Moral expertise as skilled practice

We extend “4E” cognition to moral psychology. Since acting on affordances typically requires expertise, moral expertise, or virtue, is needed to act on moral affordances and to shape moral agency. Ethical rules and codes, often selected through a process of constraint satisfaction, are also involved in the detection and selection of moral affordances. We argue that individuals who act prudently possess moral expertise that allows them to remain in the “metastable zone” between mind and world, giving them an optimal grip on moral affordances and permitting wise judgement and action. We show how this can be explained via a noncognitivist, affordance-based account of the virtue phronesis (prudence). Our overall approach creates space for reciprocally causal accounts and prospection in explanations of human moral activity.

This article is a review of Marjorie J. Smith's book, Professional Education for Social Work in Britain: An Historical Account, 2022. We present a comprehensive historical expression of the evolution of vocational education for social workers in the United Kingdom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The focus was on the initial training methods in social workers institutions, the transition to formal training schemes, the establishment and challenges of the School of Sociology, as well as the merger with the London School of Economics (LSE). This paper explores the ongoing tension between academic education and practical professional training in social work. As a valuable resource, this paper outlines the philosophical foundations, pedagogical approaches, and institutional challenges that shape social worker training. Through historical exhibitions, committee reports, and practical work reports, this paper provides a rich narrative that emphasises the importance of comprehensive education that integrates theoretical knowledge with practical skills. The review assesses the content, structure, and contribution of this book to the field of social worker education, exploring the target audience, advantages, and potential constraints as well as their relevance in contemporary discussions on training and preparation of social workers. In conclusion, the merger of the School of Sociology with the London School of Economics is not only a strategic step to maintain the quality and coverage of social worker education but also depicts further reflection on narratives that integrate social thinking and action into a more sustainable institutional framework.

This article explores the educational philosophy and international influence of Maria Montessori (1870–1952), an Italian physician, educator and innovator in child-centered learning. Montessori’s approach, which emphasizes self-directed activity, practical learning, and collaborative play, has reshaped early childhood education around the world. She developed her educational principles in early 20th-century Italy, advocating for child autonomy, freedom within limits and respect for individual developmental needs. Her method, now widely adopted throughout the world, emphasizes the importance of prepared environments where children can engage with materials that develop practical, sensory and academic skills at their own pace. Despite Montessori’s innovative activities, her ideas initially faced resistance in her native Italy, partly due to a traditional and centralized educational system reluctant to adopt her radical, child-centered approach. This article delves into recent Italian research revisiting Montessori’s contributions, assessing their lasting impact and potential for adaptation within modern educational practices. Italian scholars highlight Montessori’s relevance as they seek methods that democratize learning, foster inclusivity and honor each child’s unique growth trajectory. The article also considers Montessori’s ideas in relation to current educational challenges, noting the flexibility of the method in meeting diverse learning needs. Montessori’s focus on respectful, non-coercive education, as well as her commitment to permitting children to take responsibility for their learning, aligns with contemporary discussions around inclusive education and personalized learning. The article contextualizes Montessori’s method within global educational reform, examining how her ideas on child activity and self-discipline continue to inspire pedagogical approaches focused on social-emotional growth, creativity and critical thinking. The legacy of Maria Montessori exemplifies a revolutionary shift in how childhood education can prioritize the holistic development of young learners, nurturing a sense of curiosity, responsibility and respect for others that is as relevant today as it was a century ago. The article highlights Montessori’s enduring impact, the evolution of her system across cultures and its adaptability in meeting the complex demands of modern education systems in the whole world.

Contemporary medical diagnostics has a dynamic moral landscape, which includes a variety of agents, factors, and components. A significant part of this landscape is composed of information technologies that play a vital role in doctors’ decision-making. This paper focuses on the so-called Intelligent Decision-Support System that is widely implemented in the domain of contemporary medical diagnosis. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, I will show that the IDSS may be considered a moral agent in the practice of medicine today. To develop this idea I will introduce the approach to artificial agency provided by Luciano Floridi. Simultaneously, I will situate this approach in the context of contemporary discussions regarding the nature of artificial agency. It is argued here that the IDSS possesses a specific sort of agency, includes several agent features (e.g. autonomy, interactivity, adaptability), and hence, performs an autonomous behavior, which may have a substantial moral impact on the patient’s well-being. It follows that, through the technology of artificial neural networks combined with ‘deep learning’ mechanisms, the IDSS tool achieves a specific sort of independence (autonomy) and may possess a certain type of moral agency. Second, I will provide a conceptual framework for the ethical evaluation of the moral impact that the IDSS may have on the doctor’s decision-making and, consequently, on the patient’s wellbeing. This framework is the Object-Oriented Model of Moral Action developed by Luciano Floridi. Although this model appears in many contemporary discussions in the field of information and computer ethics, it has not yet been applied to the medical domain. This paper addresses this gap and seeks to reveal the hidden potentialities of the OOP model for the field of medical diagnosis.

ABORTION IN THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION: Before Life and Choice, 1880-1940. By Karen Weingarten. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2014.A solid work of American Studies scholarship should be truly interdisciplinary at same time it strives to challenge its audience to scrutinize a deeply ingrained ideology. Karen Weingarten's Abortion in American Imagination does this with verve. By drawing a trajectory from Anthony Comstock's attempts to regulate morality in late-nineteenth century, to popular fiction of early-twentieth century, to abortion's ties with economics and labor philosophy, Weingarten demonstrates that contemporary abortion discourse of and reveals that, despite crossing disciplines, issue has landed in nebulous realm of morality: [...] use of terms life and choice is caught in liberal American ideals of individuality, autonomy, and self-responsibility, which work to obscure abortion's entanglement in larger questions of race, eugenics, biopolitics, and, of course, gender (2-3). In order to disentangle rhetorical moves of contemporary abortion debate, we need to recognize that abortion discourse is bound up in a version of liberalism that, despite valuing the autonomous, self-reliant, individual citizen who singular rights must be protected above all (6), premises protection by state on only certain forms of life and only under certain conditions (7).To my mind, Weingarten's method of recognizing limitations of liberalism's relationship to reproductive rights is strongest feature of book. Throughout, she tracks instances of way abortion rhetoric is used to discipline women's bodies and how this alters and affects their participation in American life. Weingarten proves that white women were disciplined into viewing their bodies as national vessels for reproduction and believing that disrupting this process was against nation-state and their race (19). One solid piece of evidence to this effect is her reading of The Great Trunk Mystery from 1871, a dime novel that sensationalized story of a white girl found in a trunk on a Chicago train after she died from a botched abortion. The case, Weingarten argues, made explicit new collusion between those who explicitly care for biological needs and those who govern those bodies through forces of law (25), as well as exposing way antiabortion advocates used racial markers of usually foreign abortion doctors to emphasize threat to survival of white America. …

Vasectomy ranks among the most effective techniques for permanent male contraception, yet its adoption confronts a multifaceted ethical and theological terrain across the world’s religious traditions. While contemporary medical discourse routinely endorses the procedure as a safe and judicious approach to family planning, diverse religious bodies articulate a continuum of responses, ranging from categorical interdiction to conditional endorsement. This article undertakes a methodical appraisal of these positions, clarifying the doctrinal underpinnings, ethical reasoning, and practical consequences that each tradition associates with vasectomy. Drawing on updated scholarly literature, the study investigates the standpoints of Catholicism, Protestant bodies, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Central motifs include the sanctity of human life, the stipulated ends of procreative action, the obligation to honour bodily integrity, and the theological concept of responsible child upbringing. The analysis illuminates how divergent readings of normative texts, inherited traditions, and moral axioms condition these contrasting views, revealing a persistent tension between doctrinal imperatives and the dimension of individual reproductive choice. The concluding section encapsulates the intricate and frequently discordant perspectives, underlining the dynamic, continuing conversation among religious authorities, medical ethical discourse, and individual moral agents as society negotiates reproductive health and the integrity of conscience. This analysis seeks to illuminate the plurality of religious attitudes toward vasectomy in the denomination of the bioethical conversation, religious studies, and public health praxis.

This Introduction provides a basic overview of Kant’s theory of freedom, including discussion of its development in Kant’s philosophy, interpretive difficulties, implications, and the role that it has played in contemporary discussions of ethics and metaethics. The Introduction surveys the volume’s collection of new essays by top scholars, representing a broad range of perspectives. Some of the essays are concerned to provide an interpretation of the metaphysics underpinning Kant’s theory of freedom, while others are concerned to offer an interpretation of Kant’s moral psychology and the view of moral agency at the heart of Kant’s practical philosophy. Still other essays attempt to draw out some of the significance of Kant’s views on freedom to contemporary debates in metaphysics, agency, and moral responsibility.