The role of moral disengagement in underage drinking and heavy episodic drinking

Objectives The current study had two aims. First, to develop a moral disengagement scale contextualized to underage drinking. Second, to investigate Bandura’s (1986) self-regulatory model within the context of underage drinking. Method Two different samples of students participated in the study. The first sample included 619 (362 females) adolescents (Mage = 15.3 years, SD = 1.09 years) and the second sample 636 (386 females) adolescents (Mage = 15.3 years, SD = 1.03 years). Students in the first sample completed the Underage Drinking Disengagement Scale (UDDS), and measures of engagement in underage drinking and heavy episodic drinking. Students in the second sample completed these measures as well as scales of general moral disengagement, personal standards and anticipatory guilt associated with underage drinking. Results For the UDDS, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses verified a single factor structure. The UDDS was more strongly associated with engagement in underage drinking and heavy episodic drinking than a general measure of moral disengagement. A moderated mediation analysis revealed that adolescents who negatively evaluated underage drinking reported more anticipatory guilt, and more anticipatory guilt was associated with less engagement in underage drinking and less heavy episodic drinking. This relationship was weaker at high compared to low levels of underage drinking disengagement. Conclusions/Importance Understanding how adolescents self-regulate their drinking, and ways that such self-regulation may be deactivated or disengaged, may help identify those adolescents at increased risk of drinking underage and of engaging in heavy episodic drinking.

"It's not the Jedi way!": Moral ambivalence and delivering the 'good' in Star Wars

This article examines the nature of good and evil through the prism of Star Wars, arguing that the ostensible dichotomy between the ‘good’ Jedi and the ‘evil’ Sith is false, and instead both the Jedi and the Sith engage in violence, which is evil. Anakin Skywalker then arrives as the Christ-figure who becomes evil and ‘dies’ to destroy the old rigid law of the letter adhered to by the Jedi, before resurrecting and sacrificing himself to defeat the Sith transgressors. As Milbank argues, the act of selfless love by Anakin as the Christ-figure therefore produces the good, the end of violent conflict which is ontological peace, and institutes the law of love which leads to life and peace.

The sources of moral motivation : studies on empathy, guilt, shame and values

The goals of this study were to analyze the forms of emotional tendencies that are likely to motivate moral behaviors, and to find correlates for these tendencies. In study 1, students narratives of their own guilt or shame experiences were analyzed. The results showed that pure shame was more likely to motivate avoidance than reparation, whereas guilt and combination of guilt and shame were likely to motivate reparation. However, all types of emotion could lead to chronic rumination if the person was not clearly responsible for the situation. In study 2, the relations of empathy with two measures of guilt were examined in a sample of 13- to 16-year-olds (N=113). Empathy was measured using Davis s IRI and guilt by Tangney s TOSCA and Hoffman s semi-projective story completion method that includes two different scenarios, guilt over cheating and guilt over inaction. Empathy correlated more strongly with both measures of guilt than the two measures correlated with each other. Hoffman s guilt over inaction was more strongly associated with empathy measures in girls than in boys, whereas for guilt over cheating the pattern was the opposite. Girls and boys who describe themselves as empathetic may emphasize different aspect of morality and feel guilty in different contexts. In study 3, cultural and gender differences in guilt and shame (TOSCA) and value priorities (the Schwartz Value Survey) were studied in samples of Finnish (N=156) and Peruvian (N=159) adolescents. Gender differences were found to be larger and more stereotypical among the Finns than among the Peruvians. Finnish girls were more prone to guilt and shame than boys were, whereas among the Peruvians there was no gender difference in guilt, and boys were more shame-prone than girls. The results support the view that psychological gender differences are largest individualistic societies. In study 4, the relations of value priorities to guilt, shame and empathy were examined in two samples, one of 15 19-year-old high school students (N = 207), and the other of military conscripts (N = 503). Guilt was, in both samples, positively related to valuing universalism, benevolence, tradition, and conformity, and negatively related to valuing power, hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction. The results for empathy were similar, but the relation to the openness conservation value dimension was weaker. Shame and personal distress were weakly related to values. In sum, shame without guilt and the TOSCA shame scale are tendencies that are unlikely to motivate moral behavior in Finnish cultural context. Guilt is likely to be connected to positive social behaviors, but excessive guilt can cause psychological problems. Moral emotional tendencies are related to culture, cultural conceptions of gender and to individual value priorities.

Moral Education in the Japanese Primary School Curricular Revision at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century: Aiming at a Rich and Beautiful Kokoro

This study examines values education in Japanese schools at the beginning of the millennium. The topic was approached by asking the following three questions concerning the curricular background, the morality conveyed through textbooks and the characterization of moral education from a comparative viewpoint: 1) What role did moral education play in the curriculum revision which was initiated in 1998 and implemented in 2002? 2) What kinds of moral responsibilities and moral autonomy do the moral texts develop? 3) What does Japanese moral education look like in terms of the comparative framework? The research was based on curriculum research. Its primary empirical data consisted of the national curriculum guidelines for primary school, which were taken into use in 2002, and moral texts, Kokoro no nôto, published by the Ministry of Education in the same context. Since moral education was approached in the education reform context, the secondary research material involved some key documents of the revision process from the mid-1990s to 2003. The research material was collected during three fieldwork periods in Japan (in 2002, 2003 and 2005). The text-analysis was conducted as a theory-dependent qualitative content analysis. Japanese moral education was analyzed as a product of its own cultural tradition and societal answer to the current educational challenges. In order to understand better its character, secular moral education was reflected upon from a comparative viewpoint. The theory chosen for the comparative framework, the value realistic theory of education, represented the European rational education tradition as well as the Christian tradition of values education. Moral education, which was the most important school subject at the beginning of modern school, was eliminated from the curriculum for political reasons in a school reform after the Second World War, but has gradually regained a stronger position since then. It was reinforced particularly at the turn of millennium, when a curriculum revision attempted to respond to educational and learning problems by emphasizing qualitative and value aspects. Although the number of moral lessons and their status as a non-official-subject remained unchanged, the Ministry of Education made efforts to improve moral education by new curricular emphases, new teaching material and additional in-service training possibilities for teachers. The content of the moral texts was summarized in terms of moral responsibility in four moral areas (intrapersonal, interpersonal, natural-supranatural and societal) as follows: 1) continuous self-development, 2) caring for others, 3) awe of life and forces beyond human power, and 4) societal contribution. There was a social-societal and emotional emphasis in what was taught. Moral autonomy, which was studied from the perspectives of rational, affective and individuality development, stressed independence in action through self-discipline and responsibility more than rational self-direction. Japanese moral education can be characterized as the education of kokoro (heart) and the development of character, which arises from virtue ethics. It aims to overcome egoistic individualism by reciprocal and interdependent moral responsibility based on responsible interconnectedness.

Sapientia, 1997, Vol. LII, nº 201 (número completo)

Contenido: El aristotelismo y el tomismo frente al egoísmo psicológico / María L. Lukac de Stier – El deseo natural de ver a Dios en la Summa contra Gentiles / Guillermo Jorge Cambiasso – La creación como encuentro del ser y de la nada en la teología del maestro Eckhart de Hochheim O.P. (1260-1327) / Brian J. Farrelly – Malebranche y el libertinage érudit / Francisco Leocata – The problem of person and Jean Mouroux / John M. McDermott ; Glenn J. Comandini – Los fundamentos de la Bioética de H. Tristram Engelhardt / Jorge Martínez Barrera – Cuando las contradictorias son verdaderas / Marisa Villalba de Tablón – Examen del escepticismo moral y del relativismo moral / Camilo Tale – Saint Thomas et le mystère de la création : une réponse aux interrogations de l’homme d’aujourd’hui / Marie-Dominique Philippe – La finalidad de la naturaleza humana : alcance y actualidad de la cuestión / Beatriz Eugenia Reyes Oribe – La providencia y el gobierno del mundo / Alberto Caturelli – Saint Thomas et le problème de la possibilité d’un univers créé éternel / Alain-Marie de Lassus – La causalidad material de los elementos en la generación de los cuerpos mixtos / Mario Enrique Sacchi -- Bibliografía

La ley nueva y la nueva evangelización : la tradición tomista y la perspectiva moral de Evangelii gaudium

Resumen: Las indicaciones pastorales del Papa Francisco en Evangelii gaudium ofrecen la oportunidad para redescubrir el valor de la categoría ley bajo la guía de la tradición tomista recogida en el documento pontificio. La propuesta moral del Evangelio o ley nueva, siguiendo la sinonimia utilizada por santo Tomás de Aquino, no puede ser reducida a un precepto o una serie de normas; muy por el contrario, revisitando la doctrina del Doctor Común podemos descubrir la necesidad de una hermenéutica sapiencial y profundamente bíblica de uno de los pilares de la moral cristiana. En el camino de la conversión pastoral, el retorno a las fuentes tomistas vuelve a iluminar la reflexión teológica con fecundidad renovada.

Sapientia, 1995, Vol. L, nº 195-196 (número completo)

Contenido: Naturaleza humana y gracia : el problema del humanismo cristiano / Octavio Nicolás Derisi – La moral de Tomás de Aquino en el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica / Héctor Aguer – Santo Tomás de Aquino en la encíclica Veritatis Splendor de Juan Pablo II / Gustavo Eloy Ponferrada – La ética cartesiana entre teleología y deontología / Antonio Malo Pé – Por qué la filosofía de la naturaleza de Hegel es la parte más débil de sus sistema / Juan Alfredo Casaubon – Igualdad (ligelighed) y diferencia (forskjel) : en torno a la comunidad fraternal de S. Kierkegaard / Francisco Torralba Roselló – Metafísica de la libertad en Carlos Cardona / Eudaldo Forment – La normatividad de la naturaleza y los absolutos morales / Carlos Ignacio Massini Correas – El pecado colectivo : existencia y naturaleza / Victorino Rodríguez – The sacramental visión of lonergan’s grace and freedom / John M. McDermott – La afirmación de la trascendencia de Dios en la doctrina cristiana y en las conclusiones de la filosofía primera / Mario Enrique Sacchi – Notas y comentarios -- Bibliografía

La ley moral natural y ley positiva humana en el opúsculo “La filosofía jurídica del artículo 19 de la Constitución Nacional”, de Arturo Enrique Sampay

La Constitución Nacional reconoce un orden de conducta instituido por Dios y otro instituido por el Estado… el débito legal debe resultar conforme al débito moral. Si así no fuera, cualquier imposición del legislador no sería derecho sino un acto de violencia desnaturalizando el poder que el Estado tiene de reforzar con débito eventualmente coercible obligaciones emergentes de la virtud de la justicia. En este trabajo nos ocuparemos de la relación entre ley moral natural y la ley positiva humana a partir de las consideraciones que Arturo Enrique Sampay2 formula en su obra, La filosofía jurídica del Artículo 19 de la Constitución Nacional3. Sampay desarrolla el tópico principalmente con la inspiración de la doctrina de Tomás de Aquino.

Sapientia, 1991, Vol. XLVI, nº 180 (número completo)

Contenido: Capacidad de la mente humana para alcanzar el ser de las cosas, hasta el mismo Esse subsistens (II) / Octavio N. Derisi -- Conocimiento negativo y conocimiento afirmativo de Dios en Santo Tomás y en Hegel / Ignacio E. M. Andereggen -- Antropología en la Q. D. "De virtutibus in communi" de Santo Tomás / Laura E. Corso -- Super-yo y vida moral : una valoración tomista de la hipótesis psicoanalítica / Abelardo Pithod -- Epistemología contemporánea y filosofía cristiana / Gabriel J. Zanotti -- Notas y comentarios -- Bibliografía

Sapientia, 1971, Vol. XXVI, nº 100-102 (número completo)

Contenido: Sapientia, Veinticinco años después / Octavio N. Derisi – Tomás de Aquino, peregrino de Dios / Adolfo Muñoz Alonso – Qu’est-ce que la philosophie? / A. Dondeyne – La subordinación de la lógica a la ciencia / A. Furlán – Volición y voluntad en Aristóteles / B. Raffo Magnasco – Entendement et imagination selon Aristote / A. Guy – Le problème de l’existence de Dieu dans le Commentaire de Saint Thomas sur la Physique d’Aristote / F. Van Steenberghen – Individuación, analogía y participación en el plano físico / J. E. Bolzán – La “Summa Physicorum” y la filosofía natural de Grosseteste / C. Lértora Mendoza – El infinito actual en Santo Tomás / O. Argerami – Tomás de Aquino en la Universidad de París / G. E. Ponferrada – Dante y la filosofía / G. Terán – El ámbito del objeto de la fenomenología en E. Husserl / O. N. Derisi – Orígenes doctrinales de la Tercera Escolástica en la filosofía argentina del siglo XIX / A. Caturelli – Hegel e Cristo / C. Fabro – Sapientia reconsidered / A. G. M. Van Melsen – El punto de partida de la metafísica : ¿abstracción o intuición? / J. R. Sanabria – La catégorie hégélienne de contradiction / R. Verneaux – La ontología modificada / C. A. Iturralde Colombres – L’acte moral et le sujet / J. de Finance – La crítica de Monseñor Derisi a la ciencia política empírica / A. E. Sampay – Notas y comentarios -- Bibliografía

Sapientia, 1950, Vol. V, nº 16 (número completo)

Contenido: El hombre desamparado / La Dirección – Los fundamentos de la educación en Santo Tomás de Aquino / José Todoli Duque -- La filosofía jurídica de Hans Kelsen/ Julio M. Ojea Quintana – El problema moral / Carlo Giacon – Notas y comentarios -- Bibliografía

Sapientia, 1992, Vol. XLVII, nº 186 (número completo)

Contenido: La persona y su mundo: la cultura, la moral, el derecho y la sociedad familiar y política (IV) / Octavio N. Derisi – El “De Anima” de Aristóteles / Ciro E. Schmidt Andrade ; Jorge Martínez Barrera – Notas sobre la noción de justicia política en Tomás de Aquino / Carlos I. Massini Correas – Filosofía de Iberoamérica en Alberto Caturelli / Eudaldo Forment – Algunas reflexiones sobre el concepto de persona en Juan Pablo II / Javier Fernández Aguado – Notas y comentarios -- Bibliografía

La literatura jurídica como praxis moral

Resumen: La dimensión literaria del acto comunicacional científico-jurídico es un elemento implícito en la interacción de la retórica y dialéctica jurídicas. La matriz artística surge ya del parangón ofrecido por Aristóteles en la Retórica: la evocación de la antistrofa (figura que nos reenvía a pulso cierto al arte poético) lo dice todo, apenas sugiriendo. La comunicación que defenderemos consiste en afirmar que la belleza del acto comunicacional científico jurídico y la perfección de su arte son imputables a su autor y supone una responsabilidad de tipo moral que trasunta en el arte comunicativo el vaso de lo comunicado. Existe una lealtad del recipiente al contenido implícita en la metáfora aristotélica, que requiere una fidelidad del científico para dar cuenta del tesoro que lleva en sus vasijas endebles.