融德育于植物学教学之中

德育是植物学教学的任务之一。教师要深钻教材,努力发掘其德育因素。在课堂教学中,利用科学家的生平事迹、业绩,对学生进行理想教育;介绍我国在生物科学史上所取得的讳大成就,培养学生的民族自尊心和自豪感;介绍我国丰富的植物资源,激发学生的爱国热情;介绍当前自然资源遭破坏及环境危机的现状,增强学生的社会责任感;在讲生态平衡时要注意向学生渗透质量互变的哲学原理。实验课和课外活动的德育作用不可忽视。正确处理德育与知识教学的关系,灵活多样地渗透德育内容,并注意教师自身的表率作用,是搞好德育的重要因素。     

A Two-Tiered Cognitive Architecture For Moral Reasoning

The view that moral cognition is subserved by a two-tieredarchitecture is defended: Moral reasoning is the result both ofspecialized, informationally encapsulated modules which automaticallyand effortlessly generate intuitions; and of general-purpose,cognitively penetrable mechanisms which enable moral judgment in thelight of the agent's general fund of knowledge. This view is contrastedwith rival architectures of social/moral cognition, such as Cosmidesand Tooby's view that the mind is wholly modular, and it is argued thata two-tiered architecture is more plausible.     

Struggling with Imaginaries of Trauma and Trust: The Refugee Experience in Switzerland

This article discusses some effects of migration politics on asylum seekers and refugees and on the Swiss health services. It is based on multisited ethnographic research that tracked interpretative concepts of the refugee experience. Following a grounded theory approach, it identifies imaginaries of trauma and trust as key categories in the field of transnational migration and health. The psychiatric concept of trauma and a more popularized discourse of traumatic memory are strongly emphasized in all of the investigated field sites: the providers of primary health care and psychosocial services and representatives of social welfare agencies and law-making bodies use this "diagnosis" extensively. This leads refugees to develop tactics of a) identifying with the trauma discourse in order to become "good refugees" and achieve legal status in Switzerland; b) struggling with the ascribed pathologies and suffering from retraumatizing effects of these predominant trauma policies; and c) trying to refuse or subvert them by emphasizing the existence of structural violence in the receiving countries. An analysis of the interactions of health providers and refugees shows that it takes place in an environment of social and economic insecurity and in a shared imaginary of (mis)trust, putting at stake the moral economy of recent migration politics and the refugee experience.     

Transhumanism and moral equality

Conservative thinkers such as Francis Fukuyama have produced a battery of objections to the transhumanist project of fundamentally enhancing human capacities. This article examines one of these objections, namely that by allowing some to greatly extend their capacities, we will undermine the fundamental moral equality of human beings. I argue that this objection is groundless: once we understand the basis for human equality, it is clear that anyone who now has sufficient capacities to count as a person from the moral point of view will continue to count as one even if others are fundamentally enhanced; and it is mistaken to think that a creature which had even far greater capacities than an unenhanced human being should count as more than an equal from the moral point of view.     

Moral status of embryonic stem cells: perspective of an African villager

One of the most important as well as most awesome achievements of modern biotechnology is the possibility of cloning human embryonic stem cells, if not human beings themselves. The possible revolutionary role of such stem cells in curative, preventive and enhancement medicine has been voiced and chorused around the globe. However, the question of the moral status of embryonic stem cells has not been clearly and unequivocally answered. Taking inspiration from the African adage that 'the hand that reaches beneath the incubating hen is not guiltless', I attempt answering this question, from the background of traditional African moral sensibility and sensitivity. I reach the following conclusions. Stem cells in themselves do not have human status and therefore lack moral worth/value. Embryos do have human status and a morally significant line cannot be drawn between human embryos and other human beings. What is morally at stake in stem cell research is therefore the question of the source of derivation or generation of the cells, not of the cells as such.     

Responsibility and the sense of agency enhance empathy for pain

Being held responsible for our actions strongly determines our moral judgements and decisions. This study examined whether responsibility also influences our affective reaction to others'' emotions. We conducted two experiments in order to assess the effect of responsibility and of a sense of agency (the conscious feeling of controlling an action) on the empathic response to pain. In both experiments, participants were presented with video clips showing an actor''s facial expression of pain of varying intensity. The empathic response was assessed with behavioural (pain intensity estimation from facial expressions and unpleasantness for the observer ratings) and electrophysiological measures (facial electromyography). Experiment 1 showed enhanced empathic response (increased unpleasantness for the observer and facial electromyography responses) as participants'' degree of responsibility for the actor''s pain increased. This effect was mainly accounted for by the decisional component of responsibility (compared with the execution component). In addition, experiment 2 found that participants'' unpleasantness rating also increased when they had a sense of agency over the pain, while controlling for decision and execution processes. The findings suggest that increased empathy induced by responsibility and a sense of agency may play a role in regulating our moral conduct.     

Ethical considerations in African traditional medicine: a response to Nyika

Like other so-called 'parallel' practices in medicine, traditional medicine (TM) does not avoid criticism or even rejection. Nyika's article 'Ethical and Regulatory Issues Surrounding African Traditional Medicine in the Context of HIV/AIDS' looks at some of the issues from a traditional Western ethical perspective and suggests that it should be rejected. I respond to this article agreeing with Nyika's three major criticisms: lack of informed consent, confidentiality and paternalism. However, as traditional healers are consulted by over 70% of South Africans before any other type of healthcare professional, a blanket negation of TM is not possible, nor is it politically feasible. A pragmatic approach would be to work within the current structures for positive change. I point out that, as all cultural practices do, TM will change over time. Yet, until some regulations and change occur, the problem of harm to patients remains a major concern.     

生态文明时期道德观的新视角

道德和道德观念是随着人类社会历史发展以及社会实践活动的深化而不断发展变化的。人们依据不同发展阶段的特征,提出符合时代发展趋势的道德原则、道德规范和道德标准,以推动道德进步。现在人类社会开始进入由工业文明向生态文明迈进的发展新阶段,因而,时代要求转变以往支配人们行动的旧道德观,打破狭隘的视野局限,把原有道德观仅仅局限于人与人之间、人与社会之间扩展到人与自然之间,以人与自然和谐发展作为生态文明时期的道德准则。这种新的道德观要求树立崭新的生态意识,坚持公正和平等的原则。以约束人类行为,提高人的生态道德修养为宗旨。使人类的社会实践活动有利于资源的持续利用和环境保护,倡导过一种适度消费的文明生活。     

The Indignity of Relative Concepts of Animal Dignity: A Qualitative Study of People Working with Nonhuman Animals

The Swiss animal welfare legislation is considered to be one of the strictest such laws worldwide. One unique feature is the inclusion of the concept of “dignity of the creature” and, more precisely, animal dignity. We interviewed 19 people from Switzerland and Germany about their concepts of animal dignity. Thereby, we investigated whether the very specific concept of the Swiss law is reflected in the minds of those who work with nonhuman animals on a daily basis. The results of our qualitative interviews revealed an awareness of the legal term among Swiss interviewees, but their personal concepts of animal dignity were not based on or similar to the legal definitions. The interviewed participants presented a broad range of concepts, including: similarities to human dignity, replacing concepts such as respect or integrity, and context-dependent, contingent forms of dignity. The applicability or usefulness of animal dignity was questioned by several participants; many judged it to be confusing or difficult. Therefore, we conclude by discussing animal integrity as an alternative concept that reflects the interviewees’ ideas of treating nonhuman animals in a respectful and appropriate way, and at the same time does not have the strongly metaphysical connotations of a concept such as human dignity.