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The Ethics of Ambiguity: Navigating Moral Gray Areas
Navigating life often feels like walking a tightrope strung between stark black and white. But what happens when the line blurs, and we find ourselves teetering in the uncomfortable, uncertain space of moral ambiguity? This blog post delves into the complex world of "ethics of ambiguity," exploring its philosophical underpinnings, real-world applications, and the challenges it presents to our decision-making processes. We'll examine how to navigate these gray areas responsibly and ethically, offering practical strategies for ethical reasoning in situations lacking clear-cut answers.
What is the Ethics of Ambiguity?
The ethics of ambiguity acknowledges that many real-world ethical dilemmas don't offer easy solutions. Unlike textbook examples with straightforward right and wrong answers, ambiguous situations often involve conflicting values, incomplete information, and unpredictable consequences. This doesn't mean ethical principles are irrelevant; instead, it highlights the need for a more nuanced and flexible approach to moral reasoning. It’s about recognizing the limitations of simplistic moral frameworks and embracing the complexity inherent in human experience.
The Challenge of Conflicting Values
One of the core challenges of ambiguous ethics is the frequent clash of equally valid values. For example, consider a whistleblower dilemma: revealing unethical practices within a company might uphold the value of truth and justice, but could also compromise loyalty to colleagues and jeopardize personal stability. How do we weigh these competing values and make a justifiable decision? This is where the ethics of ambiguity forces us to confront the messiness of real-world morality.
The Role of Context and Intent
Unlike rigid rule-based systems, the ethics of ambiguity emphasizes the crucial role of context and intent. A seemingly harmless action can have vastly different ethical implications depending on the circumstances. For example, taking a shortcut to save time might be acceptable in some situations, but morally reprehensible in others (e.g., cutting a queue during a medical emergency). Similarly, the intent behind an action significantly influences its ethical evaluation. An accidental harm is judged differently than a deliberate one, even if the outcome is the same.
Navigating the Gray Areas: Practical Strategies
So, how do we navigate these ambiguous situations? Developing a robust ethical framework requires careful consideration of several factors:
1. Gathering Information and Perspectives
Before making a decision, actively seek out all available information. Consider diverse perspectives, consulting with trusted advisors, and engaging in open dialogue. Incomplete information often fuels ambiguity, so a thorough investigation is crucial.
2. Identifying Underlying Values
Clearly identify the fundamental values at stake. What principles are being challenged? Are there competing values pulling you in opposite directions? Understanding your values provides a moral compass, even in uncertain territory.
3. Considering Potential Consequences
Carefully weigh the potential consequences of each course of action, both intended and unintended. Consider the impact on all stakeholders involved, anticipating ripple effects and long-term implications.
4. Applying Ethical Frameworks
While there aren't simple solutions, various ethical frameworks (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics) can offer valuable guidance. Applying these frameworks helps systematically analyze the situation, offering a structured approach to ethical decision-making, even in the absence of clear-cut answers.
5. Embracing Reflection and Learning
Ethical decision-making is an ongoing process. After making a choice, reflect on the experience. What worked well? What could have been improved? This process of continuous learning helps refine your approach and enhance your ethical judgment over time.
The Importance of Ethical Dialogue
Open and honest dialogue about ethical dilemmas is critical in navigating ambiguous situations. Sharing our reasoning and perspectives with others fosters empathy, exposes blind spots, and helps to build consensus. Ethical disagreements are inevitable, but respectful engagement is essential for achieving the best possible outcome.
Conclusion
The ethics of ambiguity challenges us to move beyond simplistic notions of right and wrong. It demands critical thinking, careful consideration, and a willingness to embrace the inherent complexity of moral decision-making. By developing a robust ethical framework and engaging in thoughtful dialogue, we can navigate the gray areas with integrity and responsibility, even when faced with situations lacking easy solutions. The journey through moral ambiguity may be challenging, but it is a crucial aspect of ethical growth and responsible living.
FAQs
1. Is it ever acceptable to compromise ethical principles in ambiguous situations? Compromise is sometimes necessary, but only when carefully weighed against the potential benefits and harms. The goal should be to minimize harm while upholding as many ethical principles as possible.
2. How can I improve my ability to identify ethical dilemmas in ambiguous situations? Practice mindfulness, actively reflect on your decisions and the values involved, and seek diverse perspectives to broaden your understanding of ethical complexities.
3. What resources are available for further learning about ethical decision-making? Numerous books, articles, and online courses address ethical frameworks and practical applications. Consider exploring resources from philosophy departments, ethical organizations, and professional associations.
4. Can the ethics of ambiguity be applied to both personal and professional life? Absolutely. The principles of navigating ambiguity are universally applicable, whether dealing with personal relationships, professional challenges, or societal issues.
5. Is there a single "correct" approach to ethical decision-making in ambiguous situations? No. The best approach is a thoughtful and contextualized one, integrating information gathering, value identification, consequence consideration, and ethical framework application. The process itself is more important than any single "correct" answer.
| ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir, 2018-05-08 From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex comes a radical argument for ethical responsibility and freedom. In this classic introduction to existentialist thought, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity simultaneously pays homage to and grapples with her French contemporaries, philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, by arguing that the freedoms in existentialism carry with them certain ethical responsibilities. De Beauvoir outlines a series of “ways of being” (the adventurer, the passionate person, the lover, the artist, and the intellectual), each of which overcomes the former’s deficiencies, and therefore can live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues that in order to achieve true freedom, one must battle against the choices and activities of those who suppress it. The Ethics of Ambiguity is the book that launched Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist and existential philosophy. It remains a concise yet thorough examination of existence and what it means to be human. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Ambiguity Simone de Beauvoir, 1948 A leading French existentialist forces readers to face the absurdity of the human condition and then proceeds to develop a dialectic of ambiguity that will enable them not to master the chaos but to create with it. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Le Deuxième Sexe Simone de Beauvoir, 1989 The classic manifesto of the liberated woman, this book explores every facet of a woman's life. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Bonds of Freedom Kristana Arp, 2001 Simone de Beauvoir published a number of philosophical essays and novels before writing The Second Sex. The most important of these was The Ethics of Ambiguity, in which she argues that one's freedom is always intertwined with that of others. The Bonds of Freedom examines de Beauvoir's ideas on ethics, demonstrating her importance in contemporary philosophy. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Works of Simone de Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir, 2011-04-28 This collection of classic titles by Beauvoir her most well know writings, The Second Sex and The Ethics Of Ambiguity as well as a biography of her life and a rare interview on her book The Second Sex. French writer and feminist, and Existentialist. She is known primarily for her treatise The Second Sex (1949), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the eternal feminine. It became a classic of feminist literature during the 1960s. Her novels expounded the major Existential themes, demonstrating her conception of the writer's commitment to the times. She Came To Stay (1943) treats the difficult problem of the relationship of a conscience to the other. Of her other works of fiction, perhaps the best known is The Mandarins (1954), a chronicle of the attempts of post-World War II intellectuals to leave their mandarin (educated elite) status and engage in political activism. She also wrote four books of philosophy, including The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947). Several volumes of her work are devoted to autobiography which constitute a telling portrait of French intellectual life from the 1930s to the 1970s. In addition to treating feminist issues, de Beauvoir was concerned with the issue of aging, which she addressed in A Very Easy Death (1964), on her mother's death in a hospital. In 1981 she wrote A Farewell to Sartre, a painful account of Sartre's last years. Simone de Beauvoir revealed herself as a woman of formidable courage and integrity, whose life supported her thesis: the basic options of an individual must be made on the premises of an equal vocation for man and woman founded on a common structure of their being, independent of their sexuality. Table of Contents: The Second Sex, On the publication of The Second Sex, interview The Ethics of Ambiguity, Biography |
| ethics of ambiguity: Existentialism, Feminism and Simone de Beauvoir J. Mahon, 2015-12-17 Simone de Beauvoir made her own distinctive contribution to existentialism in the form of an ethics which diverged sharply from that of Jean-Paul Sartre. In her novels and philosophical essays of the 1940s she produced not just a recognizably existentialist ethics, but also a character ethics and an ethics for violence. These concerns, stemming from her own personal philosophical background, give a vital, contemporary resonance to her work. De Beauvoir's feminist classic The Second Sex reflects her earlier philosophical interests, and is considerably strengthened by this influence. This book defends her existentialist feminism against the many reproaches which have been levelled against it over several decades, not least the criticism that it is steeped in Sartrean masculinism. |
| ethics of ambiguity: What Is Existentialism? Simone de Beauvoir, 2020-09-24 'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity' How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers explore the absurdity of our notions of good and evil, and show instead how we make our own destiny simply by being. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists. |
| ethics of ambiguity: A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir Laura Hengehold, Nancy Bauer, 2017-10-02 Winner of the 2018 Choice award for Outstanding Academic Title! The work of Simone de Beauvoir has endured and flowered in the last two decades, thanks primarily to the lasting influence of The Second Sex on the rise of academic discussions of gender, sexuality, and old age. Now, in this new Companion dedicated to her life and writings, an international assembly of prominent scholars, essayists, and leading interpreters reflect upon the range of Beauvoir’s contribution to philosophy as one of the great authors, thinkers, and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. The Companion examines Beauvoir’s rich intellectual life from a variety of angles—including literary, historical, and anthropological perspectives—and situates her in relation to her forbears and contemporaries in the philosophical canon. Essays in each of four thematic sections reveal the breadth and acuity of her insight, from the significance of The Second Sex and her work on the metaphysics of gender to her plentiful contributions in ethics and political philosophy. Later chapters trace the relationship between Beauvoir’s philosophical and literary work and open up her scholarship to global issues, questions of race, and the legacy of colonialism and sexism. The volume concludes by considering her impact on contemporary feminist thought writ large, and features pioneering work from a new generation of Beauvoir scholars. Ambitious and unprecedented in scope, A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir is an accessible and interdisciplinary resource for students, teachers, and researchers across the humanities and social sciences. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir Claudia Card, 2003-03-10 Table of contents |
| ethics of ambiguity: Moral Acrobatics Philippe Rochat, 2021 I sometimes like to daydream that if we were all somehow simultaneously outed as lechers and perverts and sentimental slobs, it might be, after the initial shock of disillusionment, liberating. It might be a relief to quit maintaining this rigid pose of normalcy and own up to the outlaws and monsters we are-- |
| ethics of ambiguity: Philosophical Writings Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret A. Simons, 2005-01-26 Despite growing interest in her philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir remains widely misunderstood. She is typically portrayed as a mere intellectual follower of her companion, Jean-Paul Sartre. In Philosophical Writings, Beauvoir herself shows that nothing could be further from the truth. Beauvoir's philosophical work suffers from a lack of English-language translation or, worse, mistranslation into heavily condensed popular versions. Philosophical Writings provides an unprecedented collection of complete, scholarly editions of philosophical texts that cover the first twenty-three years of Beauvoir's career, including a number of recently discovered works. Ranging from metaphysical literature to existentialist ethics, Philosophical Writings brings together diverse elements of Beauvoir's work while highlighting continuities in the development of her thought. Each of the translations features detailed notes and a scholarly introduction explaining its larger significance. Revelatory and long overdue, Philosophical Writings adds to the ongoing resurgence of interest in Beauvoir's thought and to her growing influence on today's philosophical curriculum. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir Penelope Deutscher, 2008-08-11 Many studies of Simone de Beauvoir have concentrated on her literature, her life, and her famous 1949 work The Second Sex. The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir places Beauvoir's theory of women's otherness in the context of a number of contemporary theories of ambiguity. Professor Deutscher reconsiders the resources on which Beauvoir drew and the innovation involved in their transformation to her purposes. The focus given Beauvoir's philosophy on gender and thus to her earliest work has overlooked the transformations she affected to her own concepts of ambiguity, reciprocity, and ethics as she considered different modes of otherness. Gender was just one of a number of these, and this book counterbalances its grip on our memory of her work by situating gender in the context of embodied time, ageing, generational differences, and race. By differentiating these aspects of otherness, Beauvoir revisited some of the concepts of reciprocity and ethics for which she is best remembered.--BOOK JACKET. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Prime of Life Simone de Beauvoir, 1940-01-01 The author recalls her life in Paris in the formative years of 1929 to 1944, telling of her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre and of Parisian intellectual life of the 1930s and 1940s. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of Ambiguity Sonia Kruks, 2012-12-06 A study of Simone de Beauvoir's (1908-1986) political thinking. The author locates de Beauvoir in her own intellectual and political context and demonstrates her continuing significance. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas Diane Perpich, 2008 This work offers a new interpretation of what Levinas means when he says that we are infinitely responsible to the other person. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Becoming Beauvoir Kate Kirkpatrick, 2019-08-22 “One is not born a woman, but becomes one”, Simone de Beauvoir A symbol of liberated womanhood, Simone de Beauvoir's unconventional relationships inspired and scandalised her generation. A philosopher, writer, and feminist icon, she won prestigious literary prizes and transformed the way we think about gender with The Second Sex. But despite her successes, she wondered if she had sold herself short. Her liaison with Jean-Paul Sartre has been billed as one of the most legendary love affairs of the twentieth century. But for Beauvoir it came at a cost: for decades she was dismissed as an unoriginal thinker who 'applied' Sartre's ideas. In recent years new material has come to light revealing the ingenuity of Beauvoir's own philosophy and the importance of other lovers in her life. This ground-breaking biography draws on never-before-published diaries and letters to tell the fascinating story of how Simone de Beauvoir became herself. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Dada and Existentialism Elizabeth Benjamin, 2016-08-30 Offering new critical approaches to Dada as quintessential part of the Avant-Garde, Dada and Existentialism: the Authenticity of Ambiguity reassesses the movement as a form of (proto-) Existentialist philosophy. Dada is often dismissed as an anti-art movement with a merely destructive theoretical impetus. French Existentialism is often condemned for its perceived quietist implications. However, closer analysis reveals a preoccupation with philosophy in the former and with art in the latter. Moreover, neither was nonsensical or meaningless; both reveal a rich individualist ethics aimed at the amelioration of the individual and society. The first major comparative study of Dada and Existentialism, this text contributes new perspectives on Dada as movement, historical legacy, and field of study. Analysing Dada works through Existentialist literature across the themes of choice, alienation, responsibility, freedom and truth, the text posits that Dada and Existentialism both advocate the creation of a self that aims for authenticity through ambiguity. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism Steven Crowell, 2012-02-16 These essays demonstrate the contemporary vitality of existential thought, engaging critically with the main concepts and figures of existentialism. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Age Silvia Stoller, 2014-04-01 Age and aging are pressing social-political issues. Yet, philosophers still have not paid sufficient attention to one of the major explorations of this topic, Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal work The Coming of Age (1970). For much too long, it has been overshadowed by her other groundbreaking work, The Second Sex (1949). Now, for the first time, this volume focuses on Beauvoir's essay on old age and critically explores its significance from a phenomenological and feminist perspective. International Beauvoir scholars and renowned feminist phenomenologists from Europe and North America offer a unique look at one of the 20th century’s most outstanding existential-philosophical studies on age and aging. Thematically, the articles and short comments collected in this volume cover three main issues which are crucial with respect to an investigation of Beauvoir's study on age: gender, ethics, and time. The volume essentially contributes to Beauvoir studies, aging studies, cultural and gender studies, feminist theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Ethics for Managers Joseph Gilbert, 2016-06-10 Ethics for Managers introduces students to the philosophical underpinnings of business ethics and translates this theory into practical terms, demonstrating the moral implications of the decisions managers make. This edition features new material on global ethics, the financial downturn, and ethical sustainability. New, student-friendly features include: Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, which provide a roadmap to what is covered and how to use it. Cases that demonstrate real-world scenarios, allowing readers to grapple with real moral ambiguity. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which challenge students to see different moral perspectives and to practice good decision-making. A new chapter on international business ethics. Students of business ethics courses will find this compact, well-organized text a useful tool to understand ethics in the digital age. |
| ethics of ambiguity: No Exit Jean-Paul Sartre, 1989 The respectful prostitute. Four plays written by the French existentialist philosopher and writer addressing such topics as hell, racism, and conduct of life. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot William Large, 2005 With a central focus on themes of ethics and subjectivity, this analysis pairs Maurice Blanchot's creativity with Emmanuel Levinas's philosophies across topics of friendship, the opposition of speech to writing, and the ethical role of language. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Existentialist Ethics William Leon McBride, 1997 This collection of essays and reviews represents the most significant and comprehensive writing on Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. Miola's edited work also features a comprehensive critical history, coupled with a full bibliography and photographs of major productions of the play from around the world. In the collection, there are five previously unpublished essays. The topics covered in these new essays are women in the play, the play's debt to contemporary theater, its critical and performance histories in Germany and Japan, the metrical variety of the play, and the distinctly modern perspective on the play as containing dark and disturbing elements. To compliment these new essays, the collection features significant scholarship and commentary on The Comedy of Errors that is published in obscure and difficulty accessible journals, newspapers, and other sources. This collection brings together these essays for the first time. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Ethical Intuitionism M. Huemer, 2007-12-14 A defence of ethical intuitionism where (i) there are objective moral truths; (ii) we know these through an immediate, intellectual awareness, or 'intuition'; and (iii) knowing them gives us reasons to act independent of our desires. The author rebuts the major objections to this theory and shows the difficulties in alternative theories of ethics. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Purpose in the Universe Tim Mulgan, 2015-10-22 Two familiar worldviews dominate Western philosophy: materialist atheism and the benevolent God of the Abrahamic faiths. Tim Mulgan explores a third way. Ananthropocentric Purposivism claims that there is a cosmic purpose, but human beings are irrelevant to it. Purpose in the Universe develops a philosophical case for Ananthropocentric Purposivism that it is at least as strong as the case for either theism or atheism. The book borrows traditional theist arguments to defend a cosmic purpose. These include cosmological, teleological, ontological, meta-ethical, and mystical arguments. It then borrows traditional atheist arguments to reject a human-centred purpose. These include arguments based on evil, diversity, and the scale of the universe. Mulgan also highlights connections between morality and metaphysics, arguing that evaluative premises play a crucial and underappreciated role in metaphysical debates about the existence of God, and Ananthropocentric Purposivism mutually supports an austere consequentialist morality based on objective values. He concludes that, by drawing on a range of secular and religious ethical traditions, a non-human-centred cosmic purpose can ground a distinctive human morality. Our moral practices, our view of the moral universe, and our moral theory are all transformed if we shift from the familiar choice between a universe without meaning and a universe where humans matter to the less self-aggrandising thought that, while it is about something, the universe is not about us. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Plato's Moral Psychology Rachana Kamtekar, 2017-12-01 Plato's Moral Psychology is concerned with Plato's account of the soul and its impact on our living well or badly, virtuously or viciously. The core of Plato's moral psychology is his account of human motivation, and Rachana Kamtekar argues that throughout the dialogues Plato maintains that human beings have a natural desire for our own good, and that actions and conditions contrary to this desire are involuntary (from which follows the 'Socratic paradox' that wrongdoing is involuntary). Our natural desire for our own good may be manifested in different ways: by our pursuit of what we calculate is best, but also by our pursuit of pleasant or fine things - pursuits which Plato assigns to distinct parts of the soul. Kamtekar develops a very different interpretation of Plato's moral psychology from the mainstream interpretation, according to which Plato first proposes that human beings only do what we believe to be the best of the things we can do ('Socratic intellectualism') and then in the middle dialogues rejects this in favour of the view that the soul is divided into parts with some good-dependent and some good-independent motivations ('the divided soul'). |
| ethics of ambiguity: Care in Healthcare Franziska Krause, Joachim Boldt, 2017-10-24 This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book examines the concept of care and care practices in healthcare from the interdisciplinary perspectives of continental philosophy, care ethics, the social sciences, and anthropology. Areas addressed include dementia care, midwifery, diabetes care, psychiatry, and reproductive medicine. Special attention is paid to ambivalences and tensions within both the concept of care and care practices. Contributions in the first section of the book explore phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches to care and reveal historical precursors to care ethics. Empirical case studies and reflections on care in institutionalised and standardised settings form the second section of the book. The concluding chapter, jointly written by many of the contributors, points at recurring challenges of understanding and practicing care that open up the field for further research and discussion. This collection will be of great value to scholars and practitioners of medicine, ethics, philosophy, social science and history. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome Rebecca Langlands, 2018-09-13 The well-known mythographer Marina Warner has described the process of reading fairy tales and folktales as 'tasting the dragon's blood' - a magical and transformative process by which one's ears are opened to the voices of the past and of other worlds. Roman exempla, which constitute a national story-telling tradition, are very different in many ways from the dream-like fantasies of fairy-tales and other narrative folk traditions that have been the subject of Warner's studies. In (supposedly) true stories from history, battle-hardened warriors, noble maidens and honourable sons of the soil face impossible dangers, take terrible decisions and sacrifice their lives, their limbs and even their own children for the sake of justice, discipline and the Roman community. Yet for the ancient Romans too, hearing the blood-soaked stories of their ancestral heroes was an intimate and potent experience, and this 'taste of the hero's blood' had an intoxicating effect similar to the blood of Warner's dragon: evoking other worlds, shaping understanding of their own world-- |
| ethics of ambiguity: Wisdom of the Tarot Elisabeth Haich, 1991-12 This book relates the path to higher consciousness through the colour, shape, and symbolic forms on the twenty-two Tarot cards. Detailed study and meditation of each card may release internally all that is involved with each level encountered on the journey towards the Light. These cards may be used in conjunction with the text or separately for meditation. When studied individually, a card can reveal the necessary steps that need to be taken to actualise one's potential. Tarot cards, or symbolic representations of the truth have always been used to help man relate not only with the mind, but internally, through the feelings invoked by the colours and forms. The nature of these cards is that they can produce a strong awakening of one's unconscious forces. They are like a spiritual mirror in which we can recognise and examine ourselves. We can then understand that the reasons for our fate lie within ourselves, and changes by the mere fact that we begin to react differently to everything that happens to us. These cards with the text are a valuable key to understand our present state, our past and in a deeper sense, how we create our future. Included in the book are 22 pages of five-colour tarot illustrations. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Noble Eightfold Path of Christ Thomas Ragland, 2003 The ancient Theravada Buddhist canonical suttas, the beloved Mahayana Buddhist sutras, and the Tao Te Ching have been lovingly mined for concepts and realizations. These ideas resonate with the heart of the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene as preserved in the Christian gospels. Presented in the arrangement and context of Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, the truths presented are timeless and universal as a complete religion in themselves, says the author. The author describes the book as serving as the message of Jesus to the world in the context of Christian of Eastern thought, and points out that it is not really a Christian work. This is foremost a Buddhist writing, devoted to the same Dharma that Buddha so loved and taught 2500 years ago. It is presented through the teachings of the One who is called the Christ in the Western world. Then again, this is not really a Buddhist work as the linkage the author has made between the concepts of Christ and Buddha create a synthesis that transcends Christianity and Buddhism. The heart of this Dharma cannot really be defined of confined by a system of thought. It lives on the immediacy of the expression of those who take it to heart. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Living with Ambiguity Donald A. Crosby, 2009-07-01 How a religion based on the sacredness of nature deals with the problem of evil. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Choices Under Fire Michael Bess, 2009-03-12 World War II was the quintessential “good war.” It was not, however, a conflict free of moral ambiguity, painful dilemmas, and unavoidable compromises. Was the bombing of civilian populations in Germany and Japan justified? Were the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials legally scrupulous? What is the legacy bequeathed to the world by Hiroshima? With wisdom and clarity, Michael Bess brings a fresh eye to these difficult questions and others, arguing eloquently against the binaries of honor and dishonor, pride and shame, and points instead toward a nuanced reckoning with one of the most pivotal conflicts in human history. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Letters to Sartre Simone de Beauvoir, 2012-06 In these letters, de Beauvoir tells Sartre everything, tracing the extraordinary complications of their triangular love life; they reveal her not only as manipulative and dependent, but also as vulnerable, passionate, jealous, and... |
| ethics of ambiguity: Unravelling Research Teresa Macías, 2022-05-15T00:00:00Z Unravelling Research is about the ethics and politics of knowledge production in the social sciences at a time when the academy is pressed to contend with the historical inequities associated with established research practices. Written by an impressive range of scholars whose work is shaped by their commitment to social justice, the chapters grapple with different methodologies, geographical locations and communities and cover a wide range of inquiry, including ethnography in Africa, archival research in South America and research with marginalized, racialized, poor, mad, homeless and Indigenous communities in Canada. Each chapter is written from the perspective of researchers who, due to their race, class, sexual/gender identity, ability and geographical location, labour at the margins of their disciplines. By using their own research projects as sites, contributors probe the ethicality of long-established and cutting-edge methodological frameworks to theorize the indivisible relationship between methodology, ethics and politics, elucidating key challenges and dilemmas confronting marginalized researchers and research subjects alike. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Seven Types of Ambiguity William Empson, 1966 Examines seven types of ambiguity, providing examples of it in the writings of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and T.S. Eliot. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Engaging Evil William C. Olsen, Thomas J. Csordas, 2019-05-03 Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty Whitney Bauman, Kevin O'Brien, 2019-08-06 This book offers a multidisciplinary environmental approach to ethics in response to the contemporary challenge of climate change caused by globalized economics and consumption. This book synthesizes the incredible complexity of the problem and the necessity of action in response, highlighting the unambiguous problem facing humanity in the 21st century, but arguing that it is essential to develop an ethics housed in ambiguity in response. Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty is divided into theoretical and applied chapters, with the theoretical sections engaging in dialogue with scholars from a variety of disciplines, while the applied chapters offer insight from 20th century activists who demonstrate and/or illuminate the theory, including Martin Luther King, Rachel Carson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. This book is written for scholars and students in the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies and the environmental humanities, and will appeal to courses in religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, and social theory. |
| ethics of ambiguity: Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema Jean-Pierre Boulé, Ursula Tidd, 2012-09-01 Simone de Beauvoir’s work has not often been associated with film studies, which appears paradoxical when it is recognized that she was the first feminist thinker to inaugurate the concept of the gendered ‘othering’ gaze. This book is an attempt to redress this balance and reopen the dialogue between Beauvoir’s writings and film studies. The authors analyse a range of films, from directors including Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Lucille Hadzihalilovic, Sam Mendes, and Sally Potter, by drawing from Beauvoir’s key works such as The Second Sex (1949), The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) and Old Age (1970). |
| ethics of ambiguity: Epicurus and Democritean Ethics James Warren, 2002-05-23 This 2002 book explores the origins of the Epicurean philosophical system in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. |
| ethics of ambiguity: The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener Martin Gardner, 1999-08-21 The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener showcases Martin Gardner as the consummate philosopher, thinker, and great mathematician that he is. Exploring issues that range from faith to prayer to evil to immortality, and far beyond, Garnder challenges the discerning reader with fundamental questions of classical philosophy and life's greater meanings. Recalling such philosophers was Wittgenstein and Arendt, The Whys of Philosophical Scrivener embodies Martin Garner's unceasing interest and joy in the impenetrable mysteries of life. |
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Beauvoir’s ethics, by taking into account the ambiguity of the human condition, as well as the actual attitudes human beings have towards life, enables her to provide a solution for the …
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The Ethics of Ambiguity. Simone de Beauvoir 1947. I. Ambiguity and Freedom. “Life in itself is neither good nor evil. It is the place of good and evil, according to what you make it.” …
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in The Ethics of Ambiguity. The problem of .the .nature and status of moral values and moral imperatives arises in Beauvoir 's ethi8s when she denies the existence of objective moral …
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Advantages of Ambiguity: the Moral Philosophy of Simone de …
ethics. Schrader comments: Another criticism which has been made of existential philosophy is that no one of the existentialist writers has contributed an ethical theory. A possible exception …
Morality from Meaninglessness in Simone de Beauvoir's 'The …
In her book The Ethics of Ambiguity, French existentialist writer Simone de Beauvoir delves into the human condition and the possibilities for morality that arise from her understanding of such.
ETHICS, AMBIGUITY, AND THE EXISTENTIAL NOVEL; …
ethics, ambiguity, and the existential novel; a study of simone de beauvoir’s works of fiction . a thesis . submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the . degree of master of arts . in …
Ethics of Ambiguity and Irony: Jacques Derrida and Richard …
Ethics of Ambiguity and Irony: Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty HONGLIM RYU Department of Political Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Abstract. This paper examines the …
The Ethics of Ambiguity: Rethinking ª The Author(s) 2016 the …
There are several possible ways of thinking about an ethics of ambiguity in the context of medical education and practice. The existential philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir was one of the first to …
FREEDOM, OPPRESSION AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ETHICS
The Ethics of Ambiguity of what it means to "win" ethically, and what it means to "lose." Although Beauvoir never says this, I would argue that one of the reasons that God (at least the …
From Shame towards an Ethics of Ambiguity - JSTOR
From Shame towards an Ethics of Ambiguity Ruth Kitchen Abstract: For Sartre, shame is not an ethical but an ontological experience. With this in mind, the article examines the philosophical …
Literature, Moral Reflection and Ambiguity - JSTOR
Literature, Moral Reflection and Ambiguity with which I will not be directly concerned include: ambiguity in a work that is resolved within the work into a single meaning; two alter nate …
Reflections: Fritz Haber and the Ambiguity of Ethics
here, publishing on predissociation spectra – a basis for laser emission – and the low-temperature purification of parahydrogen. On the outbreak of the First World War, Haber, a mili-
MORAL AMBIGUITY: AN ETHICAL EXAMINATION OF ITS …
Even though the references to “moral ambiguity” are frequent across the organizational ethics and social science literatures, a formal attempt to create a working definition has been lacking. …
THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY - WordPress.com
SECTION I: AMBIGUITY AND FREEDOM, pp. 1-34 Contents I Ambiguity and Freedom 7 II Personal Freedom and Others 35 III The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity 74 1. The Aesthetic …
the ethics of Ambiguity in Quintilian
Quasi Labor intus 209 of forensic disputes.5 In Quintilian’s account, this second category includes four status legales, issues that concern the application of legal codes: letter and spirit …
Five EXISTENTIAL HUMANISM AND MORAL FREEDOM IN …
Pyrrhus and Cineas (2004e), The Ethics of Ambiguity (1976), The Second Sex (2010), “Right-Wing Thought Today” (2012d), and The Coming of Age (1973) are examples of such works. …
Ethical Decision-Making in Social Work Practice
The CASW Code of Ethics (2005) sets forth the values and principles that guide social work practice in Newfoundland and Labrador. Social workers uphold the following core values: ...
BEAUVOIR’S ETHICS, MEANING, AND COMPETITION - De …
The meaning of life in The Ethics of Ambiguity While my argument is mainly based on The Ethics of Ambiguity, Beauvoir’s earlier considerations on the importance other’s people’s projects and …
Trinity College Digital Repository
the role of ambiguity in moral virtue, on this Existentialist account. Finally, I respond to a number of reasons for thinking that Existentialism cannot provide a virtue ethics. Keywords: …
Infusing a New Ethical Decision-Making Model Throughout a …
of Social Workers Code of Ethics • tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts • apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at principled decisions (CSWE Educational Policy and …
Moral Duties and Juridical Duties: The Ambiguity of Legal …
Keywords: Kant; metaphysics of morals; moral and juridical duties; legal ethics; alternative dispute resolutions A. Introduction The musings over the influence of the legal ethics upon the role of a …
Ambiguity and Ethics: Fiction and Governance in Geoffrey …
Ambiguity and Ethics: Fictions of Governance in Geoffrey Hill’s Mercian Hymns* RAJEEV S. PATKE Is the ethical concern, even in its realistic and concrete form, detrimental to the …
the ethics of Ambiguity in Quintilian
Quasi Labor intus 209 of forensic disputes.5 In Quintilian’s account, this second category includes four status legales, issues that concern the application of legal codes: letter and spirit …
Queer ethics and fostering positive mindsets toward non …
Queer ethics and fostering positive mindsets toward non-binary gender, genderqueer, and gender ambiguity Lucy Nicholas Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia …
The Blood of Others: A Novel Approach - JSTOR
The first philosophical theme in Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity is her po-sition that there are no universal values in any absolute objective sense. Free-dom arises in human action; hence, …
Impartial Evaluation under Ambiguity* Richard Bradley
Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility,” Journal of Politi-cal Economy 63 (1955): 309–21. ... theory as situations of ambiguity, individuals cannot determine …
FACTORS AFFECTING AUDITORS 'PERFORMANCE: …
AMBIGUITY OF ROLE, EXPERIENCE AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS (Empirical Study on Public Accounting Firms in the DKI Jakarta Region) Afly Yessie Economics and Business …
Code of Ethics - SHRM
A code of ethics (code) serves as a entral guide to support dayc -to-day decision making at work. It clarifies the cornerstones of your organization-- its mission, values and principles–
Exploring the Concept of Ambiguity out from Simone de …
The Ethics of Ambiguity begins with the central existentialist premise that “existence precedes essence” and de Beauvoir wrote: “Man is free in her/his choices and therefore always …
ETHICS, AMBIGUITY, AND THE EXISTENTIAL NOVEL; …
ethics, ambiguity, and the existential novel; a study of simone de beauvoir’s works of fiction . a thesis . submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the . degree of master of arts . in …
The Creation of Meaning: Simone de Beauvoir’s Existentialist …
Ethics Pauline O’Flynn Abstract This paper will argue that the philosophical significance of The Second Sex lies in its development of the existential ethics that de Beauvoir explored in her …
Ethics and Form in Fantasy Literature: Tolkien, Rowling, and …
ethics and form in the books under discussion. The author examines both deontological and consequentialist theories of ethics as they appear in the books. In brief, the deontologist has a …
Kristina Arp CHICAGO: OPEN COURT PRESS, 2001
misapprehensions, of the value and originality of The Ethics of Ambiguity. In The Bonds of Freedom: Simone de Beauvoir's Existentialist Ethics, Arp provides the first comprehensive …
HRI ethics and type-token ambiguity: what kind of robotic …
ambiguity from larger dynamics of indistinct or shifting robotic identity. After setting out the type-token challenge in contrast to distributed or networked agency, we explore three main areas of …
Ethics-Redirecting the Army's Moral Compass - DTIC
proper in complex situations involving moral ambiguity. In contrast to the more routine decision-making between right and wrong issues, more complex ethical ... Ethics, on the other hand, is …
Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre: Regarding their …
ethics of ambiguity will be one which will refuse to deny a priori that separate existants can, at the same time, be bound to each other, that their individual freedoms can forge laws valid for all."2 …
The Self-Other Relation in Beauvoir's Ethics and …
In The Ethics of Ambiguity (Pour une morale de l'ambiguite), originally pub-lished in 1947, Beauvoir argues that the human condition is ambiguous or not fixed, and therefore is subject …
Ambiguity and Alienation in The Second Sex - JSTOR
Ethics of Ambiguity, and by an analysis of the rhetoric-the language-of philosophy in The Second Sex. It is followed by a detailed study of Beau-voir's analysis of female desire. Drawing these …
AMBIGUITY, ABSURDITY, AND REVERSIBILITY: …
ambiguity.,,7 This ambiguity she traces back to Kierkegaard and his opposition to Hegelian dialectic which ultimately surpasses ambiguity through the Aufhebung reeonciling thesis and …
Ethics Creep: Governing Social Science Research in the Name …
Ethics Creep: Governing Social Science Research in the Name of Ethics Kevin D. Haggerty ... ambiguity is not unique to the operation of REBs, as all new legal regimes employ broad and …
TERMINAL AMBIGUITY: LAW, ETHICS AND POLICY IN THE …
Sep 17, 2015 · 2007] TERMINAL AMBIGUITY 101 ence of officially-sanctioned aid in dying in Oregon and the Netherlands has furnished us with some understanding of how doctors and …
CSR and the Mediated Emergence of Strategic Ambiguity
J Bus Ethics (2014) 120:555–569 DOI 10.1007/s10551-013-2005-7. ... strategic ambiguity of CSR press coverage emerges from a relational, contested, and mediated process, and not as the
An Introduction to Data Ethics MODULE AUTHOR: Shannon …
ethics is also taught in dedicated courses, such as business ethics. It is important to recognize that the political, personal, and professional dimensions of ethics are not separate—they are …
Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com The Ethics …
Philosophy of Right(1843); and Kant’s ethics, which he primarily explicated in the shortGroundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). InThe Ethics of Ambiguity, de Beauvoir …
Ethics of Responsibility and Ambiguity of Politics in
MORALS FILOSOFIJA Luc Anckaert. Ethics of Responsibility and Ambiguity of Politics in Levinas’s Philosophy 63 The Messianic peace, on the other hand, breaks through when one is …
Promotive and prohibitive ethical voice in groups: the effect of ...
condition (group role ambiguity) regarding the influences of two types of group ethical voice. Group role ambiguity represents group members’ perception of group uncertainty (Carlson and …
Simone de Beauvoir's Phenomenology of Sexual Difference
Beauvoir's ethical essay, The Ethics of Ambiguity (Pour une morale de l'am-biguite 1947) testifies to her capacities and engagement. It shows that Beau-voir's understanding of the aims and …
Engineering Ethics Case Study: The Challenger Disaster
Abstract ethics principles alone cannot answer this question; we must delve into ... outside investigators consistently find an engineering world characterized by ambiguity, disagreement, …
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S GENDER OF AMBIGUITY - JSTOR
in The Ethics of Ambiguity, differs from Sartre's because of her notion of situation. Unlike Sartre who, in Being and Nothingness , advocated freedom as though each individual were in a …
The Ethics Of Ambiguity
The Ethics Of Ambiguity: The ethics of ambiguity, tr Simone de Beauvoir,1962 Simone de Beauvoir novelist dramatist and philosopher was the most distinguished woman writer in …
Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Meaning in Life
philosophical works Pyrrhus and Cineas (1944) and The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) don’t mention “meaning” per se, let alone “meaning in life,” they do concern projects and values—two key …
Authoritarian space-time Natalie Koch (Syracuse University) …
The ethics of ambiguity. New York: Philosophical Library. Estes, N. (2019). Our history is the future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous …
The Ambiguity of Kant’s Concept of Happiness
The Ambiguity of Kant’s Concept of Happiness Thomas Marshall Neumann College My analysis of Kant’s concept of happiness is motivated by a concern with the role it plays in his ethical …
Tolerating Ethical Ambiguity and Social Work Education
well social work students or social workers in general can tolerate ambiguity while working through ethical dilemmas. This study will examine the correlations between attachment style, …
Karl Barth and James Cone on Atonement: Ambiguity in …
theologians demonstrate a surprisingly similar kind of ambiguity, relating to ontology: how God’s history intersects with human history in Barth’s divine ontology, and how symbolic and …
Negotiating Ambiguity, Nuance, and Uncertainty: A View …
precisely because their nuances and complexities leave room for the ambiguity that characterizes the legacy of conflict. Art, like many ancient practices, leverages symbols and their possible …
Ethical Breakdowns Within the United States Army - DTIC
guidance using the application of Army values to remove ambiguity and ensure clarity. Finally, we must be aggressive in recommending punishment of individuals that choose a ... and to live …
Simone de beauvoir ethics of ambiguity pdf
Simone de beauvoir ethics of ambiguity pdf Author: Xubupu Pepute Subject: Simone de beauvoir ethics of ambiguity pdf. The Hand and Chains of Man by Sulmari Saavedra at …
