Offers suggestions for risk assessment of suicidal religious person. Asserts that religion may either inhibit or facilitate suicide and the examination of role of religion or spirituality in the lifestyle of the suicidal person is an important factor in risk assessment. Provides specific questions for the risk assessment interview to determine the…

Discusses the three elements of Kohlberg's work which contributed to the opening of a new level of dialogue between philosophers and psychologists. (Author/BB)

Suggests that the United States Constitution contains nearly universal concepts but also ambiguities which trigger conflicts. Describes the evolution of the document through its framing and through controversy surrounding the Alien and Sedition Acts, state nullification of federal action, and secession. Concludes that the Constitution provides a…

The nature of skill, distinguished from habit, is sketched. Moral skill is defined as the skill, born of genetically rooted talent, which masterminds subsidiary skills into moral action (action conforming to certain moral principles). Training this skill is possible, but results will be uneven because talent varies. (IAH)

Studies exploring the relationship between religious values and assertiveness are reviewed. Ideological obstacles in assertion training with religious clients are considered, and appropriate therapeutic strategies suggested. Emphasizes importance of presenting rationale for treatment and understanding client's value system. (Author/TE)

Discusses the cognitive aspect of moral judgment. Considers the reductionist position that a judgment must conform to the canons of deductive logic to have epistemological value. Argues that moral thinking follows a different logic, requires other kinds of knowing, and demands a different type of rationality. (DMM)

Argues that the moral quality of rhetorical forms interpenetrates a social order. Explores these new notions of criticism and morality in an example, traces the grounds for the perspective in contemporary American rhetorical studies, discusses imperatives for the implied critical program, and considers the character of the involved rhetorical…

Two articles interchange views about the appropriate values for public schools to teach, focusing on contrasting philosophies emphasizing autonomy, liberalism, and libertarianism. (CB)

Examined relationship between Batson's (1976) three religious orientations (Means, End, Quest) and level of moral judgment. Graduate students (N=64) completed the Religious Life Inventory; the Gladding, Lewis, and Adkins Scale of Religiosity; and the Defining Issues Test. Findings support Batson's contention that Quest orientation defines more…

A critique of widely held objections to the virtues approach to moral education addresses such problems as: distinguishing virtues; defining individual virtues; emphasizing conduct or reason in virtues; the contexts for understanding conduct; justifying the selection of virtues; and defining the scope of the virtues. (CB)

Seeking a shared language instead of shared convictions reduces the temptation to think of professional ethics as the transmission of ethical rules instead of a shared way of thinking through ethical issues. Instruction in professional ethics can help people learn sophistication in public moral discourse. (SK)

There is no consensus on current approaches to teaching ethics to nurses. It might be best to introduce students to a range of theoretical perspectives that help them develop a moral framework within which to make their own ethical decisions. (SK)

Recounts an incident in which a mountaineer cut the rope on which his partner's life depended in order to save himself from being pulled to almost certain death. Interprets relevant English law with regard to the definition of murder and possible defenses in a case such as this. (SV)

Teaching the rules of war to human rights practitioners calls for emphasis on not taking sides; applying existing law rather than inventing standards for the occasion; applying the Geneva Conventions; recognizing that ends do not justify means; determining legitimate military targets; and realizing that "good guys" should be held to the same…

Examines ethics in relation to postmodernism, arguing that ethics, subsumed in the ontology of situatedness, is problematic in education and could encourage reincarnation of the violence postmodernism seeks to overcome. Levinas's work is used to argue that ethics cannot be subsumed by ontology but rather precedes ontology, highlighting autonomy…