Recognizing consumerism as an “illness of an empty soul”: A catholic morality perspective

Catholics personalist authors have been always concerned about consumerism, which is considered a radical dissatisfaction that compulsively tries to fill the emptiness of the inner self. It is a form of idolatry where malls are modern cathedrals. What are the antecedents and consequences of this moral approach, inducing consumers’ engagement in anti-consumption behaviors? This conceptual paper updates the literature review about this research topic, acknowledging the thoughts written in encyclical letters of three Popes of Catholic Church: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. This paper also proposes a new model of ethical decision-making model that aims to describe the implications of recognizing consumerism as a moral/spiritual issue according to the Catholic Church teaching. This paper provides useful insights into the influence of Catholic teaching on the adoption of anti-consumption behaviors.     

Ethics matters: the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting textbooks

This paper examines the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting (MA) education. Drawing on the work of Alisdair MacIntyre, it is argued that MA instruments such as performance measurement are not morally neutral, but instead bear moral implications. Therefore, this paper contends that MA students should be trained to take these moral implications into consideration alongside MA's technical aspects. A content analysis is carried out to examine the integration of ethical considerations in top-ranked MA textbooks. The findings indicate that these textbooks, particularly the introductory textbooks, marginally integrate ethical considerations. Furthermore, the findings point to the risk of detaching ethical considerations from the discussion of MA's technical aspects, which may weaken the potential of the ethical considerations and turn them into ‘afterthoughts’. Finally, this paper offers practical suggestions for the improvement of the integration of ethical considerations in MA education and concludes with directions for future research.     

论大学生道德建设

加强当代大学生道德建设,要求我们必须构建新的德育观念;制定科学的道德教育内容;完善道德评价机制;优化道德环境。     

An Exercise in Moral Philosophy: Seeking to Understand “nobody”

The late Hannah Arendt proposed that many, perhaps most monstrous deeds are not committed by moral monsters but by individuals who do not think. However, understanding the significance of activity of thinking as such requires a moral philosophy that transcends rational actor assumptions and instrumental reason centering, instead, on the conditions of self-knowledge. The ubiquitous and often lethal phenomenon of information distortions provides a vehicle for expanding our understandings of individual moral response-abilities in our modern times.     

Dispute and morality in the perception of societal risks: extending the psychometric model

The psychometric paradigm has identified two classic dimensions, dread and unknown risk, structuring the perception of risks. We propose that disputed risk and morality are two additional dimensions that are relevant to describe the cognitive representation of societal risks. Disputed risk captures two aspects of a societal risk: first, that consensus about scientific evidence is low, and second, that the public debate about the risk issue is highly controversial. Morality refers to judgments of reprehensibility, capturing the fact that societal risks frequently involve violations of moral principles. In a survey study employing two samples, a household sample (N = 418) and a student sample (N = 88), participants evaluated 24 societal risks on 23 psychometric scales intended to assess the four constructs dread, unknown risk, disputed risk, and morality. Principal component analyses yielded three dimensions: a common dimension of dread and morality, a disputed risk dimension, and unknown risk. We also assessed judgments of overall riskiness for all risks. Morality and dread both proved to be strong and distinctive predictors of perceived overall riskiness in regression analyses; disputed risk and unknown risk, in contrast, do not play a substantial role as predictors. These findings were replicated across both samples. We conclude that disputed risk constitutes a novel and unique psychometric dimension; morality, on the other hand, coincides with dread in the cognitive representation of societal risks, while still showing a distinct and strong effect in the prediction of risk judgments.     

关注网络道德教育,丰富校园文化内涵

网络的迅速发展改变了校园学习、生活和交往的环境,对在校生身心健康的发展产生了巨大的影响。网络像一把"双刃剑",它在丰富校园文化内涵的同时,也向我们提出了网络道德教育的新课题。关注网络道德教育,探讨网络环境下的教育新对策,已经刻不容缓。     

谈儒家师德观的主要特征及其对当代的启示

教师在从事教育教学活动中,必须遵守一定的行为规范和道德准则,包括教师的道德观念、道德修养、道德教育和道德评价。儒家学者在长期实践中形成了一整套严格的师德思想和独特的价值观念,倡导教师要博学多识、循循善诱、教书育人、为人师表、以德立教、率先垂范、以身作则等等。儒家师德观基于现代人的启示是:教师要具有人格魅力和榜样示范力量,要注重学生品德的培养和塑造,要重视师德建设与社会风尚的关系,要认清师德与学问的关系,要具有大众教育和英才教育的社会责任感,争做"经师",更要做好"人师"。     

论社会主义荣辱观的科学内涵

社会主义荣辱观的内容反映了中国应对价值虚无主义侵袭,建构确定性的道德谱系的诉求。社会主义荣辱观遵循唯物主义关于社会存在和社会意识的规律关系以及道德自身发展规律的要求,具有科学内涵,其深刻回答了中国社会成员应当坚持的基本道德价值。     

新时期高校师德建设研究

新时期高校要准确把握师德建设内涵,客观审视现状,从提高思想政治素质、树立职业理想、讲求职业道德和改进工作作风等方面提高师德建设实效性;要结合新情况,从建立长效机制和营造良好氛围方面增强师德建设创造性。     

The moral ecology of markets: on the failure of the amoral defense of markets

Many economists have defended capitalism; most have tried to do so within the self-imposed methodological constraint that economists should employ only empirical arguments, not normative ones. This essay examines three classic amoral defenses of capitalism—by Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, and Friedrich Hayek—and argues that each fails on its own terms, since each implicitly incorporates moral presumptions essential to the author's argument. Constructively, the essay proposes that no one can adequately endorse (or critique) markets without making a moral evaluation of their context—their “moral ecology.” Four issues are identified as necessarily addressed in every adequate evaluation of markets. The essay does not endorse any one position on these elements, but argues instead that seemingly incommensurable standpoints on markets—ranging from Marxist to libertarian—actually represent positions on the these four basic issues.