This project is primarily exegetical in nature and aims to provide a rational reconstruction of the concept of moral responsibility in the work of Immanuel Kant, specifically in his Critique of Pure Reason (CPR), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (GR), and Critique of Practical Reason (CPrR). It consists of three chapters – the first chapter interprets the concept of freedom that follows from the resolution to the Third Antinomy in the CPR. It argues that Kant is best understood here to be providing an unusual but cogent, compatibilist account of freedom that the author terms meta-compatibilism. The second chapter examines the GR and CPrR to interpret the theory of practical reason and moral agency that Kant develops in these works. This chapter concludes by evaluating what has been established about Kant’s ideas of freedom and moral agency at that point in the project, identifying some problems and objections in addition to providing some suggestions for how Kantian ethics might be adapted within a consequentialist framework. The third chapter argues that, for Kant, there are two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions (in addition to a compatibilist definition of freedom) that must obtain for an individual to qualify as responsible for her actions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between parental attitudes and moral development of a selected group of Greek children, age 5.0 - 6.0The following instruments were used: The Georgas Intelligence Test for Children; Shoben's University of Southern California Parent Attitude Survey; and Piaget's Stories on the Moral Judgment of the Child followed by semi-structured interviews, along with pictorial representations of Piaget's stories.The subjects were fifty two males and forty-eight females enrolled in five private upper middle class kindergarten classes in the Athens area.An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze two null hypotheses. A chi-square analysis was used to test the remaining null hypothesis. Post hoc analysis, using analysis of variance on simple effects was conducted to further interpret the results. The .05 level of confidence was postulated for the rejection of the three null hypotheses.The results of this study indicated that: 1) there is no relationship between the sex and moral development of preschool children, however further statistical investigation indicated significant interactions with sex by certain variables or with sex within a story, 2) there is a relationship between parental attitudes and the moral development of preschool children, and 3) there is a relationship between intelligence scores and the moral development of preschool children.The most significant psychological/educational implication was that moral development of preschool children depends on parental attitudes which influence the child's concept of moral issues. Awareness of the child's cognitive and emotional readiness to integrate moral concepts can help promote moral judgment.

This thesis will explain in detail two closely related but jointly defensible moral realist positions. I show how each position responds to the initial dilemma of whether moral judgments are propositions. Following this discussion, I defend this combined position against an objection that the position is inherently contradictory. I conclude that one can coherently maintain both positions without a contradiction.

In this thesis I argue literary readership allows us to gain imagined experiences necessary to sympathize with people whose experiences are different from our own. I begin with a discussion of Adam Smith’s conception of sympathy and moral education. Although sympathy is a process we take part in naturally as members of a society, we can only be skilled spectators if we practice taking the position of the impartial spectator and critically reflect on our judgments. As I will argue in this thesis, literature provides a way for us to practice spectatorship without the consequences that come along with making mistakes when judging real people. Literature also provides a way to build up a stock of experiences, which can be applied together with our personal life histories to create the most informed judgments possible.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of elementary school students¡¦ moral characteristics and moral behaviors through a moral inquiry teaching. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest design was conducted on this study. Two investigator-developed instruments (i.e., ¡§School Students Moral Behavior Questionnaire¡¨ and ¡§Parenting practice Questionnaire¡¨) were conducted on both experimental and control group students during the pre- and post moral inquiry teaching. In addition, daily student behavior records and follow-up individual interviews with student, teachers, and their parents were collected to verify the quantitative results. The main findings from t-tests comparisons and ANCOVA analyses were as follows: 1. The posttest experimental group students¡¦ moral characteristics total scores were significantly higher than the control group¡¦s. 2. On the topic of ¡§responsibility¡¦¡¦, the experimental students agreed that being responsible in family matters positively correlates to moral behaviors. 3. On the topic of ¡§respect earth¡¦¡¦, the experimental students presented more respectful in their school areas ,but not in public districts. 4. On the topic of ¡§taking care of others¡¦¡¦¡GBefore the intervention, the experimental group students expressed more active cares to their parents, but not to their classmates. After 9 topic systematic inquiry teaching, students pay more attention on their classmates; therefore , the experimental group students obtain higher scores than control group. Implications for practice and research are provided.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986.

Thesis (M.S.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [54]-56).

Thesis (DTh)--Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Based on Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010), the present study examines the impact of temporal distance on moral concern. A manipulation on individuals’ mind-set has been made in to abstract (High level) versus concrete (Low level) mentality to inspect the ability to effect peoples’ moral concern. Our first hypothesis is that future-oriented people should show more moral concern than present-oriented individuals. Present-oriented people should, however, after an abstract manipulation show a higher moral concern, correspondent with future-oriented individual’s moral concern. 176 undergraduates from a Swedish university participated in the study. The respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire, and a scale was used to measure the individual temporal perspective (Consideration of Future Consequences scale, CFC) and then a manipulation was made. Half of the participants were allotted an abstract (high level) manipulation, and the other half were given a concrete (low level) manipulation. The manipulation was followed by a questionnaire that measured the moral concern, in the form of blame, attributed to morally questionable actions. We found a positive correlation between temporal focus and moral concern. The manipulation however showed no effect of abstraction on peoples’ moral concern. Nor did a two-way between subjects ANOVA show a significant interaction between temporal perspective and abstraction, providing no support for our second and third hypotheses. An environmental impact on the respondents is discussed as a possible reason for the results not being fully consistent with previous studies. For future research we suggest similar longitudinal studies, which would supply researchers with the opportunity to study the long-term effect on different types of moral.

Not available / text