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“Our society is quickly reaching a point where notions of right and wrong have become so binary as to virtually eliminate all areas of grey. One result of increased regulatory and enforcement pressure is the suppression flexibility and creativity.” Kenneth S. Phillips Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) HedgeMark International, LLC An Affiliate of BNY Mellon

This thesis outlines and defends a MacIntyrean account of contemporary work. MacIntyre's virtue ethics seems to entail a wholesale rejection of the modern order; throughout his writings MacIntyre is highly critical of capitalism, large-scale modern institutions, management, regulation, and indeed of our whole 'emotivistic' culture (as he sees it) which he regards as being inimical to our potential to virtuously flourish. MacIntyre's mature period, from After Virtue (2007, originally published 1981) contains much that is relevant to a philosophy of work. I will develop and update MacIntyre's own arguments and I will also argue that contemporary working life can be more MacIntyrean than MacIntyre himself realises. Because both work as a topic, and the relevant parts of MacIntyre's writings are extremely diverse, my strategy will be to examine the different key elements of a MacIntyrean philosophy of work without decontextualising the key notions of practices, virtues and institutions from MacIntyre's wider moral philosophy. I will argue that MacIntyre's key concept of a practice, the first stage in his definition of a virtue, is able to account for productive activities and can survive a variety of challenges. We are best able to make sense of the notion of the narrative unity of a whole life, the second stage in MacIntyre's definition of a virtue, if we distinguish between lived-narratives and the told-narratives that best allow us to understand our lives. Despite his broad endorsement of Marx's critique of capitalism, a MacIntyrean account of work differs from Marx's theory of alienation. I will argue that a fully MacIntyrean workplace will be small-scale, will not pressurise employees to identify with compartmentalised roles, and will allow trust to flourish. However, because MacIntyre overstates the extent to which people accept the definitions of ‘success’ that are dominant within modernity, he is unable to see the extent to which MacIntyrean communities can survive the threats posed by contemporary corporations. Another element of MacIntyre's account of work which needs modification is his critique of the character of the manager, and I will offer an emendation of this in order to make it applicable to contemporary forms of management. Finally I show that distinctively modern phenomena of workplace governance and regulation can serve MacIntyrean ends and can allow us to codify broadly MacIntyrean workplace initiatives. However, because of the deep context-sensitivity of the key MacIntyrean notions: practices, narrative-unity, and communities, such measures resist detailed and explicit formulation. My aim is to defend MacIntyre, to deepen our understanding of what a MacIntyrean philosophy of work entails, and to show that and how good work exists even within modernity.

This thesis is an examination of the foundations of practical reason. Building on the later work of Wittgenstein, I argue for a subjectivist view of moral judgment and of judgments about reasons for action. On this view, moral judgments and judgments about reasons for action can be true or false, but they are not objective. The argument for this view has the form of an inference to the best explanation. Using a distinction between primary and secondary qualities, I suggest that moral judgments and judgments about reasons for action should not be construed as referring to an ethical or normative reality that exists independently of us. There are ethical facts and facts about our reasons, but these facts arise as the result of our involvement in a linguistic practice. This provides a new way of accounting for these judgments that differs both from moral realism and expressivism. The view of reasons that emerges is closely related to, but not identical with, reasons internalism as described by Bernard Williams. I reject his argument in favour of internalism and provide a new and independent argument to support this view of our reasons. In the course of spelling out that argument, I show why internalism as described by Williams should be modified, and why this does not commit us to externalism. In the final chapters, I show that there is an important parallel between our practical predicament and the account of our epistemic condition as portrayed by Wittgenstein. The inference to the best explanation is completed by considering a number of objections to subjectivism that are based on the idea that a subjectivist account of moral judgment and of reasons fails to do justice to the ethical phenomena. I reject these objections, and suggest that a subjectivist can both be reflectively aware of his subjectivism and continue to live well.

In this thesis I attempt to base an environmental ethic on a quality called naturalness. I examine it in terms of quantification, namely, as to whether it can quantified? I then apply the concept to specific areas such as restoration and conservation to create an environmental ethic and to show how such an ethic would be beneficial in general, and especially to policy issues concerning the environment. The thesis consists of three chapters: (1) the definition of nature and natural by way of a historical approach; (2) the place of humans in this scheme; and (3) the place of value and the discussion concerning quantification.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there has not been a systematic effort to evaluate the problems of medical error and patient safety as critical issues in healthcare organizational ethics. This dissertation aims to pursue the impact of the original IOM report on this crucial topic by adopting what have been done in the American healthcare system in order to gain insight for the Saudi Arabian healthcare system. This dissertation examines the functions of continuous quality improvement in the healthcare environment of Saudi Arabia through the lens of the organization’s moral agency. This dissertation identifies several areas in Saudi healthcare organizations that are in need of improvement. As a result, this paper makes several recommendations that systematically address patient safety and medical error so that the system can be free from adverse events and medical errors. This dissertation argues that Saudi healthcare organizations have an ethical responsibility to continuously improve the system of healthcare in order to enhance patients’ safety and to reduce medical errors. This dissertation also recommends that Saudi health organizations foster a culture of safety as part of their ethical responsibility toward the customers they serve. Therefore, Saudi healthcare organizations should have an active, anonymous, and confidential reporting system; an open communication and collaboration between healthcare professionals; and create a non-punitive system. In addition, this dissertation argues in favor of patients’ involvement in the treatment process, and for having an ethics committee in Saudi healthcare organizations. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Health Care Ethics / PhD; / Dissertation;

In april 2016, Cancerfonden launched a campaign against the endemic disease cancer. The campaign was named ”Say NO to cancer!” which purpose was to raise awareness for the preventive measures, which if followed correctly could preclude one third of all affected by the disease. The campaign met a lot of criticism in media, from both individuals and the media itself. As a result of the criticism, the campaign came to an end a week after its launch. The purpose of this essay is to investigate what is morally doubtful with the campaign itself, and if the criticism directed towards the campaign is morally justified. As a subsidiary aim, the essay also examines whether it is reasonable to argue that the individual alone bears responsibility for their own health. Through a reflective qualitative content analysis, the following conclusion was reached. The campaign was morally doubtful in that way that the criticism directed towards the campaign mediated that the message was perceived as they were kicking on those who already suffered from cancer, even if these individuals hade followed their measures, as they presented the preventive measures as a lifestyleification where it all was taken very easy upon. The fact that Cancerfonden on their own decided to lay the campaign to rest is evidence enough that something wasn’t right. Cancerfonden themselves did in a public message explain that it was never their intention to blame anyone for getting affected by cancer. As an individual and the society has a shared interest in the individuals health, the campaign met a lot of criticism in areas such as guilt, responsibility of the individual versus the institution, misinterpretation of the purpose of the campaign and generally a lack of clarity of its purpose.

M.A. (Philosophy) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / Today's public managers in the South African public service face complex ethical dilemmas, often having to weigh personal and professional values against current opinion and the law. In the climate of increasing concern over ethical conduct in public service, they should adhere to ethics management. Research for this dissertation indicates that ethics in the public service is poorly managed. It is the responsibility of the public managers to ensure that ethical values, such as efficiency, honesty and integrity, to name just a few, are instilled in their subordinates from the first day of their appointment. Public managers are doers and deciders ...