The Problem with Ethics: Difficulties in Constructing Normative Frameworks

The Structure of Normative Ethics

Design and performance frameworks for constructing problem-solving simulations.

Rapid advancements in hardware, software, and connectivity are helping to shorten the times needed to develop computer simulations for science education. These advancements, however, have not been accompanied by corresponding theories of how best to design and use these technologies for teaching, learning, and testing. Such design frameworks ideally would be guided less by the strengths/limitat...

Problem behaviours in early primary school children: Australian normative data using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE This study provides normative and clinical levels of problem behaviours from a large community sample of Australian early primary school children. METHOD From a large community sample (n = 1928) of children aged 5 to 10 years (mean = 7.70, SD = 0.89) normative data are provided using the teacher-reported version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A response rate ...

On normative judgments and ethics

Recent rapid technological and medical advance has more than ever before brought to the fore a spectrum of problems broadly categorized under the umbrella of 'ethics of human enhancement'. Some of the most contentious issues are typified well by the arguments put forward in a recent article on human cognitive enhancement authored by Garasic and Lavazza. Herein I analyse some of the assumptions ...

Normative Virtue Theory in Theological Ethics

What place is there for virtue theory in theological ethics? Many question the normative significance of virtue theory in theological ethics today, leaving it to rule-based ethics to provide action-guidance. There are three key objections to the normativity of virtue theory: that virtue theory is about agents rather than actions, that virtue theory has nothing to say directly about the morality...