The dissertation is an examination of obligation, which I argue is a mode of rational necessity that is proper to human agency. I begin from G. E. M. Anscombe’s celebrated attack against modern moral philosophy, and then sketch a positive theory of obligation as it figures in morality and in law, drawing upon the work of Aquinas and Aristotle. The first chapter explicates this idea of “practical necessity” and the second chapter shows that Aristotelian ethics, because it is not a theological law conception of ethics, has no place for a peculiarly moral conception of obligation. The third chapter examines Aquinas’s conception of moral law and argues that Aquinas vindicates Anscombe’s negative critique of the “moral ought.” The fourth chapter shows that the application of exceptionless moral norms (i.e. moral absolutes), which is one kind of obligation, requires attention to aspects of social practices. Attention to social practices allows the resolution of controverted problems about specifying intentions and applying the principle of double effect in a way that makes exceptionless moral norms workable. The fifth and final chapter defends the conception of intentional action assumed in the fourth chapter, and demonstrates that the scholastic ‘sub specie boni’ thesis is an integral part of action explanation, as well as Anscombe’s notion of “practical knowledge”. The upshot of the dissertation is an integrated investigation into how the ideas of good and necessity figure in ethics, law, and human action. / text

This thesis analyzes specific challenges concerning 'truth-telling' war reporters face when reporting on international conflict. For this purpose truth is examined in accordance with journalistic principles outlined in codes of ethics, with a focus on objectivity and fairness. The aim is to discover ways to improve the application of principles, in order to battle epistemic errors and the effects they entail: polarization, reductionism, and superficiality. The study concludes that providing context and nuance is crucial, but that codes - although essential - are insufficient in helping journalists decide what is relevant and what is not. An approach in virtue ethics is recommended where phronesis (or practical wisdom) can inspire responsible journalists to comply with the spirit, rather than the letter of the principles.

The dissertation deals with the controversy between two contemporary Western philosophical interpretations of early Confucian ethics: Confucian virtue ethics and Confucian role ethics. The dissertation not only discusses the different presentations of what constitutes the core characteristics of early Confucian ethics, but also critically reconstructs and analysis the changing Western reception of early Confucian ethics. The two interpretations are compared in order to critically assess the ongoing controversy and to evaluate the prospects of the newly suggested alternative reading of early Confucian ethics as Confucian role ethics. This dissertation aims at demonstrating that Confucian role ethics interpretation places the relational concept of the human as the totality of one’s lived roles and relations at the centre of its explication of early Confucian ethics, and thus tackles both major pitfalls that weaken the now dominant Confucian virtue ethics interpretation: the incommensurability challenge and the marginalization of relational aspect in early Confucian thought. Confucian role ethics interpretation merits further research and development in order to fully reveal its implications; that is, the importance (and the limitations) of relationality as well as the familial and communal roles not only for early Confucianism, but also for contemporary Western philosophical discussions on the scope and nature of ethics and the notion of the human being. / Disertacijos tyrimo objektas – dabartinis nesutarimas tarp dviejų filosofinių ankstyvosios konfucinės etikos interpretacijų Vakaruose: konfucinės dorybių etikos ir konfucinės vaidmenų etikos. Disertacijoje tiriami skirtingi aiškinimai kas laikytina ankstyvosios konfucinės etikos svarbiausiais bruožais. Tuo pačiu, disertacijoje rekonstruojama bei kritiškai analizuojama kintanti vakarietiškoji ankstyvojo konfucianizmo recepcija. Pasirinktos interpretacijos disertacijoje lyginamos siekiant kritiškai pasverti tarp jų šalininkų tebeegzistuojančius nesutarimus bei įvertinti naujai pasiūlytos alternatyvios ankstyvojo konfucianizmo interpretacijos – konfucinės vaidmenų etikos – plėtojimo perspektyvas. Disertacijoje įrodinėjama, jog alternatyvi konfucinė vaidmenų etikos interpretacija ankstyvojo konfucianizmo etinių idėjų ašimi laikydama reliacinę žmogaus sampratą, žmogų aiškinančią kaip jo gyvenamų sąryšių ir vaidmenų visumą, sprendžia abi pagrindines nūdienoje dominuojančią konfucinę dorybių etikos interpretaciją silpninančias problemas: nebendramatiškumo iššūkį bei sąryšingumo svarbos ankstyvajame konfucianizme marginalizavimą. Todėl konfucinė vaidmenų etikos interpretacija turi būti plėtojama toliau, siekiant pilnai atskleisti ir suvokti sąryšingumo ir šeiminių bei bendruomeninių vaidmenų svarbą (bei jų ribas) ne tik ankstyvajai konfucinei etikai, bet ir šiuolaikinių Vakarų diskusijoms apie etikos sritį ar filosofinę žmogaus sampratą.

Disertacijos tyrimo objektas – dabartinis nesutarimas tarp dviejų filosofinių ankstyvosios konfucinės etikos interpretacijų Vakaruose: konfucinės dorybių etikos ir konfucinės vaidmenų etikos. Disertacijoje tiriami skirtingi aiškinimai kas laikytina ankstyvosios konfucinės etikos svarbiausiais bruožais. Tuo pačiu, disertacijoje rekonstruojama bei kritiškai analizuojama kintanti vakarietiškoji ankstyvojo konfucianizmo recepcija. Pasirinktos interpretacijos disertacijoje lyginamos siekiant kritiškai pasverti tarp jų šalininkų tebeegzistuojančius nesutarimus bei įvertinti naujai pasiūlytos alternatyvios ankstyvojo konfucianizmo interpretacijos – konfucinės vaidmenų etikos – plėtojimo perspektyvas. Disertacijoje įrodinėjama, jog alternatyvi konfucinė vaidmenų etikos interpretacija ankstyvojo konfucianizmo etinių idėjų ašimi laikydama reliacinę žmogaus sampratą, žmogų aiškinančią kaip jo gyvenamų sąryšių ir vaidmenų visumą, sprendžia abi pagrindines nūdienoje dominuojančią konfucinę dorybių etikos interpretaciją silpninančias problemas: nebendramatiškumo iššūkį bei sąryšingumo svarbos ankstyvajame konfucianizme marginalizavimą. Todėl konfucinė vaidmenų etikos interpretacija turi būti plėtojama toliau, siekiant pilnai atskleisti ir suvokti sąryšingumo ir šeiminių bei bendruomeninių vaidmenų svarbą (bei jų ribas) ne tik ankstyvajai konfucinei etikai, bet ir šiuolaikinių Vakarų diskusijoms apie etikos sritį ar filosofinę žmogaus sampratą. / The dissertation deals with the controversy between two contemporary Western philosophical interpretations of early Confucian ethics: Confucian virtue ethics and Confucian role ethics. The dissertation not only discusses the different presentations of what constitutes the core characteristics of early Confucian ethics, but also critically reconstructs and analysis the changing Western reception of early Confucian ethics. The two interpretations are compared in order to critically assess the ongoing controversy and to evaluate the prospects of the newly suggested alternative reading of early Confucian ethics as Confucian role ethics. This dissertation aims at demonstrating that Confucian role ethics interpretation places the relational concept of the human as the totality of one’s lived roles and relations at the centre of its explication of early Confucian ethics, and thus tackles both major pitfalls that weaken the now dominant Confucian virtue ethics interpretation: the incommensurability challenge and the marginalization of relational aspect in early Confucian thought. Confucian role ethics interpretation merits further research and development in order to fully reveal its implications; that is, the importance (and the limitations) of relationality as well as the familial and communal roles not only for early Confucianism, but also for contemporary Western philosophical discussions on the scope and nature of ethics and the notion of the human being.

When we develop accounts of the good life we inevitably need to work with simplified images of human beings so as to limit the ideas our account must grapple with. Yet, in the process of this simplification we often exclude certain types of agents from having moral status because our image of humanity does not take their key features into account. The problems created by this type of simplification are very apparent when we consider how virtue ethics deals with the lives of people with Intellectual Disabilities. Since virtue ethics focuses on reason it very quickly excludes people with limited intellectual functioning from being moral agents who have access to the happy life. In this thesis I explore this problem of exclusion further and present a revised set of virtues based on the Capabilities Approach by Martha Nussbaum. By developing this new focus for virtue ethics I create a virtue-based approach to the good life that is not only more inclusive of agents with limited intellectual functioning but also represents a richer path to the good life for all agents.

Although scholars and Christian leaders have indicated that there is marked separation between morality and spirituality in the Christian praxis of many Africans and that the African worldview, which African Christians still hold is responsible for this separation, there has not been a detailed study of the issue. The aim of the research is to offer an explanation, of a paradox in Ghanaian society where there is enthusiastic Christian spirituality that is separated from social morality, so that a deeper integration of the Christian and Akan traditional moral schemes can be proposed.My research focuses on Pentecostals in Ghana whose appropriation of the African worldview into Christian praxis has generally been considered as a positive response to African religiosity. By the use of a practical theological method of correlation whereby the Christian truth is represented by the moral theology of John Wesley and brought in dialogue with the Akan traditional moral scheme, this research offers reasons for and proposes a solution to the lack of social morality in Ghanaian Pentecostalism. It uses the virtue theory as a heuristic tool for the analysis of morality in a way that provides explanation for the situation and guides an integration of the two moral schemes at a deeper level. The examination of the two moral schemes has been guided by the elements of character, a central theme of the virtue theory. It has been shown that the ‘Deliverance Theology’ of Ghanaian Pentecostals involves significant misrepresentation of the Akan traditional scheme, and that this situation causes many Christians to focus on religion as a means for the supply of existential needs rather than the transformation of inner dispositions for moral character formation. This research shows that reinterpreting the Akan view of humanity and integrating it with the Wesleyan account of the Christian truth, transforms the ‘Deliverance Theology’ by portraying the Christian life as a pneumatological characterology. The moral responsibility that this entails will ensure that African Pentecostals understand social morality as an essential outcome of their Christian spirituality.

QC 20101124

Project managers typically work under constant and strict time, money and quality pressures which can, alongside other factors, lead to professional ethics within the project environment taking a backseat. This paper provides an overview on ethics; project management and ethics within project management with focus on the conventional vs. alternative deliberations taking place in this field of study. Fixed codes of ethics; rationalist-derived standards which are imposed on the field vs. Aristotelian (and other accounts of) virtue ethics are covered. The paper also provides an account of the epistemological shift that has been deemed necessary due to the existential disruptions being caused by the rising rates of failure in projects across multiple industries under the conventional metalanguage: from a natural sciences perspective toward a more existentially-derived phenomenological attitude in the hopes of coming to a better theoretical and practical understanding of project management. The paper finally utilizes a phenomenological analysis methodology after interviewing seven experienced project managers working in different fields while summarizing the two splits present throughout the paper in a Dreyfusian-helped Coeckelberghian framework: with the ultimate aim of seeing how the phenomena of ethics are being experienced from within the project management practitioner world.

When Brian Friel’s play The Freedom of the City premiered in 1973, just a year after the events of Bloody Sunday, it was met with harsh criticism and called a work of propaganda. In the play, three peaceful protestors flee a civil rights demonstration turned violent and end up trapped inside the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland. By the end of the play, they are shot dead. These three protestors, disoriented by violence as well as the aftereffects of life-long poverty, on the surface are not emblems of morality. However, this thesis employs Ami Harbin’s theorization of disorientation and moral action to challenge traditional virtue ethics and showcase that even in the midst of all-encompassing disorientation, moral action can easily emerge, even from the most unexpected person. Specifically, I look at the character Skinner, a flippant hooligan who leads the other trapped protestors through a series of games ultimately meant to encourage them to embrace their disorientation as he has. Within Friel’s drama, accepting and embracing disorientation as opposed to fighting it, I conclude, is what frees one from the bounds of disorientation, and in this case, allows a person to more fully perpetuate moral action.

Through the application of a phenomenological hermeneutic approach, this study seeks toexamine how seven moral dilemmas can be understood through the lenses of utilitarian ethicsand virtue ethics. These dilemmas are derived from Pablo Vierci’s depiction of a real-life1972 plane crash tragedy in the non-fictional book Society of the Snow. By incorporatingprevious research on similar topics, this study situates itself within the broader academicdiscourse on moral ethics, while providing a contemporary interpretation of a significanthistorical event depicted in literature. The goal of this research is to explore the practicalapplications of utilitarianism and virtue ethics in real-life scenarios. The findings indicate thatanalyzing moral dilemmas through these ethical frameworks deepens our understanding ofmoral philosophy, making complex and distressing moral choices more comprehensible. Byengaging with the intricacies of these theories and their practical implications, individuals canunderstand the complexities of moral decision-making with greater insight and sensitivity.