The results of our research, obtained from a survey of 50 Western managers working in Romania, show that differences exist between Western managers' ethics and those of their Romanian counterparts, especially with regard to bribery. Different backgrounds are at the basis of such divergence. Beyond the communist era and its heritage, the cultural aspect of bribery has been analyzed. Nevertheless, the results of our research suggest that culture may play a double role and the influence could come from both the (...) home environment of Western managers and their new environment. Some Western managers who adapt to the Romanian environment appear to have been already conditioned to bribery from their home environment. (shrink)

If we return to the experiences of our youth, we perceive what had the power to awaken our curiosity and ambitions*. The non-conformism of the Surrealists was fostered by Romantic sources and every conceivable symbolism; even if in a roundabout manner, it was through them that the names of Klee and Kandinsky were first heard. The world of the marvellous, the only one decreed worthy of attention, opened out onto painting. The moderns of the group: Dali, Tanguy, Masson, received first (...) prize for poetic adventure, but they harked back to certain selected precursors—rightly or wrongly—for the same gifts that they had themselves: Uccello, Bosch, Dürer, Blake, and Gustave Moreau. And indeed, by retaining only the unexpected, the fantastic, and (often indulgently) the scandalous, a taste was maintained for emotional shock and association, as exemplified by the sustained style of André Breton, and the more supple prose of Aragon. (shrink)

Moral reasoning typically informs environmental decision-making by measuring the possible outcomes of policies or actions in light of a preferred ethical theory. This method is subject to many problems. Environmental pragmatism tries to overcome them, but it suffers also from some pitfalls. This paper proposes a new method of environmental pragmatism that avoids the problems of both the traditional method of environmental moral reasoning and of the general versions of environmental pragmatism. We call it ‘justificatory moral pluralism’ – it develops (...) the intuition that normative ethical theories need not be mutually exclusive. This leaves room for important forms of pluralist environmental ethics that do not require a once-and-for-all prior commitment to an ethical theory when deciding about policies or courses of action related to the protection of the environment. Justificatory moral pluralism offers a viable solution to the recurrent conflicts between efficient environmental decisions and the need for moral reasoning. (shrink)

An argument for why Plato’s Laws can be considered his most important political dialogue In Plato's Second Republic, André Laks argues that the Laws, Plato’s last and longest dialogue, is also his most important political work, surpassing the Republic in historical relevance. Laks offers a thorough reappraisal of this less renowned text, and examines how it provides a critical foundation for the principles of lawmaking. In doing so, he makes clear the tremendous impact the Laws had not only on political (...) philosophy, but also on modern political history. Laks shows how the four central ideas in the Laws—the corruptibility of unchecked power, the rule of law, a “middle” constitution, and the political necessity of legislative preambles—are articulated within an intricate and masterful literary architecture. He reveals how the work develops a theological conception of law anchored in political ideas about a god, divine reason, that is the measure of political order. Laks’s reading opens a complex analysis of the relationships between rulers and citizens; their roles in a political system; the power of reason and persuasion, as opposed to force, in commanding obedience; and the place of freedom. Plato's Second Republic presents a sophisticated reevaluation of a philosophical work that has exerted an enormous if often hidden influence even into the present day. (shrink)

Le néolibéralisme est la conception du monde organique du néocapitalisme mondialisé dont l’objectif est d’imposer à toutes les pratiques la soumission réelle par et sous le capital indissolublement industriel et financier. Cette conception du monde capture les subjectivités et les forme par le développement d’un imaginaire pauvre mais efficace. La critique de l’économie politique inclut celle de cet imaginaire. Celui-ci n’est pas une figure simple. Il s’articule en deux dictions non convergentes, mais spéculaires, saisies dans une tension souvent contradictoire.La première (...) est une diction universaliste qui mime la logique pure du capital en la mystifiant. La seconde diction est liée au retour nécessaire des configurations concrètes de la différenciation anthropologique : genre, nationalité, citoyenneté privilège, religion, langue, culture. L’imaginaire obéit alors à la dualité entre un « Nous » et un « Eux » et il se fait guerrier et raciste. Cette tension est structurale et jusqu’à aujourd’hui l’imaginaire néolibéral a réussi à supplanter son universalisme abstrait en le supplémentant par recours aux différenciations anthropologiques, comme le prouve le devenir capitaliste de toutes les économies de la planète, qui disent leur concurrence en ce langage. Une brèche pourrait cependant s’ouvrir dans ce dispositif : c’est celle que produit une économie capitaliste devenue par le moyen de la dette une économie de la dette. L’imaginaire de la dette peut être le lieu d’une critique et d’une pratique émancipatrices nous libérant des formes de l’imaginaire néolibéral. Pourquoi pas un imaginaire du débiteur libéré ; et s’appropriant dans une démocratie processus sa puissance d’agir et de penser, individuelle et collective? (shrink)

Relirais-je tout Platon, pour me permettre d'en parler? Je n'ai plus guère les yeux, ni la patience, ni peut-être le temps. J'ajoute que je n'en éprouve pas la nécessité. Je n'ai jamais prétendu tout savoir de Platon, je n'ai pas tout lu, les Lois, le Parménide aussi, me sont tombés des mains. Mais ce que j'ai lu je l'ai bien lu, comme on fait forcément quand on doit expliquer à d'autres, dont l'attention critique est impitoyable, et qu'on ne saurait payer (...) d'à peu près. Simples angles, pour entrer dans la citadelle par des accès qui parlent. Je n'ai jamais pratiqué un enseignement savant, j'ai essayé de pratiquer un enseignement stimulant. Â chacun ensuite de se trouver en lui-même, des raisons, des façons d'aller plus loin. Dans sa propre voie. Sinon, n'est-ce pas, l'acte d'écrire n'irait pas plus loin que ce qu'on a mis sur le papier. D'autres le font beaucoup, et sont définitifs ou rien. Je ne peux pas. J'ai trop longtemps été oral, et seulement oral. Trop longtemps j'ai eu en face de moi cette chose incomparable : des jeunes gens qui écoutent avec leurs yeux, des yeux qui écoutent."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Esta pesquisa se propõe a ser uma forma de análise da práxis cristã, tendo como ponto de partida a experiência místico-religiosa. A resposta de Friedrich Schleiermacher ao Iluminismo tem muito a nos beneficiar, principalmente se levarmos em consideração as críticas de Rudolf Otto. A compreensão do “sentimento de dependência” em Schleiermacher, que se torna em Otto “sentimento de criatura”, e a realidade da experiência de Deus que se conecta à práxis, nos fornecem um excelente ponto de partida para compreensão daquilo (...) que move as pessoas a uma vida de renúncia, servidão e comprometimento com valores e princípios do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo. Com base em uma pesquisa de campo, foi possível perceber que existe uma conexão entre a práxis cristã e a experiência religiosa. Quando há experiência religiosa, há ações cristãs executadas com naturalidade, com maior incidência do que quando não existe tal experiência. Podemos ter muito a perder se acaso deixarmos de considerar o aspecto experiencial da fé cristã com o sagrado. Em primeiro lugar, em nossas formulações teológicas, as quais podem, em maior ou menor grau, enfatizar em demasia aspectos antropocêntricos, deixando de lado o aspecto numinoso. Em segundo lugar, perderemos a oportunidade de influenciar a igreja a vivenciar uma prática espiritual real, que considere, com toda a relevância devida, a experiência de fé e não somente aspectos catequéticos. Por fim, perderemos a possibilidade de analisar a vida de fé, tendo como ponto de partida a experiência de Deus, que pode ter sido agente influenciador número um para uma vida de exemplo de práxis cristã genuína. (shrink)

Empirical research is largely supportive of the assertion of instrumental stakeholder theory that a positive relationship exists between “managing for stakeholders” and firm performance. However, despite considerable debate on the subject, the amount of variation across firm investments in stakeholders (stakeholder management performance) has not been adequately investigated. We address this gap using a sample of more than eighteen thousand firm-level observations over ten years. We find evidence to support an inverted U–shaped relationship between variation in stakeholder management performance and (...) Tobin’sq, suggesting that firms that have some imbalance in their stakeholder management, but not too much, perform best. We discuss the implications of our study for instrumental stakeholder theory and managerial practice. (shrink)

This book provides a hermeneutical reflection on the biblical notion of labor, combining texts from the book of Genesis with the conceptions of work in psychoanalysts and philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx.

To solve the probability problem of the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, D. Wallace has presented a formal proof of the Born rule via decision theory, as proposed by D. Deutsch. The idea is to get subjective probabilities from rational decisions related to quantum measurements, showing the non-probabilistic parts of the quantum formalism, plus some rational constraints, ensure the squared modulus of quantum amplitudes play the role of such probabilities. We provide a new presentation of Wallace’s proof, reorganized to (...) simplify some arguments, and analyze it from a formal perspective. Similarities with classical decision theory are made explicit, to clarify its structure and main ideas. A simpler notation is used, and details are filled in, making it easier to follow and verify. Some problems have been identified, and we suggest possible corrections. (shrink)

En publiant les Principes de la philosophie du droit, Hegel ambitionnait de constituer la Science de l'Etat, et cela a l'encontre aussi bien de toute conception utopique que de toute interpretation partisane. Il disposait a cet effet des ressources theoriques presentees quelques annees auparavant dans la Science de la logique. Ce commentaire privilegie incontestablement l'aspect logique et processuel du propos hegelien. Il s'agit donc non seulement de reperer la presence de ces schemes logiques mais d'en eprouver la validite et d'en (...) verifier l'efficacite. Ce parcours logique ne fait appel qu'a l'energie et au dynamisme du pur penser - sans apport etranger, exterieur ou empirique - et a sa seule fecondite interne susceptible d'engendrer par elle-meme, de maniere immanente, la richesse et la totalite du sens. (shrink)

Plutôt qu’un quatrième pouvoir, les médias constituent un contre-pouvoir à l’ensemble des acteurs sociaux, État inclus. Les relations entre eux sont donc naturellement tendues. Cela n’empêche pas l’État de confier des missions de quasi-« service public » à des instances privées dont il détermine les rôles sans in­ter­venir pour autant dans leur mise en œuvre. En Belgique francophone, c’est le cas du Conseil de déontologie journalistique, initiative d’autorégulation des médias, dont les activités s’articulent à celles du législatif, de l’exécutif et (...) du judi­ciaire. Cette complémentarité constitue non seulement la concrétisation d’un prin­cipe de philosophie politique, la subsidiarité, mais elle est aussi une garantie du respect de l’indépendance de ce contre-pouvoir. (shrink)

In this article, we first review the development of clinical ethics in pediatrics in the United States. We report that, over the last 40 years, most children’s hospitals have ethics committees but that those committees are rarely consulted. We speculate that the reasons for the paucity of ethics consults might be because ethical dilemmas are aired in other venues. The role of the ethics consultant, then, might be to shape the institutional climate and create safe spaces for the discussion of (...) difficult and sometimes contentious issues. Finally, we report how pediatric clinical ethics has evolved differently in a number of other countries around the world. (shrink)