In this paper we present the perceptions of those engagedin a digital research project. We explored participants’ ethical knowledge,understanding and feelings about the whole process. We also tried toimplement a plan in order to see if certain proactive actions will benefitthe understanding of ethical issues among those stakeholders.The investigation presented here explored the need for ethical awarenessamong stakeholders in technology research projects.1 The Project tried to overcome the existing accessibility barriers faced by people unfamiliarwith ICT, people with disabilities and older (...) people when interactingwith Public Digital Terminals, such as ATMs and Ticket VendingMachines. As part of the research an investigation was conducted aboutthe ethical issues that rose on the use of digital technologies and, moreimportantly, about stakeholders ethical issues awareness.In this report the results from the field research carried out on ethicalissues are presented. At the beginning of the project a need for researchinto ethical awareness among project stakeholders was identified. As partof the project´s legal and ethical awareness and compliance, a limitedresearch was carried out on ethical issues. The research carried out encompassedtesting the validity and adequacy of the information providedon a purpose-made guide that also included more ethical awareness questionsto explore.During the testing sessions carried out in the pilot the questionnairewas presented to volunteers. Another questionnaire was presented todevelopers, and to the APSIS4 all project personnel. The expresion ofethical concerns was also encouraged from both the staff working in theproject and volunteers participating in the trials.Results showed that the information provided on the documentationwas adequate and, likewise, that both volunteers and consortium personnelwere aware of volunteers’ rights and personnel obligations. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to found a set of ethical guidelines in respect of specific macroeconomic problems, so that the failure to fulfill these guidelines can be considered both the root of economic crises like the current one, and the reason why such crises are ethically unacceptable. The main topic I will face is the ethical aspect of the instrument of credit. I will do that by means of an examination of what being “ethical” within intersubjective life means for (...) Hegel. Credit would assume the role of a major instrument aimed at putting the material and relational conditions for a full reciprocal recognition and fulfillment of desires among economic agents who originally have imbalanced instruments and discrepant times in their capacity to claim recognition and recognize others’ desires. The development and maximization of reciprocal trust, expectation and “attraction” are established as ethical and teleological categories and their interpretation is also utilized to hint at two other issues, the utilization of credit to set up a Ponzi scheme and the debate about the necessity of a flexible exchange rate between the currencies of different countries – relevant in the Euro area today. (shrink)

The objective of this study was to identify business behaviours that can create greater worker satisfaction in the performance of their professional activity, and to study their consequent impact on personal happiness. It also attempts to understand employees’ perceptions of their work environment and the influence they have on job satisfaction. Therefore, we applied a mixed research method, which combines a theoretical study based on the Sennet model and a quantitative analysis. We reviewed the theoretical arguments and conducted a survey (...) of 83 workers belonging to an American multinational company in 2013. The company is a leading consulting, branding, and marketing enterprise and has implemented pioneering business strategies in Spain. The study identified the actions that should be avoided or enhanced to create organizational models that inspire and promote happiness at work. Without prejudice to the recognition of codes of practice regarding ethics that aspire to justice, the study identified such actions from the understanding that the search for happiness is precisely the objective that most immediately guides the actions of human subjects as moral agents. (shrink)

It is well-known in Western scholarship that Rousseau has been the forerunner of integral value-based pedagogies; in any case, his name stands as one of the main educationists of the West. However, the pedagogic reflections of two major philosophers of modern Europe, Kant and Hegel, have been largely overlooked, especially in the last decades. Dr. Ferrer shows in this paper that Kant and Hegel can also be regarded as forerunners of holistic value-based pedagogies. Their enlightening contributions to philosophy of education (...) and ethics, deeply complementary with Rousseau, can enrich the educational scenario of the Western world, dramatically impoverished by materialism, utilitarianism and technocracy. Before them, Plato already outlined a profound philosophy of education that can be regarded as integral and value-based; beyond contextual factors and the historical distance, Plato can still inspire Western education in a spiritual, ethical and humanistic horizon, just like Rousseau, Kant and Hegel. (shrink)

In November 2014, Pope Francis addressed the World Congress of Accountants in Rome and called on the profession to go beyond accomplishing its duty with competence and wisdom. This study draws insights from Francis’s speech on how spirituality can expand the scope of accounting ethics from mere integrity, honesty, and professionalism to grander aims such as creativity, human development, and social solidarity. Recent studies show that workers and companies with a spiritual orientation perform better than peers and that spirituality fosters (...) creativity. We also discuss how lessons from Francis’s speech can take place in a classroom setting and some real-world applications of those lessons. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations andoverarching criteria behind employee participation in corporate volunteering.This participation is extremely limited. It seems appropriate toenhance it, both due to the internal benefits entailed for the companyitself, and the external impact it exhibits. With that being said, we stumbleupon several problems set out in literature that are confirmed throughour research. Ignorance of the precise causes and true decisive factors thatguide employee participation in corporate volunteering programmesprevents the development of suitable strategies (...) that help boost the percentagesof employee participation. We have conducted an empirical and qualitative study with the aimof being able to construct a model to gain greater knowledge of this phenomenonand to grasp the social significance of this problem. Participantobservation was applied as an ethnographic method for data collection.Thus, we have accompanied and interacted with the employees under study. This approach represents a less intrusive method to avoid selfservingand politically-correct responses that do not reflect employees’true stimuli. (shrink)

No agreement exists among ethical theories on what cancount as a right moral motivation. This hampers us from knowingwhether an intervention in motivation biology can be considered positivefor human morality. To overcome this difficulty, this paper identifiesminimal requirements for moral enhancement that could be accepted bythe major moral theories. Subsequently four possible scenarios are presentedwhere the most promising neural interventions on moral motivationare implemented, by means of drugs, electromagnetic stimulation ofbrain, or biotechnological brain implants. The ultimate goal of this paperis (...) to evaluate the results of each one of these interventions according totheir capacity to fulfill the identified requirements. (shrink)

This article presents the feasibility of teaching generic competences through Sciencelessons at university level. The authors have implemented a new instrumentcalled “Moral Cross Dilemma” which involves the use of argumentationand moral reasoning within the students of Primary EducationDegree. This tool seems to be an effectivepedagogical resource in Higher Education Levels. It is a step forward fromthe well-known dilemma, a consolidated strategy for the development ofethical competences based on argumentative and discursive methodologies.This paper is focused on the description of this technique (...) and applies itfor the first time on experimental data.Moral Cross Dilemma is applicable to environmental conflicts andcan be used as a discursive technique for improving the personal ethiclevel. This work shows empirical evidences from the preliminary implementationwithin university students. experience was carried out on a 47-student sample. They wereprospective teachers learning Natural Sciences. The main results revealedno difference and were observed between self-perceived and peer evaluationof the moral status, although the environmental-friendly argumentationposition clearly set out higher scoring in the moral reasoning level. (shrink)

Our aim is to identify the conditions of possibility of a successfulprocess of ethical deliberation. To achieve this goal, we turn toAristotle’s definition of ‘deliberation’ as a rational process that seeks tomake decisions. We focus also on the need of incorporationof the other’s perspective in what Rawls labels ‘overlapping consensus’;on Lafont’s three requirements of deliberation; and on Ricoeur’s foursteps to fully engage with one’s commitments through action. In orderto complement the picture of deliberation we get when reading theseauthors in conjunction, (...) we add what in our eyes constitute two majorconditions often neglected. We then point out the shortcomings of twomanifestations of the current interest in the successful processes of deliberation.Firstly, we address ethics committees. Given that their primaryconcern is precisely ethics, they should be –and often are– the organizationswhich more enthusiastically embrace and promote ethical processesof deliberation. Yet they tend to fail in some respects, which wepoint out. Secondly, we confront the contradictions surrounding therecent proliferation of codes of ethics and suggest how their value couldbe maximized. (shrink)