We posit and find evidence consistent with a new mechanism of intra-firm enforcement spillovers: the leakage of scarce compliance resources across facilities within a firm. Using a facility-level panel data set of Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement actions from 2005 to 2017, we find a facility is more likely to violate the CAA following penalties on its same-industry-same-state siblings. In contrast, there is no significant spillover across firms. We show that the intra-firm spillover is not due to changes in regulatory (...) attention or production shifting. Instead, our results suggest it may result from the redeployment of scarce compliance resources across siblings. Consistent with this mechanism, we find compliance leakage only occurs at privately held firms and facilities that lack the resources to invest in pollution prevention. The findings contribute to understanding the efficacy of environmental enforcement and have important implications for intra-firm management of environmental performance and regulatory enforcement approaches. (shrink)

This book is a study of twelve major Confucian philosophical concepts and related issues. These are dynamic harmony (he和), care-centered virtue(ren仁), ritual propriety(li禮), filial care (xiao孝), differentiated gender equilibrium (bie别), friendship (you友), longevity (shou壽), sagehood (sheng聖), equality (qi齊), freedom (ziyou自由), politics (zheng政), and education (jiao教). Each chapter presents something new: a novel interpretation from a fresh angle, an insight that has been neglected in scholarship, or a reformed idea that connects tradition with modern sensibilities. Collectively they serve as a general (...) introduction to progressive Confucian philosophy in the twenty-first century. To facilitate classroom use, each chapter concludes with a set of study questions to assist students to comprehend key points and to develop their own views. (shrink)

Large language models (LLMs) now generate fluent, assertion-shaped text that circulates through scientific communication, public discourse, and institutional decision-making. This development pressures a familiar philosophical question: if LLMs do not literally believe what they output, can their outputs nevertheless be true in the sense targeted by classical theories of truth? This paper argues that they can. We model LLMs as belief-less asserters: systems that produce assertionshaped, truth-evaluable contents while lacking the psychological and normative profile of genuine asserters. We separate semantic (...) questions about truth from normative questions about assertion, and we use three truth-theoretic lenses with distinct roles: deflationism to show that truth does not conceptually depend on belief, correspondence to address aboutness, reference, and derived intentionality in socio-technical settings, and Davidsonian truth-theoretic semantics to explain how interpretation and compositional meaning apply to sentence-incontext outputs without treating the producer as a believing agent. We then integrate leading objections as constraints on warranted reliance rather than on truth itself. The upshot is a sharpened distinction between truth and truthfulness: LLM outputs can be true even when epistemic accountability must be reassigned to surrounding human and institutional actors. (shrink)

Harmony is a concept essential to Confucianism and to the way of life of past and present people in East Asia. Integrating methods of textual exegesis, historical investigation, comparative analysis, and philosophical argumentation, this book presents a comprehensive treatment of the Confucian philosophy of harmony. The book traces the roots of the concept to antiquity, examines its subsequent development, and explicates its theoretical and practical significance for the contemporary world. It argues that, contrary to a common view in the West, (...) Confucian harmony is not mere agreement but has to be achieved and maintained with creative tension. Under the influence of a Weberian reading of Confucianism as "adjustment" to a world with an underlying fixed cosmic order, Confucian harmony has been systematically misinterpreted in the West as presupposing an invariable grand scheme of things that pre-exists in the world to which humanity has to conform. The book shows that Confucian harmony is a dynamic, generative process, which seeks to balance and reconcile differences and conflicts through creativity. Illuminating one of the most important concepts in Chinese philosophy and intellectual history, this book is of interest to students of Chinese studies, history and philosophy in general and eastern philosophy in particular. (shrink)

With the widespread use of vaccines in research and clinical settings, there is an urgent need to standardize vaccine representation, integrate information across diverse vaccine types, and support computer-assisted reasoning. Accordingly, we have since 2007 developed the community-based Vaccine Ontology (VO), which aligns with the Basic Formal Ontology and adheres to OBO Foundry principles. VO models ontologically vaccines, vaccine components, vaccine immune responses, vaccine investigation studies and other vaccine-related topics. VO represents more than 10,000 vaccines targeting 289 infectious pathogens and (...) cancers in humans and over 30 nonhuman animal species. VO provides mappings to external resources such as RxNorm, CVX, FDA, and USDA. Various VO use cases exist. VO facilitates vaccine standardization in resources such as the VIOLIN vaccine database, ImmPort, and the Vaccine Adjuvant Compendium (VAC). Semantic queries can be made to query VO. VO has been shown to enhance experimental and clinical vaccine data analysis and vaccine literature mining. Overall, VO standardizes vaccine modeling and representation and greatly supports vaccine AI research in the Semantic Web era. (shrink)

In multi-scenario corporate deployments, generative artificial intelligence is frequently packaged as an “AI colleague/assistant”. While such framing can increase collaboration efficiency, it may also trigger responsibility diffusion, weaken prudential judgment, and erode organizational integrity. Grounded in virtue ethics and the concept of organizational virtue, this study employs policy analysis and qualitative content analysis to code and compare China’s relevant governance texts with international frameworks including UNESCO, OECD, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF), and the EU AI Act. We (...) examine how institutional mechanisms—transparent notice, human oversight, risk assessment, and traceable remedies—are institutionalized to promote prudence, responsibility, and fairness. We find that policies generally emphasize “controllability, accountability, and noticeability/explainability”, yet devote insufficient attention to attributional shifts caused by anthropomorphic narratives. We therefore recommend incorporating anthropomorphic-design risks into risk-assessment checklists, strengthening cues that reinforce human ultimate responsibility and internal accountability matrices, and refining requirements for transparency and uncertainty communication in conversational systems. (shrink)

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence necessitate a re-examination of the epistemological foundations upon which we attribute consciousness. As AI systems increasingly mimic human behavior and interaction with high fidelity, the concept of a "perfect mimic"—an entity empirically indistinguishable from a human through observation and interaction—shifts from hypothetical to technologically plausible. This paper argues that such developments pose a fundamental challenge to the consistency of our mind-recognition practices. Consciousness attributions rely heavily, if not exclusively, on empirical evidence derived from behavior and (...) interaction. If a perfect mimic provides evidence identical to that of humans, any refusal to grant it equivalent epistemic status must invoke inaccessible factors, such as qualia, substrate requirements, or origin. Selectively invoking such factors risks a debilitating dilemma: either we undermine the rational basis for attributing consciousness to others (epistemological solipsism), or we accept inconsistent reasoning. I contend that epistemic consistency demands we ascribe the same status to empirically indistinguishable entities, regardless of metaphysical assumptions. The perfect mimic thus acts as an epistemic mirror, forcing critical reflection on the assumptions underlying intersubjective recognition in light of advancing AI. This analysis carries significant implications for theories of consciousness and ethical frameworks concerning artificial agents. (shrink)

This paper reports the first study in the literature that adopts a bibliometric approach to systematically explore the scholarship in the young and fast‐growing research field of experimental philosophy. Based on a corpus of 1,248 publications in experimental philosophy from the past two decades retrieved from the PhilPapers website, the study examined the publication trend, the influential experimental philosophers, the impactful works, the popular publication venues, and the major research themes in this subarea of philosophy. It found, first, an overall (...) growing trend in publications in experimental philosophy, encompassing four developmental stages. Second, it found that significant changes in topics of interest have taken place, with some gaining increasing attention, others seemingly going out of fashion, and still others remaining popular constantly. Third, the study identified lists of leading philosophers, frequently cited publications, and popular journals helpful for researchers and newcomers to get a quick start in learning about the field. (shrink)

Each of us bears a unique name given to us at birth. When people use your name, they typically refer to you. But what is the linkage that ties a name to a person and hence allows it to refer? Li's book approaches this question of reference empirically through the medium of referential intuitions. Building on the literature on philosophical and linguistic intuitions, she proposes a linguistic-competence-based account of referential intuitions. Subsequently, using a series of novel experiments, she investigates the (...) variation of referential intuitions across different cultures, as well as the developmental trajectory and the underlying causes of the observed cultural differences. What she finds is that the cultural patterns of referential intuitions are already in place around age seven, and the differences are largely attributable to the distinct perspective taking strategies favoured by easterners and westerners, rather than the moral valence of actions involved in the experimental materials. These results are taken to better support referential pluralism (in particular, the ambiguous view) than referential monism. By undertaking this fascinating research, Li's book provides new insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying people's referential usage of names. It will be valuable to students and scholars of linguistics, philosophy of language and experimental philosophy, and in particular, to those who research into semantic intuitions and theories of reference. (shrink)

Aphantasia, the inability to generate voluntary visual images, affects an estimated 3–4% of the population and provides a valuable model for examining how the brain supports cognition without imagery. Functional MRI studies have reported diminished coordination between visual and higher-order association areas involved in imagery control. However, the temporal characteristics of these neural differences remain unclear, with electroencephalographic (EEG) evidence limited to single-case studies. Here we present the first group-level EEG investigation of aphantasia, comparing 62 individuals with the condition to (...) 59 controls during rest and during tasks probing attention and working memory. Participants with aphantasia had smaller P300 amplitudes, an EEG index of attentional allocation and the updating of task-relevant information. Given the absence of behavioural differences between groups, this attenuation may reflect reduced engagement of imagery-related processes during attentional updating rather than diminished cognitive function. Under high working-memory load, individuals with aphantasia showed lower delta power—activity linked to regulating sensory input and maintaining internal representations. Delta power also scaled with imagery vividness, potentially indicating greater engagement of these processes in individuals with stronger imagery. This pattern suggests that aphantasics may rely more on non-visual strategies for information maintenance, thereby reducing sensory interference and demands on inhibitory control. Together, these results provide the first EEG evidence that aphantasia entails distinct but effective neural dynamics that support cognition without visual imagery. (shrink)

In the paper, titled ‘Choosing death in unjust conditions: hope, autonomy and harm reduction,’ Wiebe and Mullin argue that people living in unjust social conditions are sufficiently autonomous to request medical assistance in dying (MAiD). The ethical issue is that some people may request MAiD primarily because of unjust social conditions, not their illness, disease, disability or decline in capability. It is easily agreed that people living in unjust social conditions can be autonomous. Nevertheless, Wiebe and Mullin fail to appreciate (...) that autonomy is only a necessary condition for MAiD. In addition to autonomy, one must decide that providing assisted dying to a patient because they are living in unjust social conditions is ethical. Central to making this ethical decision is the principle of non-maleficence, famously articulated as ‘do no harm.’ The authors admit that performing MAiD in response to unjust social circumstances is harmful, but they justify this harmful action by appealing to the principle of harm reduction. A fundamental flaw of their approach is that it relies on the legislative definition of intolerable suffering, which is based on circular reasoning and given that 99.2% of patients that have applied for MAiD satisfied this criterion, it is essentially equivalent to no standard/criterion. Canadian society is struggling with the ethical implications of its permissive MAiD programme, and, fundamental to this debate, will be determining the proper balance between autonomy and non-maleficence for people living in unjust social conditions. (shrink)

In this paper, we aim to trace the origin of the systematic cross-cultural variations in referential intuitions by investigating the effects of perspective taking on people’s responses in the Gödel-style probes through two novel experiments. Here is how we will proceed. In section 2, we first briefly introduce the MMNS (2004) study, and then critically review the two relevant studies conducted by Sytsma and colleagues (i.e., Sytsma and Livengood 2011; Sytsma et al. 2015). In section 3, we introduce the literature (...) on cross-cultural variation in perspective taking in cultural psychology, which together with the conjecture of perspectival ambiguity leads to the hypothesis of our current study. In sections 4 and 5, two new experiments on how perspective taking affects people’s responses in hypothetical stories modelled on the Gödel thought experiment will be reported. Based on the empirical findings, in section 6 we argue that the robust cross-cultural variations thus far observed in people’s responses to the Gödel cases are largely attributable to culturally specific perspective-taking strategies, which provides new support for the proposal previously made by Sytsma and Livengood (2011). The implications of the experimental results for the ongoing work of testing the theories of refence of names and for the current metaphilosophical debate on the robustness of philosopher’s intuitions are also drawn in this section. Finally, the major conclusions and contributions of the current study are highlighted in section 7. (shrink)

Bacteria have a significant impact on human production and life, endangering human life and health, so rapid detection of infectious agents is essential to improve human health. Aptamers, which are pieces of oligonucleotides (DNA or RNA) have been applied to biosensors for bacteria detection due to their high affinity, selectivity, robust chemical stability, and their compatibility with various signal amplification and signal transduction mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the different bacterial aptamers selected in recent years using SELEX technology and (...) discuss the differences in optical and electrochemical bacterial aptamer sensors. In addition the technological developments and innovations in bacterial aptamer sensor technology are introduced. Combining new materials and methods, the efficiency and stability of the sensors have also been improved. This review summarizes the progress of current bacterial aptamer sensors based on their practical application status and provides an outlook on their future development. (shrink)

This study investigated the role of entrepreneurial passion in recognition of opportunity, developing entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention, in the shaping of entrepreneurial actions in the presence of proactive personality. This study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses on a sample of 346 university students from Jiangsu province, China. The output of the study showed that entrepreneurial passion positively and significantly influenced entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial self-efficacy to entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurial behavior. The findings also showed (...) that a proactive personality positively and significantly moderated the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior. (shrink)

Background The ethical competence of head nurses plays a pivotal role in nursing ethics. Ethical climate is a prerequisite for ethical competence, and moral resilience can positively influence an individual’s ethical competence. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between ethical climate, moral resilience, and ethical competence among them. Objectives To investigate the relationship between ethical climate, moral resilience, and ethical competence, and examine the mediating role of moral resilience between ethical climate and ethical competence among head nurses. Design (...) A quantitative, cross-sectional study. Methods A total of 309 Chinese head nurses completed an online survey, including ethical climate questionnaire, Rushton moral resilience scale, and ethical competence questionnaire. Inferential statistical analysis includes Pearson’s correlation and a structural equation model. Ethical considerations This study received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of Xiangya Nursing School of Central South University (No. E2023146). Results Head nurses’ ethical climate score positively impacted ethical competence (r = 0.208, p <.001), and ethical climate could affect ethical competence through the mediating role of moral resilience. Conclusion This study emphasized the value of ethical climate in moral resilience of head nurses, ultimately leading to an enhancement in their ethical competence. (shrink)

Traditional philosophical systems generally presuppose an unquestionable "dogmatic black-box origin" (such as God, Heavenly Principle, the thing-in-itself, power, différance), projecting contradictions onto an unverifiable starting point, which leads to the falsity of systemic closure and the inevitability of power manipulation. This paper proposes the triadic axiomatic system of "embodied perception – information exchange – dynamic interconstitution," replacing the "dogmatic black-box origin" with "the starting point of human phenomenal mechanisms," thereby achieving a fundamental paradigm shift in philosophy. Embodied perception is defined (...) as the personalized information generated in the process of the subject's existence, serving as the primordial field of all cognition and value. Information exchange is defined as the symbolic externalization and intersubjective transmission of embodied perception through the process of "encoding – transmission – decoding," manifested as semantic entropy-reducing summarization and entropy-increasing reconstruction. Dynamic interconstitution is established as the inherent law of information exchange, revealing the continuous, circular, and irreversible mechanisms of mutual shaping between individuals and their environment, as well as between self and other, across the temporal, causal, and resultant dimensions. These three axioms are mutually supportive and form a self-consistent closed loop, constituting a unified framework that bridges ontology, epistemology, axiology, moral philosophy, and power theory. By bracketing transcendent assertions and returning to publicly verifiable embodied experience, this perspective shifts the legitimacy of philosophy from "truth claims" to "instrumental commitments," providing a generative explanation for core issues such as self, civilization, value, critique, morality, freedom, development, and power. It establishes a profound dialogue with cognitive science, information theory, complex systems theory, and the social sciences, offering a new cognitive coordinate system for understanding the multi-level symbiotic network of individual–group–civilization. (shrink)

Past work has shown systematic differences between Easterners' and Westerners' intuitions about the reference of proper names. Understanding when these differences emerge in development will help us understand their origins. In the present study, we investigate the referential intuitions of English- and Chinese-speaking children and adults in the U.S. and China. Using a truth-value judgment task modeled on Kripke's classic Gödel case, we find that the cross-cultural differences are already in place at age seven. Thus, these differences cannot be attributed (...) to later education or enculturation. Instead, they must stem from differences that are present in early childhood. We consider alternate theories of reference that are compatible with these findings and discuss the possibility that the cross-cultural differences reflect differences in perspective-taking strategies. (shrink)

Though there is a wide and varied literature on ethical supererogation, there has been almost nothing written about its epistemic counterpart, despite an intuitive analogy between the two fields. This paper seeks to change this state of affairs. I will begin by showing that there are examples which intuitively feature epistemically supererogatory doxastic states. Next, I will present a positive theory of epistemic supererogation that can vindicate our intuitions in these examples, in an explanation that parallels a popular theory of (...) ethical supererogation. Roughly, I will argue that a specific type of epistemic virtue—the ability to creatively think up plausible hypotheses given a body of evidence—is not required of epistemic agents. Thus, certain exercises of this virtue can result in supererogatory doxastic states. In presenting this theory, I will also show how thinking about epistemic supererogation can provide us a new way forward in the debate about the uniqueness thesis for epistemic rationality. (shrink)

This paper empirically probes people’s judgements about whether future-bias and the temporal value asymmetry (TVA for short) are rationally permissible, obligatory, or impermissible. While philosophers are divided about the normative status of these attitudes/preferences, they have typically agreed that non-philosophers will judge that future-bias is at least permissible, and probably obligatory, and will judge that TVA is not permissible. If this is right, it is important for two reasons. First, many researchers have argued that future-bias is a manifestation of TVA. (...) If, however, people make different normative judgements about the two phenomena this tends to undermine this idea. Second, if it is true, it impacts theorising about the normative status of these phenomena: the assumption that future-bias is rational currently guides theorising, in that defenders of the rationality of future-bias tend to argue that its rationality is obvious, and hence must be accommodated, while opponents tend to try to show why, despite not being rational, future-bias appears to us to be rational. Yet no empirical work has been undertaken to test these assumptions about people’s judgements. In the first work of this kind, we confirmed that most people judge future-bias to be rationally obligatory, and TVA to be rationally impermissible. (shrink)

Li Zehou is widely regarded as one of China's most influential contemporary thinkers. He has produced influential theories of the development of Chinese thought and the place of aesthetics in Chinese ethics and value theory. This book is the first English-language translation of Li Zehou's work on classical Chinese thought. It includes chapters on the classical Chinese thinkers, including Confucius, Mozi, Laozi, Sunzi, Xunzi and Zhuangzi, and also on later eras and thinkers such as Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty (...) and the Song-Ming Neo-Confucians. The essays in this book not only discuss these historical figures and their ideas, but also consider their historical significance, and how key themes from these early schools reappeared in and shaped later periods and thinkers. Taken together, they highlight the breadth of Li Zehou's scholarship and his syncretic approach-his explanations of prominent thinkers and key periods in Chinese intellectual history blend ideas from both the Chinese and Western canons, while also drawing on contemporary thinkers in both traditions. The book also includes an introduction written by the translator that helpfully explains the significance of Li Zehou's work and its prospects for fostering cross-cultural dialogue with Western philosophy. A History of Chinese Classical Thought will be of interest to advanced students and scholars interested in Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy, and Chinese intellectual and social history. (shrink)

This was a crimeCrime against people seeking separation from their extended families and ownership of properties with their parents or grandparents still alive. The prohibition was gradually introduced into the law in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Noise in behavior is often viewed as a nuisance: while the mind aims to take the best possible action, it is let down by unreliability in the sensory and response systems. How researchers study cognition reflects this viewpoint – averaging over trials and participants to discover the deterministic relationships between experimental manipulations and their behavioral consequences, with noise represented as additive, often Gaussian, and independent. Yet a careful look at behavioral noise reveals rich structure that defies easy explanation. First, both (...) perceptual and preferential judgments show that sensory and response noise may potentially only play minor roles, with most noise arising in the cognitive computations. Second, the functional form of the noise is both non-Gaussian and non-independent, with the distribution of noise being better characterized as heavy-tailed and as having substantial long-range autocorrelations. It is possible that this structure results from brains that are, for some reason, bedeviled by a fundamental design flaw, albeit one with intriguingly distinctive characteristics. Alternatively, noise might not be a bug but a feature: indeed, we suggest that noise is fundamental to how cognition works. Specifically, we propose that the brain approximates probabilistic inference with a local sampling algorithm, one that uses randomness to drive its exploration of alternative hypotheses. Reframing cognition in this way explains the rich structure of noise and leads to a surprising conclusion: that noise is not a symptom of cognitive malfunction but plays a central role in underpinning human intelligence. (shrink)

This study examines the influence of Confucianism on corporate poverty alleviation (PA) participation. We argue that firms in regions with more Confucian temples are more likely to participate in government-initiated PA programs because Confucianism emphasizes common social welfare. This positive relationship is stronger for firms with chief executive officers born in Confucian regions and for firms that are under high media pressure, as the trade-off between social welfare and firm interest is in favor of Confucianism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed (...) firms, we find evidence supporting our arguments. Moreover, we find consistent evidence that firms influenced by Confucianism are motivated to pay long-term attention to PA activities and improve corporate PA efficiency, highlighting the substantive role of Confucianism in a PA campaign. Our study contributes to the business ethics literature by introducing Confucianism into research on corporate social activities and provides practical implications. (shrink)

What constitutes a good corporate agent? The article answers this question by critically applying List and Pettit's theory of group agency, which emphasizes three crucial dimensions of organizational design: epistemic quality, incentive compatibility, and control. Integrating empirical insights from sociology and organizational studies, we argue that List and Pettit's framework implies a non‐contingent relationship between good corporate agents and egalitarian structures. This article makes two contributions: (1) it enriches debates in the political theory of the firm by clarifying how group (...) agency concepts impact the normative understanding of corporate structures; (2) it strengthens the normative foundations of List and Pettit's framework by situating their theoretical criteria within empirical evidence of organizational effectiveness. (shrink)

This paper reignites the debate over Locke’s one-act versus two-act account of knowledge and judgment, reassessing the recent inclination to discuss his theory within the justified true belief (JTB+) framework of Anglo-American analytic epistemology. After clarifying the key issues, it defends the one-act account by critically engaging with recent scholarship, highlighting weaknesses in the arguments of one-act proponents against the two-act account, and offering new counterarguments against the latter. Ultimately, it argues why situating Locke’s broader view of knowledge within a (...) post-Gettierian epistemological framework is an ill-suited approach. (shrink)

This article compares Confucian ethics of Jen and feminist ethics of care. It attempts to show that they share philosophically significant common grounds. Its findings affirm the view that care-orientation in ethics is not a characteristic peculiar to one sex. It also shows that care-orientation is not peculiar to subordinated social groups. Arguing that the oppression of women is not an essential element of Confucian ethics, the author indicates the Confucianism and feminism are compatible.

近年来，孟子伦理思想的理论形态及其与后果主义的关系引起了学界的广泛关注。其中，有三点核心问题亟待商榷：一是孟子提倡的“仁义”是否具有独立于“利”的内在价值，二是孟子是否反对后果主义的道德推理模式，三是 “仁义”在孟子语境下的道德行动中所扮演的角色。参与讨论的部分学者认为，孟子不仅坚信“仁义”作为人的本性与道德行为的唯一动机具有独立于“利”的内在价值，且反对后果主义背后“二本”式的思维方式。而另一部分 学者则认为，“仁义”的全部价值就在于其所能产生的最大效益；“二本”及其他似乎能够反驳这种后果主义解读的文本都能够在此诠释框架下得到妥善的解决。尽管双方的理解仍有分歧，但相关讨论深化了对孟子伦理思想多层 次性与复杂性的认识，为儒家哲学的当代阐释提供了新的思考方向。.

Background Nurses often face ethical issues in their daily work that can have an impact on their level of job embeddedness. And positive job embeddedness is essential to reduce burnout among nurses and improve professional retention in the medical industry. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness. Objectives To investigate the relationship between moral distress, moral resilience, and job embeddedness, and explore the mediating role of moral resilience between moral distress and (...) job embeddedness among nurses. Design A quantitative, cross-sectional study. Methods Nurses from a number of tertiary general hospitals in central China were surveyed and assessed using the Moral Distress Scale, the Nurse Moral Resilience Scale, and the nurse job embeddedness Scale from February to March 2023. The study was conducted in line with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical consideration All study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University (No. 2023-313). Findings Moral distress was positively correlated with moral resilience ( β = 0.525, p < 0.01) and negatively correlated job embeddedness ( β = −0.470, p < 0.01). Moral resilience partially mediated the relationship between moral distress with job embeddedness ( β = −0.087, p < 0.01). Discussion The findings reveal a relationship between moral distress, job embeddedness, and moral resilience among nurses. Conclusion Moral distress and moral resilience are important correlates of job embeddedness in nurses. Interventions to reduce moral distress and increase moral resilience may have potential benefits for improving nurses’ job embeddedness. It is recommended that clinical nursing administrators create a favorable ethical atmosphere, educate nurses about ethics, and increase nurses' moral resilience. (shrink)

: This is a study of the Confucian ideal of harmony and harmonization (he 和). First, through an investigation of the early development of he in ancient China, the meaning of this concept is explored. Second, a philosophical analysis of he and a discussion of the relation between harmony, sameness, and strife are offered. Also offered are reasons why this notion is so important to Confucian philosophy. Finally, on the basis of value pluralism, a case is made for the Confucian (...) approach of he to the politics of today's world culture. (shrink)

Rationality is intrapersonally permissive just in case there are multiple doxastic states that one agent may be rational in holding at a given time, given some body of evidence. One way for intrapersonal permissivism to be true is if there are epistemic supererogatory beliefs—beliefs that go beyond the call of epistemic duty. Despite this, there has been almost no discussion of epistemic supererogation in the permissivism literature. This paper shows that this is a mistake. It does this by arguing that (...) the most popular ways of responding to one of the major obstacles to any intrapersonally permissive all fall prey to the same problem. This problem is most naturally solved by positing a category of epistemically supererogatory belief. So intrapersonal epistemic permissivists should embrace epistemic supererogation. (shrink)

Green technology innovation (GTI) has been increasingly adopted by firms worldwide to promote sustainable development, whereas its potential downsides have been largely overlooked. Drawing on moral licensing theory, we devise a framework to reveal the potential dark side of firms’ GTI on corporate social responsibility (CSR). We argue that with the global eco-awakening, GTI has been an efficient means for firms to meet their stakeholders’ expectations and environmental legitimacy. This may cause a moral licensing effect for senior executives’ ethical strategic (...) decision-making, due to their belief that existing GTI could balance the firm’s subsequent moral neglect, thereby minimizing firms’ CSR. Using the Chinese listed manufacturing firms as a sample, we find empirical support for our prediction. In addition, we investigate how firms’ environmental awards and honors may exacerbate the negative impact of GTI on CSR, whereas the presence of women executives may mitigate the relation. Our findings can trigger firms’ reflections on GTI’s downsides, and contribute to research and practice in comprehensively understanding firms’ GTI consequences, CSR decisions, and moral balance. (shrink)

This book contributes to both the internal debate in liberalism and the application of political liberalism to the process of democratization in East Asia. Beyond John Rawls’ original intention to limit the scope of political liberalism to only existing and well-ordered liberal democracies, political liberalism has the potential to inspire and contribute to democratic establishment and maintenance in East Asia. Specifically, the book has two main objectives. First, it will demonstrate that political liberalism offers the most promising vision for liberal (...) democracy, and it can be defended against contemporary perfectionist objections. Second, it will show that perfectionist approaches to political Confucianism suffer from practical and theoretical difficulties. Instead, an alternative model of democracy inspired by political liberalism will be explored in order to achieve a multivariate structure for citizens to come to terms with democracy in their own ways, to support a neutral state that ensures the establishment and stability of democracy, and to maintain an active public role for Confucianism to prevent it from being banished to the private sphere. This model represents a more promising future for democracy in East Asia. (shrink)

Background Nurses often face complex moral distress in clinical practice, where maintaining emotional stability and making moral decisions under pressure is crucial for patient care and safety. Moral resilience helps nurses stay composed, think rationally, and navigate moral challenges effectively. Exploring the characteristics and influencing factors of different moral resilience subgroups can provide insights into nurses’ resilience levels and inform targeted interventions to enhance their occupational well-being. Aim To identify the latent profile model of moral resilience in nurses and analyze (...) the characteristic differences and influencing factors across different profiles. Design A multicenter cross-sectional study. Participants and research context The study involved nurse practitioners from nine different hospitals. A total of 1098 nurses from different specialties participated in the study. Ethical considerations The study was approved by the ethical board of the 900 Hospital of the Joint Service Support Force. Findings Nurses’ moral resilience was classified into three profiles: Vulnerable (46.45%), Discrepant (12.02%), and Robust (41.53%). Divorced or widowed nurses ( p =.017, Z = 2.395) and those working in infectious disease departments ( p <.001, Z = 3.796) were more likely to belong to the Robust profile. Higher moral distress increased the likelihood of being in the Vulnerable profile ( p =.017/<.001, Z = −2.379/−7.001). A stronger ethical climate ( p <.001, Z = 4.540) and greater workplace trust ( p =.010, Z = 2.586) were more likely to belong to the Robust profile. Nurses with greater moral courage were more likely to have robust moral resilience and less likely to be in the Discrepant profile ( p =.007/<.001, Z = 2.687/−5.225). Conclusion Nurses’ moral resilience is heterogeneous, highlighting the need for managers to consider profile characteristics and specialty-specific factors. Strengthening the hospital ethical climate can reduce moral distress, enhance workplace trust, and foster moral courage, ultimately improving moral resilience in nurses. (shrink)

Examines liberal democracy and Confucianism as two value systems and argues for a future where both coexist as independent value systems in China.

Using listed firms in China over the period 2010–2018, we investigate the association between directors’ network and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure from the lens of resource-based view. We find a significantly positive effect of directors’ network centrality on the CSR disclosure quality, and the effect is more pronounced when the firm (1) invests less in advertising; (2) is followed by less analysts; (3) is less financially constrained; and (4) has no assurance of sustainability report. Furthermore, we document (...) that independent directors’ network centrality is positively associated with CSR disclosure quality. Our findings have important implication for practitioners, policy makers, and regulators. (shrink)

This paper investigates whether philanthropic giving decisions and amount of charitable giving are related to firms’ political connections and ownership type. To this end, Chinese firms listed on either the Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchange between 2004 and 2011 are examined, where government interference in the business sector is prevalent, state ownership structure is dominant, and corporate political connections prevail. Our analyses show a significant and positive relationship between political connections and the likelihood and extent of firm contributions; a significant (...) and negative relationship between state ownership and extent of firm contributions; and a stronger relationship between political connections and corporate philanthropy in non-state-owned firms. These findings with regard to the relationship between corporate giving, political connections, and ownership type have important implications for understanding corporate giving behavior in China and in emerging markets in general. (shrink)

The research presented in this paper focuses on business ethical values inChina, a country in which the process of institutional transformation has left cultural values in a state of flux. A survey was conducted in China and the U.S. by using five business scenarios. Survey results show similarities between the Chinese and American decision choices for three out of five scenarios. However, the results reveal significant differences in rationales, even forsimilar decisions. The implications of similarities and differences between the U.S. (...) and Chinese samples are discussed. (shrink)

Professor Li Bocong's philosophical works embody Chinese society's intellectual reflection on its technological, economic and social modernisation. Drawing on classical Chinese philosophy, the Chinese interpretation of Marxism and dialogue with other Western philosophical traditions, he has formulated a research programme in the philosophy of engineering and stimulated the emergence of an independent national school of thought. In the past decades, generations of Chinese philosophers and social scientists have further developed his approach and understanding of engineering as a special field of (...) human practice that is of central importance to today's societies. In the interview conducted with Professor Li Bocong in May 2025, we discuss his personal and intellectual biography, his inspirations from traditional Chinese culture, his reflections on the concepts of science, technology and engineering in the East and West and their intellectual exchange, his understanding of human action, creativity and rationality and their manifestations in engineering; the socio-technical transformations in today's China, the dialectic of the global and the local in socio-technical development, and the principles of philosophical life. (shrink)

In this paper, we attempt to de-naturalize the prevailing economistic imaginary of work that Max Weber and later commentators described as ‘protestant work ethic,’ epitomized in the figure of homo economicus. We do so by contrasting it with the imaginary of skillful work that can be found in vignettes about artisans in the Zhuangzi. We argue that there are interesting contrasts between these views concerning 1) direct goal achievement vs. indirect goal achievement through the cultivation of skills; 2) the hierarchization (...) of mental versus physical dimensions of work; 3) the crafting of non-dominating relationships between the working subject, their object, and their instruments of work, which leads to questions about the sustainability of these relationships; and 4) the relationship between work and well-being, which the Daoist texts conceptualize in a much more holistic, but also more presentist way than Western economic rationality. We conclude by pointing out the relevance of these differences for several contemporary debates about work, by denaturalizing a dominant imaginary of work, by distinguishing different forms of work, by suggesting a different relation between work and nature, and by raising questions about the desirability of the automation of work. (shrink)

Aim To synthesize qualitative research on perspectives and understandings of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients, family members, and staff regarding respect and dignity in ICU, in order to explore the connotations and meanings of respect and dignity in ICU. Design A qualitative meta-synthesis. Methods The Chinese and English databases were systematically searched, including PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wangfang Data, VIP, and CBM from each database’s inception to July 22, 2023. Studies were critically appraised using the (...) Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Qualitative data were extracted, summarized, and meta-synthesized. (PROSPERO: CRD42023447218). Results A total of 9 studies from 6 countries were included in the meta-synthesis. Thirty-six main themes and 67 sub-themes were extracted, which were eventually integrated into 9 categories and 4 themes: (1) integrity of humanity; (2) autonomy; (3) equality; (4) environmental support. Conclusion To maintain patient dignity, it is necessary to create an environment of respect within the ICU where healthcare professionals uphold the concept of preserving human integrity and respect patients' autonomy and equality. Healthcare professionals need to value the dignity of ICU patients and treat them as unique individuals during treatment and care. Hospital managers should also strive to create a respectful environment to provide environmental support for dignity care implementation. (shrink)

Firms worldwide are increasingly required to disclose their carbon emissions due to the environmental damage associated with climate change. Because there has been no previous literature focusing on the determinants of corporate carbon disclosure integrating environmental legitimacy and green innovation, the present study attempted to develop an original framework to fill the research gap. This study explored the influence of environmental legitimacy on corporate carbon disclosure, and investigated the role of green innovation as a mediator. With the samples of Carbon (...) Disclosure Project in China from 2008 to 2012, the results demonstrate that environmental legitimacy significantly negatively influences the likelihood of corporate carbon disclosure, and that green process innovation mediates the relationship, while green product innovation has no significant mediating effect. It means that environmental legitimacy not only directly affects the likelihood of corporate carbon disclosure, but also indirectly affects it via green process innovation. Hence, companies must increase both informal and formal mechanisms, i.e., external environmental legitimacy and internal green process innovation, to engage in carbon information disclosure and ensure sustainability. (shrink)

We tested a recently‐found sound symbolic effect, the gleam‐glum effect, in which words with the [i]‐phoneme (like “gleam”) are perceived as emotionally more positive than matched words with the [Ʌ]‐phoneme (like “glum”). We extend prior work and verify this effect using a novel online pseudoword‐to‐scene matching task, testing U.S. English‐speaking adults (n = 105) and 5‐ to 7‐year‐old children (n = 52). Participants heard pairs of matched [i]‐ versus [Ʌ]‐monosyllabic pseudowords (e.g., “zeem” versus “zum”) and assigned them to cartoon scenes (...) exhibiting contrasting emotional valence (positive versus negative). These results provide the first empirical evidence that the gleam‐glum effect is robust across both young children and adults, with the effect magnitude somewhat less in children of this age compared to adults. Our findings confirm that the gleam‐glum effect is already strong at an early age and holds promise of being an important mechanism for language comprehension, language use, and language learning. (shrink)

In the team context, leaders usually develop differentiated leader-member exchange relationships with employees, resulting in some employees having relatively inferior relationships with the leader than others. Nevertheless, how and when employees with low relative leader-member exchange (RLMX) relationships react toward the leader have been rarely considered in empirical research. Drawing upon social comparison theory, we develop a cross-level moderated mediation model to examine how and when RLMX may lead to employee’s unethical pro-leader behavior (UPLB). We propose that employees with low (...) RLMX would feel envy which in turn motivates them to engage in UPLB in order to gain the rewards and resources that are distributed by the leader. Further, we argue that envy is less likely to motivate low RLMX employees to engage in UPLB when distributive justice climate is high, because high distributive justice indicates that rewards and resources are distributed fairly (based on work contribution rather than engaging in unethical behaviors that please the leader). Data were obtained from 504 employees in 102 divisional teams in a large retail corporation at three time points. Results of the multilevel moderated mediation analysis show that envy mediates the effect of RLMX on UPLB and that the indirect relationship is moderated by team-level distributive justice climate. These findings suggest the importance of adopting a social comparison perspective to understand the negative consequences of RLMX via emotional mechanisms. (shrink)

This essay introduces the philosophy of harmony in Classical Confucianism. In the first part of the essay the author summarizes the concept of harmony as it was developed in various Confucian classics. In the second part, the author offers an account of the Confucian program of harmony, ranging from internal harmony in the person, to harmony in the family, the state, the international world, and finally to harmony in the entire universe.

Over the past decade, institutional theory has been extensively utilized in the field of social entrepreneurship (SE). However, an encompassing overview of the wide-ranging applications of institutional theory to SE is lacking, potentially hampering academic advances in this domain. To fill this gap, we conduct a systematic review and supplementary bibliometric analysis of 148 papers published between 2008 and 2022 to comprehensively understand the nexus of SE and institutional theory while also outlining the integration of ethics herein. Our analysis shows (...) that the existing research is divided into three clusters, reflecting three unique conversations between SE and institutional theory: institutional and societal change through SE, institutional complexity and hybrid organizations, and the institutional context of SE. We find that ethics is only integrated into these conversations to a limited degree. Based on our analysis, we zoom in on each conversation to identify the existing research gaps and point to new opportunities for future research. We also encourage SE scholars to zoom out on the abovementioned conversations to enrich this promising field by critically examining ethics and incorporating relevant insights from other research fields (i.e., social movement theory, category, and emotions). (shrink)