Objects in the world usually have names at different hierarchical levels (e.g., beagle, dog, animal). This research investigates adults' ability to use cross‐situational statistics to simultaneously learn object labels at individual and category levels. The results revealed that adults were able to use co‐occurrence information to learn hierarchical labels in contexts where the labels for individual objects and labels for categories were presented in completely separated blocks, in interleaved blocks, or mixed in the same trial. Temporal presentation schedules significantly affected (...) the learning of individual object labels, but not the learning of category labels. Learners' subsequent generalization of category labels indicated sensitivity to the structure of statistical input. (shrink)

Recent laboratory experiments have shown that both infant and adult learners can acquire word‐referent mappings using cross‐situational statistics. The vast majority of the work on this topic has used unfamiliar objects presented on neutral backgrounds as the visual contexts for word learning. However, these laboratory contexts are much different than the real‐world contexts in which learning occurs. Thus, the feasibility of generalizing cross‐situational learning beyond the laboratory is in question. Adapting the Human Simulation Paradigm, we conducted a series of experiments (...) examining cross‐situational learning from children's egocentric videos captured during naturalistic play. Focusing on individually ambiguous naming moments that naturally occur during toy play, we asked how statistical learning unfolds in real time through accumulating cross‐situational statistics in naturalistic contexts. We found that even when learning situations were individually ambiguous, learners’ performance gradually improved over time. This improvement was driven in part by learners’ use of partial knowledge acquired from previous learning situations, even when they had not yet discovered correct word‐object mappings. These results suggest that word learning is a continuous process by means of real‐time information integration. (shrink)

In Appearance and Explanation, McCain and Moretti propose a novel internalist account of epistemic justification called phenomenal explanationism, which combines phenomenal conservatism and explanationism. I argue that the current version of phenomenal explanationism faces a dilemma: either it omits the awareness requirement but implies an implausible form of logical-mathematical omniscience, or it preserves the requirement but leads to a vicious regress. I suggest how phenomenal explanationism might be revised to avoid this dilemma.

The Evaluative Judgment Theories of Emotion mainly suggest that emotions can be reduced to evaluative beliefs or judgments. Specifically, evaluative beliefs are necessary but not sufficient conditions for evaluative judgments. And reducing emotions to evaluative judgments requires the subject’s conceptualizing ability. However, the Evaluative Judgment Theories of Emotion has many problems, including that evaluative beliefs are neither sufficient nor necessary for emotions; the evaluative judgment theory of emotion presupposes the subject’s conceptual content, but conceptual content is not a necessary and (...) sufficient condition for emotions; the requirement of conceptualization ability for evaluative judgments is too high, which makes emotions overintellectualize; and the add-on strategy of emotions cannot save the evaluative judgment theory of emotions as well. (shrink)

This article argues that the Sarvāstivāda’s “_X_ takes _Y_ as _svabhāva_” system constitutes a multilayered reduction system where “_X_ takes _Y_ as _svabhāva_” can be understood as “_X_ is reduced to _Y_.” Here, _svabhāva_ functions as a means of reduction. The reduction system comprises three layers, and its primary aim is to reduce non-dharma types to dharma types. Furthermore, the article discusses whether the multilayered reduction system is ontological or epistemological. Moreover, based on the third layer of the reduction system, (...) the article suggests that _svabhāva_ has only played a limited role in defining dharma types. (shrink)

Valuing something is complicated. Philosophers have offered different stories about what we do when we value something. However, we have not paid enough attention to the thought that, sometimes, valuing something is what makes us the kind of practical agents we are. In this paper, I offer a novel account of valuing, which I call thick valuing, to capture this special phenomenon in which our valuing makes us who we are. This requires us to recognize that the cognitive, motivational, and (...) affective components of thick valuing do not merely co-occur. More importantly, it is key to focusing on how thickly valuing something partially constitutes, and indeed crucially expresses, our practical identities. Beyond that, the account sheds new light on how we can better understand inauthenticity—to act without authenticity is to act from what one thickly values but where that which one thickly values are not values of one’s own. (shrink)

Deep self views of moral responsibility suggest that an agent fully satisfies the freedom condition for responsibility if and only if her actions or omissions issue from, and so express, her deep self. This analysis generates both false negatives and false positives regarding people's responsibility, and counterexamples proliferate. I defend a novel version of the deep self view by offering a necessary condition for accountability while retaining the core of deep self views. Indeed, an agent may be blameworthy for her (...) wrongdoing without it issuing from, and so expressing, her deep self. And yet, I argue that she must have a deep self for which she is responsible. This is achieved by paying closer attention to history than standard views have. Focusing on history then reveals a less discussed problem for standard views: the ahistorical features of them make them less equipped to explain cases of blameworthiness that is undermined. (shrink)

Objective:The purpose of this study was to describe the current situation of moral distress and to explore its influencing factors among Chinese nurses.Methods:This is an exploratory, descriptive design study. A total of 465 clinical nurses from different departments in three Grade-III, Level-A hospitals in Jinan, Shandong Province, completed the questionnaires, including demographics questionnaire, Chinese version of Moral Distress Scale–Revised, and Job Diagnostic Survey.Ethical considerations:The study was approved by the university ethics board and the local health service director.Results:The total score of (...) Moral Distress Scale–Revised was 36.01 ± 24.02 points. The mean frequency and intensity scores of moral distress were 1.13 ± 0.49 and 1.09 ± 0.58, respectively. The level of moral distress among Chinese clinical nurses was low, and the frequency and intensity of moral distress were on low to moderate level. The level of moral distress experienced by clinical nurses is associated with demographics features and job characteristics, including age, education degree, department, task significance, autonomy, and dealing with others.Conclusion:Our conclusion suggests that hospital and organizational administrations should attach much importance to the moral distress experienced by clinical nurses in China. Further studies should focus on interventions about how to reduce the levels of the frequency and intensity of moral distress among clinical nurses. (shrink)

Corporate debt default risk poses significant challenges in the business world, requiring a multifaceted approach for effective mitigation. This study, grounded in an ethical decision-making framework, investigates the influence of Confucian culture on shaping ethical corporate culture and managers’ moral capacity and its subsequent impact on corporate debt default risk. Our findings indicate that companies deeply influenced by Confucian culture tend to exhibit lower debt default risks. Specifically, companies that embrace Confucian values demonstrate an enhanced ethical corporate culture and heightened (...) individual moral capacity. These factors play crucial roles in the ethical decision-making process, thereby reducing the likelihood of engaging in risky financial behaviors. Further analysis reveals that the inhibitory effect of Confucian culture on debt default risk is particularly pronounced in enterprises operating within regions characterized by poor integrity environments and weak product market competition. This inhibitory effect can lead to a reduction in the cost of corporate debt financing and the risk of stock price crashes. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the interplay between culture, business ethics, and corporate risk management. (shrink)

Cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (Cognitive CDA), or Critical Cognitive Linguistics (thereafter CCL), is an emerging interdisciplinary research area, which demonstrates the ‘social...

This article proposes a theoretical framework for external representation based problem solving. The Tic‐Tac‐Toe and its isomorphs are used to illustrate the procedures of the framework as a methodology and test the predictions of the framework as a functional model. Experimental results show that the behavior in the Tic‐Tac‐Toe is determined by the directly available information in external and internal representations in terms of perceptual and cognitive biases, regardless of whether the biases are consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to (...) the task. It is shown that external representations are not merely inputs and stimuli to the internal mind and that they have much more important functions than mere memory aids. A representational determinism is suggested—the form of a representation determines what information can be perceived, what processes can be activated, and what structures can be discovered from the specific representation. (shrink)

When we make transformative choices, there is always a risk of regret. While a decision-maker may predict that she will not regret her choice, others might predict the opposite and attempt to prevent her from proceeding to shield her from future regret. This paper argues that there is a pro tanto epistemic reason against such intervention because, ceteris paribus, it is prima facie irrational for others to maintain their belief (that she will regret) without deferring to the decision-maker’s own prediction. (...) This is because, unlike others, the decision-maker knows what it is like to live her current life, which puts her in a better epistemic position to make the regret prediction. (shrink)

Background: Nurses’ service behaviors have critical implications for hospitals. However, few studies had adequate ethical considerations of service behaviors and accounted for how organizational or individual antecedents can induce nurses to engage in service behaviors. In addition, they mainly focused on the one side of role-prescribed or extra-role service behavior. Objective: This study aims to explore the chained mediation effect of ethical climate and moral sensitivity on the relationship between organizational ethical leadership and nurses’ service behaviors and to examine the (...) relationship, from a comparative view, of the role-prescribed service behavior and extra-role service behavior. Methods: In all, 476 nurses from three tertiary hospitals were investigated with the Ethical Leadership Scale, Ethical Climate Scale, Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire and Service Behavior Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data. SPSS and Mplus statistical software was used in the data analysis. Ethical considerations: Approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee at School of Nursing, Hebei Medical University. Data privacy and confidentiality were maintained and assured by obtaining subjects’ informed consent to participate in the research before data collection. Results: The effects of ethical leadership on nurses’ service behaviors are mediated by two variables in turn: ethical climate and nurses’ moral sensitivity. Ethical climate and moral sensitivity partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and nurses’ role-prescribed service behavior and fully mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and nurses’ extra-role service behavior. Conclusion: Organizational ethical leadership positively affected ethical climate, which positively affected nurses’ moral sensitivity and affected both their role-prescribed service behavior and extra-role service behavior. (shrink)

According to approximate Bayesianism, Bayesian norms are ideal norms worthy of approximation for non-ideal agents. This paper discusses one potential challenge for approximate Bayesianism: in non-transparent learning situations—situations where the agent does not learn what they have or have not learnt—it is unclear that the Bayesian norms are worth satisfying, let alone approximating. I discuss two replies to this challenge and find neither satisfactory. I suggest that what transpires is a general tension between approximate Bayesianism and the possibility of “non-ideal” (...) epistemic situations. (shrink)

The discussion of the debate on the two approaches to Husserl’s phenomenology and of the debate between David Carr and Dan Zahavi on the paradox of subjectivity signify a fundamental problem: What is the relationship between subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and the world? For this problem, I argue that subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and the world are Co-originary in Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology, in the sense of their structural necessity. I define this co-originary relationship from the perspective of unification of constitution and givenness—this unification establishes (...) their equiprimordial relationship. According to this co-originariness, subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and the world are not three isolated and independent origins, but are interdependent and absolute origins of sense of being in their own right. In sum, this essay proposes that transcendental co-originariness can be recognized as another way of reading Husserl’s phenomenology. (shrink)

From Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals and Critique of practical reason, we can deduce Kant's interpretation of the concept of freedom, which has undergone a change from practical freedom to transcendental freedom, and the deduction of freedom has been perfected, the rational facts have been put forward to provide the basis of free deduction. The reason for the change is that freedom as the basis of theoretical practice is assumed and predetermined, how the cause and effect of freedom as (...) will may not be explained, and the nature of freedom is not defined clearly, the legitimacy and authority of the moral law is not established. After the transformation, the problem was solved. Although rigour raises questions about the universality of Kant’s moral law, Onora Sylvia O’Neill and others argue that Kant’s moral law is a product of virtue ethics, not a normative ethic, Kant's moral law still can instruct us in ethical life. (shrink)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students in China followed an emergency policy called “Suspending Classes without Stopping Learning” to continue their study online as schools across the country were closed. The present study examines how students adapted to learning online in these unprecedented circumstances. We aimed to explore the relationship between adaptability, academic emotion, and student engagement during COVID-19. 1,119 university students from 20 provinces participated in this longitudinal study (2 time points with a 2-week interval). The (...) results showed that adaptability (the ability to respond to changes) and student engagement are significantly positively correlated with positive academic emotion and negatively correlated with negative academic emotion. Furthermore, adaptability not only directly predicts student engagement, but also affects student engagement through the chain mediation of positive academic emotion and negative academic emotion. The results contribute to the gap in knowledge regarding changes in students’ learning in response to the outbreak. This study further explains the internal mechanisms mediating the relationship between adaptability and student engagement. It may provide references for educational researchers and universities in dampening the negative effects of COVID-19 on students’ learning by improving their adaptability and developing positive academic emotions. (shrink)

The development of cognitive neuroscience allows scientists to locate areas of brain activity corresponding to consciousness activities through advanced technology. The philosophical basis of cognitive neuroscience is physicalism, which reduces the activity of consciousness into the product of biological brain activity, but there are many drawbacks to this strong physicalism reductionism. Mind-brain identity theory in neuroscience and the computational doctrine in cognitive science show that the theory of physical reductionism can never explain the causal relationship between mental properties and physical (...) properties and physicalism contains the tendency of dualism. In addition, dualism combines with materialism to develop a new dualism of naturalistic tendencies and gain new opportunities for development. It is further demonstrated that the rationality of dualism and mental state cannot be wholly reduced to a physical state. (shrink)

In the artificial intelligence literature a promising approach to counterfactual reasoning is to interpret counterfactual conditionals based on causal models. Different logics of such causal counterfactuals have been developed with respect to different classes of causal models. In this paper I characterize the class of causal models that are Lewisian in the sense that they validate the principles in Lewis’s well-known logic of counterfactuals. I then develop a system sound and complete with respect to this class. The resulting logic is (...) the weakest logic of causal counterfactuals that respects Lewis’s principles, sits in between the logic developed by Galles and Pearl and the logic developed by Halpern, and stands to Galles and Pearl’s logic in the same fashion as Lewis’s stands to Stalnaker’s. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to examine how culture shapes creativity by reviewing empirical findings across diverse studies. The impact of culture on creativity is typically manifested in three ways: (a) people from different cultures or settings have distinct implicit and/or explicit conceptions of creativity; (b) individuals from different cultures, particularly those from individualist and collectivist cultures, show differences in preferred creative processes and creative processing modes (e.g., usefulness seems more important than novelty in the East, whereas novelty seems (...) equally important as usefulness, if not more so, in the West) when they are engaged in creative endeavors; (c) creativity may be assessed using different measures based on culture-related contents or materials, and findings are accurate only when culturally appropriate or culturally fair measures are used. Potential implications and future directions are also proposed. (shrink)

Davidson’s theory of agency aims to solve the dilemma that the same action can be both intentional and not intentional. He explains primitive actions using primarily bodily movements and argues that event-causality can be described through the “accordion effect”, but not agent-causality. And Davidson uses reasons as causes to explain the actions and responds to five objections. In this paper, I critique Davidson’s argument, pointing out that he ignores certain factors in the belief-desire model, such as emotions. And his sentence (...) holism has a problem because individual words that express complete thoughts can explain actions in language games. As a result, Davidson’s criticism of Wittgenstein is not reasonable. (shrink)

In this study, an accurate convergence time of the supertwisting algorithm is proposed to build up a framework for nonaffine nonlinear systems’ finite-time control. The convergence time of the STA is provided by calculating the solution of a differential equation instead of constructing Lyapunov function. Therefore, precise convergence time is presented instead of estimation of the upper bound of the algorithm’s reaching time. Regardless of affine or nonaffine nonlinear systems, supertwisting control provides a general solution based on virtual control law (...) skill ensuring the output of the systems converges to the origin point at exact time. Benchmark tests are simulated to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm. (shrink)

Can non-existence be perceived? While the answer may seem obviously negative, proving this is not straightforward. This article extracts several arguments for the claim that "non-existence cannot be an object of perception" from the reasoning provided by Saṃghabhadra regarding "non-existence cannot be an object of *buddhi. Two main arguments are reconstructed and both are reductio ad absurdum. The first suggests that if any non-existence could be perceived, all instances of non-existence would be perceived. Combined with Saṃghabhadra's causal theory of perception, (...) this implies that one perception could perceive all instances of non-existence. The second posits that if non-existence were an object of perception, it would result in no perception occurring at all. As a problem-oriented study, this article reconstructs and evaluates Saṃghabhadra's arguments, demonstrating that "non-existence cannot be perceived" is not as easily proved as it appears, and Saṃghabhadra’s insightful arguments, though vulnerable to challenges, hold promise for further defense. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Leaders have been thought to play a vital role in influencing employees’ unethical behavior. However, what happens to leaders and followers in the aftermath of unethical conduct has received little attention in the literature. Drawing from the correspondent inference theory, we examine the conditions under which leaders attribute their followers’ unethical behavior to poor moral character and eventually assign them low performance ratings. Through a two-wave research design and data from 290 matched employee–leader dyads, we found that a leader (...) is more likely to infer that a follower who has engaged in unethical behavior is of poor moral character when the leader has a higher moral identity, and the leader will impose lower performance ratings on this follower when the leader prefers lower moral decoupling. (shrink)

Through metaphor, we gain distinctive perspectives on reality and communicate in new ways, especially when we use metaphor intentionally. The COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, causing sign...

Constructive deviance, rule-breaking to benefit the organization, is an emerging topic in the scholarly research and is considered to be an ethical decision. Despite the value of guiding constructive deviance in organizations, the effect of ethics-oriented leadership on employees’ constructive deviance remains unclear. This research identifies leader moral humility as a new antecedent of constructive deviance and examines how and when leader moral humility influences employee constructive deviance. Drawing on social–cognitive theory, we propose that leader moral humility fosters employee moral (...) identity, which in turn triggers employees to exhibit constructive deviance. Moreover, the mediating effect of moral identity is more pronounced when normative conflict with organizational rules is high, as this conflict inspires identity-driven behavior. Two studies with scenario-based experimental and time-lagged field methods provided general support for our hypotheses. Study 1 reveals that leader moral humility positively affects constructive deviance via employee moral identity. Study 2 replicates and extends Study 1 to support the moderating role of normative conflict. These findings enrich the understanding of constructive deviance by shedding light on the moral cognitive process in the relationship between leader moral humility and employee constructive deviance and by identifying the boundary condition for the relationship. (shrink)

Modern China's acceptance of Dewey's legacy of aesthetic thought is divided into three main periods. In 1906–49, Dewey's _Art as Experience_ was noticed, but due to the fact that China was more concerned with the social realities and national crisis at that time, its aesthetic thought appeared as an accessory to Dewey's social philosophy and educational thought, and its rich significance was properly realized only within the practice of aesthetic education. From 1949 to 1978, Dewey's aesthetics was effectively suppressed through (...) China's ideological storms. From 1978 to the present, benefitting through China's policies of reform and opening, Dewey's aesthetics gradually gained the attention of Chinese academics and found expression in considerable research that develops the book's legacy in distinctive forms of contemporary Chinese aesthetics: life aesthetics, somaesthetics, and ecological aesthetics. (shrink)

Jan Patočka starts the phenomenology of existence movement as a response to the crisis brought about by modern technology. This movement aims to liberate both humanity and the world from the absolute dominance of technologism, while addressing the spiritual crisis faced by human beings. Patočka offers a new phenomenological perspective on human existence, viewing it as a continuous movement. He emphasizes that human embodiment in the world is characterized by an existential movement, which involves rootedness, self-extension, and breakthrough. Through the (...) concrete and practical movement of human existence, Patočka underscores the existential responsibility that is intrinsic to human subjects. This perspective enables us to confront existential problems and reestablish a sense of purpose and meaning to human existence within the natural world. (shrink)

This study aims to reveal the nature and motivation of human cooperation. By adopting the public goods game paradigm of competition and repetition, and introducing factors such as punishment and heterogeneous contributions, an experiment was conducted at Nanjing University in China, where 224 undergraduate students participated in seven games, including intragroup and intergroup competition. Meanwhile, participants’ social value orientation (SVO) was measured. The results indicated that cooperation (non-zero contribution) was the common choice for participants, but their contributions varied across rounds (...) and games. Individuals generally act as conditional free-riders in intragroup competition games, i.e., they use the “small for big” strategy. In contrast, individuals generally act as conditional cooperators in intergroup competitive games, i.e., they use the “tit for tat” strategy. Although SVO should theoretically be related to contribution, analysis revealed that participants’ contributions were not significantly dominated by SVO, but were primarily driven by self-interest. Specifically, individuals switch back and forth between conditional cooperators and conditional free-riders to seek maximum self-interest. Our results not only reveal the complexity and strategic nature of human behavior in competitive contexts but also highlight the central role of self-interest in driving individual decision-making, reflecting the balance between individuals’ pursuit of self-interest and adaptation to the environment in social interactions. (shrink)

This article describes China’s century-long concern with the professional ethics of engineers, especially a succession of codes of engineering ethics going back at least to 1933. This description is the result both of our own archival research and of “philosophical history”, the application of concepts from the philosophy of professions to the facts historians (or we) have discovered. Engineers, historians, social scientists, and philosophers of technology, as well as students of professional ethics, should find this description interesting. It certainly provides (...) a reason to wonder whether those who write about codes of professional ethics as if they were an Anglo-American export unlikely to put down roots elsewhere might have overlooked many early codes outside English-speaking countries. While code writers in China plainly learned from Western codes, the Chinese codes were not mere copies of their Western counterparts. Indeed, the Chinese codes sometimes differed inventively from Western codes in form (for example, being wholly positive) or content (for example, protecting local culture). (shrink)

Montesquieu believes that human beings have three kinds of natures: self-preserving, imperfect knowledge and passions. The first and the third nature tend to conflict with each other, and the result is the state of war, in which human natures could not be satisfied. Montesquieu uses this theory of human nature to judge all the kinds of governments, and finds that the virtuous republic, despotism and monarchy all have important defects. Especially, the monarchy by nature tends to degenerate into despotism, which (...) is a realistic threat to him and his contemporaries. To solve this political problem, Montesquieu himself develops a two-fold solution: he wants to establish a certain kind of positive laws to satisfy the first nature, and wants to promote commerce to satisfy the third nature. Moreover, his ideal-government has important differences with the English political system. (shrink)

While theater and film are distinct art forms, their interaction through dramatic structure and narrative technique reveals deep philosophical and theological dimensions. This paper explores the complex, non-linear relationship between cinematic narrative techniques—such as choreography and plot twists—and the dramatic structures in theatre, including retrospective, open-ended, and character-focused narratives. We hypothesize a significant non-linear interplay and validate this through a model that analyzes variance and mean scores across diverse narrative films, with statistical significance established at P.

Size perception of visual objects is highly context dependent. Here we report a novel perceptual size illusion that the self-face, being a unique and distinctive self-referential stimulus, can enlarge its perceived size. By using a size discrimination paradigm, we found that the self-face was perceived as significantly larger than the other-face of the same size. This size overestimation effect was not due to the familiarity of the self-face, since it could be still observed when the self-face was directly compared with (...) a famous face. More crucially, such illusion effect could be extended to a new cartoon face that was transiently associated with one's own face and could also exert further contextual influences on visual size perception of other objects. These findings together highlight the role of self-awareness in visual size perception and point to a special mechanism of size perception tuned to self-referential information. (shrink)

A novel conservative chaotic system with no equilibrium is investigated in this study. Various dynamics such as the conservativeness, coexistence, symmetry, and invariance are presented. Furthermore, a partial-state feedback control scheme is proposed, and the stable domain of control parameters is analyzed based on the degenerate Hopf bifurcation. In order to verify the numerical simulation analysis, an analog circuit is designed. The simulation results show that the output of the analog circuit system can reproduce the numerical simulation results and verify (...) the correctness of the theoretical analysis. (shrink)

Recent research indicates that environmentally responsible stakeholders’ green needs and practices effectively enhance substantive or symbolic corporate environmental responsibility. However, few studies have noted the potential for these green needs and practices to backfire. We integrate moral licensing theory and upper echelons theory to develop a theoretical framework. This framework can predict the differential effects of stakeholders’ green needs on corporate green innovation, contingent on the moral credits that these needs confer upon executives. The evidence comes from the practice of (...) green bond issuance by listed firms and a quasi-natural experiment of China’s environmental tax policy. We find that a 1% increase in the regional environmental protection tax is associated with a 0.036% decrease in a firm’s green innovation. Conversely, a 1% increase in green bond issuance corresponds to a 0.020% increase in a firm’s green innovation. Moreover, these effects are enhanced when managerial discretion is high and mitigated in firms with prosocial executives. Our findings suggest that executives engage in moral mental accounting/balancing, and thus treat stakeholders’ green needs differently. (shrink)

Smith’s imagination of sociability and interpersonal relationships in commercial society carries a strong Epicurean tone. However, in terms of moral philosophy, Smith severely criticised Epicureanism and firmly defended the ‘natural beauty of virtue’ within the framework of sentimentalism (i.e. the existence of moral worth independent of pleasure and utility). He claimed that Epicureanism’s denial of the ‘natural beauty of virtue’ not only misunderstands the basis of moral judgement but also ignores people’s corresponding moral motives and the possibility of their self-formation (...) in character. He similarly criticised Hume. In Smith’s view, Hume also neglected the ‘natural beauty of virtue’. This negligence underestimated the dignity of human nature in terms of moral motives, moral perception and the self-cultivation of character, thus failing to explain the possibility of justice, self-command, generosity, and other virtues. In general, drawing on established intellectual resources, Smith offered a more active, energetic perspective on the moral agent than Epicurus and Hume. The active and noble moral agent, rather than rationally maximising individuals, was an enlightened participant in Smith’s commercial society. (shrink)

This paper explores the internal logic and theoretical basis of the two concepts of "common prosperity" and "community of human destiny" from a philosophical perspective. Common prosperity is one of the core goals of China's social development, reflecting the Marxist philosophical thought on social fairness and justice, while the community of human destiny transcends the boundaries of countries and nations and embodies the collectivist ethics and future vision in the era of globalization. By analyzing the roots of the two in (...) historical materialism, global ethics, Kant's "world citizen" thought and the Confucian ideal of "great harmony", this paper attempts to reveal the philosophical inner connection between common prosperity and the community of human destiny and proposes the necessity of building a social model that combines fairness and global responsibility. This paper believes that the pursuit of common prosperity is not only a national issue, but also a global issue faced by mankind, and the realization of the community of human destiny depends on the philosophical reflection and practical efforts made by countries in the process of achieving common prosperity. Through philosophical discussion, this paper further illustrates the practical significance of these two concepts in today's world and their potential impact on the future global order. (shrink)

Extant studies have shown that socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) brings beneficial effects on employees’ work outcomes. However, little attention has been given to the effect of SRHRM on employee resilience from a balanced perspective. This study draws on conversation of resources theory to examine how and when SRHRM influences employee resilience from a balanced perspective. Using two scenario-based experiments and one multi-wave field study, results show that SRHRM can enhance employee resilience by increasing work meaningfulness, but it can (...) also deplete employee resilience by draining resources. Moreover, organization-set performance goal weakens the positive relationship between SRHRM and employees’ work meaningfulness. Organization-set performance goal also magnifies the positive relationship between SRHRM and employees’ resource depletion. This study presents theoretical and practical implications on how organizations can precisely promote employee resilience. (shrink)

Medical informed consent stands as an ethical and legal requisite preceding any medical intervention. Hospitalized patients face functional health literacy (FHL) challenges when dealing with informed consent forms (ICFs). The legitimacy of ICFs and informed consent procedures in China remains substantially undisclosed. The study’s aim was to investigate if Chinese patients have adequate FHL to be truly informed before providing medical consent. In this cross-sectional, structured interview-based study, FHL was assessed within the context of the informed consent scenarios in two (...) teaching hospitals (a 1500-bed general tertiary hospital and a 700-bed cancer hospital) affiliated with Shantou University Medical College. Twenty-seven patients admitted across clinical departments, along with their relatives (n = 59), were enrolled in the study after obtaining informed consent. The participants underwent a three-step assessment with two selected ICFs —teach-back skills, perceived understanding (perception), and informed knowledge (cognizance), with each component carrying a maximum score of 10. Data were analyzed with SPSS (version 22.0) for descriptive and inferential statistics, with consideration of significant P values as < 0.05. The median age (IQR and range) of participants was 35.5 (28 – 49 and 13 – 74) years. Most participants had only high school education (24.4%, 21/86) or below high school education (47.7%, 41/86). The median score (IQR) of FHL assessments—teach-back, perception, and cognizance—was 4.0 (2.5, 5.8), 8.0 (6.8, 8.8), and 6.5 (5.5, 8.0) out of 10, respectively. A moderate correlation was observed between the scores of cognizance and teach-back (r = 0.359, P = 0.002) or perception (r = 0.437, P < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis predicted being a patient and having lower education levels as independent risk factors of inadequate FHL (Ps = 0.001). Lack of patient-centeredness in ICFs, time constraints, and poor clinical communication were identified as barriers impeding informed consent. This study demonstrates inadequacy in personal FHL and impaired organizational HL, resulting in compromised informed consent in Chinese teaching hospitals. As a remedy, we propose improving the quality of ICFs and institutionally mandated outcome-focused training on informed consent for all concerned clinicians to enhance medical ethics, ensure quality health care, address patient values, and mitigate potential medical conflicts. (shrink)

Hybrid organizations that pursue both financial and social goals have gained significant attention within the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Furthermore, an ongoing concern within hybrid organization research centers on the tensions between multiple goals. We establish a behavioral theory of hybrid organizations based on both the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF) and imprinting theory to interpret the patterns of simultaneous or sequential pursuit of conflicting goals. Drawing evidence from China's mixed-ownership enterprises (MOEs), we examine the impact of (...) institutional imprinting on managerial attention priority. Our findings show that originally state-owned MOEs simultaneously pursue financial and social goals, while originally privately-owned MOEs sequentially pursue dual goals. Moreover, the persistence and decay of this institutional imprint are affected by internal and external sources of coalition power. By examining how financial performance feedback impacts tensions of dual goals, we contribute to the literature dialogue between hybrid organizations and BTOF. (shrink)

The conception of possible worlds, as proposed by Plantinga, presents certain issues, notably its dependence on the prior concept of modality. While Plantinga’s strategy for addressing the enigma of transworld identity carries metaphysical significance, it lacks epistemological value. This deficiency emerges because world-indexed properties do not serve as effective tools in epistemic practice compared to their counterparts, space–time-indexed properties. Moreover, Plantinga’s attempt to isolate transworld identification from transworld identity proves unconvincing. This paper contends that the intelligibility of modal discourse and (...) reference forms the crux of transworld identity. It further demonstrates that transworld identification underpins this intelligibility in an epistemological sense. Therefore, the problem of transworld identification is epistemologically foundational to the issue of transworld identity, necessitating a comprehensive solution. (shrink)

Through the dual keywords—I 文房 and “four friends” (siyou 四友)—this essay examines the inextricable interrelationship among material things, a place, and the self that was initiated during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Song literati displayed unprecedented interest in scholarly things, particularly four specific things in the studio—the writing brush, inkstone, paper, and ink. Through literary representations, this article investigates the changing nature of the literati’s relation to these “four things” in the studio. Rather than framing their bond as the ruler and (...) ministers or the owner and his possessions, from the early Northern Song to the Southern Song, writers transformed their relationship to these four things gradually to that between friends and peers, or from pure ownership to an imaginary friendship, and in turn, these four things supported the construction of both the personal studio and the collective identity of the new elites in the Song. This transformation from “four things” or “four treasures” to “four friends” represented a distinctive model of the observation and conception of material things that Song scholars developed, which provided intriguing insights into the relationship between humans and things in premodern China. (shrink)

Prior research in behavioral ethics suggests that supervisors may influence employees’ ethical decision-making. However, the extent to which supervisors shape the recurrence of employees’ unethical behaviors remains underexplored. By integrating cognitive dissonance theory with social information processing theory, we provide new insights into how supervisors influence employees’ responses to their past ethical violations. We hypothesize that when supervisors exhibit a high level of perspective taking, employees are less likely to perceive organizational intolerance of unethical behaviors and, in turn, are more (...) likely to repeat these behaviors in the future. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a field investigation using objective data from organizational records and survey responses collected from 276 sales professionals and 108 supervisors in a large firm over a nine-month period. Our results support our predictions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, limitations, as well as future directions. (shrink)