Berkeley on true motion.

Studies of the Early Modern debate concerning absolute and relative space and motion often ignore the significance of the concept of true motion in this debate. Even philosophers who denied the existence of absolute space maintained that true motions could be distinguished from merely apparent ones. In this paper, I examine Berkeley's endorsement of this distinction and the problems it raises. First, Berkeley's endorsement raises a problem of consistency with his other philosophical commitments, namely his idealism. Second, Berkeley's endorsement raises a problem of adequacy, namely whether Berkeley can provide an adequate account of what grounds the distinction between true and merely apparent motion. In this paper, I argue that sensitivity to Berkeley's distinction between what is true in the metaphysical, scientific, and vulgar domains can address both the consistency and the adequacy problems. I argue that Berkeley only accepts true motion in the scientific and vulgar domains, and not the metaphysical. There is thus no inconsistency between his endorsement of true motion in science and ordinary language, and his metaphysical idealism. Further, I suggest that sensitivity to these three domains shows that Berkeley possesses resources to give an adequate account of how true motions are discovered in natural science.

["The enlightened absolutism", Polizeistaat, Catherine II and formation of sanitary epidemiological legislation in the second half of XVIII century].

The second half of the 18th century went down in history as the era of "Enlightened absolutism". In Russia, it is associated with the reign of Empress Catherine II (1762-1796). In her political activities, Catherine II was guided by ideas of "regular" "police" state that were edited in accordance with new trends and new intellectual fashion. The monarch was now obliged to take care of "common good" and seek universal "decency" through establishing "lawful government". Besides, in order to achieve this goal, he had to use police as a tool of "beneficial" violence. The application of police measures supposed struggle with dangerous epidemics causing serious damage to population of the state. The article analyzes process of becoming of sanitary epidemiological legislation of Catherine II, placing it in broad context of "enlightened absolutism" policy.

Genetically Engineered Foods and Moral Absolutism: A Representative Study from Germany.

There is an ongoing debate about genetic engineering (GE) in food production. Supporters argue that it makes crops more resilient to stresses, such as drought or pests, and should be considered by researchers as a technology to address issues of global food security, whereas opponents put forward that GE crops serve only the economic interests of transnational agrifood-firms and have not yet delivered on their promises to address food shortage and nutrient supply. To address discourse failure regarding the GE debate, research needs to understand better what drives the divergent positions and which moral attitudes fuel the mental models of GE supporters and opponents. Hence, this study investigates moral attitudes regarding GE opposition and support in Germany. Results show that GE opponents are significantly more absolutist than supporters and significantly less likely to hold outcome-based views. Furthermore, GE opponents are more willing to donate for preventing GE admission than supporters are willing to donate for promoting GE admission. Our results shed light on why the divide between opponents and supporters in the German GE debate could remain stark and stable for so long.

The Moral Reasoning of Ideology: The Mediating Role of Moral Foundations, Moral Absolutism, and Consistency Norm.

Focusing on the ideological and worldview premises of moral reasoning, our study (N = 313) has as a starting point the well-known relationship between morality and distributive justice norms. We examined the serially mediating role of progressiveness on morality, moral absolutism, and consistency norm on the relationship between ideological/worldview perspectives and distributional criteria. Three groups of respondents were formed based on participants' ideological and worldview perceptions and then serial mediation analysis was conducted. The present findings suggest that morality is predicted by ideology and worldview and predicts attitudes toward the norms of equity and welfare chauvinism, through moral absolutism and interpretations of consistency norm, thus confirming our hypothesis. Moderate Passive Individualists emerged as the group who adopts the most progressive and inclusive attitude towards moral evaluations and practices, while Demobilized Collectivists and Neoliberals maintain a more conservative attitude towards issues that are subjected to moral framing. Our findings shed light on the crucial role of consistency norm, which has not received enough attention until now.

The Moral Reasoning of Ideology: The Mediating Role of Moral Foundations, Moral Absolutism, and Consistency Norm

Focusing on the ideological and worldview premises of moral reasoning, our study (N = 313) has as a starting point the well-known relationship between morality and distributive justice norms. We examined the serially mediating role of progressiveness on morality, moral absolutism, and consistency norm on the relationship between ideological/worldview perspectives and distributional criteria. Three groups of respondents were formed based on participants’ ideological and worldview perceptions and then serial mediation analysis was conducted. The present findings suggest that morality is predicted by ideology and worldview and predicts attitudes toward the norms of equity and welfare chauvinism, through moral absolutism and interpretations of consistency norm, thus confirming our hypothesis. Moderate Passive Individualists emerged as the group who adopts the most progressive and inclusive attitude towards moral evaluations and practices, while Demobilized Collectivists and Neoliberals maintain a more conservative attitude towards issues that are subjected to moral framing. Our findings shed light on the crucial role of consistency norm, which has not received enough attention until now. (AU)

Liberty to Request Exemption as Right to Conscientious Objection.

There is a regulatory option for conscientious objection in health care that has yet to be systematically examined by ethicists and policymakers: granting a liberty to request exemption from prescribed work tasks without a companion guarantee that the request is accommodated. For the right-holder, the liberty's value lies in the ability to seek exemption without duty-violation and a tangible prospect of reassignment. Arguing that such a liberty is too unreliable to qualify as a right to conscientious objection leads to the problem of consistently distinguishing its effects from those of a right to conscientious objection that is made conditional on an individual assessment of the objector's motivation. These properties require that we distinguish the liberty to request exemption from more restrictive policy choices, and that we subject it to greater scrutiny in the wider moral discourse as a possible variant of a right to conscientious objection.

The Reasonableness Standard for Conscientious Objection in Healthcare.

In complex, pluralistic societies, different views concerning the moral duties of healthcare professionals inevitably exist: according to some accounts, doctors can and should cooperate in performing abortion or physician-assisted suicide, while according to others they should always defend human life and protect their patients' health. It is argued that the very plurality of responses presently given to questions such as these provides a liberal argument in favour of conscientious objection (CO), as an attempt to deal with moral diversity by protecting both the professionals' claim to moral integrity and the patients' claim to receive lawful and safe medical treatments. A moderate view on CO is defended, according to which none of these claims can be credited with unconditional value. Claims to CO by healthcare professionals can be justified but must be subjected to a reasonableness standard. Both the incompatibility of CO with the medical profession and its unconditional sanctioning by conscience absolutism are therefore rejected. The paper contributes to the definition of the conditions of such reasonableness, particularly by stressing the role played by conceptions of good medicine in discriminating claims to CO; it is argued that respecting these conditions prevents from having the negative consequences dreaded by critics. The objection according to which accepting the physician's duty to inform and refer is inconsistent with the professed value of moral integrity is also discussed.

Not so conservative: Suppression effects between social and economic ideology on moral foundations and moral absolutism.

Recent research outcomes suggest that social and economic conservatism show divergent associations with external criteria. In this article, we present a quantitative study with 534 Colombian participants. We found that, although positively correlated, these two dimensions of conservative ideology also exhibit suppression effects and differentiated psychological profiles regarding moral foundations and moral absolutism. Specifically, controlling for economic conservatism increased the positive association between social conservatism and the binding moral foundations and moral absolutism, while controlling for social conservatism changed the signs of the initial positive associations between economic conservatism and these variables. Our results suggest the need to use independent measures for each dimension of ideology and test for suppression when evaluating their respective interaction with other psychological constructs.

The Mediating Role of Moral Absolutism Between the "Binding Moral Foundations" and Sexist Attitudes: A Path That May Lead to Intimate Partner Violence.

The binding foundations (loyalty, authority, and purity) constitute adaptive mechanisms for preserving groups' interests. However, they have also been related to intergroup prejudice and violence. We show that the known relationship between the binding foundations and sexist attitudes is mediated by moral absolutism, a variable that reflects the degree to which people believe that their own definition of morality is objectively correct. Two different samples are used: a conventional one (Study 1, N = 321), and a forensic one at the beginning (T1) and at the end (T2) of court-mandated psychological therapy (Study 2, N = 354; N = 327).

[The development of the Austrian medical system-250 years ago the "Sanitäts-Hauptnormativ", 150 years ago the "Reichs-Sanitätsgesetz"]. / Das Werden des österreichischen Sanitätswesens ­ vor 250 Jahren das "Sanitäts-Hauptnormativ", vor 150 Jahren das "Reichs-Sanitätsgesetz".

The first regulations of the healthcare system in the domains and cities of the German Empire were the infection and plague regulations issued in many places from the sixteenth century onwards; however, as early as 1348 the Venetian state formed precise state structures to combat the black death that had broken out in Europe at the time. These were taken over analogously and in part in the Austrian states. Defense measures against the plague became particularly important on the k. k. (imperial-royal) military frontier against the Ottoman Empire. Under Empress Maria Theresa's enlightened absolutism, the state felt obliged to provide the largest possible healthy population with the help of the medical police. The fight against smallpox in Austria is described as an example. Through the collaboration of Maria Theresia with her protomedicus Gerard van Swieten, a codification of the k. k. healthcare system was created. As a quasi preliminary attempt the Empress proclaimed the Main Medical Regulations for Bohemia in 1753, which were supplemented 2 years later by the General Health Regulations for the Austrian Littoral. The result was the comprehensive medical standard for all hereditary lands from 1770. This brought about a regulation of all healthcare professions and their use for public health. Maria Theresa's son and successor introduced a further development of the administration in the direction of centralization and promotion of social conditions and humanitarian institutions, such as hospitals, infirmaries, childbirth houses and madhouses as well as foundling institutions and orphanages and poor and workhouses as special institutions. He was also very interested in promoting military medicine. The last major step in the development of the Austrian public healthcare system was the Imperial Sanitary Act of 1870. This is also the basis for the current structure of healthcare administration. The sanitary tasks are (and were) regulated in the legislation and enforcement of the (k.k.) State, and the federal states (kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Assembly) and the municipalities in, however, still existing complex division of some affairs between federal, state and local authorities.

Is Opposition to Genetically Modified Food "Morally Absolutist"? A Consequence-Based Perspective.

Genetically modified foods (GMFs) have met with strong opposition for most of their existence. According to one account-the consequence-based perspective (CP)-lay people oppose GMFs because they deem them unsafe as well as of dubious value. The CP is backed by the data and offers a clear solution for easing GMF opposition. However, several scholars have claimed that the CP is faulty, that lay opposition derives from largely nonrational factors and is consequence blind. One recent statement of this, the moral-absolutism perspective (MAP), contends that GMFs' opponents are principled "moral absolutists" who think that GMFs should be banned no matter their value or risk. Herein we critically weigh key arguments for this proposal. We also present five new studies that probed the clearest data that seem to favor the MAP-opponents affirming the statement that GMFs should be "prohibited," no matter their value or risk. These studies jointly show that (a) most presumed absolutists do not understand the key question and/or (b) cannot validly answer it. We show that taking due steps in clarifying the question and screening for those participants who cannot validly answer it cuts down absolutism to near zero. Finally, we demonstrate that helping GMFs' opponents imagine a world wherein GMFs are safe and constructive makes the majority willing to welcome GMFs in this context.

Psicopatologia e absolutismos: universalismo, objetivismo e fundacionalismo na saúde mental / Psicopatología y absolutismos: universalismo, objetivismo y fundacionalismo en la salud mental / Psychopathology and absolutisms: universalism, objectivism and foundationalism in mental health

RESUMO. A área da psicopatologia -, aquela que contém o conjunto de conhecimentos referentes ao adoecimento mental - é permeada por diversas controvérsias de âmbito teórico, prático, ético e metodológico. A grande diversidade de modelos explicativos é uma das características da psicopatologia que contribuem para a criação e manutenção dessas controvérsias existentes, ao mesmo tempo em que estabelece desafios para o profissional dedicado a essa área do saber. Nesse artigo aborda-se a concepção de a existência de absolutismos tais como universalismo, objetivismo e fundacionalismo contribuir para as dificuldades de diálogo entre profissionais adeptos dos diferentes modelos explicativos existentes na psicopatologia. Tais dificuldades prejudicam tanto a pesquisa científica como o próprio tratamento de pacientes e, portanto, faz-se urgente um melhor entendimento dessas formas de absolutismo para que seja possível superá-las, sendo esse o principal objetivo desse artigo. Como alternativa aos absolutismos defende-se tanto o pluralismo em todos os âmbitos referidos anteriormente como o diálogo no sentido proposto por Hans-Georg Gadamer. Isso favorece a existência democrática da diversidade de modelos explicativos sem incorrer em dogmatismos que dificultem ou mesmo impeçam o diálogo interprofissional.

RESUMEN. El área de la psicopatología -, aquella que contiene el conjunto de conocimientos referentes a la enfermedad mental - está impregnada por diversas controversias de ámbito teórico, práctico, ético y metodológico. La gran diversidad de modelos explicativos es una de las características de la psicopatología que contribuyen a la creación y mantenimiento de esas controversias existentes, al mismo tiempo que establece desafíos para el profesional que se dedica a esa área del saber. En este artículo abordamos la concepción de la existencia de absolutismos tales como universalismo, objetivismo y fundacionalismo contribuyeren a las dificultades de diálogo entre profesionales adeptos de los diferentes modelos explicativos existentes en la psicopatología. Tales dificultades dificultan tanto la investigación científica como el propio tratamiento de pacientes y, por lo tanto, se hace urgente un mejor entendimiento de los absolutismos para que sea posible superarlos, y es ese el principal objetivo de ese artículo. Como alternativa a los absolutismos defendemos tanto el pluralismo en todos los ámbitos mencionados anteriormente como el diálogo en el sentido propuesto por Hans-Georg Gadamer. Eso favorece la existencia democrática de la diversidad de modelos explicativos sin que se incurra en dogmatismos que dificultan o incluso impidan el diálogo interprofesional.

ABSTRACT. The area of psychopathology -, that which contains the set of knowledge related to mental illness - is permeated by several controversies of theoretical, practical, ethical and methodological scope. The great diversity of explanatory models is one of the characteristics of psychopathology that contributes to the creation and maintenance of these existent controversies, while at the same time establishing challenges for the professional that is dedicated to this área of knowledge. In this article we defend the conception of ​​the existence of absolutisms such as universalism, objectivism and foundationalism contribute to the difficulties of dialogue between professionals who are adept of the different explanatory models existing in psychopathology. Such difficulties undermine both scientific research and the treatment of patients themselves and, therefore, a better understanding of absolutisms is urgently needed in order to overcome them, which is the main objective of this article. As an alternative to absolutisms we defend both pluralism in all the areas referred above and dialogue in the sense proposed by Hans-Georg Gadamer. This favors the democratic existence of the diversity of explanatory models without incurring in dogmatisms that hinder or even impede interprofessional dialogue.

Moral foundations, worldviews, moral absolutism and belief in conspiracy theories.

In the present research, we examined whether individual differences in basic moral concerns might be related to a greater endorsement of conspiracy theories. Building on the notion that conspiracy theories often deal with super-individual relevant events in which a group perspective is central, we proposed that individual differences in moral concerns pertaining to group- and community-concerns (i.e., binding moral foundations) rather than to individual well-being (i.e., individualising moral foundations) would be positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. We further hypothesised that such relations would be totally mediated by beliefs in a dangerous world and by embracing moral absolutism. We found support for these predictions in two community samples (Ns: 319; 514). Theoretical implications were discussed.

Linguistic markers of moderate and absolute natural language.

In social, personality and mental health research, the tendency to select absolute end-points on Likert scales has been linked to certain cultures, lower intelligence, lower income and personality/mental health disorders. It is unclear whether this response style reflects an absolutist cognitive style or is merely an experimental artefact. In this study, we introduce an alternative, more informative, flexible and ecologically valid approach for estimating absolute responding, that uses natural language markers. We focussed on 'function words' (e.g. particles, conjunctions, prepositions) as they are more generalizable because they do not depend on any specific context. To identify such linguistic markers and test their generalizability, we conducted a text analysis of online reviews for films, tourist attractions and consumer products. All written reviews were accompanied by a rating scale (akin to Likert scale), which allowed us to label text samples as absolute/moderate. The data was split into independent 'training' and 'test' sets. Using the training set we identified a rank order of linguistic markers for absolute and moderate text, which were evaluated in a classifier on the test set. The top three markers alone ("but", "!" and "seem") produced 88% classification accuracy, which increased to 91% using 31 linguistic markers.

How Can Men Convicted of Violence Against Women Feel Moral While Holding Sexist and Violent Attitudes? A Homeostatic Moral Model Based on Self-Deception.

A moral model is proposed to understand how men convicted of violence against the partner can feel moral in spite of their past violent behavior and their current violent and sexist attitudes. Because of its appeal to the role of self-deception and its relationship to psychological well-being, it was hypothesized that a rigid conception about what is right and wrong (moral absolutism) is associated with ambivalent outcomes that keep their psychological system in homeostasis. The relationships were specified a priori and tested using path analysis. Several fit indices supported the adequacy of the model and showed that moral absolutism was indirectly related to both psychological well-being and a good moral self-conceptualization through self-deception. At the same time, moral absolutism was related to sexist and violent attitudes and a poor moral self-conceptualization. Future interventions could include strategies to reduce the resistances to change based on the reduction of moral absolutism and self-deception.

Abortion and conscientious objection: rethinking conflicting rights in the Mexican context.

Since 2007, when Mexico City decriminalized abortion during the first trimester, a debate has been taking place regarding abortion and the right to conscientious objection (CO). Many people argue that, since the provision of abortions (or "legal terminations of pregnancy" as they are called under Mexico City's law) is now a statutory duty of healthcare personnel there can be no place for "conscientious objection." Others claim that, even if such an objection were to be allowed, it should not be seen as a right, since talk about a right to CO may lead to a slippery slope where we may end up recognizing a right to disobey the law. In this paper, I argue that there is a right to CO and that this may be justified through the notions of autonomy and integrity, which a liberal democracy should respect. However, it cannot be an absolute right, and in the case of abortion, it conflicts with women's reproductive rights. Therefore, CO should be carefully regulated so that it does not obstruct the exercise of women's reproductive rights. Regulation should address questions about who is entitled to object, how such objection should take place, and what can legitimately be objected to.

Moral Absolutism, Self-Deception, and Moral Self-Concept in Men Who Commit Intimate Partner Violence: A Comparative Study With an Opposite Sample.

The objective of this study is to show compatible data with the idea that men who commit intimate partner violence are uninhibited about the moral consequences of their behaviors, probably because they feel certainty about the rightness of their moral values and they strongly deceive themselves to maintain a good moral self-concept, and thus a good level of well-being. To do that, we compare their scores with those obtained by an opposite sample regarding the use of violence, made up of professional male psychologists who work in the social field trying to teach others alternative strategies to violence.

Assessing epistemic sophistication by considering domain-specific absolute and multiplicistic beliefs separately.

BACKGROUND: Particularly in higher education, not only a view of science as a means of finding absolute truths (absolutism), but also a view of science as generally tentative (multiplicism) can be unsophisticated and obstructive for learning. Most quantitative epistemic belief inventories neglect this and understand epistemic sophistication as disagreement with absolute statements. AIMS: This article suggests considering absolutism and multiplicism as separate dimensions. Following our understanding of epistemic sophistication as a cautious and reluctant endorsement of both positions, we assume evaluativism (a contextually adaptive view of knowledge as personally constructed and evidence-based) to be reflected by low agreement with both generalized absolute and generalized multiplicistic statements. SAMPLES: Three studies with a total sample size of N = 416 psychology students were conducted. METHODS: A domain-specific inventory containing both absolute and multiplicistic statements was developed. Expectations were tested by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlational analyses. RESULTS: Results revealed a two-factor solution with an absolute and a multiplicistic factor. Criterion validity of both factors was confirmed. Cross-sectional analyses revealed that agreement to generalized multiplicistic statements decreases with study progress. Moreover, consistent with our understanding of epistemic sophistication as a reluctant attitude towards generalized epistemic statements, evidence for a negative relationship between epistemic sophistication and need for cognitive closure was found. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend including multiplicistic statements into epistemic belief questionnaires and considering them as a separate dimension, especially when investigating individuals in later stages of epistemic development (i.e., in higher education).

Morality and politics: Comparing alternate theories.

Debates about the American "culture wars" have led scholars to develop several theories relating morality to political attitudes and behaviors. However, researchers have not adequately compared these theories, nor have they examined the overall contribution of morality to explaining political variation. This study uses nationally representative data to compare the utility of 19 moral constructs from four research traditions - associated with the work of Hunter, Lakoff, Haidt, and Schwartz - for predicting political orientation (liberalism/conservatism). Results indicate that morality explains a third of the variation in political orientation - more than basic demographic and religious predictors - but that no one theory provides a fully adequate explanation of this phenomenon. Instead, political orientation is best predicted by selected moral constructs that are unique to each of the four traditions, and by two moral constructs that crosscut them. Future work should investigate how these moral constructs can be synthesized to create a more comprehensive theory of morality and politics.