中国社会传统家庭伦理父子关系的现代扬弃

中国封建社会伦理之中,积淀了丰富的以＂尊亲＂、＂顺亲＂、＂养亲＂等为主要内容的父子伦理精义;在中国社会结构由金字塔型演变为橄榄型、步入了后喻社会时代的今天,封建社会时代形成的许多父子伦理内容和沟通模式已不适合当今社会时代的发展要求。在今日中国社会伦理系统之中,应该建立新型的父子伦利（互利）关系。这既需要借鉴现代社会的＂互喻＂模式,又要采补传统伦理的精髓内容。     

论血缘文化的锁定及其突破——中国传统伦理的近现代转换

血缘是中国文化的最本质要素,它建构、锁定了以家庭为核心,以"家国一体"为主要构架的中国伦理;在承载几千年的历史使命之后,在遭遇西方文明的碰撞之时,血缘文化及其建构的中国伦理在合法性上遭受了质疑;从过去的封建小农经济到今天的大工业社会,中国伦理的失范与重建成为一代代学人所共同关注的核心。     

伦理视角下农业的二重特性及农作“时”观念的省思

农业是人类生存和发展的基础和支撑,也是人类最早开始的有计划、有组织从事的社会活动。一方面,与其他人类活动不同,农业需要与大自然打交道,农业生产是在自然场所中显示和展开,自然亲自参与了农业生产的始终。另一方面,从对人类发展的推动来看,农业是人们最早为着满足自身生存需要而从事的一种社会活动。既然农业是作为人类的一种社会活动而存在,它必然体现了人的各方面社会特征和价值。与人参与其他社会活动涉及伦理一样,农业不但具有一般伦理的特性,而且因为它同时涉及人与自然的关系,于是决定了其伦理关注与其他人类活动不同,不只是关注人与人之间的伦理关系,更主要的是关注人与自然之间的伦理关系。农业关注的对象不是人,乃是有生命特性的农作物,这些农作物或者动物具备生命的类特征,而且这些生命特征出于自然,具有自然属性,这一点也决定了人在生产农作物的时候需要遵循自然的规范原则,由此亦决定了农业伦理需要在规范伦理学的框架中加以考察和认知。同时,农业是为着人类生存的需要而产生的,人对农业的判断又显示出功利性,使农业呈现功利性伦理的特征。因而,农业伦理具备了伦理学理论的各个层面,甚至将一些看似矛盾的伦理学理论恰如其分地整合在一起。农业伦理不只是单方面属于哪一个伦理理论,而是融合了伦理学中典型的两个流派即功利主义和义务论。在这种融合中,农业显明出一方面以支撑人的生存为目的,另一方面需要适应自然的客观性特征,于是农业伦理也随之在这两个层面反映出其独具特色的差异性。农业伦理的二重性不只是学理上的一种考量和认定,而且是具体地显明在农业实践之中,农业耕作中的"时"观念就是农业二重特性的实践显现,使农业伦理成为与具体实践相结合的实践理性。     

Family court ordered “reunification therapy:” junk science in the guise of helping parent/child relationships?

This Commentary addresses the issue of the ethics of mental health professionals recommending or doing what family courts and some others are calling “Reunification Therapy.” This is often being recommended and used across the country, and ordered by family courts, as if it has a scientific basis for successful therapy between an estranged parent and a child who does not wish to re-engage with that parent, often where the child has alleged the parent has abused them physically, sexually, or psychologically. This Commentary challenges the ethics and validity of such approaches and programs.     

Minimal Risk in Pediatric Research: A Philosophical Review and Reconsideration

Despite more than thirty years of debate, disagreement persists among research ethicists about the most appropriate way to interpret the U.S. regulations on pediatric research, specifically the categories of “minimal risk” and a “minor increase over minimal risk.” Focusing primarily on the definition of “minimal risk,” we argue in this article that the continued debate about the pediatric risk categories is at least partly because their conceptual status is seldom considered directly. Once this is done, it becomes clear that the most popular strategy for interpreting “minimal risk”—defining it as a specific set of risks—is indefensible and, from a pragmatic perspective, unlikely to resolve disagreement. Primarily this is because judgments about minimal risk are both normative and heavily intuitive in nature and thus cannot easily be captured by reductions to a given set of risks. We suggest instead that a more defensible approach to evaluating risk should incorporate room for reflection and deliberation. This dispositional, deliberative framework can nonetheless accommodate a number of intellectual resources for reducing reliance on sheer intuition and improving the quality of risk evaluations.     

Rights discourses in relation to education of people with intellectual disability: towards an ethics of care that enables participation

In this paper we argue that human rights approaches for intellectually disabled people have failed to recognise the complexity of rights claims made by and on behalf of this group. Drawing on a research project into discourses of education for intellectually disabled people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa we discern three rights discourses; namely, rights to full participation, rights to special services and rights to protection. These draw off a social model, a medical model and a protective model, respectively. We note that these discourses may be set up in contestation with each other. However, we argue that they can be seen as complementary if viewed within an ethics of care that enables participation. Within this conceptualisation, participation is viewed within relations of care but is subject to a critique that examines the role of context and disciplinary power in constructing dependency.     

Judging public relations: An analysis of an Israeli court judgement on a defamatory and negative campaign

This article analyzes a recent court ruling in Israel and argues that it has major implications for the public relations community internationally. To date, the public relations literature on legal judgments has focused on cases where media channels were sued for defamation. The article uses a 2012 Israeli court decision that may be unique in ruling out defamatory intentions in a public relations plan that was part of a lawsuit. The defendant in this case was not the media but rather a company that hired a public relations firm to, according to the judgement, conduct a defamatory campaign against a competitor. Although this is just one case in one country, the article also considers some of the wider implications for the profession and for democracy.     

Otherness and empathy—implications of Lévinas ethics for social work education

This paper examines the concept of otherness in Lévinas’ ethics and raises related issues regarding the limits of empathy on philosophical grounds. This study also identifies and discusses a number of linguistic, social and cultural barriers that can establish such limits on practical grounds. This paper raises various considerations for social work educators teaching empathy. Such considerations suggest that social work educators could adopt a stance of ‘understanding and not understanding’ and a dialectical approach in using knowledge and skills. Furthermore, this study challenges the common assumption that empathy leads to compassionate action. Apart from empathy, moral commitment is necessary to engage in such action. This article discusses such moral commitment in relation to Lévinas’ notions of face and responsibility that place ethics before knowledge. Hence, the present study brings the attention of social work educators back to the importance of nourishing virtue and the moral character of students.     

From Codes to Contextual Collaborations: Shifting the Thinking About Ethics in Social Work

In this article, the authors argue that the current emphases in social work on codes, standards, and decision-making models are insufficient to the task of ensuring ethical relationships between workers and clients. Three fundamental assumptions that underpin codes and standards are analyzed. The authors then explore the nature of ethical relationships and demonstrate how codes and standards, in their current form, do not address the complexity and contextuality of the social work relationship. After considering why the profession relies so heavily on codes and standards, they call for a re-thinking of ethical relationships, offering ideas and recommendations for those relationships.