Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons^™

Nietzsche And The Religion Of The Future, Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

This article examines the place of religion in Nietzsche’s writings and how it fits with the task of a “new philosopher.” Although Nietzsche opposes all otherworldly, monotheistic religions, it is incorrect to say that Nietzsche proposes atheism as a solution. Religion, he contends, is an essential part of any healthy culture. Nietzsche’s new philosophy would fashion gods consistent with the natural order of rank and the highest aims of man.

Nietzsche conceives of modernity not as progress but an unhealthy and dangerous break with tradition that he seeks to set right. Consequently, he turns to the greatness of antiquity. Nietzsche, …

Nietzsche On Truth And The Will, Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

The fundamental — and many would say lingering — challenge to Nietzsche concerns how he can ground the will to power, given what he says about metaphysics as a philosophic prejudice. Does his teaching not topple of its own weight/lessness? It is the standard objection to which all postmodern philosophers must respond. This article examines what Nietzsche says about the limits of truth and the role that experience and perspective have in setting standards by which we might live correctly. The will to power, Nietzsche instructs, is a claim on truth, confirmed only to the extent that it serves life …

On Skepticism About Case-Specific Intuitions, James Mcbain

Faculty Submissions

Moral theorizing is often characterized as beginning from our intuitions about ethical cases. Yet, while many applaud, and even demand, this methodology, there are those who reject such a methodology on the grounds that we cannot treat people’s intuitions about ethical cases as evidence for or against moral theories. Recently, Shelly Kagan has argued that the reliance upon case-specific intuitions in moral theorizing is problematic. Specifically, he maintains that the practice of using intuitions about cases lacks justification and, hence, we ought to be skeptical about the evidential weight of moral intuitions. This leads Kagan to conclude that we ought …

Nietzsche, Nihilism, And The Virtue Of Nature, Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Nietzsche’s view of nature and his attack on the platonic tradition has given him a reputation as a nihilist, a label he himself acknowledged. Yet what does Nietzsche mean by nihilism? and to what extent is he a nihilist? This article explores Nietzsche’s use of the term as it relates to modernity, his own postmodern project, and how it is connected with what Nietzsche calls “virtue.”

Payment For Egg Donation And Surrogacy, Bonnie Steinbock

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the ethics of egg donation. It begins by looking at objections to noncommercial gamete donation, and then takes up criticism of commercial egg donation. After discussing arguments based on concern for offspring, inequality, commodification, exploitation of donors, and threats to the family, I conclude that some payment to donors is ethically acceptable. Donors should not be paid for their eggs, but rather they should be compensated for the burdens of egg retrieval. Making the distinction between compensation for burdens and payment for a product has the advantages of limiting payment, not distinguishing between donors on the basis …

[Book Review Of] Living The Good Life: What Every Catholic Needs To Know About Moral Issues, By Mark Lowery, William E. May

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’S Philosophy Of The Two, Alenka Zupancic (Book Review), Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Book review by Steven Michels.

Zupančič, A. (2003). The shortest shadow: Nietzsche’s philosophy of the two. MIT Press.

ISBN 9780262740265

Playing Politics With Bioethics: Now That's Repugnant, Yvette E. Pearson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In a recent Washington Post editorial, Leon Kass claimed that neither he nor the President's Council on Bioethics (PCB) is "playing politics with science." At this point, it is clear that nobody really buys this claim. Nonetheless, even if they are not playing politics with science, someone certainly is playing politics with bioethics, which is just as unacceptable, if not worse.

Philisophical Study Of Responsibility, William Doug Bolden

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Adr Ethics, Scott R. Peppet

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Moral Callings And The Duty To Have Children: A Response To Jeff Mitchell, James Mcbain

Faculty Submissions

Jeff Mitchell argues that the good reason for having children is that parenthood is a “moral calling” and that one should heed the call out of a sense of duty and responsibility for the good of society. I argue such a “moral calling” account is mistaken, first, in that Mitchell problematically assumes the “basic intuition” is mistaken and, second, it fails to provide the epistemic conditions for the warranted belief that one would probably make a good parent (a central consideration of Mitchell’s). Thus, such a “moral calling” rationale for the having of children is not superior to rationales that …

The Goals And Merits Of A Business Ethics Competency Exam, Earl W. Spurgin

Philosophy

My university recently established a business ethics competency exam for graduate business students. The exam is designed to test whether students can demonstrate several abilities that are indicative of competency in business ethics. They are the abilities to "speak the language" of business ethics, identify business ethics issues, apply theories and concepts to issues, identify connections among theories and concepts as they relate to different issues, and construct and critically evaluate arguments for various positions on business ethics issues. Through this paper, I hope to begin a discussion among business ethicists about both the merits of a competency exam and …

Center For Professional Ethics, Spring 2004, Case Western Reserve University

Center for Professional Ethics

Table of Contents:

• Bonhoefer and King: Legacies and Lessons
• An Extraordinary Man: Case Celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr.
• It's About Ethics: An Interview with Robert P. Lawry
• Current Ethical Controversies in Internal Research: A Talk by Ruth Maklin
• Director's Corner: Civic Duty, Civic Courage by Robert P. Lawry
• News and Notes

[Book Review Of] Issues For A Catholic Bioethic, Edited By Luke Gormally, John Hartley

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] Catholic Bioethics And The Gift Of Human Life, By William E. May, Paul F. Deladurantaye

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] Danny, The Murder Of A Man With Down Syndrome, By Patricia Smith And George Smith, Eugene F. Diamond

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] Euthanasia, Ethics And Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation, By John Keown, William E. May, Michael J. Mcgivney

The Linacre Quarterly

No abstract provided.

A Model Of Animal Selfhood: Expanding Interactionist Possibilities, Leslie Irvine

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Interaction between people and companion animals provides the basis for a model of the self that does not depend on spoken language. Drawing on ethnographic research in an animal shelter as well as interviews and autoethnography, this article argues that interaction between people and animals contributes to human selfhood. In order for animals to contribute to selfhood in the ways that they do, they must be subjective others and not just the objects of anthropomorphic projection. Several dimensions of subjectivity appear among dogs and cats, constituting a “core” self consisting of agency, coherence, affectivity, and history. Conceptualizing selfhood in this …

Ethics And The 21st Century University, Judith Bailey

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University

Au Seuil Du Chaos : Devoir De Mémoire, Indicible Et Piège Du Devoir Dire, Issac Bazié

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

That literature has not entirely lost its means when faced with great human tragedies is a fact widely debated when it comes to the Holocaust. This text relies on a discussion of the unspeakable in order to reflect on the texts written about Rwanda’s genocide. Reading those texts’ thresholds reveals a tension of writing between history and fiction, “devoir de mémoire” and near resignation of speech.

Nietzsche’S Aphoristic Turn, Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Nietzsche’s use of the aphorism has most often been taken as evidence of his esotericism. Nietzsche was less than clear in his writings, it is claimed, because he did not want his true teaching to be available to just anyone. This article contends the opposite—that is, that Nietzsche wrote aphoristically for the very purpose of being read, and understood, by the widest possible audience. Moreover, this change in style had a marked impact on the nature of his philosophy. Unburdened by conventional methods, Nietzsche’s critique of modernity became more exact and his own positive philosophy became more radical.

Rosenzweig's Messianic Aesthetics, Jules Simon

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Carl Cohen’S ‘Kind’ Arguments For Animal Rights And Against Human Rights, Nathan Nobis

Animal Welfare Collection

Carl Cohen’s arguments against animal rights are shown to be unsound. His strategy entails that animals have rights, that humans do not, the negations of those conclusions, and other false and inconsistent implications. His main premise seems to imply that one can fail all tests and assignments in a class and yet easily pass if one’s peers are passing and that one can become a convicted criminal merely by setting foot in a prison. However, since his moral principles imply that nearly all exploitive uses of animals are wrong anyway, foes of animal rights are advised to seek philosophical consolations …

Desolation's March: The Rise Of Personalism And The Reign Of Amusement In 21st Century America, Stephen Paul Foster Ph.D.

Books Authored by Wright State Faculty/Staff

Dr. Stephen Foster (author of Melancholy Duty, Kluwer, 1997) has undertaken a critique of American decadence and moral squalor. He argues that three basic cultural phenomena have conjoined to warp and degrade the moral and cultural landscape of the country. Treated together for purposes of critique these phenomena have intertwined in the national psyche. They are the impact of personalism (via J. J. Rosseau) and the leveraged individual, the growth of the therapeutic state and the overwhelming preoccupation with entertainment. The author suggests the moral and cultural quandary these "states" have wrought and the attendant loss of artistic, moral …

Immanuel Kant (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

"Immanuel Kant," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 804-06, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.

Immigration (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

"Immigration," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 715-17, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.

Kantian Ethics (Reference Entry), Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

"Kantian Ethics," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 806-08, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press.

Wittgenstein And The Recovery Of Virtue, G. Scott Davis

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Modern, scientific, man doesn't see miracles, only odd phenomena that call out for more thorough study. Ethics, like the miraculous, doesn't defy scientific explanation; it just doesn't exist. In what follows I hope to do two things., On the one hand, I want to embrace Wittgenstein's rejection of ethics as theory, in the sense of a systematic body of knowledge about the world. On the other, I hope to suggest that this rejection opens up conceptual space for understanding ethics as a critical human enterprise.

Is Anyone To Blame For Pollution?, Aaron Lercher

Faculty Publications

By making use of a distinction between "making something happen" and "allowing it to happen," a polluting act can be defined as making something happen with widely scattered externalized costs. Not all polluting acts are blameworthy, but we can investigate which polluting acts are sufficiently badly performed as to be blameworthy. This definition of polluting act permits us to justify the belief we often have that behavior concerning pollution may be blameworthy, even when we do not know whether the behavior caused harm.

On Locating Disaster, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Imagine a man, unknown to you, standing in your backyard calmly clasping and unclasping his hands three times each hour. If we ask "What is he doing?" we would not likely be satisfied with these words: "He's clasping his hands three times per hour." There is something unnerving about the whole scene, not only because we cannot comprehend the point of clasping one's hands three times per hour; we want to know, "What's he doing in my back yard?"

There is a similarly unnerving quality about the description of the Columbia disaster as posed by the case study. By it …