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Problematic Concept (problematic + concept)
Selected AbstractsThe problem of moral motivation and the happy victimizer phenomenon: Killing two birds with one stoneNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 129 2010Gerhard Minnameier One surprising feature of cognitive and emotional development in the moral domain is the so-called happy victimizer phenomenon, which is commonly explained by a lack of moral motivation. Concerning this general approach, there are two pieces of news in this chapter. The bad news is that moral motivation is a highly problematic concept and its purported theoretical role in moral functioning untenable. The good news is that the happy victimizer phenomenon can be explained without reference to something like "moral motivation." © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The Presence of Love in Ethical CaringNURSING FORUM, Issue 1 2006Maria Arman RNM Caring as a virtue and an act of ethics is from both a natural and a professional point of view inseparably related to love as a universal/ontological value. Love is shown, like suffering and death, to be a concept of universal or metacharacter. From current nursing/caring science as well as from ethical and philosophical perspectives, this paper explores how love can be visible in caring through virtue and that the art of caring creates its evidence. The ethical and existential practicing of love, particularly unselfish love, allows a caregiver to come distinctly closer to the essence of his or her own personality and to live in a more authentic manner. Obstacles and alienation in caregivers that induce a holding back of one's own natural impulses to give the suffering patient tender, dignified care are examined. Economy, paradigm, and caring culture are cited, but ultimately it is a question concerning every caregiver's decision and responsibility to come forward to serve those the caregiver is actually there to represent, the suffering patient. This does not always require new knowledge, rather, liberation of the inner life and authenticity in caregivers. Love, if viewed only as a phenomenon without connection to a universal or ontological philosophy, risks being a problematic concept for caring science. If, on the other hand, it is viewed as the ontological basis for caring and ethical acts, then we can look for and practice phenomenological expressions for love that can enhance the patient's understanding of life as well as giving relief from suffering. [source] Evidence from panel unit root and cointegration tests that the Environmental Kuznets Curve does not existAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2003Roger Perman The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis , an inverted U-shape relation between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita , has become one of the ,stylised facts' of environmental and resource economics. This is despite considerable criticism on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Cointegration analysis can be used to test the validity of such stylised facts when the data involved contain stochastic trends. In the present paper, we use cointegration analysis to test the EKC hypothesis using a panel dataset of sulfur emissions and GDP data for 74 countries over a span of 31 years. We find that the data is stochastically trending in the time-series dimension. Given this, and interpreting the EKC as a long run equilibrium relationship, support for the hypothesis requires that an appropriate model cointegrates and that sulfur emissions are a concave function of income. Individual and panel cointegration tests cast doubt on the general applicability of the hypothesised relationship. Even when we find cointegration, many of the relationships for individual countries are not concave. The results show that the EKC is a problematic concept, at least in the case of sulfur emissions. [source] Forensic Risk Assessment in Intellectual Disabilities: The Evidence Base and Current Practice in One English RegionJOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2000Stephen Turner The growing interest in forensic risk assessment in intellectual disability services reflects the perception that deinstitutionalization has exposed more people to a greater risk of offending. However, ,risk' and the related idea of ,dangerousness' are problematic concepts because of connotations of dichotomous definition, stability and predictability. Assessment instruments in mainstream forensic psychiatry often combine actuarial and clinical data, and increasingly stress the dynamic nature of risk as well as the importance of situational and accidental triggers. Despite this increasing sophistication of research in mainstream forensic psychiatry, the ability to predict future offending behaviour remains very limited. Furthermore, actuarial predictors developed in studies of psychiatric or prison populations may not be valid for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Offending behaviour among people with intellectual disabilities is also hard to circumscribe because it often does not invoke full legal process or even reporting to the police. In order to discover how such problems were reflected in practice, a survey of providers in the North-west Region of England was undertaken. Seventy out of 106 providers identified as possibly relevant to this inquiry responded to a short postal questionnaire. Twenty-nine (42%) respondents , mainly in the statutory sector , reported operating a risk assessment policy relating to offending. The number of risk assessments completed in the previous year varied from none to ,several hundred'. Providers reported three main kinds of problems: (1) resources or service configuration; (2) interagency or interdisciplinary cooperation or coordination; and (3) issues relating to the effectiveness, design and content of assessment. [source] |