Loyalty Oaths in Finland

Loyalty oaths are a certain type of promise. What is their moral force? Do I by taking an oath thereby bind myself with some (new) moral ties to, say, the State of Finland? When can we speak of an oath as morally binding? These questions constitute the core of the paper. First, I shall give an analysis of promises and promising in general. Secondly, I shall try to analyse the question ‘Do we have to keep our promises?’ After this I shall consider some differences between standard case promises and loyalty oaths. After this the connection of loyalty oaths to civil liberty will be brought out. Thereafter I shall give a brief presentation of the politically most relevant loyalty oaths in Finland and ask if they can be considered as having any moral force. The paper ends with a few hints on the practical consequences of this analysis.     

Does moral rhetoric fuel or reduce divides between parties and non-copartisan voters?

Political parties at times use moral appeals to voters outside of their support base, i.e., non-copartisan voters. Yet, morality is typically considered a divisive force in politics. Does moral rhetoric actually alleviate or exacerbate divides between parties and non-copartisan voters? The paper addresses this question by focusing on non-copartisans’ attitudes towards the party. Insights from previous work on moral persuasion and attitudinal bias suggest a conflicting picture. On the one hand, moral rhetoric is likely to make morally aligned non-copartisans more favourable towards the party. On the other hand, moral rhetoric is unlikely to make even the morally aligned favourable towards the party. In fact, moral rhetoric may further push away non-copartisans with pre-existing hostility. Using original, representative survey experiments from Britain, the paper finds that moral rhetoric can increase favourable attitudes and that it does not further promote hostility. Morality in party competition does not necessarily fuel division.     

论爱国主义的“硬核力量”

爱国主义是表达个人对祖国依赖关系的真挚情感、道德准则、政治认同和坚定行动,在新时代的中国迸发出强大的力量。爱国主义的"硬核力量"体现在:它是源自中华民族悠久历史的持久力量、是发自中国人内心世界的深沉力量、是汇聚亿万人智慧汗水的磅礴力量、是转化为国家综合实力的强盛力量。爱国主义的"硬核力量"汇聚成礼赞新中国、奋进新时代的前进洪流,给我们增添了无穷正能量。     

当前高校网络道德教育工作探究

大学生是信息时代网络使用的主力军,面对网络立法尚不健全、网络防范技术有待提高的社会现实,高校教育工作者应采取行之有效的措施加强大学生网络道德教育,以增强大学生对全球网络文化的识别能力、道德责任和自律意识,促进大学生全面成才。     

Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non–State Market–Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule–Making Authority

In recent years, transnational and domestic nongovernmental organizations have created non–state market–driven (NSMD) governance systems whose purpose is to develop and implement environmentally and socially responsible management practices. Eschewing traditional state authority, these systems and their supporters have turned to the market's supply chain to create incentives and force companies to comply.
This paper develops an analytical framework designed to understand better the emergence of NSMD governance systems and the conditions under which they may gain authority to create policy. Its theoretical roots draw on pragmatic, moral, and cognitive legitimacy granting distinctions made within organizational sociology, while its empirical focus is on the case of sustainable forestry certification, arguably the most advanced case of NSMD governance globally. The paper argues that such a framework is needed to assess whether these new private governance systems might ultimately challenge existing state–centered authority and public policy–making processes, and in so doing reshape power relations within domestic and global environmental governance.     

Dworkin on external skepticism and moral permissions

This article discusses Ronald Dworkin’s first objection against what he calls external moral skepticism, the view that denies truth-value to moral judgments. According to that objection, an external skeptic denies that substantive moral judgments can be true. But, at the same time, the objection goes, what follows from the skeptical view is that all actions are morally permissible, which is in itself a substantive moral judgment. We call this ‘the self-defeating argument.’ We argue that the objection’s success depends on how we interpret the idea of moral permission, an issue Dworkin does not clearly resolve. Against his objection, we advance two different arguments. First, once we learn what role the idea of moral permission plays in morality, we can see that any plausible view of some agent’s moral permission must acknowledge its complex character, and that the existence of a moral permission must have some impact on the balance of moral reasons for other agents. On this understanding, it is false that it follows solely from external skepticism that everything is permissible. Second, we argue that even if permissions have a simple character, not a complex one, they are plausible only when framed within a moral constellation of rights and obligations. So understood, it is, again, false that it follows from external skepticism that everything is permissible.     

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INSTABILITY IN COSTA RICA: PRE-CONDITIONS FOR MILITARIZATION?

Controversy continues to surround the issue of militarization in Costa Rica. On one side, claims are made that external forces such as the Reagan administration or other foreign powers have created the recent period of social and economic instability in order to militarize Costa Rica and extend military influence in Central America. On the other hand, it has been argued that some of these external agents are simply offering aid to their Costa Rican friends during a period of social and economic instability. Similar contentions suggest that Costa Rica is only protecting itself from its neighbor to the north, Nicaragua, or that the present move toward militarization is only the professionalization of the police force. This paper examines some of the conditions that promote militarization in Costa Rica and explores moral, economic, and political issues related to the militarization of a country that has pursued a "no army" policy for almost forty years.     

Playing with Emotions: The Effect of Moral Appeals in Elite Rhetoric

This study argues that moral appeals in political advertising—and political rhetoric in general—are a form of emotional appeal that political elites use strategically. In particular, the study shows that moral appeals in political ads elicit a strong emotional response from voters and that it is precisely through an adjustment in their use of moral appeals that candidates signal their moderation as they pivot from the primary to the general election. To make these arguments, the study uses a content analysis of 3462 unique political advertisements from the 2008 Presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial primary and general elections, as well as individual-level survey data from the 2012 YouGov/Vanderbilt Ad Rating Project.     

提升政党文化影响力与文化自觉

政党文化是执政党能力的重要组成部分,是判断党执政能力强弱的重要标尺。政党文化的影响力与文化自觉有着密切的联系,政党精神力量的发掘、传承在很大程度上取决于文化自觉。坚守和彰显马克思主义的指导地位、扩大政党主流意识形态的凝聚力、发挥和强化政党道德的约束力都离不开党员和党员领导干部的道德自觉和文化自觉。因此,要提升党的执政能力就必须提升政党文化的影响力,自觉推进马克思主义理论创新,加强政党文化建设,发挥政党道德的自律作用,依靠党员和党员领导干部的道德自觉和文化自觉形成与党的执政地位相适应的文化软实力。     

THE EYE OF DOUBT: NEUTRALITY,RESPONSIBILITY, AND MORALITY*

Abstract: The conditions of employment of a professional public service together with the wide-ranging consequences of the actions of public servants combine to require considerable moral responsibility. Whatever political neutrality means for public servants, it does not mean moral neutrality. If public servants were never to exercise moral judgement in moments of truth there would be little justification for endowing the profession with the status and security it now enjoys. After some discussion of the origins of the professional public service, several recent cases of morally responsible public servants are reviewed and the arguments frequently given to avoid or trivialise morality are evaluated. My claim is that courage is the key to morality. The ordinary moral obligations that lie upon us all apply with added force to public servants. The truth that the eye of doubt beholds is that political neutrality brings moral responsibility. … the more civil servants, the more thieves… The Great Elector … not from the Castle … not from the village… Kafka … polite, upright, and mild… Hegel     

公共行政道德化的双重向度

公共行政道德化问题是当代公共行政研究中的一个极其重要的问题,也是行政改革和构建新型公共行政模式的一个重要突破口.公共行政的道德化包括两个向度:其一是公共行政的制度和体制的道德化,即在制度安排中有着道德化的合理规范,包含着道德实现的保障机制,同时,已经确立的制度又是有利于道德因素的生成和成长,能够对行政人员的道德修养的提高有着鼓励的作用;其二是行政人员的道德化,要求行政人员以道德主体的面目出现,在他的行政行为中从道德的原则出发,贯穿着道德精神,时时处处坚持道德的价值取向,公正地处理行政人员与政府的关系、与同事的关系和与公众之间的关系.没有制度的道德化,行政人员个体的道德是不稳定的;但是,如果没有行政人员的道德化,那么制度的道德就会成为空洞的教条.     

Discourses on Salt and Iron: A First Century B.C. Chinese Debate over the Political Economy of Empire

A first century B.C. Chinese classic Yantielun or Discourses on Salt and Iron recorded a heated debate over the costs and benefits and economic foundation of imperial expansion shortly after the death of Emperor Wudi who had greatly expanded the Chinese empire. The managers of the empire argued for practical solutions such as state monopolies of salt and iron to centralize the state and conquer the nomadic Xiongnu and touted policy successes they achieved from this. Their scholar critics wanted moral principles rather than material calculations to guide policy and asserted that human suffering caused by monopolies and expansionary war would doom the empire. This tension between ideals and political necessities created an ideational foundation for the successful Chinese empire, which then lasted for two millennia. Strategic dialogues such as the one narrated in Discourses should on balance make contemporary Chinese leaders cautious in using coercive force. From early on, China has had its own imperial overreach and understands the cost of extensive adventures beyond its borders and how excessive reliance on force abroad might threaten their domestic political order, which is what the current Chinese government is most concerned about.     

浅论法律与道德在教学实践中的整合

道德与法律作为上层建筑，起着规范主体的思维、言行和维护社会秩序的作用。目前，道德内在动因推动力与法律外在规范约束力呈现出了一定的不协调性，从而导致了在《思想道德修养与法律基础》课程教学实践中对象表现出意识、行为或评价在一定程度上的混浊。如何实现道德与法律两者的有机协调、互补或聚集，充分体现人们求安全的道德舆论意愿和以人为本的法律精神，使学生既能够正确认识道德与法律的关系，又能够与时俱进地把握道德与法律两者蕴涵的价值及相互联系的发展趋势，具有重要的意义。     

The Mobilizing Effect of Parties' Moral Rhetoric

How does parties' use of moral rhetoric affect voter behavior? Prior comparative party research has studied party positions without much attention to how parties explain and justify their positions. Drawing insights from political and moral psychology, I argue that moral rhetoric mobilizes copartisan voters by activating positive emotions about their partisan preference. I expect this to hold among copartisans who are exposed to party rhetoric. To test my argument, I measure moral rhetoric by text-analyzing party manifestos from six English-speaking democracies and measure mobilization using copartisan turnout in survey data. The results support my argument. Furthermore, I find evidence in support of the theoretical mechanism using survey experiments and panel survey data from Britain. The article shows that moral rhetoric is a party campaign frame that has important consequences for voter behavior.     

从最高境界到底线突破——新中国道德秩序建立过程的全视域检视

国人道德水准的滑落并非始自改革开放,从追求最高境界到突破道德底线,其实是一个渐进的过程。通过检视道德的全视域构成,很容易发现滑落的始端是新中国成立后很快开始的政治运动。从那时开始,在道德构成的全视域内,部分根基开始被严重蚕食。突出的特点是不同的阶段,被蚕食而消逝的内容有很大的不同;而共同的特点是消逝速度很快,一种传承数千年的德性,可以在十年、甚至几年内彻底消亡,但是这种德性的再生过程肯定会相当漫长。     

Human Rights and Modern Liberalism: a Critique

The idea of human rights has become one of the central moral notions of both the theory and practice of international politics. While its foundation and future in the practice of politics looks bright, it is an idea that still causes great trouble at the theoretical level. What are human rights? Why do we have them? To what should we attribute the authority of their moral claims? The theorist Michael Freeman has suggested one theory that by addressing such questions may serve as a foundation for human rights. His theory, however, ends by begging the questions it set out to answer.     

The Primacy of the Political: Rahe and the Myth of the Polis

Paul Rahe belongs to the long tradition of mythologizing the polis , otherwise known as 'the classical republican tradition', which has two signal achievements to its credit. The first is to claim for the great landed monarchies of Europe the democratic legacy of the polis as their very own. The second is to distance themselves from eastern regimes by characterizing them as 'despotic' and 'other'. This tradition is seriously challenged by modern classical and Near Eastern scholarship, which shows city-republican forms to have originated in the east. Rahe's particular version is open to the additional challenge that it glorifies the male warrior polis , from which women were systematically excluded, 'as a moral community of men united by a common way of life', as if a community which depended on the labour of women but gave them no rights could have moral integrity.     

Conflicts of Values and Political Forgiveness

Citizens have a right to be governed by officials with an acute awareness of the conflicts between the constitutional values of liberal democracy. Such an awareness is an integral part of a public official's integrity. That is why citizens should have a say in deciding whether to remove from office an official with such integrity. In this article, this type of conflict between constitutional values is translated into the terms of an individual official's decision making with the help of moral theory. This yields two paradoxes: one focusing on the decision maker and the other on the object of his or her decisions: the citizen. These paradoxes lead to the following questions: If running a liberal democratic constitution essentially involves moral complexity, should we not try to have it run by officials with a sensitivity to that complexity? And if officials with that sensitivity are bound to commit moral wrongs because of complexity, do not we owe them something like political forgiveness? The paradoxes are used to formulate conditions for political forgiveness.     

Discourse Ethics and the Problem of Nature

Abstract

In what sense could discourse ethics be linked with normative problems raised by the ecological crisis? Even if Apel and Habermas have not really addressed this question extensively, and even if their position in moral philosophy seems to develop and reinforce a neo-Kantian anthropocentric point of view, one can find in their works some evidence for the possibility of connecting a dialogical view with an ecological one. In order to defend the philosophical interest in highlighting this possibility, this essay analyses Habermas' position concerning the moral and ontological status of animality in particular, and attempts to situate this position within the history of Critical Theory.