While leading through goals is usually associated with a task-oriented leadership style, the present work links goal setting to transformational leadership. A longitudinal field study was conducted to investigate the influence of transformational leadership on followers’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and proactive behavior via goal attributes. Findings indicate that transformational leaders influence the extent to which followers evaluate organizational goals as important and perceive them as attainable. Multiple mediation analysis revealed that these goal attributes transmit the effect of transformational leadership (...) on followers’ job attitudes and proactive behavior. However, goal importance and goal attainability seem to be of differential importance for the different outcomes. (shrink)

Germany is at the leading edge of European reflection on the nature and requirements of ethical business. Two scholars in the field provide a survey of the main lines of discussion in the current German business ethics scene, and discuss three important books which are helping set the scene for further developments. Prof. Dr. Horst Steinmann holds the Chair for Business Administration and Management at the University of Erlangen‐Nürnberg, Lange Gasse 20, D‐90403 Nürnberg, and Dipl.‐Hdl. Brigitte Kustermann is research (...) assistant to the same chair. (shrink)

Recent initiatives in Germany illustrate how major companies have changed their attitudes towards a critical public ‐ and thereby have improved their economic and ethical performance. Prof. Dr. Horst Steinmann and Dipl.‐Kfm. Ansgar Zerfaß belong to the University of Erlangen‐Nürnberg, Germany.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Martin Steinmann INTRINSIC MERIT AND MULTICULTURALISM O OME proponents of multiculturalism argue as follows: There is no such thing as intrinsic merit. Therefore, the hegemony ofwestern culture in America is not due to its intrinsic merit. Therefore, it is due only to the political and economic power of white Americans of European ancestry, especially males. Therefore, it might yield to a new order in which all cultures represented (...) in America, whatever dieir origin, have equal authority, influence, and status in schools, colleges, and universities, in theaters and concert halls, in museums and galleries, and in libraries. Is this a good argument for multiculturalism? I propose to examine not only its validitybutits assumptions and what impels diese multiculturalists to make it. Is there such a thing as intrinsic merit? A famous and influential argument that there is—W K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley's "The Affective Fallacy" (1949)—argues that the merit (or lack of merit) of literature, and by extension the other arts, is intrinsic. Actually—what comes to much the same thing—this essay attacks die belief that merit is extrinsic, in particular that it inheres in effects upon readers. The Affective Fallacy, they claim, "is a confusion between the poem [where poem is synecdoche for work of literature] and its results (what it is and Philosophy and Literature, © 1994, 18: 253-264 254Philosophy and Literature what it does).... It begins by trying to derive die standards of criticism from the psychological effects of the poem and ends in impressionism and relativism." The standards ofcriticism ought to be derived, Wimsatt and Beardsley say, from "cognitive analysis ofparadox, ambiguity, irony, and symbol"—that is, intrinsic features of the poem itself. Are Wimsatt and Beardsley right? I think not. For one tiling, the weight of opinion, of both critics and writers, is against diem. For Aristode, the point of a tragedy was to arouse pity and fear in the audience. For Horace, die point of poetry was to please and instruct readers (dulce et utile). For Dickens, die point of his novels was to make readers laugh and cry. For Henry James, every choice he made as a novelist—of characters, incidents, setting, point ofview—he made widi effects upon readers in mind. Even for Romantic poets, diough die merit of a poem did not lie in its effects upon readers, it did not lie in its intrinsic features either, but in its effects upon the poet himself (for Wordswordi, occasioning "die spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings "). Indeed, not until the advent, in the late thirties, of the school of which Wimsatt and Beardsley were die chief theoreticians—die New Criticism—did critics locate merit in intrinsic features. Critics and writers, of course, often speak of intrinsic features but only, as James does, to relate them to somediing extrinsic. Aristode, for instance, says diat a tragedy can arouse pity and fear only if its hero is a person of middling virtue who undeservedly goes from good fortune to bad in die course of the play. Books of literature are created by humans for humans, and whatever merit (or lack of merit) they may have humans confer upon them. Far from being an intrinsic merit, paradox or ambiguity or irony or symbol or any intrinsic feature of a work is no merit at all unless readers count it as a merit; readers may disagree about whether it is a merit (the relativism thatWimsatt and Beardsley deplore) ; every standard to which diey may appeal to settle disputes is a standard created by humans; and they may have various reasons for counting it as a merit (or a defect). The most common reason, of course, commits the Affective Fallacy: the feature affects readers in a way they find desirable. (As I shall note later, in section III, diere can be other reasons less direcdy related to the effect of the work.) It is not easy for readers (or theorists of literary value) to sayjust what die effect is ofan intrinsic feature or why readers count this effect as desirable or even what feature of the work causes this effect. But, though Wimsatt and Beardsley, in arguing dieir case for the Affective Fallacy, make... (shrink)

Ethical decision-making theories in behavioural ethics management have been developed through the social sciences, psychology, social psychology, and cognitive neurosciences. These theories are either cognitive, non-cognitive or an integration of both. Other scholars have recommended redefining what ethical means through moral philosophy and theology. Buddhism is a religion, a philosophy, a psychology, an ethical system and an art of living. The divine states in Buddhism are virtues that could be developed by anyone regardless of their religion or non-religion through Buddhist (...) meditation. They are so called because they enable individuals to develop ‘God-like qualities’. The theoretical insights of the divine states indicate how to eliminate negative emotions, such as anger, fear, delusion and envy, by cultivating love and compassion towards both the self and others. Accordingly, this paper contributes to EDM by redefining what ethical means through the meanings managers who practise Buddhist meditation assign to divine states in their lived experience of EDM in organisations in Sri Lanka. The sample consisted of 17 Buddhists, 1 Hindu, 1 Muslim and 1 no-religion. Data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews and was analysed with IPA. The findings indicated that how the managers made meaning of an ethical decision was influenced by their loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. The findings also indicated that the managers justified the reasons for their decisions subsequently through the benefits to themselves as well as their employees. Accordingly, this study supports the view that EDM is an integrated approach. (shrink)

The essay proposes to use alienation as a heuristic and conceptual tool for the analysis of the impact of digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) on users. It follows a historical materialist understanding, according to which data can be considered as things produced in an industrial fashion. A representational interpretation, according to which data would merely reflect a given reality, is untenable. It will be argued instead to understand data as an additional layer which has a transformative impact on reality (...) as a whole. The analysis follows the early Marx in thinking of alienation as a structural condition which holds even if it is not experienced psychologically by users. Alienation means that the desire to express oneself and achieve social recognition, self-realization, and participation through the use of ICTs is incongruent to the inherent purposes and functions of these technologies. Digital platforms create the ideological illusion that users contribute to the production of data solely for their own gratification. Users, in turn, react to structural alienation either by internalizing it, in which case they may become enthusiastic data producers, or by imposing alienating conditions on other users. Finally, it will be shown that a strong notion of privacy is less suited to articulate concerns about the impact of ICTs because it expresses a desire for privilege and individual control which has become unfulfillable in the environment of data industries. The essay closes by showing some of the changes in institutional structures and behavior that could follow from the focus on alienation. (shrink)

"First Published in 1999, Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.".

Nietzsche unternimmt im Begriff des "individuellen Gesetzes" den Versuch, Individualität and Allgemeinheit so zusammenzudenken, daß die Gesetzlichkeit an die Selbstdeutung des Individuums gebunden bleibt. Dieser Begriff trägt jedoch eine innere Spannung in sich, auf die in verschiedener Weise reagiert werden kann. Der Beitrag zeigt dies zunächst am Gegensatz von Herren- und Sklavenmoral und an der Gesetzgebung des Manu . Beide sind individuelle Gesetze, die jedoch keinen Bestand haben können, weil die von ihnen Beherrschten eine allgemeinere, gerechtere Gesetzgebung einklagen. Dagegen geht (...) es dem freien Geist um Freiheit gegenüber sich selbst, um die Aufgabe, Individualität nicht neuerlich als allgemeine Eigenschaft zu fixieren. Simmels Idee des individuellen Gestzes basiert auf der Möglichkeit einer Versöhnung zwischen den Polen; das Individuum ist in den sozialen Rollen, die es einnimmt, es selbst. Die Spannung, die für Nietzsche besteht, wird dadurch aufgehoben.With the notion of an "individual law", Nietzsche tries to combine individuality and universality in a way that allows to conceive lawfulness under the perspective of the individual, and not in opposition to it. However, the notion of an individual law is characterized by a certain tension, which has led to different reactions. The paper illustrates this tension in regard to master versus slave morality. and the law of Manu . Both are individual laws which have been overcome because the ruled began to claim a more general, a more equitable legislation. On the other side, the free spirit is concerned with freedom from itself, its challenge is to see individuality not as a new general quality. Simmel's notion of the individual law is based on the possibility of a reconciliation between the opposites; the individual remains individual even in its general social roles. This means, however, that the tension manifest in Nietzsche is given up. (shrink)

Philosophische Begriffe erlangen ihre Bedeutung intentional, als Abbreviaturen eines komplexeren Gedankengangs. Dies gilt auch für Martin Heidegger. Vom späten Denken her erscheint seine Begriffssprache in Sein und Zeit als metaphysisch. Kriterien hierfür sind die epistemische Bestimmbarkeit des Seins, seine apriorische Stellung und Absolutsetzung gegenüber dem Seienden sowie der Bezug auf Subjektivität. Dennoch ist es keineswegs notwendig, die Begriffe in genau diesem Sinn zu verstehen; vielmehr können sie zugleich als Hinweis auf ein anderes, nicht-metaphysisches Denken gelesen werden. Dies wirft die Frage (...) nach der Semantik philosophischer Begriffe auf. Das im Begriff Verstandene ist das Verstehen selbst, das in seinem Ursprung transparent gemacht werden soll. Die daraus resultierende Mehrdeutigkeit des Begriffs ist für Heidegger ein positives Phänomen, weil sie eine zunehmende Bedeutungsfüllung und damit die Annäherung an die Sachverhalte der Philosophie erlaubt. Was die Annäherung kriteriell leitet, ist die „Einfachheit“, d.h. Zusammengehörigkeit der schrittweise entfalteten Bedeutungsaspekte. (shrink)

The paper discusses one of the later texts by Jacques Derrida. The text allows Derrida to be interpreted as a thinker of advanced modernity. Systematically it is possible to read modernity via the image of overcoming, which may be understood both in the sense of progress and restoration. The question Derrida asks is this: how can the potential of freedom to overcome be preserved without succumbing to teleology that informs it? The answer lies in the notion of future, which as (...) the simply uncontrollable cannot be situated in any history. However, Derrida‘s attempt to normatively fill the uncontrollable future by relying on Kant‘s practical philosophy and legitimise it as a form of the mind fails. The notion remains empty, as can be shown by setting the boundary against Nietzsche. Nietzsche‘s notion of Übermensch hints at modernity as a future that liberates it from the pressure of history. Nietzsche reflects the figure of overcoming without impoverishing it the way Derrida does.Der Beitrag diskutiert einen der späten Texte von Jacques Derrida. Der Text erlaubt es, Derrida als einen Denker der fortgeschrittenen Moderne zu interpretieren. Systematisch lässt sich die Moderne durch die Figur der Überwindung lesen, die sowohl im Sinne des Fortschritts als der Restauration verstanden werden kann. Derridas Frage lautet: Wie kann das Freiheitspotenzial der Überwindung beibehalten werden, ohne der in ihr liegenden Teleologie anheimzufallen? Eine Antwort ergibt sich durch den Begriff einer Zukunft, die als das schlechthin Unverfügbare in keiner Geschichte mehr situiert werden kann. Allerdings misslingt Derridas Versuch, diese unverfügbare Zukunft in Anlehnung an Kants praktische Philosophie normativ aufzuladen und als eine Form der Vernunft auszuweisen. Der Begriff bleibt leer, wie in Abgrenzung zu Nietzsche gezeigt werden kann. In Nietzsches Begriff des Übermenschen entwirft sich die Moderne auf eine Zukunft, die sie aus dem Zwang der Geschichte befreit. Nietzsche reflektiert die Figur der Überwindung, ohne sie, wie Derrida, zu entleeren.U prilogu se diskutira jedan od kasnijih tekstova Jacquesa Derride. Tekst dopušta interpretirati Derridu kao mislioca uznapredovale moderne. Sistematski je moguće modernu čitati kroz figuru prevladavanja, koja se može razumjeti u smislu napretka kao i restauracije. Derridino pitanje glasi: kako se može očuvati potencijal slobode prevladavanja, a da se ne podlegne teleologiji koja leži u njemu? Odgovor se nadaje u pojmu budućnosti, koja se kao ono jednostavno neovladljivo ne može više situirati ni u jednoj povijesti. No, propada Derridin pokušaj da tu neovladljivu budućnost normativno ispuni u osloncu na Kantovu praktičku filozofiju i legitimira je kao formu uma. Pojam ostaje prazan, kako se može pokazati u razgraničenju spram Nietzschea. U Nietzscheovu pojmu nadčovjeka nabacuje se moderna kao budućnost, koja je oslobađa prisile povijesti. Nietzsche reflektira figuru prevladavanja, a da je ne osiromašuje poput Derride. (shrink)

This contribution attempts, in the face of the criterion of the fruitful contradiction, to build a bridge between two recent developments in phenomenology: the hyperphenomenology of Bernhard Waldenfels on the one hand, and the extraphenomenology of Emmanuel Falque on the other. In the present article, this confrontation first attempts to prepare the possibility of an in-depth comparison. In this process opened here, we obtain a first transitional figure from a viviparous poetry which, in the light of the hyperphenomenologically and extra-phenomenologically (...) unutterable, places in space a third relat: the hissing hyperhors. (shrink)

_Spinoza’s Modernity _is a major, original work of intellectual history that reassesses the philosophical project of Baruch Spinoza, uncovers his influence on later thinkers, and demonstrates how that crucial influence on Moses Mendelssohn, G. E. Lessing, and Heinrich Heine shaped the development of modern critical thought. Excommunicated by his Jewish community, Spinoza was a controversial figure in his lifetime and for centuries afterward. Willi Goetschel shows how Spinoza’s philosophy was a direct challenge to the theological and metaphysical assumptions of (...) modern European thought. He locates the driving force of this challenge in Spinoza’s Jewishness, which is deeply inscribed in his philosophy and defines the radical nature of his modernity. (shrink)

Willie Thompson offers a clear, jargon-free introduction to postmodernist theory and its significant impact on the study of history. This is a hotly-debated topic, and much of the literature is both polemical and inaccessible to the novice. Thompson, however, presents key ideas in a straightforward way, making these debates relevant to students' own work.

From an informal group of a dozen faculty and graduate students at Temple University, the Jean Piaget Society grew in seven years to 500 members who have interests in the application of genetic epistemology to their own disciplines and professions. At the outset Piaget endorsed the concept of a society which bore his name and presented a major address on equilibration at the society's first symposium in May, 1971. Had he not done so the society would no doubt have remained (...) a small parochial group, like so many others throughout the country, interested in Piaget and his theory. With the encouragement of Genevans and the leadership of its first four presidents, Lois Macomber, Barbara Press eisen, Marilyn Appel, and John Mickelson, the society undertook a number of programs to collect and disseminate the results of scholarly work in genetic epistemology. Particular emphasis was placed upon applications of Piaget's theory to developmental psychology, philos ophy, and education. One of these programs was the publication of an annual series on the development of knowing, of which this volume is the first. In 1973, the society asked Hans Furth with the assistance of Willis Overton and Jeanette Gallagher to initiate and plan a series of yearbooks with the result that in addition to this volume, a second volume on education was commissioned, and a third one on the decalage issue was planned. (shrink)

Ethics in the anthropocene -- Atmospheric powers: climate change and moral incompetence -- Christian ethics and unprecedented problems -- Global ethics: moral pluralism and planetary problems -- Sustainability science and the ethics of wicked problems -- Toxic wombs and the ecology of justice -- Impoverishment and the economy of desire -- Intergenerational risk and the future of love -- Sustaining grace.

In the Armenian tradition of Ailios Theon’s Progymnasmata two otherwise unknown historians occur. By examining the context of the passage and comparing it with authors like Philostephanos, it is made plausible that the ‘unknown’ historians are Phileas of Athens and Skymnos of Chios, whose names are misspelled in the Armenian text.

Argues for the primacy of the phylogenetic system as the general reference system in biology. This book, first published in 1966, generated significant controversy and opened possibilities for evolutionary biology.

Diese Studie weist nach, dass Nietzsche ein konsistentes und vollständiges Konzept der Ethik entwickelt hat. Es umfasst eine Handlungstheorie, die Bestimmung eines Begriffs des Guten und die Anwendung auf einzelne Verhaltensweisen im Sinne der Kontextgebundenheit praktischer Philosophie. Bei der Rekonstruktion des Verfassers stehen weniger die einzelnen Werke als ihr systematischer Zusammenhang im Zentrum. Für Nietzsche bleibt Autonomie ohne den Bezug auf ein Handlungsziel im Sinn des Guten unbestimmt. Dass er auf diese Weise eine Position der antiken Ethik aufgreift, zeigt ein (...) Vergleich mit Platon. Gleichzeitig will Nietzsche sich nicht einfach von neuzeitlichen Moralkonzepten abgrenzen. Ihm geht es um eine hermeneutische Reflexion, welchen Sinn moralische Forderungen für das Selbst haben. Im Gegensatz zur aktuellen Debatte um Konzepte ästhetischer Lebenskunst, die sich auf Nietzsche als ihr vermeintliches Vorbild beruft, zeigt die Studie: Nietzsche ist ein genuin ethischer Denker. (shrink)

Social screening of investments calls not only for investment policy and criteria, but also for information about companies, their policies, practices and performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have the potential to significantly improve the usefulness and quality of information reported by companies about their environmental, social and economic impacts and performance. The GRI aims to develop a voluntary reporting framework that will elevate sustainability reporting practices to a level equivalent to that of (...) financial reporting in rigour, comparability, auditability and general acceptance. This will be a welcome and efficient supplement to the questionnaires, interviews, press releases, media reports and other sources of information traditionally used for screening in investment decision making - social/ethical and mainstream. The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the Innovest EcoValue'21 analytical platform, together with the SRI community, are all likely to benefit from GRI-style sustainability reports. One of the GRI's key challenges is to accommodate the broad variety of disclosure needs and expectations of a wide range of report users and company stakeholders. To maximize the usefulness of the GRI Guidelines, report users, including the SRI community, need to be engaged in the process of developing and refining the Guidelines over time. The GRI Guidelines are emerging as an important instrument in enabling companies to communicate with their stakeholders about performance and accountability beyond just the financial bottom line. (shrink)

Informed consent may be unobtainable in online contexts. This article examines the difficulties of obtaining informed consent online through a Facebook case study. It is proposed that there are at least two ways informed consent could be waived in research: first, if the data are public, and second, if the data are textual. Accordingly, the publicness of the Facebook News Feed is considered. Taking account of the wide availability of Facebook users’ data, and reflecting on how public those users perceive (...) their information to be, this paper argues that some Facebook data are properly viewed as public to semi-public in nature. A second issue is whether the Facebook News Feed data collection ought to be classified as document-based or human subjects research. Since the Facebook News Feed involves social interaction that may elicit ‘ethically important moments’, this paper proposes that observing it may constitute human subjects research. While informed consent is desirable for human subjects research, it is suggested that Facebook News Feed observations are comparable to observational research in a public space, and thus waiving informed consent in this online setting could be justifiable. (shrink)

Excerpt from Das Mitleid in der Neueren Ethik: Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Philosophischen Doktorwürde der Hohen Philosophischen Fakultät der Vereinigten Friedrichs-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Zwei Philosophen der Neuzeit haben in ihren moral philosophischen Untersuchungen dem Mitleid besondere Beachtung geschenkt und dadurch das Interesse weiterer Kreise für diesen Gegenstand wachgerufen, Schopenhauer und sein Schüler, Nietzsche. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten (...) Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

This article presents current philosophical reflections on religious diversity and concomitant attitudes towards the interreligious situation. The motive behind this presentation is to show that in order to deal more efficiently with the phenomenon of religious plurality, there is a need for a development of the philosophy of religion, where new perspectives are opened up and explored. The very concept of religion as a belief system is put into question, since it has caused philosophical reflections on religious diversity to be (...) confined to certain metaphysical and epistemological concerns. Instead of focusing on the noun ‘religion’, the article suggests a way to understand the adjective ‘religious’ and view religious plurality as a plurality of ways of being religious. This opens up a certain context of interreligious relations and interreligious dialogue, where this very dialogue itself can contribute to the development of philosophical tools, concepts and categories for dealing with the fact of plurality. I call this context constructive dialogical pluralism. (shrink)

Laudato si' attempts simultaneously to disrupt prevailing global environmental discourse and to reorient central concepts in Catholic moral tradition by requalifying the meaning of dominion and by ecologically expanding human dignity. The image of Earth crying out to humans from within a kinship relation plays a central role in both arguments. However, the political consequences of those shifts remain vague because the “voice” of Earth remains silent in crucial loci of the encyclical's argument.