Abstract The aim of the study was to open up, define and categorise the concept of equality as a value of nursing ethics research. The goal of the study was to acquire tools that would help to understand the background, meaning and possibilities of the concept of equality in nursing ethics research. The research was positioned in conceptual basic study of nursing ethics, and it followed a philosophical approach, which consisted of three phases: problematisation, explication and argumentation. During problematisation, a systematic review of literature was conducted to define the concept of equality and its theoretical starting points in previous nursing ethics research. This study characterised the concept of equality in previous nursing ethics research as monolithical liberalistic-individualistic privilegisation. Here, monolithical meant that in previous nursing ethics research, equality had been a key value that was argued through classical but fairly uniformly interpreted theoretical starting points. At times, the status of equality had been so self-evident that its theoretical starting points were sometimes accepted with very little critique and no explicit examination. Liberalistic-individualistic privilegisation manifested itself as emphasising the individual, emphasising the community and as internal conflict of the concept in terms of practical nursing. The theoretical frame of reference of the study, based on feminist moral philosophy, was defined during explication. It viewed equality as a changing and evolving ethical value, depicting interrelations between people, with different implications in different relationships. In this study, equality was described using the concept of trilogical equality. This means that in addition to monolithical liberalistic-individualistic privilegisation, equality in nursing ethics research calls for taking into account three dimensions defining equality, i.e. the concepts of difference, dependence and power. As a world order principle, difference meant diversity, in which it is significant and valuable in itself. Understanding differences lead to acknowledging the difference and the resulting dependence between individuals or groups. Through redefinition of difference and dependence, power obtained its new meanings, where focus was given to the asymmetry and lack of dominance connected with it. During argumentation, the concept of trilogical equality brought a range of concepts into the study of equality within nursing ethics research, through which the practical encounter of nursing and health care could be approached. The results of the study can be used to develop the range of concepts concerning equality in nursing ethics research and the ethical discussion on it, as well as to develop nursing ethics research and teaching. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli avata ja jäsentää tasa-arvon käsitettä hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen arvona. Tavoitteena oli lisätä ymmärrystä käsitteen taustoista ja näkökulmista. Tutkimus sijoittui hoitotieteen käsitteelliseen perustutkimukseen. Se noudatti filosofista tutkimustapaa, joka muodostui problematisoinnin, eksplikoinnin ja argumentoinnin vaiheista. Problematisoinnin vaiheessa tasa-arvosta rakennettiin viitekehys, jonka avulla analysoitiin aikaisemman hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen tasa-arvon käsite. Eksplikoinnin vaiheessa määritettiin feministiseen moraalifilosofiaan perustuva trilogisen tasa-arvon näkökulma. Tämän avulla jäsennettiin, syvennettiin ja kehitettiin edelleen aikaisempaa hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen tasa-arvon käsitettä. Argumentoinnin vaiheessa arviointiin trilogisen tasa-arvon näkökulman mahdollisuutta avata hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen tasa-arvon käsitettä. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan aikaisemman hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen tasa-arvon käsite oli luonteeltaan monoliittinen, joka tarkoitti sitä, että tasa-arvo on keskeinen ja itsestään selvä universaaliin ihmisarvoon perustuva arvo. Käsitteelle määritettiin kaksi ulottuvuutta. Ensimmäistä eli teoreettista ulottuvuutta kuvasti liberalistis-individualistinen etuoikeutus. Tällä tarkoitettiin sitä, että yksilö asetetaan tasa-arvon tarkastelussa ensisijaiseen asemaan ja tuota asemaa pyritään turvaamaan distributiivisen tasa-arvon rakenteiden avulla. Toista eli toiminnallista ulottuvuutta kuvasi hajaannus. Hajaannuksella tarkoitettiin sitä, ettei tasa-arvon käsitteen teoreettinen ulottuvuus kyennytkään vastaamaan toiminnallisen ulottuvuuden esiin nostamiin kysymyksiin. Toiminnallinen ulottuvuus jopa haastoi universaalin ihmisarvon ja tasa-arvoa turvaavien rakenteiden toteutumisen. Lisäksi hoitotyön kontekstuaalinen ja konkreettinen kohtaaminen toivat esille käsitteen rajapinnat eli tasa-arvon toiminnallista ulottuvuutta lähellä olevat käsitteet. Tutkimus tuotti näkökulman, jossa tasa-arvo ymmärrettiin siten, että se on muuttuva ja muuntuva ihmisten suhteita ja välejä kuvaava eettinen arvo. Lisäksi se saa eri suhteissa erilaiset merkitykset. Tätä kuvattiin eron, riippuvuuden ja vallan käsitteillä ja sitä kutsuttiin trilogisen tasa-arvon näkökulmaksi. Näkökulmassa ero merkitsi yksilöihin tai ryhmiin liittyvää itsessään arvokasta ja merkityksellistä epähierarkkista moninaisuutta. Ihmisten eroista ja erilaisuudesta johtuen ihmiset ymmärrettiin toisistaan väistämättä riippuvaisiksi. Riippuvuus ymmärrettiin myönteisenä olemisen perusedellytyksenä, johon sisältyvä valta oli luonteeltaan vastuullista, asymmetristä ja dominoimatonta. Trilogisen tasa-arvon näkökulma avasi tasa-arvon käsitettä sekä teoreettisen että toiminnallisen ulottuvuuden kautta. Tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää hoitotyön etiikan tutkimuksen tasa-arvoa koskevan käsitteistön ja siitä käytävän eettisen keskustelun kehittämiseen sekä hoitotyön etiikan tutkimukseen ja opettamiseen.

Understanding Kant’s account of desire is vital to the project of evaluating his views about moral psychology, as well as his account of freedom qua autonomy. In Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, Kant claims that “Desire (appetitio) is the self-determination of a subject's power through the representation of something in the future as an effect of this representation” (7:251). My goal is to clarify which of the subject’s specific capacities Kant means by the “subject's power,” and what role this capacity plays in desire. I argue that the subject's power cannot be her capacity to act. Rather, the subject's power is best understood as her capacity to generate the psychological states that cause action. I call these motivational states 'activation signals'. Desire consists in the self-determination of the subject’s capacity to generate activation signals by her representation of the object of desire together with an accompanying incentive.

This study is a contribution to Chinese-Western dialogue of bioethics but perhaps the first one of its kind. From a Chinese-Western comparative ethical perspective, this work brings Chinese ethical theories, especially Confucian ethics, into a contemporary context of the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and to see how the deeply-rooted thoughts of Confucius interact, compete, or integrate with concepts from Western ethical traditions. An underlying belief is that some ideas in Confucian ethics are important and insightful beyond their cultural and historical origins in China and other Confucianism influenced societies.Methodologically, this thesis employs two approaches, conceptual normative analysis combined with critical interpretation. The ‘interpretive’ approach I employ, as an important methodology supplementing my normative analysis, not only deals with Chinese ancient texts, but also explains specific beliefs and practices in China.With a critical eye, this thesis carefully examines a number of key topics in the ethics of AIDS in China from a cross-cultural perspective. Topics including: views on personhood and the vulnerability of People Living with HIV/AIDS; prioritising and balancing the role of ‘harm reduction’ and the role of ‘eradication of deviant behaviour’ in AIDS policy in China; rights-based opt-out approach and duty-based family-centred approach in HIV testing and Biobanking; blood donation; moral responsibility and personal responsibility for health; and the popular rhetoric of ‘innocent infection’ versus ‘guilty infection’ in AIDS. My overall aim in this work is to present a cross-cultural bioethics study through the investigation of some ethical issues in AIDS in China from a Chinese-Western comparative perspective and also attempt to suggest a humane and effective policy for HIV/AIDS which I believe is appropriate to both traditions. I believe this work has contributed to our knowledge in three related but independent areas: the control of the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in China; medical ethics in China; and to both the methods and the utility of cross-cultural study of bioethics between China and the West.

Ich habe im Jahr 2016 eine Studie durchgeführt, in deren Rahmen der Begriff des Speziesismus expliziert und operationalisiert wurde. Über vier verschiedene Erhebungsmethoden wurden Personen hinsichtlich ihrer Einstellung gegenüber Tieren befragt. Die erhobenen Daten waren Grundlage für eine statistische Prüfung der Reliabilität und Validität des zuvor definierten Konzepts. Die Definition „speziesistischer Einstellungen“ wird im nächsten Abschnitt vorgetragen, anschließend wird im dritten Abschnitt dieser Arbeit die Operationalisierung erläutert. Im vierten Abschnitt werden die Erhebungsmethoden und die erhaltene Stichprobe beschrieben. Der fünfte Abschnitt der Arbeit präsentiert die statistischen Auswertungen. Er ist nochmal in drei Unterabschnitte unterteilt. Zuerst wird die Bildung des Speziesismus-Index erläutert und auf die Verteilung dieses Index eingegangen. Anschließend befassen wir uns ausführlich mit der Reliabilität und Validität des Index. Im dritten Unterabschnitt der empirischen Auswertungen wird schließlich noch auf die theoretische Fruchtbarkeit des Konzepts eingegangen. Der sechste Abschnitt fasst die Arbeit zusammen und gibt einen Ausblick für die weitere empirische Forschung zum Thema Speziesismus.:1. Einleitung; 2. Defintion Speziesismus 3. Operationalisierung 4. Erhebungsmethoden und Sample 5. Empirische Auswertungen 6. Zusammenfassung

What is morality’s place within realist theories of international politics? Often realism is disregarded for having little to offer on the matter. Whilst recent research suggests this is something of a misconception, seldom have realists themselves been asked if and where any moral philosophy belongs inside their perspectives, respectively, on world politics. This is probably unfair, and not a little strange, as several realists throughout the history of international political thought have in fact had much to say about what becomes of morality between states. This paper presents a small selection of those most important contributions to the realist literature, with a particular view towards what has been said on morality within them. Identified are a handful of instances where influential realists have indeed commented on what becomes of morality in international politics, with each example then taken to be useful in some way. Next is proposed something like a complement to them, by way of reading differently the origins of the classical realist tradition. This alternative reading requires first that we consider the ancient Greek sophist Protagoras as having had something important to say about morality and about human nature in Plato’s dialogue named after him. Second, we must ask whether Protagorean moral philosophy can at all be considered relevant to the development of realist theory. I argue that it can, and suggest that we ought therefore to revisit the realist tradition's ancient Greek origins, adding next to the name Thucydides that of his contemporary Protagoras as having been first to exemplify realist theory in the history of Western international political thought.

This dissertation is the first step in a larger research project aimed at bridging the gap between Western philosophy and Indigenous thought. Here, I identify a methodological approach to the social contract by analyzing the tradition under an historical lens. I highlight that, along with the justificatory capacities of the social contract, comes a great deal of modelling involved in different versions of the social contract. This modelling comes in the form of four pre-contractual elements that different authors model in different ways. I show how different authors choose different structural problems or injustices that such theories want to address, as well as normative commitments that their theories are committed to, a standard of considerability of interests that identifies whose interests matter for those deliberating the terms of the contract, and a contractual device. I then go on to develop a framework for the development of a theory of global justice. I focus on the first three pre-contractual elements. For the sake of a global theory of justice, I identify four circumstances that need to be the focus of our concerns about global justice: Serious existential uncertainty due to climate change and massive animal extinction; the existence of a shared global institutional framework that forces us to think in terms beyond the state; the disproportionate distribution of the planet’s scarce resources; and the pervasive racial, gender and disabled-bodied-targeted inequalities that are characteristic of today’s world. I then move on to identify the “dignity of being” as a non-anthropocentric, core normative commitment that can be used as the basis for a theory of global justice. I conclude by developing a standard of considerability of interests that can adequately incorporate the interests of diverse beings into the social contract deliberations. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation is the first step in a larger research project aimed at bridging the gap between Western philosophy and Indigenous thought. Here, I identify a useful methodological approach to the social contract by analyzing the tradition under an historical lens. I highlight that, along with the justificatory capacities of the social contract, comes a great deal of modelling involved in different versions of the social contract. This modelling comes in the form of four pre-contractual elements that different authors model in different ways. I show how different authors choose different structural problems or injustices that such theories want to address, as well as normative commitments that their theories are committed to, a standard of considerability of interests that identifies whose interests matter for those deliberating the terms of the contract, and a contractual device. Once that has been established, I am able to provide some foundational elements for establishing a framework for the development of a theory of global justice. I focus on the first three pre-contractual elements.

This thesis seeks to examine the Concept of Right Action in Karl Popper's social and moral philosophy. This is attempted through the study of his theory of rationality. Through the examination of his theory of 'critical rationalism', it has been established that a right action is a rational action, that is, an action based on a critical assessment of its possible consequences. His theory of falsifiability, which is fundamental to his theory of critical rationalization and which advocates that falsification as opposed to verification, is a true test of a theory, is also examined, in order to see whether and how it can be applied to social and moral problems. In this context it has been established that in social and political realms also, one works through theories, ideas and hypotheses which can be tested. This method is considered to be a rational and scientific method and is advocated as an alternative to authoritarian and totalitarian methods. In order to determine the viability of K. Popper's proposals, his critique of historicism is also examined. Through the study of these critiques, it has been established that historicist modes of thought and action tend to lead to totalitarian and authoritarian political and social systems, and the consequent violence. A system based on critical rationalism is considered to be the only alternative. In examining these critiques we also raised the question whether religion and tradition have any place in Popper's system. It has been shown that the critical understanding and use of tradition is fundamental and necessary. We have also shown that Popper is not anti-religion and that religion and rationality are not incompatible, when we consider that religion is not merely a metaphysical system but also a social system, i.e., a body of ethics and a way of life. A rational and a secular attitude and a religious attitude are not mutually exclusive. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Marriage and family research has its foundation in the positivist tradition, which dismisses the relevance of morality to the scientific enterprise. Yet morality is inherent in marriage and family studies—both in the topics studied and in methodology. In this conceptual research, positivist assumptions are explicated to show that positivist methodology relies on a stance of moral neutrality that turns out to be a hidden morality. This hidden morality requires that people be studied as other objects. The need for a methodology that has an explicit moral philosophy and that acknowledges that humans are not “things” is discussed. Levinas' relational philosophy of “being for the other” is shown to be one viable starting point for a methodology that takes the moral domain seriously. In contrast to methodologies that have their basis in positivism, this philosophy offers a coherent account of agency, a relational alternative to individualism, and an explicit moral stance intended to strengthen marriage and families. A method of evaluating research based on criteria of “being for the other” is outlined and used to evaluate three research articles to demonstrate how an explicit moral philosophy can strengthen the meaningfulness of empirical marriage and family research.

This thesis explores Friedrich Nietzsche's use of history for philosophical purposes, focusing on two central themes in Nietzsche's writings: the genealogical methodology, and perspectival epistemology. My aim is to demonstrate how Nietzsche's concept of "historical philosophizing" is intricately connected to his moral philosophy. Using a genealogical methodology, Nietzsche traces the historical development of moral concepts back to their foundations, unveiling the underlying power structures and complex mechanisms that underpin moral discourse. Additionally, perspectival epistemology challenges conventional notions of truth and objectivity, serving as a critique of moral semantics. I argue that these elements are interconnected and should be studied as parts of a unified whole. By providing insights into an overlooked theme in Nietzschean methodology, this essay may enrich our understanding of his philosophy as well as contribute to broader debates within contemporary philosophy.

What does it mean to act morally? This research is part of normative ethics, which studies the formation of moral judgments and whether such judgments are able to motivate people to act in accordance with them. The gap between the dimension of the common good and the private life of each citizen has led to questioning whether there are moral norms whose content may constitute, per se, a sufficient reason for action. More specifically, when a norm, collectively chosen and shared, succeeds in self-imposing without any intervention of external authority.The interest for this theme arises from the urgency of defining conditions under which a group of interdependent agents, can organize themselves to obtain long-term collective benefits, find in collective action, a motivation, a commitment and a responsibility that decrease the temptation of opportunistic behaviour in distribution contexts. The main goal of this inquiry is trying to propose a normative solution of a problem of distributive justice in the following terms of: how can a norm generate a motivational causal force that induces compliance with what it asserts, in contexts where selfish rather than prosocial behaviour would be expected? This problem, approached from different perspectives, economic, psychological, sociological, also requires a philosophical reflection. Within this framework, the issue of compliance might be reread as a motivational problem: thus, the aim of this thesis would be to try to clarify the relationship between an impartial ethical point of view and what kind of real motivations people have to act in accordance with some specific ethical principles – namely, what reasons people have for acting in alignment with principles of distributive justice. Thus, the dissertation provides evidence from laboratory experiments that supports John Rawls’s Kantian constructivism as a method that allows subjects to evaluate different distribution criteria in production situations, making them reach an agreement on the liberal egalitarian principle. The Rawlsian method would rationally justify the ex-ante collective choice on that principle and it gives real motivations to comply ex-post, as it provides the conditions for creating a rationally justified joint commitment.