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。     

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.     

边远县域公民道德建设研究——以西充县为例

边远县域具有比较独特的文化态貌，其道德状况也呈现一些与发达区域道德状况相异的特征。以四川西充县为样本，解析边远县域公民道德和公民道德建设现状，分析在县域公民道德建设中存在的一些问题，提出县域公民道德建设思路。认为边远县域公民道德建设可以采用伦理、教育、政治和文化四种方式，按照《公民道德建设实施纲要》的要求，结合区域文化特点与优势道德资源，全方位把握公民道德建设的目标、内容及实施过程。     

The Subpoena of Ethnographic Data

This essay outlines the author's experience of having his ethnographic data subpoenaed. It outlines the challenges of subpoena's to research, and suggests four solutions: (1) Apply for and utilize the National Institutes of Health certificate of confidentiality by asking health‐related questions over the course of one's research; (2) Establish a task force that articulates clear ethical guidelines for ethnographic research, with attention to the conditions wherein ethnographers can break confidentiality (and might also comply with subpoenas). These ethical guidelines should then be made clear to research subjects as a part of informed consent processes; (3) Demand that institutions (institutional review boards) that require confidentiality as a condition of research be required to defend that confidentiality through the office of the general counsel; (4) Socialize the cost of subpoenas, wherein scholars can be part of an insurance pool that will defend them in the event of a subpoena and thereby defend the general enterprise of ethnographic research.     

Making Professional Decisions in Research: Measurement and Key Predictors

The professional decision-making in research (PDR) measure was administered to 400 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded and industry-funded investigators, along with measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, compliance disengagement, impulsivity, work stressors, knowledge of responsible conduct of research (RCR), and socially desirable response tendencies. Negative associations were found for the PDR and measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, and compliance disengagement, while positive associations were found for the PDR and RCR knowledge and positive urgency, an impulsivity subscale. PDR scores were not related to socially desirable responding, or to measures of work stressors and the remaining impulsivity subscales. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, lower moral disengagement scores, higher RCR knowledge, and identifying the United States as one’s nation of origin emerged as key predictors of stronger performance on the PDR. The implications of these findings for understanding the measurement of decision-making in research and future directions for research and RCR education are discussed.     

What drives a tough call: Determining the importance of contingency factors and individual characteristics in communication executives’ stance decision-making through a conjoint analysis

To further the understanding of how communication executives make tough calls in times of organizational-public conflict, we use a conjoint analysis to identify key drivers for organizational stance decision-making. This is the first-ever conjoint analysis applied to advancing the contingency theory of strategic conflict management by examining the relative importance of key contingency factors as determined by practitioners with varied individual characteristics. This study investigates: 1) the relevant importance of and dynamics between three key contingency factors (i.e., external threats, organizational characteristics, and dominant coalition characteristics); 2) the influence of individual characteristics (e.g., gender, experience, and personal ethics) in stance decision-making process; and 3) how different types of organizational stances (i.e., general stance, action-based accommodation, and qualified-rhetoric-mixed accommodation) are determined by these contingency factors and individual characteristics in different conflict situations. Results generated among our communication executive participants include: individual characteristics (i.e., gender, ethics and social responsibility, whistleblowing tendencies, and over 20 years in the communications field) are influential for their strategic conflict management decision-making. Implications for refining the contingency theory and unearthing complex public relations decision-making processes via novel statistical techniques are discussed.     

Anticipated Ethics and Regulatory Challenges in PCORnet: The National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network

PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, seeks to establish a robust national health data network for patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. This article reports the results of a PCORnet survey designed to identify the ethics and regulatory challenges anticipated in network implementation. A 12-item online survey was developed by leadership of the PCORnet Ethics and Regulatory Task Force; responses were collected from the 29 PCORnet networks. The most pressing ethics issues identified related to informed consent, patient engagement, privacy and confidentiality, and data sharing. High priority regulatory issues included IRB coordination, privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, and data sharing. Over 150 IRBs and five different approaches to managing multisite IRB review were identified within PCORnet. Further empirical and scholarly work, as well as practical and policy guidance, is essential if important initiatives that rely on comparative effectiveness research are to move forward.     

杜甫亲情诗的情感特征和情感渊源

杜甫的亲情诗不仅数量多，而且颇有个性色彩，其情感的广阔性、深重性、真挚性非常鲜明。这一特色的形成，一方面是因为杜甫深受儒家文化尤其是儒家传统伦理道德观的影响，另一方面，也与其漂泊的人生经历和每况愈下的健康状况有关。