紧急救援中公共建筑的伦理学

灾害评估将房屋分成框架结构和混合结构、砖木结构和土坯结构来评定损失.防震减灾中,除了上述分类外,更重要的是要考虑到"房屋-人"是一种相互不可分割的系统工程.房屋不仅仅是由砖石和水泥组成的,它同时是有"情感"的:人对房屋好一点,房屋就会对主人有报答.不少农村医院、学校等公共建筑,由于设计标准低、施工中存在偷工减料的现象,已经存在着隐患,只是在建造初期没有暴露出来.有了地震这一外力,加剧了矛盾,由"小患"变成了"大害".应当"以人为本",建议新建的建筑物应在当地基本烈度的基础上提高1度进行设计;对危旧房屋的改造,也应按在当地基本烈度的基础上加1度进行加固.可以分两步走:第一步,先加强地震多发地区的公共建筑,大约在全国有百余个县;第二步,在全国推广.     

When Agendas Collide: Human Welfare and Biological Conservation

Abstract:  Conservation should benefit ecosystems, nonhuman organisms, and current and future human beings. Nevertheless, tension among these goals engenders potential ethical conflicts: conservationists' true motivations may differ from the justifications they offer for their activities, and conservation projects have the potential to disempower and oppress people. We reviewed the promise and deficiencies of integrating social, economic, and biological concerns into conservation, focusing on research in ecosystem services and efforts in community-based conservation. Despite much progress, neither paradigm provides a silver bullet for conservation's most pressing problems, and both require additional thought and modification to become maximally effective. We conclude that the following strategies are needed to make conservation more effective in our human-dominated world. (1) Conservation research needs to integrate with social scholarship in a more sophisticated manner. (2) Conservation must be informed by a detailed understanding of the spatial, temporal, and social distributions of costs and benefits of conservation efforts. Strategies should reflect this understanding, particularly by equitably distributing conservation's costs. (3) We must better acknowledge the social concerns that accompany biodiversity conservation; accordingly, sometimes we must argue for conservation for biodiversity's sake, not for its direct human benefits.     

环境伦理学价值关系的评价——论罗尔斯顿的内在价值理论

罗尔斯顿把价值评价关系引入了自然系统,想从自然的创造性关系引出价值的关系,并把价值最重要的属性看作是创造性,因而,他也就偏离了主体设定的价值取向,把价值的生成看成是自然本身的事情了。     

Fetal therapy: practical ethical considerations

Progress in prenatal diagnosis can lead to the diagnosis of severe fetal abnormalities for which natural history anticipates a fatal outcome or the development of severe disability despite optimal postnatal care. Intrauterine therapy can be offered in these selected cases. Prenatal diagnosis is the only field of medicine in which termination is an option in the management of severe diseases. Fetal therapy has therefore developed as an alternative to fatalist expectant prenatal management as well as to termination of pregnancy (TOP). There are few standards of fetal care that have gone beyond the stage of equipoise and even fewer have been established based on appropriate studies comparing pre- and postnatal care. Several ethical questions are being raised as fetal surgery develops, including basic Hippocratic principles of patients' autonomy and doctors' duty of competence moving the boundaries between experimental surgery, therapeutic innovation and standard care. In addition, the technical success of a fetal intervention can only rarely fully predict the postnatal outcome. Managing uncertainty regarding long-term morbidity and the possibility for fetal therapy to change the risk of perinatal death into that of severe handicap remains a critical factor affecting women's choice for TOP as an alternative to fetal therapy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The need for ecocentrism in biodiversity conservation

Over the past 5 decades, scientists have been documenting negative anthropogenic environmental change, expressing increasing alarm, and urging dramatic socioecological transformation in response. A host of international meetings have been held, but the erosion of biological diversity continues to accelerate. Why, then, has no effective political action been taken? We contend that part of the answer may lie in the anthropocentric ethical premises and moral rhetoric typically deployed in the cause of conservation. We further argue that it is essential to advance moral arguments for biodiversity conservation that are not just based on perceived human interests but on ecocentric values, namely, convictions that species and ecosystems have value and interests that should be respected regardless of whether they serve human needs and aspirations. A broader array of moral rationales for biodiversity conservation, we conclude, would be more likely to lead to effective plans, adopted and enforced by governments, designed to conserve biological diversity. A good place to start in this regard would be to explicitly incorporate ecocentric values into the recommendations that will be made at the conclusion of the 15th meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, scheduled to be held in October 2020.     

The Protection of Civilians and ethics of humanitarian governance: beyond intervention and resilience

The principle of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) in armed conflict has ethical repercussions in various actions undertaken by states and international organisations, from humanitarian relief, development aid, and peacekeeping, to warfare and military intervention. While the ethics of humanitarian intervention are instructive in this regard, most PoC practices should be conceived rather as modes of humanitarian governance across borders—from interventionist to resilience‐oriented kinds. The consequences of this for the ethics of PoC are explored in this paper, highlighting questions of power, culture, and complicity. By relating these questions to the ethical strands of solidarist and pluralist internationalism, it positions the ethics of PoC within the broader field of the ethics of world politics. Examples are drawn from recent scholarly debate on PoC efforts in war‐torn countries such as South Sudan. This analysis of the ethics of PoC reconfigures central positions in the debate on humanitarian intervention to an era of global humanitarian governance.     

利益、价值与认知视域下的环境冲突及其伦理调适

从利益、价值与认知三维视域出发,分析了环境冲突的形成原因,考察了环境伦理对环境冲突的调适机理.环境冲突是社会主体利益、价值、认知多元化背景下多种因素综合的结果.从彼此间独断性的对立和冲突转向建设性的生态与互动,是化解环境冲突的根本路径.对此,环境伦理学具有其独特的价值和意义.环境伦理通过对环境价值的辩护,将自然拉进道德关注的视野,塑造和影响人们的利益、价值和认知结构,调适人类社会中工业文明以来不断制度化的生态缺失,从而作为一种积极的要素,推进各主体的利益、价值和认知由对立和冲突走向彼此共存的生态互动.     

National Discussions,Global Repercussions: Ethics in British Newspaper Coverage of Global Climate Negotiations

There is convincing evidence that the media have been responsible for questionable coverage on climate change, which has been blamed for undermining public consensus on the issue. However, less is known about the way in which the media communicate the key values, or ethical dimension, surrounding the debate over climate change and its global effects. It is generally argued that a strong notion of cosmopolitanism rather than narrow national self-interest will be fundamental to the achievement of a comprehensive international agreement on climate change. The media provide a crucial forum for discussing such challenges. The study examines how climate ethics form part of the debate on climate change in three British national newspapers leading up to, during, and following two key United Nations conferences. Through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of climate change coverage, this article examines how the values of cosmopolitanism and communitarianism underpin the debate on climate ethics in the respective newspapers. This article argues that the possibility of reaching a fair climate agreement partially depends upon the ability of media to inform citizens of the inherent injustices of climate change and the importance of taking bold action. It is concluded that a more cosmopolitan perspective in the media could be useful in helping sway public opinion in favor of effective climate action.     

The ethics in balancing control and freedom when engineering solutions for sustainable behaviour

Research suggests that to allow for sustainable development, consumption patterns must be changed. Individual behaviour is central to society's impact on the environment. However, due to the complexity of environmental issues, much of the political debate and technology development is inaccessible to consumers and based on the values, interpretations and priorities of experts. User‐centred, user‐involved and participatory processes are fundamental in design disciplines such as interaction design and participatory design. Research into the possibilities for cross‐pollination of design for sustainability and user‐centred design has distinguished several strategies for design‐led behavioural change. The strategies differ with regard to the levels of control and responsibility that users are left with, ranging from empowerment through information about consequences of behaviour to blocking behaviour or forcing sustainable practices upon individuals. By considering technological behaviour‐steering strategies in the light of science and technology studies and theory on technological mediation, the paper addresses the ethical issues that arise and discusses how designers can contribute to more sustainable consumption patterns without compromising quality of life, individual freedom and democratic rights.