Journal articles: 'Moral and ethical aspects of Social conflict' – Grafiati (2024)

Abstract:

The basic principle for the exercise of professional social work is the respect for human rights and social justice. The social worker's activity is associated with high expectations on the part of society, although the moral standards of society are typically on a lower level. The legislative environment or norms governing the decisions of social workers are determined by legislation as well as generally applicable ethical norms. In practice, this creates ethical dilemmas consisting in the acceptance of a hierarchy or priorities of individual norms, whereas the adopted and applied values and norms can be counterproductive. This situation may cause a conflict between professional ethics and valid social norms. The following article tackles the issues in social work arising from the stereotypes surviving in society and a lack of competence of many social workers.

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Background: Nursing students on clinical placements as part of their professional training are routinely faced with situations involving ethical conflicts. The initial act of perceiving a situation as causing an ethical dilemma is the result of both the students’ personal values, drawn from their culture and families, and of the professional knowledge and values that they have acquired through training and experience. Objectives: Nursing students’ experiences on clinical placements in primary care settings were investigated in order to identify situations that they perceived as involving ethical conflict and describe the elements they took into consideration during their decision-making processes in these situations. Methods: The research design was qualitative descriptive case study. Around 50 students from three different intakes to a nursing degree answered a questionnaire and discussed it in focus groups. Ethical considerations: The study was designed in accordance with the principles guiding research with human beings and was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee. Results: Synthesised into two principal axes: (a) ethical conflicts in primary care, linked with the domains of working processes, professional nursing ethics and human and social rights and (b) students’ decision-making processes – realisation, reflection and intervention. Conclusion: The student nurses saw themselves both as actors and spectators in situations involving ethical problems and demanding moral deliberation, demonstrating the ability to base their arguments soundly. They tended to emphasise the possibilities offered by dialogue and that different ethical values must be respected to find fair solutions to ethical problems.

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The article outlines the concepts "nurse", "professional ethics of nurses." The professional ethics of nurses has been defined as a component of medical ethics which studies moral consciousness, moral and ethical aspects of professional activity, moral principles and values that regulate the moral relationship between s nurse and s patient, the patient's family, other members of the medical community and community. The analysis of foreign and Ukrainian experience of formation of nurses’ professional ethics gives grounds to characterize the quality as a set of interrelated cognitive, praxeological, communicative components; their presence allows to interact productively with the professional and social environment on the basis of professionally important ethical knowledge, skills, professional important qualities that are aimed at the effective organization of the medical-preventive process and the solution of professional tasks. The content of the professional ethics of a future nurse consists of ethical categories and professionally important ethical qualities such as: professional duty, responsibility, dignity, conscience, honor, respect, mercy, empathy, tolerance.The peculiarities of educational programs of future licensed younger nurses training (LPN) in the United States aimed at the formation of professional ethics have been outlined. A review of the linguistic- cultural aspect of the formation of nurses’ professional ethics at American higher education institutions has been conducted. The experience of classes on "Nursing Ethics", "Foreign Language" at Cherkasy Medical Academy has been presented; they are aimed at understanding the world of the profession, the culture of communication in medical community, ethical behavior, moral relations, prevention of conflict situations, and provision of psychological support.

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It is inevitable that physicians in training will be exposed to behavior by supervising physicians that the trainees find unethical. By nature these events are rare. It is imperative within any residency training program that resident physicians have immediate access to a meaningful review process in cases of moral conflict with supervising physicians. Here, I discuss the reasons why this issue must be recognized and what it entails. Most important, I discuss the procedural steps that are essential for the training program to make this a meaningful safety mechanism in residency training. This issue is central to promoting conscious development of professionalism in clinical training. Physicians in training, especially resident physicians, need to be taught to value and protect their own professional integrity. The responsibility for fulfilling this ethical duty falls on the individual residency programs as well as the administrative organizations that regulate residency training. Thus, ensuring this process of review is an organizational ethical imperative. Availability of this process is fundamental to promoting and ensuring ethical behavior by all participants in residency training.

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Despite the permanent interest of scientists in the issue of corruption, the nature of its basics as an anti-social phenomenon remains understudied. As such principle, the paper considers the conflict of interests of participants in various public relations related to the exercise and abuse of power. The paper aims at showing the nature of the conflict of interests as the basis of such anti-social phenomenon as corruption, identifying subjective and objective causes of corruption. The authors analyze the gaps and weaknesses of current anti-corruption legislation and the practice of its application. The paper gives specific examples of a conflict of interests in various corruptogenic spheres and manifestations, for instance, in the sphere of economic entities’ participation in tenders announced by state and municipal authorities. The authors consider the legal and moral ways of preventing conflicts, the role of ethical norms in preventing conflicts, the legal framework of their prevention and resolution, the ratio of the conflict of interests and the employee’s qualification, the relationship between the material and personal interest, the activities of commissions for preventing a conflict of interests guaranteeing the role of written notification of a conflict of interests, special aspects of the notification procedure, and the consequences of non-compliance with the written notification. The study shows that a conflict of interests and corruption risks are eliminated both through legal means and moral ones, whereby the moral qualities of leaders and the requirements imposed on the heads of state and municipal authorities are of particular importance. Nepotism, increasingly prevalent in power and management structures (kinship and clientelism), is a common form of a conflict of interests, which undermines the moral foundations of public and municipal service.

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ObjectiveWe sought to understand ethics and education needs of emergency nurses and physicians in paediatric and adult emergency departments (EDs) in order to build ethics capacity and provide a foundation for the development of an ethics education programme.MethodsThis was a prospective cross-sectional survey of all staff nurses and physicians in three tertiary care EDs. The survey tool, called Clinical Ethics Needs Assessment Survey, was pilot tested on a similar target audience for question content and clarity.ResultsOf the 123 participants surveyed, 72% and 84% of nurses and physicians fully/somewhat agreed with an overall positive ethical climate, respectively. 69% of participants reported encountering daily or weekly ethical challenges. Participants expressed the greatest need for additional support to address moral distress (16%), conflict management with patients or families (16%) and resource issues (15%). Of the 23 reported occurrences of moral distress, 61% were associated with paediatric mental health cases. When asked how the ethics consultation service could be used in the ED, providing education to teams (42%) was the most desired method.ConclusionsNurses report a greater need for ethics education and resources compared with their physician colleagues. Ethical challenges in paediatric EDs are more prevalent than adult EDs and nurses voice specific moral distress that are different than adult EDs. These results highlight the need for a suitable educational strategy, which can be developed in collaboration with the leadership of each ED and team of hospital ethicists.

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Background: Midwives are required to make ethical decisions with the support of respective codes of professional ethics which provide a framework for decision making in clinical practice. While each midwife should be ethically aware and sensitive to the ever-changing issues within reproduction, few empirical studies have examined the views of student midwives in relation to reproductive ethical dilemmas. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore midwifery students’ reactions to a number of ethical dilemmas relating to women’s experiences of reproductive decision making. Design: A series of focus groups were conducted with midwifery students who were asked to discuss five culturally significant scenarios including issues of knowledge acquisition regarding methods of family planning, removal or insertion of an intrauterine device, and abortion. Setting: A University in Turkey was the setting for this study. Participants: Purposeful sampling was adopted which resulted in five focus groups with a total of 57 midwifery students. Ethical considerations: The study was reviewed and granted formal ethical approval by an ethical committee at the Faculty of Health Science in Atatürk University. The head of the Faculty of Health Science approved the investigation. The participants received both oral and written information about the study and they gave their consent. Results: Five themes were identified from the analysis of the focus group data related to all five scenarios. These themes were ‘the right to information’, ‘choice and protection’, ‘parental rights and welfare of the women’, ‘make a decision’ and ‘women rights and sexual abuse’. Conclusion: This study has shown that while students respected women’s choice, they also expressed great ambivalence in some situations when personal values conflict with dominant societal beliefs and professional ethics. A focus on ethics education to include human rights is suggested as a means to enable students to explore their own social-value judgements, and as a means to limit the possible development of ethical confusion and moral distress.

Abstract:

Clinical ethics consultation (CEC) not only interprets moral issues at the bedside and is not restricted to giving support for the “technical” handling of these moral issues, but it has to substantively address moral values, norms, and conflicts in the process of discussing cases and problems. We call this the normative dimension and use normative in the sense of embracing moral values and convictions of persons and groups, norms, and relevant professional and ethical guidelines as well as legal frameworks. The roles and activities of the consultant as a person and the quality of CEC as a process are discussed in the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities’ (ASBH) Core Competences for Healthcare Ethics Consultation.

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Fertility treatments raise a range of social and ethical issues regarding self-identity for family, sexual intimacy, and the interests and welfare of potential children. Eggs and sperm are combined to produce fertilized eggs. These eggs are then implanted as embryos and grow into viable fetuses, which are carried by the original mother or a surrogate mother. This artificial form of conception can challenge religious values and family structures. In-vitro fertilization (IVF) can be considered either as a medical miracle or playing with divinity. What obligation do medical professionals have to infertile women and to what extent? The bioethical dilemma of IVF use encompasses different moral issues for all involved in the process. Ethical issues address respect for personal autonomy, access and care, and the duty of the health care provider to be compassionate to persons whose actions and moral values may be different from their own. Health care providers need to impart empathy, understanding and sensitivity towards this unique type of patient population. The conflict for those treating patients who are trying to conceive by IVF includes respect for personal autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice, utility and the ethics of care. As a registered nurse in a postpartum hospital unit, I have seen antepartum and postpartum women involved with this new technology. I have worked with mothers and their partners as they experience different levels of anxiety and hope for the future. There is an underlying psychosocial connection with patients who undergo IVF treatments. The purpose of this article is to explore the ethical use of IVF on older women. Is this type of biotechnolgy being applied for the right reasons and for the best patient population?

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Background: The professional values presented in ethical guidelines of the Norwegian Nurses Organisation and International Council of Nurses describe nurses’ professional ethics and the obligations that pertain to good nursing practice. The foundation of all nursing shall be respect for life and the inherent dignity of the individual. Research proposes that nurses lack insight in ethical competence and that ethical issues are rarely discussed on the wards. Furthermore, research has for some time confirmed that nurses experience moral distress in their daily work and that this has become a major problem for the nursing profession. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to obtain a deeper understanding of the ethical challenges that nurses face in daily practice. The chosen research questions are “What ethical challenges do nurses experience in their daily practice?” Research design: We conducted a qualitative interview study using a hermeneutical approach to analyzing data describing nurses’ experiences. Ethical considerations: The Norwegian Social Science Data services approved the study. Furthermore, the head of the hospital gave permission to conduct the investigation. The requirement of anonymity and proper data storage in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki was met. Method and results: The context for the study comprised three different clinical wards at a university hospital in Norway. Nine qualified nurses were interviewed. The results were obtained through a systematic development beginning with the discovery of busyness as a painful phenomenon that can lead to conflicts in terms of ethical values. Furthermore, the consequences compromising professional principles in nursing care emerged and ended in moral blindness and emotional immunization of the healthcare providers. Emotional immunization occurred as a new dimension involving moral blindness and immunity in relation to being emotionally touched.

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Background: Ambulance professionals often address conflicts between ethical values. As individuals’ values represent basic convictions of what is right or good and motivate behaviour, research is needed to understand their value profiles. Objectives: To translate and adapt the Managerial Values Profile to Spanish and Swedish, and measure the presence of utilitarianism, moral rights and/or social justice in ambulance professionals’ value profiles in Spain and Sweden. Methods: The instrument was translated and culturally adapted. A content validity index was calculated. Pilot tests were carried out with 46 participants. Ethical considerations: This study conforms to the ethical principles for research involving human subjects and adheres to national laws and regulations concerning informed consent and confidentiality. Findings: Spanish professionals favoured justice and Swedish professionals’ rights in their ambulance organizations. Both countries favoured utilitarianism least. Gender differences across countries showed that males favoured rights. Spanish female professionals favoured justice most strongly of all. Discussion: Swedes favour rights while Spaniards favour justice. Both contexts scored low on utilitarianism focusing on total population effect, preferring the opposite, individualized approach of the rights and justice perspectives. Organizational investment in a utilitarian perspective might jeopardize ambulance professionals’ moral right to make individual assessments based on the needs of the patient at hand. Utilitarianism and a caring ethos appear as stark opposites. However, a caring ethos in its turn might well involve unreasonable demands on the individual carer’s professional role. Since both the justice and rights perspectives portrayed in the survey mainly concern relationship to the organization and peers within the organization, this relationship might at worst be given priority over the equal treatment and moral rights of the patient. Conclusion: A balanced view on ethical perspectives is needed to make professionals observant and ready to act optimally – especially if these perspectives are used in patient care. Research is needed to clarify how justice and rights are prioritized by ambulance services and whether or not these organization-related values are also implemented in patient care.

Abstract:

This study gives a possible representation of T. Hobbes and J. Locke's visions of the essence of 'freedom' and 'justice' phenomena. The philosophic-historical analysis performed in the article made it possible to reveal the fundamental ideological conflict between statism and liberalism, between the utilitarian, entirely pragmatic understanding the nature of the social contract (in Hobbes's political philosophy), and moral-ethical accents on the essential foundations of a state-organized society (in Locke's political thoughts). Hobbes generally ignores the moral and ethical preconditions inherent to human nature, reducing the social contract ontology to purely utilitarian aspects. The freedom of the individual loses its absolute character, as each member of this socio-political community gives up a part of his freedom in favor of 'Leviathan' (i.e. the sovereign, the state). Beginning from this moment it is fair for each individual to comply with the terms of that universally binding social contract, and its violation by someone within the community deemed to be unjust. On the contrary, Locke forms an idea of the ethical basis of the human community. Locke's political anthropology is based on the close relationship between the principle of justice and the imperatives of reason. The latter ones approach the universal ethical and legal requirements to ensure equal opportunities in the implementation and protection of freedoms and interests of the individual living in society. Under such conditions, justice means that a person acquires the maximum opportunities to fulfill his own freedoms (in all its diversity), without violating the freedoms of others.

Abstract:

Background: Human health is dependent upon environmental sustainability. Many have argued that environmental sustainability advocacy and environmentally responsible healthcare practice are imperative healthcare actions. Research questions: What are the key obstacles to healthcare professionals supporting environmental sustainability? How may these obstacles be overcome? Research design: Data-driven thematic qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews identified common and pertinent themes, and differences between specific healthcare disciplines. Participants: A total of 64 healthcare professionals and academics from all states and territories of Australia, and multiple healthcare disciplines were recruited. Ethical considerations: Institutional ethics approval was obtained for data collection. Participants gave informed consent. All data were de-identified to protect participant anonymity. Findings: Qualitative analysis indicated that Australian healthcare professionals often take more action in their personal than professional lives to protect the environment, particularly those with strong professional identities. The healthcare sector’s focus on economic rationalism was a substantial barrier to environmentally responsible behaviour. Professionals also feared conflict and professional ostracism, and often did not feel qualified to take action. This led to healthcare professionals making inconsistent moral judgements, and feeling silenced and powerless. Constraints on non-clinical employees within and beyond the sector exacerbated these difficulties. Discussion: The findings are consistent with the literature reporting that organisational constraints, and strong social identification, can inhibit actions that align with personal values. This disparity can cause moral distress and residue, leading to feelings of powerlessness, resulting in less ethical behaviour. Conclusion: The data highlight a disparity between personal and professional actions to address environmental sustainability. Given the constraints Australian healthcare professionals encounter, they are unlikely to shift to environmentally responsible practice without support from institutions and professional associations. Professional development is required to support this endeavour. The poor transference of pro-ecological behaviour from one setting to another is likely to have international implications for healthcare practice.

Abstract:

Philosophy, including moral philosophy, is the distillation of the spirit of an era. As society and science develop, sooner or later a given philosophy will gradually change form so that the resulting metamorphosis will better meet the needs of the society at that time. Traditional Chinese ethical thought is an outcome of the Chinese closed natural economy and ancient low-level science and is suitable for traditional Chinese medicine. Its superstable structure and character, which have evolved over more than 2,000 years, are rooted deeply in the minds of the Chinese people; hence, it is difficult for them to accept new bioethical views and to adapt to the developments of modern medicine and the changes in society. In China, owing to the strongly rooted values of the old tradition, the consequences of modern medicine have produced an alienating phenomenon that deviates from the goals of modern medicine and leads to conflicts between ethics and science, between old medical ethics and new medical ethics.

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This paper seeks to identify and discusses the factors that affect an organization’s internal whistleblowing intentions related to ethics. This paper integrates theindividual variable which are ethical judgment and the intensity of the moral; organizational variable that support the organizations; and situational variables, such as the status of wrongdoers, the possibility of retaliation, and tolerance of dissent;that is expressed in a group of theoretical propositions, which is used to develop a frame of thoughts in the study. This paper attempts to provide useful knowledges on how individuals form the intention of reporting and how ethical values can affect these intentions, thus, itwill be able to provide a contribution for a further understanding of the phenomena associated with an ethical whistleblowing.The purpose of this paper is to provide a general discussion about the decision-making process of internal whistleblowing along with an overview of the ethical element that is reflected in the psychological, situational and organizational characteristics. Through a theoretical model, based on the existing literature, it indicates that whistleblowing is a very complex phenomenon resulted from an interaction of situational, organizational and individualfactors. The complexity of the phenomenon depends not only on the various factors that affect whistleblowing, but also related to the attitudes toward the ethical judgment and moral intensity. Whistleblowing behavior is embedded in a social context, so it can vary according to the values, beliefs and certain social norms. Factors that may inhibit the whistleblowingbehavioris a violation of the personal relationship between employee and employer, aversion to conflict, and interpersonal relations. The passivity of the employees can weaken the relationship between whistleblowing attitudes andwhistleblowingintentions, therefore,it causes the observer to not disclose the information.Specifically, organizations must improve the legitimacy of an internal whistleblowing and take actions that can reduce the fear of retaliation, increase the perceived support and easily identify the actions and behaviors that must be reported. By expanding the knowledge of the phenomenon and discussing the aspects and its implications, hence, it may encourage any debates on the topic and encourage organizations to rethink their policies and strategies for whistleblowing decision making. Keywords: whistleblowing

Abstract:

Although shared decision-making is a standard in medical care, unilateral decisions through process-based conflict resolution policies have been defended in certain cases. In patients who do not stand to receive proportional clinical benefits, the harms involved in interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation seem to run contrary to the principle of non-maleficence, and provision of such interventions may cause clinicians significant moral distress. However, because the application of these policies involves taking choices out of the domain of shared decision-making, they face important ethical and legal problems, including a recent challenge to their constitutionality. In light of these concerns, we suggest a re-conceptualization of informed non-dissent as an alternative approach in cases where the application of process-based policies is being considered. This clinician-directed communication model still preserves what is valuable in such policies and salvages professional integrity, while minimising ethical and legal challenges.

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The development and progress of the city of Makassar in line with the occurrence of disturbing conflicts, conflicts and even war between groups provide an overview of research problems regarding the erosion of nationalism, erosion of national ideology, low national character, erosion of local culture, shallow religious values, low sense of solidarity, moral decline , and ethnic fanaticism and declining character quality and declining character quality, all of which have the potential to threaten National Integration and Social Harmony. This research method is descriptive and form of presentation in a systematic, factual and accurate description of the facts obtained. The results showed that conflict/war between groups or residents still occurred in at least six 6 regions in Makassar that had caused various losses because war between groups or residents involved children or adolescents using dangerous objects. There are 30 factors, namely juvenile delinquency, multi aspects, peaceful disturbance, offensive, revenge, social, economic, jealousy, work area disputes, unemployment, ethnicity, religion, culture, wild race, women, competition, misunderstanding, social change, deprivation land, women who seize men (infidelity of women), youth group clashes, politics/parties, deception, social classes/strata, selfishness, arrogance, ridicule, slander, conflict of interest, and government land disputes. Recommendations are needed Conflict Resolution Forum (FOLEKO) as a preventive and repressive measure, provide guidance and counseling for members of the community, about legal awareness, social ethics and courtesy in family life and community life, and inculcation of religious values ​​and national integrity, the authorities need to be more intensive in conducting surveillance and need to carry out routine checks on the possession of dangerous sharp objects, and it is necessary to have the Social Harmony Creation Model module and legal awareness as recommendations of this research.

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Abstract A PSYCHO-CULTURAL INTERPRETATION OF JUVENILE MALADJUSTMENT IN MASS SOCIETY Juvenile maladjustment in the post-industrial societies has not only augmented alarmingly but has also taken on a new dimension. The number and seriousness of offences as well as their obvious wantonness are increasing. This article is an attempt to understand the forces which engender this phenomenon. A first experiment in measuring some of the elements which constitute the moral fact is also described here. A culture conflict Maladjustment of the young in the mass society can be looked at in the perspective of a culture conflict, that is, the confrontation of morals between adult and youth in a society undergoing an historical acceleration not only of its technology but also of its institutions and culture. The dialectic, youth versus adult, is due to the fact that each group has a particular position in society which, therefore, implies different morals or different normative systems. The credo of the adult is founded upon a numerous variety of experiences marked by success or failure. This traditional morality will shift in direct proportion to the degree of evolution within the existing society. The morals of youth are founded upon its involvement in new experiences. Youth uses the technology of its era, rebels against old-fashioned morals and reformulates its ethical needs. This type of questioning leads the adult to ambiguity of values, to uncertainty of moral judgment and to a wavering in fundamental choices; it leads the young into contesting adult order, truth and conviction. The integration of youth into mass society has to be made in the light of « neotenistic » mechanisms of adjustment to innovation. It must also be examined in the light of « misoneism » — resistance to change .— as well as of stability of social relationships and institutions. The young, new citizens of a mass society and trustees of mass culture, have to cope with the institutions, ideologies, controls and rules forged by a society of production. Psycho-cultural pressures Recent social transformations have generated a new type of society known as the « mass society » which in turn has generated a « mass culture ». The interaction between culture and society creates, for the individual, new problems of adjustment which merit careful study. The relative freedom from the pressures of mechanization coincides with the increase of psycho-cultural pressures due to the means of mass communication. We require a new conceptual plan of analysis adapted to a different type of society. The theories based on culture conflicts, the concepts of subcultures and contracultures have attempted to explain these new phenomena. Today, external pressure has increased the possibility of choice for the individual. We might suggest therefore, that if the maladjustments of the past were due to the hide-bound socio-economic laws, those which characterize the mass society would be due to an extreme degree of freedom to make these numberless choices. Obligation: first foundation of morals Psycho-cultural analysis achieves its entire meaning when we study morals or the moral fact. In other words, the obligation to accomplish one act or another constitutes the main springboard for interaction within a social system. The moral fact, in its objective and subjective aspects, constitutes the core of the problem: how to explain that the very foundation of moral order is being radically and universally questioned ? To answer this, we must use an analysis of mechanisms and procedures which take precedence in internalizing moral values in different cultures. The questions asked are as follows : a) What is the content and meaning of obligation to the youth of today ? b) What is the relationship between its aspirations and those of the preceding generations ? c) Are these aspirations the same for the youth of different classes ? d) Do they then engender cultures, subcultures and contracultures ? Psycho-cultural analysis is the meeting point of questions asked by the sociology of knowledge and of socialization and by contemporary social psychology. The moral fact seems to be an integral part of the problem of man's maladjustment to the civilization he has created, and its study becomes necessary in order to find the key to certain paradoxes in the human condition. Measurement of the moral fact Psycho-cultural interpretation seeks to isolate maladjustment, regarding it essentially as a type of moral behaviour. If we accept the following postulate — adjustment or deviance results at the limit of conformity or non-conformity to values .— how do we measure this obligation ? What are the variables necessary to isolate this idea of obligation ? What are the instruments capable of measuring them ? In the context of our work, obligation is envisaged, on the one hand, as a normative system related to the position of an individual, of a collectivity or of a category of individuals, in the social structure. On the other hand, it is regarded as a physical function, representing the internal controls of the subject, who is submitted to a system of impulses and motivations. Two theories seem pertinent in explaining obligation: the theory of « moral conscience », related to subjective motivations, and the theory of « social character », related to substantive or group motivations. According to Erick Fromm (1949), every society and every social structure within the society forms the type of man it needs and transmits values, attitudes and motivations necessary for the individual to act out the role it expects him to. It accomplishes this by giving the individual a « social character » adapted to its demands and which enables the subject to behave in the manner called for by the social system. The hypothesis showing that the social character is formed by the role the individual plays in his own culture and that he reflects collective obligations individually, enables us to connect this problem of adjustment with socio-cultural controls. Thus we can suppose that the normative aspects of adolescent subcultures and contracultures, where they exist, form a social character in these young people, and so constitute a different source of orientation or obligation from that of the adult culture. This article gives an account of the construction and validity of scales of moral attitudes and of an implement capable of measuring certain aspects of the moral conscience. Their function is to isolate this idea of obligation. Five scales of moral attitudes were established and verified with the help of factoral analysis .— moral attitudes of authority, of conformity to peers, of aspiration, of hedonist anxiety and of self-evaluation. This scale discriminates between the socio-economic milieux of the working class and the leisure class and weighs the variables .— age and delinquency. If social character is the cultural counterpart of obligation, then moral conscience is the psychological counterpart. Whereas social character depends on the position of a group in the social structure, moral conscience is conditioned by interprofessional relationships. Seen in this light, moral conscience becomes a psychic function, the fruit of identification within a succession of values presented by parents, teachers and peers. Since it is almost impossible to measure moral conscience directly and experimentally by objective tests, we thought it best to measure the psychological procedures of transmission and internalization of moral values, that is, by perception and identification. The Role Construction Repertory Test of George A. Kelly (1955) seems to answer this problem because it is based on these two psychological mechanisms as well as on « role playing ». This test enables us to find out with which persons and what values adolescents identify, whether or not they are well adjusted to life in society. It also enables us, with the help of the construction analysis, to pin-point the image young people have of themselves and of those who make up their phenomenal or experimental universe. These instruments, tested on adjusted or maladjusted adolescents from different socio-economic milieux, will enable us to verify certain hypothesis resulting from psycho-cultural analysis.

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It is often claimed that medical professionals are subject to conflicting duties in their role morality. Some hold that the overridden duty taints the professional and generates a patient claim to a form of moral compensation. This paper challenges such a ‘compensation view’ of conflict and argues that it misleadingly makes the role morality into a personal contract between professional and patient. Two competing views are therefore considered. The ‘unity view’ argues that there are no real conflicts between professional duties. Hence, there can be no residual duties that are impossible to discharge and no special claim on the part of the patient. It is argued that this fails because the institutional nature of the role morality requires us to accept possibility of conflict. The paper articulates and defends a third view, where conflict triggers a professional duty of restitution. This duty is not a matter of making amends for a previous wrong, but rather a matter of rebuilding a trusting relationship that has been damaged due to blameless circ*mstances.

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The moral and professional anguish experienced by the medical student in response to the request “Help me die” is a fundamental sentiment that needs to be retained within the ethos of the medical community. Especially as laws on professional assistance in dying undergo increasing liberalization, society should not want its physicians (or its prospective physicians) to either be so callous, so lacking in compassion that they would dismiss such a patient request out-of-hand, or to be so cavalierly accustomed to acquiescing in such requests that it simply becomes a routine pattern. Either approach on its own betrays the moral integrity of medicine. We instead want those professionals who are present to us in our dying to express both care and respect, to display both compassion and dignity for the dying person, even when, as in this circ*mstance, these core values come into conflict. In such a situation, moral anguish protects both the professional and the patient, not to mention society, from callous paternalism and/or callous indifference.

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In the field of organizational management, the term "compliance" designates the set of actions to mitigate risk and prevent corruption. Programs are composed by formal control systems, codes of ethics, educational actions, ombudsmen, and reporting channels - to mention the most recurrent, which vary according to the sector, the institutional culture, and the strategy. Leadership has a fundamental role in the process of compliance, not only due to its power to implement it, but precisely because it exercises this power, in itself, the object of reflections on ethics. The goal of this research was to evaluate the susceptibility of leaders to the risk of breaching organizational rules that involve ethical aspects. For quantitative investigation, we used social and descriptive statistical analysis of secondary data provided by ICTS Global, a company specialized in risk reduction. The study analyzed deals with non-probabilistic sampling by convenience, carried out between the years 2004 and 2008 with employees and candidates of 74 private companies located in Brazil. The final number of individuals studied is 7,267. The indicators analyzed are contained in the index of moral perception of comprehension of individual vision of the concerning hypotheses of ethical conflicts. According to the information obtained in the investigation, leaders are more willing to fail to comply. Paradoxically, the data also show that leaders are more loyal to organizations, raising the hypothesis that the bent toward moral integrity and loyalty to the organization are not necessarily simultaneous behaviors (it is possible that, motivated by loyalty, a leader might break away from individual principles). Based on the data and on bibliographic references, our final considerations point to the importance of considering systems from which leadership is recruited, compensated, promoted, developed, etc., in the prevention of corruption. Our data do not show that leaders are more corrupt, but that they have a greater disposition towards relaxing principles in professional circ*mstances.

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Humanitarian organisations often work alongside those responsible for serious wrongdoing. In these circ*mstances, accusations of moral complicity are sometimes levelled at decision makers. These accusations can carry a strong if unfocused moral charge and are frequently the source of significant moral unease. In this paper, we explore the meaning and usefulness of complicity and its relation to moral accountability. We also examine the impact of concerns about complicity on the motivation of humanitarian staff and the risk that complicity may lead to a retreat into moral narcissism. Moral narcissism is the possibility that where humanitarian actors inadvertently become implicated in wrongdoing, they may focus more on their image as self-consciously good actors than on the interests of potential beneficiaries. Moral narcissism can be triggered where accusations of complicity are made and can slew decision making. We look at three interventions by Médecins Sans Frontières that gave rise to questions of complicity. We question its decision-guiding usefulness. Drawing on recent thought, we suggest that complicity can helpfully draw attention to the presence of moral conflict and to the way International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) can be drawn into unintentional wrongdoing. We acknowledge the moral challenge that complicity presents to humanitarian staff but argue that complicity does not help INGOs make tough decisions in morally compromising situations as to whether they should continue with an intervention or pull out.

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According to the two-tragedies argument proponents of pro-life can justifiably prioritize efforts to prevent abortion rather than miscarriages due to the fact that abortions in contrast to miscarriages involves usually the act of killing. William Simkulet has recently argued against this argument claiming that it fails as it (a) is in conflict with the common sense pro-life view on abortion and (b) leads to an overestimation of the moral value of preventing the ‘second tragedy’, namely the act of killing, compared with the value of preventing the death of an individual. In this article, I argue against to his charges against the two tragedies argument by demonstrating that this argument is not only compatible but also in line with the common sense pro-life view and that the argument does not overestimate moral significance of the act of killing.

Abstract:

In the 10 years since the birth of “Baby Doe,” the decisions confronted daily by neonatologists and parents of sick or premature infants have been the focus of a great deal of attention. Issues raised by these decisions have been vigorously debated and discussed in the popular media in political and governmental forums, and in the professional literatures of a variety of academic disciplines. These discourses have illuminated a number of moral and ethical principles that may govern these decisions and have contributed to the development of regulatory and procedural constraints upon this process, including requirements for establishment of infant care review committees at all hospitals that provide neonatal intensive care services. However, the philosophical concepts espoused by theoreticians, although often helpful as abstractions, are rarely invoked at the bedside as decisions are sought for individual patients. No clear consensus has emerged on how these ideas should be incorporated into clinical practice or on the role of mandated ethics committees or discretionary ethics consultants. Consequently, there are wide disparities in decision-making processes both within and among institutions. Failures of these systems to protect neonatal patients or their families remain distressingly common and have attracted considerable attention in the lay press. Although there can be no universal decision tree that can dictate the course of this complex process in all cases, a clearly articulated operative paradigm that defines essential features of an effective and equitable decision-making process is essential to identify the causes of failures and conflicts that arise when the process is dysfunctional and to prevent such problems by providing a framework for training practitioners to deal with these issues.

Abstract:

Indonesian is a diverse country with a variety of ethnic, class and religion. The potential for conflict over differences, can lead to disintegration of the nation. Reality is happening in the community, just a lot of conflict fueled by religion. Exclusive attitude of each religion, appears due to improper understanding of the substance of religion. For that we need a new understanding about the attitudes that must be done by humans to the existing plurality. Al-Qur’an as a guide to life, must be understood and interpreted by promoting the moral message of the Koran. This paper seeks to provide a view of the new paradigm of Islamic ethics to other communities (the others) in the context of social life. It aims to establish Islamic worldview (Weltanschauung) is based on the principle of rahmatan lil alamin. By optimizing the formulation methodology contextualist interpretation (contextualist interpretation) that the interpretation of the Koran is not just taking care of the language of the Koran, but also the critical aspects of socio-hostorical period of revelation. In this case means trying to revive the prophetic spirit (Prophethood), or with other languages, what would the Prophet will do and provide solutions, if he lived in the days of the moment. So it was concluded that the ethics of Muslims against the others is the attitude cooperatif in advancing human civilization.

Abstract:

Indonesian is a diverse country with a variety of ethnic, class and religion. The potential for conflict over differences, can lead to disintegration of the nation. Reality is happening in the community, just a lot of conflict fueled by religion. Exclusive attitude of each religion, appears due to improper understanding of the substance of religion. For that we need a new understanding about the attitudes that must be done by humans to the existing plurality. Al-Qur’an as a guide to life, must be understood and interpreted by promoting the moral message of the Koran. This paper seeks to provide a view of the new paradigm of Islamic ethics to other communities (the others) in the context of social life. It aims to establish Islamic worldview (Weltanschauung) is based on the principle of rahmatan lil alamin. By optimizing the formulation methodology contextualist interpretation (contextualist interpretation) that the interpretation of the Koran is not just taking care of the language of the Koran, but also the critical aspects of socio-hostorical period of revelation. In this case means trying to revive the prophetic spirit (Prophethood), or with other languages, what would the Prophet will do and provide solutions, if he lived in the days of the moment. So it was concluded that the ethics of Muslims against the others is the attitude cooperatif in advancing human civilization.

Abstract:

Este artículo presenta los resultados del estudio y análisis de las presiones y los dilemas éticos que enfrentan los contadores públicos, en calidad de auditores o revisores fiscales en la ciudad de Cartagena. De igual manera, el presente trabajo explora el impacto de las presiones que enfrentan los auditores o revisores fiscales de las firmas en este lugar y cómo éstas afectan la objetividad e independencia en los informes o dictámenes; al mismo tiempo se hace un análisis de cómo actúan frente a las presiones y los dilemas éticos que viven al desarrollar su labor. Para dar alcance a estos objetivos, se realizó una encuesta a 39 profesionales; de tal manera, con la que se busca analizar las presiones y los dilemas éticos afrontados por los auditores de las principales firmas de auditoría de la ciudad de Cartagena, quienes en su ejercicio pueden ser vulnerables en los aspectos éticos y morales a partir de las exigencias del contexto donde se desempeñan. Este estudio cobra relevancia teniendo en cuenta que en Colombia se realizó una articulación del sistema contable nacional con las exigencias internacionales a partir de la expedición de la Ley 1314 de 2009, incluyendo el aseguramiento de la información; por lo que la inclusión de la auditoría con un marco normativo más robusto y el código de ética de la International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), exigen a los profesionales un actuar con responsabilidad social. Abstract This article presents the results of a study and analysis of pressure and ethical dilemmas public accountants face as appointed auditors or as statuary auditors in the City of Cartagena. In like manner, this document addresses the impact of the pressure auditors or statuary auditors face in firms in this city and how these affect their objectivity and independence in their reports or rulings; simultaneously, an analysis is performed on how they behave while facing pressure and ethical dilemmas that they confront while carrying out their work. To reach these objectives, a questionnaire was applied to 40 professionals; in such a way that this investigation aims to analyze the pressure and ethical dilemmas which auditors from the main firms confront in the City of Cartegena, who, during their practice, may experience a violation of ethical and moral aspects based on the demands from the context where they perform their duties. This study takes on special relevance considering that Colombia has established a joint articulation between its national accounting system and with international requirements since the issuance of Law 1314 of 2009, including information assurance; Therefore, the inclusion of auditing with a more robust regulatory framework and the Code of Ethics of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), require professionals to act with social responsibility.

Abstract:

Este artículo presenta los resultados del estudio y análisis de las presiones y los dilemas éticos que enfrentan los contadores públicos, en calidad de auditores o revisores fiscales en la ciudad de Cartagena. De igual manera, el presente trabajo explora el impacto de las presiones que enfrentan los auditores o revisores fiscales de las firmas en este lugar y cómo éstas afectan la objetividad e independencia en los informes o dictámenes; al mismo tiempo se hace un análisis de cómo actúan frente a las presiones y los dilemas éticos que viven al desarrollar su labor. Para dar alcance a estos objetivos, se realizó una encuesta a 39 profesionales; de tal manera, con la que se busca analizar las presiones y los dilemas éticos afrontados por los auditores de las principales firmas de auditoría de la ciudad de Cartagena, quienes en su ejercicio pueden ser vulnerables en los aspectos éticos y morales a partir de las exigencias del contexto donde se desempeñan. Este estudio cobra relevancia teniendo en cuenta que en Colombia se realizó una articulación del sistema contable nacional con las exigencias internacionales a partir de la expedición de la Ley 1314 de 2009, incluyendo el aseguramiento de la información; por lo que la inclusión de la auditoría con un marco normativo más robusto y el código de ética de la International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), exigen a los profesionales un actuar con responsabilidad social. Abstract This article presents the results of a study and analysis of pressure and ethical dilemmas public accountants face as appointed auditors or as statuary auditors in the City of Cartagena. In like manner, this document addresses the impact of the pressure auditors or statuary auditors face in firms in this city and how these affect their objectivity and independence in their reports or rulings; simultaneously, an analysis is performed on how they behave while facing pressure and ethical dilemmas that they confront while carrying out their work. To reach these objectives, a questionnaire was applied to 40 professionals; in such a way that this investigation aims to analyze the pressure and ethical dilemmas which auditors from the main firms confront in the City of Cartegena, who, during their practice, may experience a violation of ethical and moral aspects based on the demands from the context where they perform their duties. This study takes on special relevance considering that Colombia has established a joint articulation between its national accounting system and with international requirements since the issuance of Law 1314 of 2009, including information assurance; Therefore, the inclusion of auditing with a more robust regulatory framework and the Code of Ethics of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), require professionals to act with social responsibility.

Abstract:

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Innovative educational approaches and training modalities are important for training a diverse workforce in the authentic skills needed to advance all phases of clinical and translational research. Endeavors to study and develop policies that promote the translational science spectrum are steeped in value judgments. Learning how to navigate moral ambiguity and ethical reasoning enlightens our understanding of stakeholder obligations, roles and responsibilities. Ethics education can be challenging if learners are insufficiently engaged in the necessary critical reflection. In this course, decision-making in public health is informed through the analysis of the ethical issues, developing alternative courses of action and providing justification for actions taken in response to real-world dilemmas. The course is provided to students with a variety of backgrounds (science, health, policy) in a Master of Public Health degree program. Course objective were to: 1) Identify ethical issues in public health policy, practice, and research using appropriate concepts and terms; 2) Recognize the full spectrum of determinants of health and related information needed to resolve ethical conflicts in public health policy, practice, and research; 3) Present varied and complex information in written and oral formats; 4) Assess potential solutions to ethical conflicts in public health policy, practice, and research and 5) Decide ethical courses of action for public health policy, practice, and research. We adopted an open pedagogy as a guiding praxis to inform public health ethics discourse amongst our learners. In this way, learner agency was maximized to develop course materials within a generalized framework and shared with each other through the perspectives of each individual. The goal was to not only analyze complex ethical dimensions of public health issues but also gain insights into the disciplinary lenses of one’s peers. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Each week was divided into two sessions, a seminar and workshop. Course instructors introduce topics in a one-hour session and then allow students to decide what information is needed for a second session where the ethical issues of the topic will be discussed. Information-gathering tasks are then distributed amongst students in areas that are not their specialty, e.g. social history to be researched by learner with a biology background. The second session then involves the reporting back of background information by each student and a discussion of the ethical issues that arise. Through this process, the ability to communicate with others in different disciplines is supported, while exploring other disciplines and then engaging in ethical discussion and reasoning. Topics were introduced during the seminar session each week over the span of five weeks: 1) global public health, 2) disease prevention & control, 3) environmental & occupational public health, 4) resource allocation & priority setting and 5) research ethics. Learners were tasked with identifying the needed information to address the ethical, policy, and research aspects of the public health question(s) presented in these seminars. Students independently submitted resources they discovered to course instructors prior to the workshop. The following session began with a workshop where learners briefly presented their findings and deliberated on specific facets of the public health issue from that previous seminar while discussing a specific case. Students were assessed on their preparation (submission of identified resources), workshop presentation and participation. Research Preparation: In each seminar, the class decided what key information would be required to support the discussion at the workshop, which revolved around a relevant case study on that week’s topic. Course instructors facilitated the groups identification of material to be researched and the delegation of tasks within the group. Each student submitted a summary document (template provided) to course instructors prior to class for their area of research related to the case. Research Presentation: At the beginning of each workshop, each student was asked to present the research work to the rest of the class so that everyone has the same information for the case study discussion. These short (5-10 minutes) presentations followed the format of the preparation summary. Participation/collaboration: Both the seminar and the workshop asked students to be active learners within the class, participating in discussion, strategizing for information-gathering tasks, presenting researched material and arguments to others, and participating in case study discussion. Participation was assessed in relation to the value of the contributions made by students. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The open pedagogy allowed the learners to construct the necessary materials to discuss issues with each other and develop not only a deeper understanding of the ethical dimension of public health issues but a shared understanding of each other’s disciplinary lenses. Course feedback was generally very positive, with learners either agreeing (33%) or strongly agreeing (67%) that the course was effective overall. In asking what learners liked best about the course, some indicated the “open pedagogy learning style” and “I liked the discussion format.” The positive comments mostly highlighted the discussion format. Areas for improvement noted by the learners included wanting “a longer course to cover more topics” and that the material was covered in “too short a time frame.” Other comments included that the course “was a bit disorganized” or that “the discussions were not very structured.” While the discussions by their very nature were unstructured, there is opportunity to refine this pedagogy to find right balance of learner agency. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The goal of this teaching method was to empower the learner with the important critical thinking skills to navigate challenging ethical dilemmas in public health they may encounter in their careers. These skills include the identification of the ethical or moral conflict(s), collecting the necessary information to examine/resolve the dilemma, think creatively about the information that is unavailable and how to discuss/disseminate information to a broad constituency. This an educational model that is easily adaptable for learners working in other areas of the translational research spectrum, e.g. basic, pre-clinical, clinical and implementation sciences.

Abstract:

An approach to the philosophy of biology in the 21st century requires going beyond its epistemological side, betting on pragmatic aspects, in the sense of the social impact of the instrumentalization of biological developments. These advances have both beneficial and harmful consequences for humanity. Among the latter, it is its use for military conflicts, as a result of advances in biotechnology. The objective of this work is to address the role of biological knowledge in wars, analyzing some especially relevant cases such as bioterrorism, but also other types of conflicts in which biology, broadly understood with its different branches, plays an important role. First, I will introduce the most important concepts in the relationship between biology and war, taking into account historical precedents in this area. Secondly, since biology enters in military conflicts, I will address the case of bioterrorism as one of the most pressing problems in that it is one of the forms that war is currently taking, as well as one of its derivatives, “agroterrorism”, which consists in causing the destruction of crops or the death of livestock that feeds the population. In this regard, I will examine other ways of resolving conflicts in which biological factors play an important role in establishing dominance between two or more nations or populations facing each other, paying special attention to agriculture and livestock. Regarding the possible theoretical models to analyze these conflicts, I will focus on the relationship between pure, applied science and technology, the methodological models of design sciences and ethical and moral reflection.

Abstract:

Abstract:Research participants are entitled to many rights that may easily come into conflict. The most important ones are that researchers respect their autonomy as persons and act on the principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Since 2014, research subjects from numerous states in the United States of America also have a legal “right to try” that allows them, under certain circ*mstances, to receive experimental (i.e., preliminarily tested) interventions, including medical devices, before official approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration. In the context of experimental interventions, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Alzheimer’s disease, this article argues that research participants ought never to have a legal “right to try” without a corresponding “right to be sure.” The latter refers to external epistemic justification construed in terms of reliance on reliable evidence. This article demonstrates that the mere complexity of intervention ensembles, as in the case of DBS for Alzheimer’s disease which serves as a paradigm example, illustrate how unanswered and/or unasked open questions give rise to a “combinatorial explosion” of uncertainties that require epistemic responses that no single research team alone is likely able to provide. From this assessment, several epistemic asymmetrical relations between researchers and participants are developed. By elucidating these epistemic asymmetries, this article unravels the reasons why open science, transparent exhaustive data reporting, preregistration, and continued constant critical appraisal via pre- and postpublication peer review are not scientific virtues of moral excellence but rather ordinary obligations of the scientific work routine required to increase reliability and strength of evidence.

Abstract:

Background: Ethical conflicts in nursing have generally been studied in terms of temporal frequency and the degree of conflict. This study presents a new perspective for examining ethical conflict in terms of the degree of exposure to conflict and its typology. Objectives: The aim was to examine the level of exposure to ethical conflict for professional nurses in critical care units and to analyze the relation between this level and the types of ethical conflict and moral states. Research design: This was a descriptive correlational study. Central and dispersion, normality tests, and analysis of variance were carried out. Participants and research context: A total of 203 nurses were from two third-level teaching hospitals in Spain. Both centers are part of the University of Barcelona Health Network. Participants filled out the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire–Critical Care Version. Ethical considerations: This investigation received the approval of the ethical committees for clinical investigation of the two participating hospitals. Participants were informed of the authorship and aims of the study. Findings: The index of exposure to ethical conflict was [Formula: see text]. The situations involving analgesic treatment and end-of-life care were shown to be frequent sources of conflict. The types of ethical conflict and moral states generally arranged themselves from lesser to greater levels of index of exposure to ethical conflict. Discussion: The moderate level of exposure to ethical conflict was consistent with other international studies. However, the situations related with family are infrequent, and this presents differences with previous research. The results suggest that there is a logical relationship between types of conflict and levels of exposure to ethical conflict. Conclusion: The types of ethical conflict and moral states were related with the levels of exposure to ethical conflict. The new perspective was shown to be useful for analyzing the phenomenon of ethical conflict in the nurse.

Abstract:

Background: Ethical conflict and subsequent nurse moral distress and burnout are common in the intensive care unit (ICU). There is a gap in our understanding of nurses’ perceptions of how organizational resources support them in addressing ethical conflict in the intensive care unit. Research question/objectives/methods: The aim of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how nurses experience ethical conflict and use organizational resources to support them as they address ethical conflict in their practice. Participants and research context: Responses to two open-ended questions were collected from critical care nurses working in five intensive care units at a large, academic medical center in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the organization where the study took place. Findings: Three main interwoven themes emerged: nurses perceive (1) intensive care unit culture, practices, and organizational priorities contribute to patient suffering; (2) nurses are marginalized during ethical conflict in the intensive care unit; and (3) organizational resources have the potential to reduce nurse moral distress. Nurses identified ethics education, interprofessional dialogue, and greater involvement of nurses as important strategies to improve the management of ethical conflict. Discussion: Ethical conflict related to healthcare system challenges is intrinsic in the daily practice of critical care nurses. Nurses want to be engaged in discussions about their perspectives on ethical conflict and play an active role in addressing ethical conflict in their practice. Organizational resources that support nurses are vital to the resolution of ethical conflict. Conclusion: These findings can inform the development of interventions that aim to proactively and comprehensively address ethical conflict in the intensive care unit to reduce nurse moral distress and improve the delivery of patient and family care.

Abstract:

Introduction: Ethical conflict is a phenomenon that has been under study over the last three decades, especially the types moral dilemma and moral distress in the field of nursing care. However, ethical problems and their idiosyncrasies need to be further explored. Aim: The objectives of this study were, first, to obtain a transcultural Portuguese-language adaptation and validation of the Ethical Conflict Nursing Questionnaire–Critical Care Version and, second, to analyse Portuguese critical care nurses’ level of exposure to ethical conflict and its characteristics. Methods: A cross-cultural validation and descriptive, prospective and correlational study. The sample was made for 184 critical care nurses in 2016. Ethical Considerations: The study was authorised by Bioethics Commission of the University of Barcelona, the Associaçâo de Apoio ao Serviço de Cuidados Intensivos do Centro Hospitalar do Porto and the Sociedade Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental. Findings: The Portuguese version of the Ethical Conflict Nursing Questionnaire–Critical Care Version was a valid and reliable instrument to measure exposure to conflict. Moral outrage was the most common type of conflict. The most problematic situations were the ineffectiveness of analgesic treatments, the administration of treatments considered futile and the mismanagement of resources.

Abstract:

We are well served, both practically and morally, by ethical diversity, by living in a community whose members have values and priorities that are, at a habit-forming, action-guiding level, often different from our own. Of course, unchecked ethical diversity can lead to disaster, to chaos and conflict. We attempt to avoid or mitigate such conflict by articulating general moral and political principles, and developing the virtues of acting on those principles. But as far as leading a good life — the life that best suits what is best in us — goes, it is not essential that we agree on the interpretations of those common principles, or that we are committed to them, by some general act of the will. What matters is that they form our habits and institutions, so that we succeed in cooperating practically, to promote the state of affairs that realizes what we each prize. People of different ethical orientations can — and need to — cooperate fruitfully in practical life while having different interpretations and justifications of general moral or procedural principles. Indeed, at least some principles are best left ambiguous, and some crucial moral and ethical conflicts are best understood, and best arbitrated, as failures of practical cooperation rather than as disagreements about the truth of certain general propositions or theories.This way of construing ethical conflict and cooperation carries political consequences. It appears to make the task of resolving ethical conflicts more modest and, perhaps, easier to accomplish. But it raises formidable problems about how to design the range of educative institutions that bridge public and private life.

Abstract:

Two major strategies (the top-down and bottom-up strategies) are currently discussed in robot ethics for moral integration. I will argue that both strategies are not sufficient. Instead, I agree with Bertram F. Malle and Matthias Scheutz that robots need to be equipped with moral competence if we don’t want them to be a potential risk in society, causing harm, social problems or conflicts. However, I claim that we should not define moral competence merely as a result of different “elements” or “components” we can randomly change. My suggestion is to follow Georg Lind’s dual aspect dual layer theory of moral self that provides a broader perspective and another vocabulary for the discussion in robot ethics. According to Lind, moral competence is only one aspect of moral behavior that we cannot separate from its second aspect: moral orientation. As a result, the thesis of this paper is that integrating morality into robots has to include moral orientation and moral competence.

Abstract:

Background: Nurse managers are placed in a unique position within the healthcare system where they greatly impact upon the nursing work environment. Ethical dilemmas and moral distress have been reported for staff nurses but not for nurse middle managers. Objective: To describe ethical dilemmas and moral distress among nurse middle managers arising from situations of ethical conflict. Methods: The Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing–Middle Manager Questionnaire and a personal characteristics questionnaire were administered to a convenience sample of middle managers from four hospitals in Israel. Results: Middle managers report low to moderate levels of frequency and intensity of ethical dilemmas and moral distress. Highest scores were for administrative dilemmas. Conclusion: Middle managers experience lower levels of ethical dilemmas and moral distress than staff nurses, which are irrespective of their personal characteristics. Interventions should be developed, studied, and then incorporated into institutional frameworks in order to improve this situation.

Abstract:

Knowledge about moral development and elderly persons is very limited. A hermeneutical interpretative study was conducted with healthy elderly persons ( n = 20) in order to explore and describe their moral orientation based on the paradigms of justice (Kohlberg) and care (Gilligan). The types of moral reasoning, dominance, alignment and orientation were determined. All but one participant included both types of reasoning when discussing an ethical conflict. None of the men’s moral reasoning was dominated by caring, but justice dominated the reasoning of four women. The implications for ethical decision-making and future research are discussed.

Abstract:

The article discusses the features of moral leadership and its potential for overcoming social tensions. The type of leader is largely determined by the approach to managing intra- and intergroup conflicts. Therefore, the focus is put on the contiguity of conflict as a multifaceted social phenomenon and the phenomenon of leadership. In the 21st century, authoritarian, instrumental methods of coping with social conflicts become ineffective. Traditional forms of governance are much exhausted. The purpose of the article is to outline the contours of some type of leadership, which is based on moral and ethical regulation. The roots of the phenomenon of moral leadership are traced both in the peculiarities of modern society and in the history of moral practices. The establishment of the institution of moral leadership involves the emergence of new communities, forms of activity, and social roles. The moral factor modifies the social conflict, translates it mainly into the moral dimension, makes it constructive. Using elements of logical analysis, as well as historical-genetic and biographical methods, the authors show that in the history of civilization it was the ancient philosophers who influenced others by example and became the first moral leaders in the full sense of the word. And the very philosophy — given the cohesion of philosophical discourse and the philosophical lifestyle — has become a space in which the traditional type of leadership has transformed into an innovative one. The authors conclude that modern society urgently needs a revival of the spirit of practical philosophy. On the one hand, for its growth and improvement, the institution of moral leadership needs a deep ethical and philosophical reflection. On the other hand, philosophy, which has now found itself in the shadow of instrumental scientific knowledge, thanks to its relevance for moral practices, gets a chance to once again take its rightful place in the life of civilization.

Abstract:

Ethics is an evaluation of moral decisions and the processes involved in making them. The term also encompasses the study of moral standards and how they apply to the social systems and organizations through which modern societies produce and distribute goods. This paper argues that moral judgments do not always transfer readily onto ethical conduct in geographically and culturally diverse nations. The existing literature tends to reject relativism in addressing how multinational organizations are guided by a core set of ethical principles regardless of the culture within which they operate. The dilemma arises when multinationals need to avoid imposing American ethical ideology and formality in localized subsidiaries. This paper extends this dilemma to government intervention in foreign affairs and discusses how ideological positions can conflict within the same culture. This is apparent in the challenge government and private sector meet when balancing issues such as climate change with human rights. This paper supports an integrated approach toward bringing stability to influential oil-producing nations.

Abstract:

In the beginning of economic history, economics as a social science was closely related to ethics and had a moral dimension. The works of Aristotle and Adam Smith show that the science of economics has evolved taking into consideration the ethical stand. However, during the twentieth century, ethics was not considered in the economic analysis, but this situation transformed and ethics became a part of economics. Removing ethics from economics also removes social responsibility and critical awareness. This research analyzes the ethical aspects of regional economy. Regional economy has an ethical dimension because its main goal is to reduce the disparities between regions. There is carried out a brief reference to the relationship between ethics and economy. In the following article there are analysed ethical aspects of regional policy.

Abstract:

Background: Ethical conflict is a barrier to decision-making process and is a problem derived from ethical responsibilities that nurses assume with care. Intensive care unit nurses are potentially exposed to this phenomenon. A deep study of the phenomenon can help prevent and treat it. Objectives: This study was aimed at determining the frequency, degree, level of exposure, and type of ethical conflict among nurses working in the intensive care units. Research design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional research. Participants and research context: In total, 382 nurses working in the intensive care units in Iranian hospitals were selected using the random sampling method. Data were collected using the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire-Critical Care Version (Persian version). Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee. Ethical considerations such as completing the informed consent form, ensuring confidentiality of information, and voluntary participation were observed. Findings: The results showed that the average level of exposure to ethical conflict was 164.39 ± 79.06. The most frequent conflict was related to “using resources despite believing in its futility,” with the frequency of at least once a week or a month (68.6%, n = 262). The most conflictive situation was violation of privacy (76.9%, n = 294). However, the level of exposure to ethical conflict according to the theoretical model followed was the situation of “working with incompetent staff.” The most frequently observed type of conflict was moral dilemma. Conclusion: The moderate level of exposure to ethical conflict was consistent with the results of previous studies. However, the frequency, degree, and type of ethical conflict were different compared to the results of other studies. Recognizing ethical conflict among intensive care unit nurses can be useful as it allows to consolidate those measures that favor low levels of ethical conflict, design appropriate strategies to prevent ethical conflicts, and improve the nursing work environment.

Abstract:

The transcendence of society and ethical dimension are often embodied in the Japanese I-Novel. The writers of the I-Novel are not outside society, actually their social care permeates their literary works in which the characters possess a strong ethical awareness within a deep, dignified, and sentimental ethical narrative wri ting strategy. Futon, an I-Novel masterpiece, contains many ethical implications from the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism, such as the ethical anguish in love affairs which is caused by their ethical environment in the late Meiji. With violent conflicts between individual desire and social ethics, the common Japanese faced the crisis of emotion and belief and felt confused on ethical issues during that period. The ethical choices made by the hero and heroine in this novel had touched the moral bottom line of human being.

Abstract:

Western civilization has probably reached an impasse, expressed as a crisis on all fronts: economic, technological, environmental and political. This is experienced on the cultural level as a moral crisis or an ethical deficit. Somehow, the means we have always assumed as being adequate to the task of achieving human welfare, health and peace, are failing us. Have we lost sight of the primacy of human ends? Governments still push for economic growth and technological advances, but many are now asking: economic growth for what, technology for what? Health care and nursing are caught up in the same inversion of human priorities. Professionals, such as nurses and midwives, need to take on social responsibilities and a collective civic voice, and play their part in a moral regeneration of society. This involves carrying civic rights and duties into the workplace.

Abstract:

Background: Moral distress has detrimental effects on nurses which impacts the entire healthcare cycle. Described as a crescendo effect, resolved situations of moral distress leave residue on the nurse with three potential outcomes: moral numbing, conscious objection to the situation, and burnout. Objective: This metaethnography strives to achieve a fuller understanding of moral distress by interpreting the body of qualitative work of moral distress in emergency and critical care nurses. Method: This study used the Noblit and Hare’s approach of interpretative synthesis. Ten studies met the criteria and were used in this synthesis. Ethical considerations: Ethical issues were minimal since no human subjects were involved. Ethical requirements were respected in all study phases. Results: The synthesis of qualitative research on moral distress resulted in one central theme, “the battle within,” and five subthemes. Conclusions: The unique nature of this nursing specialty resulted in a lasting inner conflict for nurses that is consistent with the previously described crescendo effect. The effects are complex and long lasting and may potentially affect the nurses’ future patient care.