The present study investigates how business ethics are related to vocational interest. Special attention has been paid to the relationship between business ethics and the interest in ‘enterprising’ and ‘social’ oriented professions. The results show that business ethics is only significantly correlated in a negative way, to enterprising vocational preferences. Moreover, the negative contribution of business ethics to the preference for entrepreneurial and managerial professions remains after controlling for personality and work values. Some work values also (...) predict the entrepreneurial interest: Earnings, Influence, Competition, Innovation and Creativity. The personality traits Extraversion (positive) and Agreeableness (negative) have predictive validity, but this effect disappears after controlling for work values. In the ‘Discussion’ section, we pay attention to possible consequences of the negative relationship between business ethics and Entrepreneurial interest for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We argue that efforts concerning realistic job previews will only be meaningful if they are completed with efforts to make people more sensitive for ethics in two other domains, namely education and business. (shrink)

The goal of the following study is to investigate whether first-year students in STEM fields that have a low proportion of females (STEM-L) show vocational interests that fit their vocational aspirations. To place our investigation into a broader context, we compared students in STEM-L with students of STEM subjects with a medium proportion of women (STEM-M) as well as with other subjects with a medium or a high proportion of females. We analyzed their vocational interests, vocational (...) aspirations and their interest congruence. In both the comparison regarding interest profiles and the comparison of vocational aspirations, we focused on the things-orientation and people-orientation, all while taking respective gender differences into account. Following the suggestion from previous studies, in a further step we differentiated between subjects within STEM-L. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we analyzed the interest congruence of 5530 male and 7406 female students in STEM majors (with a low or medium proportion of women) and non-STEM majors (with a medium or high proportion of women). Students from different subjects showed different magnitudes regarding their things- and people-orientation. STEM-L students had a high things-orientation and a low people-orientation regarding both their interests and aspired occupations. Students of STEM-L and STEM-M showed a lower interest congruence than students from other subjects. With the exception of education, gender differences regarding the people- and things-orientation also existed within most of the subjects. Gender differences partly remain when distinguishing between the different subjects within STEM-L. And so, the result that not all STEM-L subjects are “created equal” is discussed in the context of their theoretical and methodological aspects. (shrink)

A welcome reprint of this neglected classic in a modernized version of William Smith's translation. The editor's introduction summarizes the argument and places the book in its context among Fichte's other works.--D. R.

Positive effects of person-environment fit on job satisfaction and persistence are well documented. However, little is known about the consequences of person-vocation fit for vocational education and training. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study, we examine the influence of selected P-V fit indicators on training satisfaction and premature contract termination for 4,097 trainees in VET. We find that most P-V incongruences do not lead to negative consequences. Training satisfaction is not affected by interest congruence and (...) skill congruence. However, moderate overeducation enhances training satisfaction. For PCT, there is a general effect of undereducation; undereducation increases the probability of PCT independent of educational qualification for the occupation. PCT is not affected by skill congruence and only for Realistic interests, congruence with the vocational environment reduces PCT probability. (shrink)

We tend to think that a person who is both reasonable and moral can have a good life. What constitutes a life that is not only good but superlative, or even “marvellous” or “holy”? Those who have such lives are called sages, heroes or saints, and their lives can display great integrity as well as integration with a transformative “Spiritual Presence.” Does it follow that saints are perfect people? Is there a common vision that impels them to seek holiness? In (...) a controversial interpretation of mysticism Horne suggests that there is no single formula for the meaning of life and no one story that displays it to us. Mysticism, rather than being just a visionary perception, then becomes a problem-solving process that brings about a creative transformation of the personality at a critical stage in life. He suggests also that saints may be imperfect morally and describes true saints as double-minded: they are serious in a playful way. Mysticism and Vocation illuminates our understanding of saintly lives by explicating their mystical characteristics and extending discussions of mysticism to explain its role in active lives. In discussing important decisions that go beyond conventional morality, it adds to recent philosophical arguments by Charles Taylor, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch, Bernard Williams and others to the effect that morality should be defined more broadly to deal with the human condition. This book will be of interest to students of philosophy and religious studies, in both graduate and undergraduate programs. (shrink)

In his early Some Lectures concerning the Scholar’s Vocation, J. G. Fichte developed an account of the social role of the scholar. This role concerns the task of furthering human culture and progress, which Fichte considers to be a moral duty for the scholar. In these lectures, Fichte also outlined the capabilities and knowledge that the scholar needs in order to be able to fulfill the task in question, including the possession of historical knowledge. The article argues that the later (...) Addresses to the German Nation represent an attempt on Fichte’s part to realize his earlier conception of the scholar’s vocation, because these addresses aim to help usher in a new, superior epoch in human history. Particular attention is paid to the use that Fichte makes of history in them. In effect, he instrumentalizes history, and justifies his doing this in terms of a higher purpose and the ‘merely’ empirical status of historical fact and evidence. This use of history is compared to some things that Nietzsche has to say about history in his essay On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life; and it invites questions concerning the possible dangers of such a use of history and its compatibility with Fichte’s idea that the vocation of the scholar is a moral one. (shrink)

This article aims to rebut the claim about Dirty Hands in politics and reorient the issue. Allegedly, decent politicians must sometimes do what is right by means that are deeply wrong and they are morally tainted as a result. DH is here rejected as contradictory since there can be no dirtying or guilt given the presumption of ultimate rightness, and politics is demeaned by supposing otherwise. DH is not entailed by moral complexity or conflicting duties or circumstantial regret, and does (...) not hinge on utilitarianism versus deontology. A significant real-world case is explored where DH might seem manifest but is not. With DH dissolved, the refocussed and urgent question involves discerning apt personality-types for politics and its hard cases. The ideal: persons exceptional in being morally conscientious but more tough-minded than tender-hearted. (shrink)

En una perspectiva que ve el viaje como momento de iniciación a la vida y al arte en el que el cuerpo y sus sentidos juegan un papel central, propongo leer las dos primeras obras de la poeta argentina Diana Bellessi -Buena travesía, buena ventura pequeña Uli y Crucero Ecuatorial - como búsqueda y encuentro con su propia vocación poética, gracias a la cercanía física a la gente que su viaje panamericano de seis años le permitió. Su respuesta a la (...) apelación moral que le viene del otro será evaluada a la luz de los escritos teóricos de Bauman, Ricœur, Blanchot, y del aspecto retórico de los poemas mismos. En particular, en Buena travesía, buena ventura pequeña Uli el otro se manifiesta como voz, respiración, ritmo, con interesantes consecuencias en el tratamiento estilístico del texto. Por el contrario, en Crucero Ecuatorial prevalece una visualidad más calmada, más segura de sí misma: la “justa distancia” entre vocación poética y solidaridad humana ha sido conquistada. On a perspective that considers travel as an initiation to life and art in which the body and its senses play a central role, I propose an interpretation of the first two works by the Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi -Buena travesía, buena ventura pequeña Uli and Crucero Ecuatorial - as the expression of the search and finding of her own poetic vocation, thanks to the physical closeness to people that she was able to experience in her six-year-long trip through the two Americas. Her answer to the moral appeal proceeding from the other will be studied in light of the theoretical works by Bauman, Ricoeur, Blanchot, and the rhetorical feature of the same poems. In particular, in Buena travesía, buena ventura pequeña Uli, the other is manifested as a voice, breathing, rhythm, with interesting results in the stylistic treatment of the text. On the contrary, Crucero Ecuatorial reveals a calmer and more self-confident position. The “right distance” between poetic vocation and solidarity has been attained. (shrink)

Did Dan Callahan know the calling he was displaying in his own work and offering to others in the special intellectual garden of The Hastings Center, which he cocreated, with Will Gaylin, and went on to prune and tend for nearly four decades? I would say, yes, he knew what he was about. Successful people usually have self‐confidence and drive in abundance, but in Dan's case, there was something more profound and interesting at work. Having gone through the endnotes of (...) his latest book one day, I asked him how he found time to read so widely. He said he had learned to be an efficient skimmer who could pull out the nuggets he valued from another's work because he had a few magnetic ideas from which he would brook no distraction. (shrink)

The success of the New Deal policies of the current Labour administration - particularly the Welfare to Work and University for Industry initiatives - will depend crucially on the cooperation of the vital small and medium-sized enterprises sector of British industry. In turn, the reaction of small employers to the new policies will be structured by the national vocational education and training efforts and the vocational qualifications system. Against the background of our recent research on SMEs in the (...) West Midlands region, we argue that the New Deal policies will fail to engage with SME needs and interests unless the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority effectively abandons the old agenda of the former National Council for Vocational Qualifications in its ongoing restructuring and radical review of issues and policies for VET. (shrink)

Grounding on Holland’s RIASEC model of vocational interests and the respective assumptions on person-environment fit, this paper focuses on how congruence is related to study outcomes, especially students’ persistence, performance, and satisfaction. The paper distinguishes the measure of congruence with respect to social congruence and aspirational congruence and also distinguishes the effects of congruence for gender and six different study areas including Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, medicine, economics, education, and languages. The paper analyses 10,226 university freshmen of the German (...) National Educational Panel Study and follows them longitudinally with respect to their study outcomes. The results show that students’ persistence was more related to SOC than to ASP, especially for male students. Furthermore, SOC was particularly important for students in STEM areas. Regarding performance, however, ASP was more important. Here, we notably found correlations for STEM subjects with a balanced proportion of female students. Regarding satisfaction, mainly marginal correlations could be found. The results indicate conceptual differences between social and aspirational congruence as well as specific effects for gender and study area. While research might take this into account by specifically developing their models for different study areas, career counseling may reflect on the different significance of the interest-based person-environment fit for different study areas. Initiatives for raising young people’s participation in STEM should therefore specifically focus on students that have high chances to develop interest profiles that are congruent to STEM rather than students who show profiles which already indicate a low congruence. (shrink)

Identity, self-sufficiency and disability in the context of educational and vocational activity This study focused on relations between identity and sense of self-sufficiency. These relations were analysed in the context of educational and vocational activity. 204 persons without disabilities and 230 persons with different kinds of disability participated in the study. Participants were divided into three groups: 18-24-year-olds - students, 25-30-year-olds - unemployed and 25-30-year-olds - employed. The results revealed that unemployed people have significant problems with identity formation. (...) This group obtained the highest scores on ruminative exploration and the lowest scores on the scales of commitment making and identification with commitment. Self-sufficiency proved to be a moderator of the relations between educational/vocational activity on the one hand and exploration in breadth and exploration in depth on the other hand. In students, level of exploration was high in individuals with a high sense of self-sufficiency whereas in the unemployed strong exploration was observed in the group with low sense of self-sufficiency. The need to conduct studies where participants are recruited from populations which seldom attract researchers' interest, such as the unemployed and people of low social status, is also noted. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to identify the needs of vocational and technical Anatolian high school students for guidance. A mixed research methodology is employed in this descriptive study. With the guidance needs analysis survey, quantitative data was collected about the needs of students for guidance from a total of 2228 participants including 1437 students, 304 teachers and 487 parents. The qualitative data in the research were collected from school counsellors employed in vocational and technical high schools, (...) from the heads of guidance services employed in guidance research centres, from psychological guidance and counselling specialists working in the Ministry of National Education, from psychological counsellors representing Turkish Psychological Counselling and Guidance Association and those engaged by educational unions. The research revealed findings that the students need intensive guidance on topics such as identification of future career goals, learning effective studying methods, self-knowledge of interests and abilities, knowledge of professions and their basic requirements, focusing attention during lessons, protection from addiction, knowledge of developmental features of adolescence, university admission exams and opportunities for higher education. Furthermore, it was revealed that the guidance needs of the students were not met sufficiently, they needed services in all areas of personal-social, educational and career guidance, female students needed guidance services more than male students, and students felt more need of guidance services at higher grades. In line with the results of the study, further recommendations are presented to provide for the guidance needs of students. (shrink)

In this thoughtful and literate study, Schwehn argues that Max Weber and several of his contemporaries led higher education astray by stressing research--the making and transmitting of knowledge--at the expense of shaping moral character. Schwehn sees an urgent need for a change in orientation and calls for a "spiritually grounded education in and for thoughtfulness." The reforms he endorses would replace individualistic behavior, the "doing my own work" syndrome derived from the Enlightenment, with a communitarian ethic grounded in Judeo-Christian spirituality. (...) Schwehn critiques philosophies of higher education he considers misguided, from Weber and Henry Adams to Derek Bok, Allan Bloom, and William G. Perry Jr. He draws out valid insights, always showing the theological underpinnings of the so-called secular thinkers. He emphasizes the importance of community, drawing on both the secular communitarian theory of Richard Rorty and that of the Christian theorist Parker Palmer. Finally, he outlines his own prescription for a classroom-centered spiritual community of scholars. Schwehn's study will interest all those concerned with higher education in America today: faculty, students, parents, alumni, administrators, trustees, and foundation officers. (shrink)

Neher uses Moses as the focal point for a well written introduction to the Jewish faith, and he makes continuous references to the twentieth century. The volume is well illustrated.--K. H.

In this thoughtful and literate study, Schwehn argues that Max Weber and several of his contemporaries led higher education astray by stressing research--the making and transmitting of knowledge--at the expense of shaping moral character. Schwehn sees an urgent need for a change in orientation and calls for a "spiritually grounded education in and for thoughtfulness." The reforms he endorses would replace individualistic behavior, the "doing my own work" syndrome derived from the Enlightenment, with a communitarian ethic grounded in Judeo-Christian spirituality. (...) Schwehn critiques philosophies of higher education he considers misguided, from Weber and Henry Adams to Derek Bok, Allan Bloom, and William G. Perry Jr. He draws out valid insights, always showing the theological underpinnings of the so-called secular thinkers. He emphasizes the importance of community, drawing on both the secular communitarian theory of Richard Rorty and that of the Christian theorist Parker Palmer. Finally, he outlines his own prescription for a classroom-centered spiritual community of scholars. Schwehn's study will interest all those concerned with higher education in America today: faculty, students, parents, alumni, administrators, trustees, and foundation officers. (shrink)

Re-working the Gramscian idea of the ‘organic’ intellectual from the cultural-political sphere to Higher Education (HE), suggests the need to develop critical and questioning ‘counter hegemonic’ ideas and behaviour in community education students. Connecting this reworking to the Habermasian theory of communicative action, suggests that these students also need to learn how to be constructive in developing such knowledge. Working towards critical and constructive capacities is particularly relevant for students who learn through acting in practice settings where general principles and (...) purposes acquired in the academy need to be interpreted in response to the unique demands of specific situations. From a Gramscian perspective, enabling students to develop the qualities of organic intellectuals means that lecturers have a duty to teach critical knowledges which the student will be unfamiliar with and unlikely to possess. If teaching is not to become simply didactic, however, there is also a need to acknowledge Habermas’s contention that all knowledge is contingent. This does not mean that knowledge is merely relative, subjective, or essentially interest serving, as some postmodernists would have it. In Habermasian terms, knowledge is developed through a rigorous process of contesting validity claims according to procedures appropriate to discipline areas. In these procedures, contestation occurs to the point where there is general agreement about the best current understanding, until such time as this is overtaken by ideas with a better claim. The danger is that over commitment to contestation in the classroom undermines subject knowledge and ultimately the authority of the educator. Speaking Habermas to Gramsci, and vice versa, helps socially and politically committed educators to construct a space in which didactic and discursive moments purposefully alternate. (shrink)

In The Scientific Life, Steven Shapin argues that people and their virtues matter in late modern science. While scientists struggle to remain objective and impersonal, it is the personal, familiar, and charismatic—the traits once swept aside as vices by the scientifically virtuous—that have come to embody the “truth-speakers” of late modernity. With an enormous and sometimes daunting wealth of primary sources (from technical commentaries to his own sociological fieldwork), Steven Shapin breathes life back into these quotidian virtues. The Scientific Life (...) is as much a disjointed genealogy of scientific virtue as a reminder that trust still matters at the cutting-edge of scientific “future-making.” Shapin’s mastery of historical narrative is clear; anyone interested in the American scientific persona and how it has transformed in the twentieth century would do well to wade patiently through this thick and rewarding text. But hang up your expectations of historical linearity (and, sometimes, thematic coherence) as you weave through motley professionals, theorists, and critics drawn from over a century of science commentators. Perhaps this work is best described as textured: rich in detail, woven intricately, but hardly smooth to the touch. (shrink)

Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku učenika trećih razreda strukovnih škola i gimnazija. Od uključenih učenika, gimnaziju je pohađalo njih 253, a srednje strukovne škole 352 učenika. Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati neke specifičnosti u percepciji učenika srednjih škola o važnosti nastavnih predmeta iz područja likovnih umjetnosti. Napravljena je posebna analiza samo za dvije odabrane zavisne varijable: važnost nastavnih predmeta iz područja likovnih umjetnosti za razvoj pamćenja i sposobnosti za učenje ostalih nastavnih predmeta te interes i zadovoljstvo sudjelovanjem u likovnim aktivnostima. (...) Rezultati pokazuju da ne postoji statistički značajna razlika između učenika gimnazija i strukovnih škola u procjeni sudjelovanja u aktivnostima nastave likovne umjetnosti te u procjeni važnosti likovnih aktivnosti za razvoj pamćenja i sposobnosti za učenje ostalih predmeta. Postoji statistički značajna spolna razlika u procjeni sudjelovanja u aktivnostima nastave likovne umjetnosti te u procjeni važnosti likovnih aktivnosti za razvoj pamćenja i sposobnosti za učenje ostalih predmeta. Može se zaključiti da ispitanici nisu bili u mogućnosti procijeniti koliko i u koju svrhu će im u daljnjem školovanju i budućem zanimanju koristiti kompetencije stečene u nastavi likovne umjetnosti. This research was carried out on a sample of third year pupils of vocational schools and gymnasiums. Of the surveyed pupils, 253 of them attended gymnasiums, while 352 attended vocational secondary schools. The goal of this research was to examine specificities in secondary school pupils’ perceptions of the importance of subjects in the field of the fine arts. A separate analysis was undertaken for only two selected dependent variables: the importance of subjects in the field of the fine arts for developing memory and the ability to learn other subjects, and interest in and satisfaction with participation in fine arts activities. The results show that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimation of gymnasium and vocational school pupils regarding participation in fine arts activities or in their estimation of the importance of fine arts activities in developing memory and the ability to learn other subjects. There is a statistically significant gender difference in the estimation of participation in fine arts activities, as well as in the estimation of the importance of fine arts activities in developing memory and the ability to learn other subjects. It can be concluded that respondents were unable to estimate how much or why they would use competencies gained in fine arts teaching in their continued education or their future careers. (shrink)

The Puritan ethic is conventionally interpreted as a set of individualistic values that encourage a degree of self-interest inimical to the good of organizations and society. A closer reading of original Puritan moralists reveals a different ethic. Puritan moralists simultaneously legitimated economic individualism while urging individuals to work for the common good. They contrasted self-interest and the common good, which they understood to be the sinful and moral ends, respectively, of economic individualism. This polarity can be found in (...) all the details of their moral system, including the Puritan understanding of vocation, economic virtues, property rights, contracts, wealth and poverty, market prices and interest, and the proper economic role of government. The efforts of contemporary ethics to confront the problem of self-interest in business organizations and society would be enriched by a rediscovery of the Puritan understanding of self as a fundamental problem for any individualistic value system. (shrink)

To assist Chinese high school students in improving their career readiness and tackling career decision-making difficulties, we designed a synchronous online career intervention based on the Cognitive Information Processing theory during the Covid-19 pandemic. The online career intervention consisted of a series of career courses to develop high school students’ knowledge and skills in career planning, career assessments for exploring their vocational interests and academic self-concept, and a database providing basic information about university majors. To evaluate the intervention’s effectiveness, (...) 957 10th grade students were recruited in the study, 601 participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group, and 356 participants were randomly assigned to the control group. All participants completed a pre- and post-intervention assessment of their career maturity, vocational identity and career decision-making difficulties. Results indicated that the online intervention significantly increased high school students’ career readiness and reduced their career decision-making difficulties. The practical implications of this research for online career interventions directed at Chinese high school students are also discussed. (shrink)

This research aimed to examine the relations between suitability of interest to occupation and employee’s productivity. The hypothesis tested whether there are correlations between suitability of interest to occupation and employee’s productivity on insurance agent. Subjects were insurance agent from Jiwasraya Company (N = 90). Two instruments were administered to collect the data i.e. Position Classification Inventory, and Vocational Preferences Inventory. The data were analyzed through Spearman’s correlation test. The results shows that there are positive an significant (...) correlations between suitability of interest to occupation and employee’s productivity (r(88) = 0,579, p < 0,01).  . (shrink)

Everyone interested in Arabic and Persian literature, in Islam and in comparative religion, regrets the death of Arthur J. Arberry, Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge. Arberry combined rare human qualities and exceptional professional attainment, and this enabled him to make a unique contribution both to learning and to mutual understanding between East and West. He had a deep sense of vocation, which he brought to his unremitting labours as a skilled editor of texts, especially (...) in the field of Islamic mysticism, and as an imaginative translator of these texts of the Koran and of Arabic and Persian poetry, and as a sympathetic interpreter of Sūfism. (shrink)

More and more studies and research have found a positive relationship between the participation of young people in altruistic activities and helping others, but it is interesting to discover a relationship of that personal and vocational satisfaction in the preparation and training in a profession as important to society as teaching. For students who begin university studies related to teaching, their psychological well-being and motivation towards this activity are very relevant aspects to consider. The access to and attainment of (...) a University Degree with a great vocational character, such as that of Pre-School Teacher or Primary Education Teacher, can benefit the students who will be in charge. These future educational professionals will have adequate motivation and maintain a psychological well-being that, in short, will favour their personal balance and will impact their future students. This research aims to analyse the degree of psychological well-being and its relationship with the motivation towards starting the teaching career. A sample of 233 students and students aged between 17 or 19 years of age who are beginning university studies at the School of Education of Ciudad Real was selected. All participants are enrolled in the first year of the Degree in Pre-school and Primary Education. The relationship between the psychological well-being of the students and their motivation towards attaining a professional teaching career was analysed. Other variables such as age or sex were also taken into account. A quantitative study was carried out and the Ryff Psychological Welfare Scale and the Intrinsic Motivation Questionnaire (IMI) were used. Once the results were analysed, it was observed that there is a positive correlation between the perception of psychological well-being that the participants have and their motivation towards the beginning of university studies, whose professional focus is mainly direct teaching with the students of the early stages of Pre-school and Primary Education. There are also some significant differences, considering the age and sex of the participants. The vocational character of university preparation for the teaching profession may determine that students who begin their Degree studies have an important motivation towards the performance of their professional future. (shrink)

Against the prevalent trend in eco-criticism which is to deny the human difference, I summon a set of untimely tropes from metaphysics in the interest of advancing an ecological humanism: the difference in kind between human consciousness and animal sensibility; the uniquely human capacity for moral discernment; and the human being’s peculiar freedom from the material conditions of existence. While I agree with eco-critics who argue that anthropocenic nature is not only finite, but sick: sickened by our abuse and (...) neglect, I disagree that this abuse is simply a result of insisting on the human difference, nor is species egalitarianism the way forward. On the contrary, the eco-collapse, referred to as the sixth great extinction event, is the consequence of a general disavowal of the human’s special call to take responsibility for the relation between the human and the non-human, and only a re-awakening of this responsibility can restore health to anthropocenic nature. The non-human cannot effect this restoration, for that is not its vocation. A difference in vocation is not necessarily a difference in moral worth, and so the human difference does not justify denying the “intrinsic value” of the non-human. Humanity is uniquely responsible both for the mess we are in and for cleaning it up. (shrink)

Against the prevalent trend in eco-criticism which is to deny the human difference, I summon a set of untimely tropes from metaphysics in the interest of advancing an ecological humanism: the difference in kind between human consciousness and animal sensibility; the uniquely human capacity for moral discernment; and the human being’s peculiar freedom from the material conditions of existence. While I agree with eco-critics who argue that anthropocenic nature is not only finite, but sick: sickened by our abuse and (...) neglect, I disagree that this abuse is simply a result of insisting on the human difference (“anthropocentrism”), nor is species egalitarianism the way forward. On the contrary, the eco-collapse, referred to as the sixth great extinction event, is the consequence of a general disavowal of the human’s special call to take responsibility for the relation between the human and the non-human, and only a re-awakening of this responsibility can restore health to anthropocenic nature. The non-human cannot effect this restoration, for that is not its vocation. A difference in vocation is not necessarily a difference in moral worth, and so the human difference does not justify denying the “intrinsic value” of the non-human. Humanity is uniquely responsible both for the mess we are in and for cleaning it up. (shrink)

Contemporary Americans often view politics as a necessary evil. This cogent and original work uses the ancient philosophical/political tradition of the West to rehabilitate the high vocation of the politician and the citizen in the modern world. Kane seeks to locate human beings and such philosophical notions as the public good, public virtue, public speech, and public action in the complicated middle between the bestial and the divine. To live as best we can on that middle path is, he believes, (...) our vocation as citizens. The classical tradition comes alive in fresh ways as Kane applies it to key contemporary events and figures, from Elizabeth Bouvia (who wanted medical practitioners to help her die) to Rosa Parks (who wanted equal treatment on a city bus). By paying close attention to our public transactions, Kane shows how the reality of the common good operates in our lives. Kane contends that we are more likely to rediscover our political selves not in broad national or international forums but in our local communities where character can be displayed and authentic speech and action become possible. Aimed at a broad interdisciplinary and inter-professional audience, Kane's book is accessible to the interested citizen. Weaving through the tangled web of contemporary politics, including issues of character and virtue, Kane sails against the prevailing currents of strident individualism and political cynicism. (shrink)

This is a marvelous book. Although billed as a Dogmatics, it is really a rambling and magnanimous presentation of the Christian faith-theology as well as practice. It is guided by the attempt to be systematic and comprehensive. It is filled with wonderful human insights into the nature of the Christian posture in a wayward world. It is part philosophical theology, part a theology of culture, and part practical theology. But it is more than all of its parts. What we have (...) is Hartt's mature ruminations on a vast number of subjects germane to Christian thinking. Hartt is a Barthian with humor, a neo-Reformation theologian with pizazz, a Methodist who has drunk deeply of American culture. Hartt divides his book into three parts: The Vocation of the Church as a Critic of Culture; The Dogmatic Content of Practical Theology; and Applications. The first part is an attempt to work the church into the role of a cultural interrogator, conscious on the one hand of its historic roots in that theological tradition known as the Christian faith, and on the other of its iconoclastic role, relativizing all absolutistic pretensions that civilization may attain, and in general, lose itself in the world, but not to the world. It is in this section that Hartt gives credence to the title of his book, A Christian Critique of American Culture. Part II emphasizes the "preachability" of the Gospel. Part III demonstrates what Hartt means by the applicability of the Gospel, its critique of art, politics, and mass culture. A chapter on "The Holy Spirit and 'Revolution'" concludes the work. There are no footnotes, no bibliography and no index. But none is needed. In the end what the reader has is Hartt and not a conglomeration and distillation of the thoughts of the theological luminaries of our day. Hartt's writing is the best among living theologians--and that fact alone ought to make anyone who is interested in great theologizing buy this book.--W. A. J. (shrink)

This book is a full survey of the philosophy of tragedy from antiquity to the present. From Aristotle to Žižek the focal question has been: why, in spite of its distressing content, do we value tragic drama? What is the nature of the 'tragic effect'? Some philosophers point to a certain kind of pleasure that results from tragedy. Others, while not excluding pleasure, emphasize the knowledge we gain from tragedy - of psychology, ethics, freedom or immortality. Through a critical engagement (...) with these and other philosophers, the book concludes by suggesting an answer to the question of what it is that constitutes tragedy 'in its highest vocation'. This book will be of equal interest to students of philosophy and of literature. (shrink)

In the wake of populist challenges throughout the past decade in the U.S. and Europe, liberalism has been described as elitist and out of touch, concerned with protecting and promoting material interests with an orientation that is pragmatic, legalistic, and technocratic. Simultaneously, liberal governments have become increasingly detached from the middle class and its moral needs for purpose and belonging. If liberalism cannot provide spiritual sustenance, individuals will look elsewhere for it, especially in illiberal forms of populism. -/- In Kant, (...) Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life, Jeffrey Church addresses the "meaning deficit" in contemporary liberal societies. Focusing on Immanuel Kant's largely neglected early lectures on anthropology from the 1760s and 1770s, Church argues that Kant's work can serve as a basis for a more meaningful liberalism, one that conceives of freedom and equality for all as a moral vocation of citizens and institutions. Church also asserts that Kant's early view of the meaning of life has important implications for understanding his political theory. Kant saw liberal community as something that helps us realize our destiny on earth as the distinctively free creatures we are. Liberalism, then, is not elitist but a participatory project of all members of society. It is not concerned primarily with material things but with our moral destiny. It is not pragmatic but principled. -/- Church holds that Kant's liberalism rests on a view of the meaning of human existence, and so analyzes Kant's view of the meaning of life and its application to his politics. In particular, Church contends that a fundamental concern included in Kant's liberalism, largely unrecognized by scholars, is to foster the meaning of life for citizens of liberal republican orders. At the same time, Church applies Kant's views of the meaning of life to contemporary problems in liberalism. In particular, he argues that Kant's view of a meaningful liberalism can provide a counterweight to the recent rise of illiberal nationalist or religious forms of community that seem attractive to liberal citizens hungering for meaning in a disenchanted world. Compelling and ambitious, Jeffrey Church provides the first extended treatment of Kant's understanding of the meaning of life and a powerful alternative to procedural liberalism. (shrink)

'This is a very good and important book that is must reading for anyone interested in evolutionary economics and/or the relationship between history and economics. In addition, you get a very well documented and argued interpretation of long run capitalist development from the industrial revolution to the present that will be a standard reference... a first rate contribution to the discussion of how evolutionary economics should develop.' -Journal of Evolutionary Economics 'The book offers numerous insights into particular aspects of technological (...) change... Social theorists and policy advisors today need to be able to understand technological change in relation to cultural, political and economic life, and to situate contemporary developments in a longer term perspective. The authors provide a framework to do exactly that. Their book is a welcome demonstration of the usefulness of historical context for contemporary debates regarding science and technology policy.' -Business History 'A thought-provoking work that is valuable for more than its detailed account of the technological revolutions that shape our economy today. By directing our attention to a perspective outside the current wave, it shapes our thinking about events inside the current wave.' -Academy of Management Review 'This major contribution to economic history is the most impressive and convincing attempt I know to apply the concept of the 'long waves', a basic rhythm of historical development in the era of capitalism, to the entire stretch from eighteenth-century Lancashire to twenty-first-century Silicon Valley. It is also a call for economic history to escape from the handcuffs of narrow retrospective econometrics to the freedom of its vocation: understanding and explaining secular historical transformations.' -Eric Hobsbawm FBA, American Academy of Arts andamp; Sciences, Emeritus Professor of Social and Economic History, Birkbeck College; Author of The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991The Internet and mobile telephones have made everyone more aware than ever of the computer revolution and its effects on the economy and society. 'As Time Goes By' puts this revolution in the perspective of previous waves of technical change: steam-powered mechanization, electrification, and motorization. It argues for a theory of reasoned economic history which assigns a central place to these successive technological revolutions. (shrink)

Background: In modern healthcare, the role of solidarity, altruism and the natural response to moral challenges in life-threatening situations is still rather unexplored. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to obtain a deeper understanding of nurses’ willingness to care for patients during crisis. Objective: To elucidate clinical expressions of ontological situational ethics through nurses’ willingness to work during a pandemic. Research design, participants and context: A qualitative study with an interpretive design was applied. Twenty nurses who worked in intensive care (...) unit at two Swedish hospitals during the first, second, and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic were interviewed. The analysis was interpretative and applied a theoretical ethics perspective. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Findings: From a philosophical perspective, the nurses expressed sovereign life expressions of mercy and compassion, which arose spontaneously in response to seeing vulnerable fellow humans. They referenced ‘‘the nurse inside me’’ and their choice of profession as motives to provide care. Ontological situational ethics in culture and norms were noted in the constructs of competence, responsibility, solidarity with colleagues and organization; and interest and learning were driving forces. Ethical demand was evident when nurses expressed ideas of meaningfulness in helping their fellow humans; but themes of ambiguity, exhaustion and unwillingness were also present. Conclusions: The nurses showed a high willingness to care for patients during a crisis. Responding to the ethical demand and to care for vulnerable human beings while risking their own health and lives could be interpreted as an inter-human vocation. These spontaneous altruistic actions saved the lives of many patients during the pandemic and need to be understood and supported. (shrink)

While supporting the cosmopolitan pursuit of a world that respects all rights and interests, James D. Ingram believes political theorists have, in their approach to this project, compromised its egalitarian and emancipatory principles. Focusing on recent debates without losing sight of cosmopolitanism's ancient and Enlightenment roots, Ingram confronts the philosophical difficulties of defending universal ideals and the implications for ethics and political theory. In morality as in politics, theorists have generally focused first on discovering universal values and second on their (...) implementation. Ingram argues that only by prioritizing the development and articulation of universal values through political action in the fight for freedom and equality can theorists do justice to these efforts and cosmopolitanism's universal vocation. Only by proceeding from the local to the global, from the bottom up rather than from the top down, on the basis of political practice rather than moral ideals, can we salvage moral and political universalism. In this book, Ingram provides the clearest, most systematic account yet of this schematic reversal and its radical possibilities. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This essay argues that science education can gain from close engagement with the history of science both in the training of prospective vocational scientists and in educating the broader public about the nature of science. First it shows how historicizing science in the classroom can improve the pedagogical experience of science students and might even help them turn into more effective professional practitioners of science. Then it examines how historians of science can support the scientific education of the (...) general public at a time when debates over “intelligent design” are raising major questions over the kind of science that ought to be available to children in their school curricula. It concludes by considering further work that might be undertaken to show how history of science could be of more general educational interest and utility, well beyond the closed academic domains in which historians of science typically operate. (shrink)

Making sense of Kant’s claim that it is morally necessary for us to believe in the immortal soul is a historically fraught issue. Commentators typically reject it, or take one of two paths: they either restrict belief in the immortal soul to our subjective psychology, draining it of any substantive rational grounding; or make it out to be a rational necessity that morally interested beings must accept on pain of contradiction. Against these interpreters, I argue that on Kant’s view, belief (...) in our immortality is necessary because it further determines and enriches the cognitive content contained in the concept of the highest good. Through this sharpened conceptual content, we acquire the resources to withstand theoretical skepticism about our moral vocation. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This essay argues that science education can gain from close engagement with the history of science both in the training of prospective vocational scientists and in educating the broader public about the nature of science. First it shows how historicizing science in the classroom can improve the pedagogical experience of science students and might even help them turn into more effective professional practitioners of science. Then it examines how historians of science can support the scientific education of the (...) general public at a time when debates over “intelligent design” are raising major questions over the kind of science that ought to be available to children in their school curricula. It concludes by considering further work that might be undertaken to show how history of science could be of more general educational interest and utility, well beyond the closed academic domains in which historians of science typically operate. (shrink)

La Religieuse is a classic French Enlightenment work in its elucidation of forced religious vocation as well as the hypocrisy and abuses of the Catholic Church. In reviving and effectively re-envisioning the novel, filmmakers Jacques Rivette and Guillaume Nicloux succeed in bringing Diderot’s ideas to bear on contemporary issues such as the image and role of the Church post Vatican II, and the effects of patriarchal and religious oppression on the individual. This article examines the context and reception of all (...) three works (the original text and two film adaptations) and their engagement with specific historical circumstances as well as more universal concerns; by extension, this project represents an effort to probe the perhaps unexpected, continued interest in Diderot’s writings in popular culture today. An analysis of the literary and cinematic posterity of La Religieuse underscores the ongoing pertinence of French Enlightenment thought while illuminating the linked political and aesthetic inheritance of Diderot’s novel. (shrink)

La Religieuse is a classic French Enlightenment work in its elucidation of forced religious vocation as well as the hypocrisy and abuses of the Catholic Church. In reviving and effectively re-envisioning the novel, filmmakers Jacques Rivette and Guillaume Nicloux succeed in bringing Diderot’s ideas to bear on contemporary issues such as the image and role of the Church post Vatican II, and the effects of patriarchal and religious oppression on the individual. This article examines the context and reception of all (...) three works (the original text and two film adaptations) and their engagement with specific historical circumstances as well as more universal concerns; by extension, this project represents an effort to probe the perhaps unexpected, continued interest in Diderot’s writings in popular culture today. An analysis of the literary and cinematic posterity of La Religieuse underscores the ongoing pertinence of French Enlightenment thought while illuminating the linked political and aesthetic inheritance of Diderot’s novel. (shrink)

Preview: /Review: Paulina Sosnowska, Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger: Philosophy, Modernity, and Education, 251 pages./ What is the vocation of philosophy? Should it be defined in terms of political or economic needs, or rather should philosophy autonomously establish its own goals and norms? One might say that philosophy began with questioning the place and role of philosophical thought. It remains one of its most interesting – at least for philosophers themselves – issues. This kind of question constitutes the inevitable background (...) of every research project that concerns the problem of the task of philosophy. The book written by Paulina Sosnowska could be viewed as another attempt to answer this question, but in a truly hermeneutical manner; in other words, via the historical study of the relationship between the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. This historical research, it should be emphasized, takes into account not only the internal, purely intellectual dynamics of Heidegger’s and Arendt’s thought, but includes extensive research on the important events that shaped their lives as well as their thought. (shrink)