one is obliged to act because one’s action achieves the best possible effects. One ought to act when is faced by the value. It depends upon the value which means should be chosen to reach it. So one calculates the means and not the effects. Moreover, before the calculation of the effects one ought to find out the relationship between the agent and the effects. Not all the effects are intended directly by the agent
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Discreet Charm of Shame
No full textCelem artykułu jest analiza kategorii wstydu z pominięciem dyskusji nad specyficznymi obszarami ludzkiego działania, którym towarzyszy wstyd. Problematyka wstydu najczęściej odnoszona jest do sfery ludzkiej seksualności, wydaje się jednak, że zwyczajowe wiązanie wstydu z jedną tylko sferą ludzkiej aktywności znacznie fenomen wstydu zubaża. Wstyd moralny uznaję za kategorię natury egzystencjalnej, to jest taką, która pozostaje bezpośrednio związana z wewnętrznym rozeznaniem konkretnej, przeżywającej wstyd osoby. Do tak rozumianego wstydu nie można nikogo nakłonić, nawet społeczno-kulturowy kontekst warunkujący uznawanie określonych zachowań za wstydliwe okazuje się niewystarczający – wstydzimy się wtedy, kiedy sami uznajemy, że określona sytuacja w naszym życiu nie powinna mieć miejsca. Mówienie komuś: „powinieneś się wstydzić”, nie przyniesie żadnego efektu, jeśli skarcona osoba nie myśli podobnie. Jakkolwiek wstyd jest uczuciem, którego chcielibyśmy w miarę możliwości uniknąć, pełni on niezwykle ważną rolę w naszym życiu moralnym.This article seeks to analyze the category of shame, leaving aside some specific areas of human activity attendant upon shame. It seems that the problem of shame is most often found in the area of human sexuality, a fact that impoverishes the category of shame. I treat moral shame as an existential category, which means that it is directly connected with the internal discernment of the person that is ashamed. Understood in such a manner, it is impossible to persuade a person to be ashamed; even the social and cultural contexts that identify concrete types of misbehavior as shameful turn out to be insufficient. We are ashamed when we ourselves believe that a particular situation should not have taken place. Meanwhile, when we tell someone “you should be ashamed,” it will bring about no effect if the person we are reprimanding does not think in the same way. Shame indeed is an emotion we would like to avoid, if possible, nevertheless it plays an extremely important role in our moral lives
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Pragmatic Ethics: Morality as a Habit
No full textThe paper discusses the basic assumptions proposed by John Dewey in his pragmatist ethics, posing at the same time a question whether pragmatist ethics satisfies the basic conditions of the ethical theory. The central category and criterion assumed in pragmatist ethics is a habit. Only good habits ensure good action. Habits are shaped by the milieu, and any attempts to change them entail a change in the conditions of the milieu. Permanent modification of habits is written in the basic goal of moral action, i.e. development. Dewey rejects the theory of ethics comprehended as an order of moral norms and evaluations settled in advance. The theory proposed by him does not satisfy the conditions that a standard ethical theory is supposed to meet. This does not mean that it cannot be called a theory. It is Dewey's programme to give up traditional tasks assigned to an ethical theory
Bioethics: One or Many? About the Possibility of Consensus in Bioethics
No full textThe birth of bioethics as a distinct branch of applied ethics is connected with extremely intensive extension of biomedical sciences in the second half of the 20th century. The problems which are connected with practical application of the achievements in contemporary medicine are not only of pragmatic but also of ethical character. The moral nature of these problems is specifically dealt with by bioethics. The interdisciplinary character of the research carried out in the field of bioethical analyses provokes a set of methodological problems; firstly, the problem of the nature and definition of bioethics. The development of bioethics is accompanied by a diversity of standpoints, often excluding each other. The authors who represent these mutually-excluding standpoints accept, at the point of departure, different ethical and anthropological principles. Thus we do not speak about one bioethics, but rather about many bioethical theories. The pluralism of bioethical standpoints is seen by some authors as an inheritance of postmodernism, some others are trying to look for general and universal bioethical principles. Such a consensus appears impossible due to the diversity of the conceptions of the person in contemporary bioethics. So the consensus in bioethics should be looked for rather in the field of anthropology
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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