Metaphors abound in descriptions of the COVID-19 pandemic: it is described, among other things, as a war, a flood, and a marathon. However, not all metaphors may resonate equally well with members...

This study investigated the relationships among oppositional defiant attitudes, moral reasoning, moral value evaluation and self-reported delinquent behaviour in adolescents (N = 351, MAGE = 13.8 years, SDAGE = 1.1). Of particular interest were the moderating effects of age, educational environment and gender on the relationship between moral reasoning and delinquency. The results indicate that oppositional defiance was a strong positive correlate of delinquent behaviour, particularly in late adolescence. Furthermore, moral reasoning was modestly and negatively related to delinquency, but only (...) for males. No moderating effects for educational environment were observed. Moreover, moral value evaluation was uncorrelated with delinquent behaviour when controlling for other sociomoral processes. These findings invite further research on the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, with respect to causal links and practical applications within behavioural interventions. (shrink)

This study extends research on moral reasoning competence in juvenile delinquents to their practical reasoning and perception of an institutional moral atmosphere in order to find out whether a delay in moral competence is one of the causes of the offence or one of the consequences of institutionalization or both. The study involved 64 delinquent adolescents from a modern, humane, high security detention centre and 81 secondary school pupils, all males. Delinquent adolescents exhibited lower moral competence than non‐delinquents, particularly in (...) the value area ‘obeying the law’, but the difference was smaller than previously reported. Juvenile delinquents' perception of the moral atmosphere in the detention centre was no lower than that of pupils regarding their school and their low moral competence could not be attributed to a poor moral atmosphere in the centre. Thus, the small delay found in moral competence is likely to precede detention. In both the delinquent and pupil groups perception of a poor moral atmosphere was a more important indicator of self‐reported antisocial behaviour than low moral competence. Our conclusion is that improving the perception of the institutional moral atmosphere in school and in prison is more likely to reduce antisocial behaviour among adolescents than only improving their moral competence. (shrink)

This article appeared originally in L'EUROPE en formation, No. 238, Juillet-Aout 1980 and is here reprinted with the permission of the author and editor. Presses d'Europe, Paris.

Iris Murdoch on philosophy and literature: morality and the limits of text The paper discusses Murdoch’s view on philosophy and literature. It poses two questions. The first question is how Murdoch distinguishes between these two disciplines. Murdoch defends a separation of the two, whereas in fact she crosses borders. Moreover, Murdoch holds that both philosophy and literature are seeking truth. Therefore, I argue, for Murdoch, philosophy and literature are similar from a moral philosophical standpoint. The second question is whether literary (...) and philosophical reflections reach their limits when it comes to describing ultimate moral matters? Here, Murdoch’s concept of textuality is central. I explain Murdoch’s philosophical concept of text by analysing her thoughts on the ban on writing as shown in the novel The Message to the Planet and in philosophical essays, in particular The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists. Next, referring to Murdoch’s objections to Derrida’s theory of text, I argue that Murdoch’s concept of text is not strong enough to protect her view from moralism. I suggest that perhaps the moralism can be overcome if further analysis of Murdoch’s work would disclose the role of an alternative, expressionist concept of text. (shrink)

Whereas the philosophy and novels of Iris Murdoch are discussed widely and thoroughly in academic and popular studies, the poetry in her novels is as yet an underresearched area. This essay offers a first attempt at classifying and interpreting Murdoch's use of poetry in her novels. My analysis shows that this poetry discloses the force of her moral thought. I argue that Murdoch's ambivalent appreciation of T. S. Eliot is a case in point.

ABSTRACTThis article introduces the Hyperbole Identification Procedure, a first systematic method for identifying linguistic hyperbole in discourse. We start by comparing existing definitions of linguistic hyperbole. Based on the commonalities shared by these definitions, we provide our operational definition of hyperbole as “an expression that is more extreme than justified given its ontological referent.” The next section argues why it is useful to identify hyperbole, as with metaphor in Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit, at the level of lexical units, and (...) subsequently introduces the steps of HIP. We follow up with two sample analyses of HIP in practice. First, we show how to unitize and analyze one complete sample sentence. Second, we present sample analyses of a number of selected cases. Then we present data showing that HIP can be reliably applied to a sample corpus of Dutch news texts. We end with discussing applications and implications of using HIP in corpus research. (shrink)

This article explores the presence and function of texts by two spokesmen of the Franciscan Observance sub vicaris, namely Giovanni of Capestrano and Jan Brugman, within a religious miscellany most probably used – if not composed – by the Brothers of the Common Life in the house of Lüchtenhof, founded in 1440 in the neighbourhood of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony. The miscellany attests to the influence of these two prominent preachers beyond their religious order and beyond the geographic areas in which (...) they had been active, thus showing the exchange and interconnection between different branches of the so-called Observant movement.The article first describes the... (shrink)

D’un colloque à un autre, puis à un autre... En mai 1994, les Archives Henri-Poincaré, qui n’avaient alors que deux ans d’existence, organisaient à Nancy un important colloque dédié à l’œuvre scientifique et philosophique du savant [Greffe, Heinzmann et al. 1996]. En janvier 2012, à l’occasion du centenaire du décès d’Henri Poincaré, le laboratoire inaugurait à Nancy une année marquée par d’innombrables manifestations scientifiques et grand public avec un colloque « Vers une biographie d’Henr...