The aim of this thesis is to investigate the nature of moral thinking and thus to arrive at some conclusions as to the nature of moral thinkers. My starting point is that investigation of the ways we think in moral terms, particularly with respect to the way that the truth of thoughts constrains the claims we can make in moral discourse. That is, I want to start with the ways of thinking and the sorts of claims we make in moral terms, and see what those ways of thinking and claims tell us about the sorts of people we are and the environment we find ourselves in. This approach depends on a picture of our interaction and connection with our environment in conceptual terms that allows us to investigate one part of this interaction, our language and thought, and use it to give us information about the other parts of the interaction, the thinkers and what is thought about. The important element of this interaction is that it is an interaction responsive to the truth of the beliefs we hold and the claims we make. This requires me to defend the thesis that moral language and thought can be candidates for truth, and that the truth they respond to is not some particular truth relative to moral discourse, but truth tout court, as it applies to all discourses. Using the distinction I claim is made in moral language and thought between moral judgments and their truth I show that we need to be able to recognise moral agents as engaged or embedded in a network of personal relationships that are made up of commitments, responsibilities and expectations. It is these personal relationships that provide both justification and motivation for moral action and this is sufficient for morality.

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The thesis makes a distinctive contribution to the field of professional ethics; offering a more nuanced understanding of the role of a profession’s ethos in relation to its ethics. In so doing, it also offers a valuable insight into GP thinking at what proved to be a unique moment in the history of that branch of the medical profession. Using historical and empirical data, the thesis first traces the development of the medical profession’s ethos - Its belief in itself as a noble, superior profession, of special dignity and worth. It then shows the influence of that ethos in areas of professional decision-making that have had a particular impact on the provision of health care within the LJK over the past 50 years. Taking the profession’s ethos as a benchmark, the study explores the nature of the profession’s response to the creation, control and, in recent years, major reform of the NHS which reform introduced a new emphasis on management. The latter provides a case study that relates the theoretical material to an historical situation This includes a number of interviews with GPs that point to the beliefs and values influencing their decisions in relation to the reforms, as they affected general practice. The study concludes that, although a profession dependant on attracting clients may find it necessary to subscribe to a set of ethical principles that draws on outside beliefs and values, it is the ethics derived from its own internal ethos that will take precedence in guiding everyday thinking and practice

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The introduction of the new Glasgow medical curriculum provided an opportunity for evaluation of ethics education in the context of a modern curriculum.  The constraints imposed prevented a comprehensive evaluation of ethics teaching in the new curriculum.  Its focus had to be narrowed. This thesis builds on a dissertation submitted for a MMEd Degree at Dundee University, which covered the evaluation of ethics education in the first year of the new curriculum and produced the first three papers in the series being presented. It was decided to perform both process and outcome evaluation in year 1, where the largest proportion of formal curricular ethics sessions takes place.  Outcome evaluation continued throughout the curriculum.  The aims of the first year process evaluation were: 1) To judge the value of the curricular experiences provided for students in terms of: a) Acceptability to both students and tutors.  b) Feasibility.  c) Relevance of material to aims of teaching. 2) To judge the effectiveness of clinical tutors as facilitators of learning. The aim of the outcome evaluation was to test the following hypotheses: 1.  Small group ethics teaching, in the first year of an integrated medical curriculum, will have a positive impact on students’ potential behaviour when facing ethical dilemmas. 2.  The effect will be greater than that produced by a discrete lecture and large group teaching based course early in a traditional curriculum. 3.  Students’ performance will be adversely affected as they progress through the medical curriculum. 4.  The effect will be less pronounced in students undertaking the modern curriculum compared to those undertaking the traditional curriculum.

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This thesis explores an appropriate relationship between Christian faith and culture. We investigate the hallmarks of authentic theology in the West, which offer us criteria to evaluate Christianity in Japan. Because Christian faith has been concretely formed and expressed in history, an analysis and evaluation of culture is incumbent on theology. The testing ground for our research is Japan, one of the most unsuccessful Christian mission fields. Thus this is a theology of culture in a Japanese context. Through a dialogue with H. Richard Niebuhr, John Howard Yoder, and Stanley Hauerwas, we embrace a believers' church perspective as our basic vision. The believers' church critically evaluates culture and seeks to transform it by standing on the boundary between the Kingdom of God and the world, and voluntarily participates in the redemptive suffering of God with the creature. It strives to be faithful to God and to imitate Jesus Christ, instead of seeking to control the world. It trusts in God; for it is He, and not we, who is in charge of history. Examination of Japanese Christian history is conducted in the light of the criteria above, in order to consider how Japan responded to Christianity. The criteria help us see the problem of nationalism both in superficial Christianity in Japan and in Constantinian Christianity in the West. We discuss three major Japanese theologians: Kazoh Kitamori, Yasuo Furuya, and Hideo Ohki. They help us refine our criteria for suffering, for theological assessment of Japan, and for the nature of believers' church as covenant community. We find in our investigation that although Christianity has always been in a minority in Japan, the church in Japan - like the church in the West - inclines to be co-opted by political powers, which is a core problem.

In almost all types of work it is sometimes necessary to do harm as a means of doing good; as such, necessary evils are a wide spread phenomenon in work life. The present research furthers our understanding of necessary evils through exploring how one’s ethical orientation (measured in terms of idealism and relativism) affects one’s experience of performing such tasks. Molinsky and Margolis (2005) theorized that nine dimensions of necessary evil affect a person’s judgments, beliefs, and attitudes about the task they are required to perform, the self, and the impact of the necessary evil. When performing a necessary evil, individuals evaluate its dimensions -- this evaluation involves assessing the alternative actions one might take to carry out the necessary evil, and the possible consequences of each alternative course of action. Workers are thus faced with an ethical judgment as they realize that if the necessary evil is to be carried out, someone will be harmed. Two studies were conducted to develop a better understanding of workers’ experience of necessary evils in general, and to explore whether people’s idealistic and relativistic values are related to how they experience performing necessary evils. In an effort to gain rich and contextualized information about peoples’ experiences, 30 individuals with experience performing necessary evils were interviewed for Study 1. Respondents were asked to comment on their experiences before, during and after they performed necessary evils, as well as whether they felt that such tasks were ethical or moral in nature. Study 2 presented necessary evil vignettes to 150 university students and used structural equation modeling to test hypotheses about the relationship between ethical orientation and the necessary evil experience. Two models of how necessary evils are performed fit the data. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

In almost all types of work it is sometimes necessary to do harm as a means of doing good; as such, necessary evils are a wide spread phenomenon in work life. The present research furthers our understanding of necessary evils through exploring how one’s ethical orientation (measured in terms of idealism and relativism) affects one’s experience of performing such tasks. Molinsky and Margolis (2005) theorized that nine dimensions of necessary evil affect a person’s judgments, beliefs, and attitudes about the task they are required to perform, the self, and the impact of the necessary evil. When performing a necessary evil, individuals evaluate its dimensions -- this evaluation involves assessing the alternative actions one might take to carry out the necessary evil, and the possible consequences of each alternative course of action. Workers are thus faced with an ethical judgment as they realize that if the necessary evil is to be carried out, someone will be harmed. Two studies were conducted to develop a better understanding of workers’ experience of necessary evils in general, and to explore whether people’s idealistic and relativistic values are related to how they experience performing necessary evils. In an effort to gain rich and contextualized information about peoples’ experiences, 30 individuals with experience performing necessary evils were interviewed for Study 1. Respondents were asked to comment on their experiences before, during and after they performed necessary evils, as well as whether they felt that such tasks were ethical or moral in nature. Study 2 presented necessary evil vignettes to 150 university students and used structural equation modeling to test hypotheses about the relationship between ethical orientation and the necessary evil experience. Two models of how necessary evils are performed fit the data. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.