Ethics and Character Formation in Sports: A Philosophical Perspective

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) famously proclaimed that “God is dead and we have killed Him.” Might one say similarly that in today s “winner take all” society “sportsmanship is dead and we have killed it”? Is the very concept no longer relevant in the modern age of competitive sports? In this essay I will show how three long dead philosophers—Aristotle, Kant, and the aforementioned Nietzsche—still have much to teach us about sportsmanship and its continued relevance for the present day

The Character Formation of Children in Japan: a Study of Japanese Children Textbook on Moral Education (Doutoku)

The purpose of this research was to explore any underlying messages or moral principle in Japanese elementary school textbook titled “Watashitachi no Doutoku” and its correlation with the character formation of children in Japan. The method used in this research was the literature review that was derived from corpus data in the form of an original Japanese manuscript. The corpus data were derived from textbooks that were still being used in Japan to date, in the form of original books in the Japanese language from the first grade to sixth grade elementary school, whereas the research method used a descriptive analysis method. The problem analysis was divided into four sections, including intrapersonal morality, interpersonal moral value, morality toward nature, and morality toward society. The conclusion indicates that character installment through special school subjects, namely moral education (doutoku), using Watashitachi no Doutoku influences character formation of elementary school children in Japan

Agapeic Theism: Personifying Evidence and Moral Struggle

The epistemology of monotheism offered by philosophers has given inadequate attention to the kind of foundational evidence to be expected of a personal God whose moral character is ’agapeic’, or perfectly loving, toward all other agents. This article counters this deficiency with the basis of a theistic epistemology that accommodates the distinctive moral character of a God worthy of worship. It captures the widely neglected ’agonic’, or struggle-oriented, character of a God who seeks, by way of personal witness and intentional action, to realize and manifest ’agape’ among humans who suffer from selfishness. In doing so, the article identifies the overlooked role of personifying evidence of God in human moral character formation. In agreement with some prominent New Testament themes, the new perspective offered ties the epistemology of monotheism to robust ’agapeic’ morality in a way that makes such epistemology ethically challenging for inquirers about God’s existence. Accordingly,

Majorana bound states in open quasi-1D and 2D systems with transverse Rashba coupling

We study the formation of Majorana states in quasi-1D and 2D square lattices with open boundary conditions, with general anisotropic Rashba coupling, in the presence of an applied Zeeman field and in the proximity of a superconductor. For systems in which the length of the system is very large (quasi-1D) we calculate analytically the exact topological invariant, and we find a rich phase diagram which is strongly dependent on the width of the system. We compare our results with previous results based on a few-band approximation. We also investigate numerically open 2D systems of finite length in both directions. We use the recently introduced generalized Majorana polarization, which can locally evaluate the Majorana character of a given state. We find that the formation of Majoranas depends strongly on the geometry of the system and if the length and the width are comparable no Majorana states can form, however, one can show the formation of "quasi-Majorana" states that have a local Majorana character, but no global Majorana symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Formation of atom wires on vicinal silicon

The formation of atomic wires via pseudomorphic step-edge decoration on vicinal silicon surfaces has been analyzed for Ga on the Si(112) surface using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Density Functional Theory calculations. Based on a chemical potential analysis involving more than thirty candidate structures and considering various fabrication procedures, it is concluded that pseudomorphic growth on stepped Si(112), both under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions, must favor formation of Ga zig-zag chains rather than linear atom chains. The surface is non-metallic and presents quasi-one dimensional character in the lowest conduction band.Comment: submitte

Unions, Cartels, and the Political Economy of American Cities: the Chicago Flat Janitors\u27 Union in the Progressive Era and 1920s

In 1997, Ira Katznelson contributed to the ongoing discussion among social scientists and historians about how to analyze class formation and the development of the American state. He was particularly interested in tying this research to the history of liberalism in an effort to both historicize the generalizations of Louis Hartz and address the question of American exceptionalism. Evaluating the body of research, Katznelson argued that authors had too frequently abstracted the state from its context and then used it to explain the very phenomena that helped define the state\u27s character in the first place. In part to imbed the state more concretely in its environment, he suggested “a shift in angle of vision away from the state as such to the character of the rules and institutions that govern the transactions between the state and civil society.” This shift would also contribute to the study of America\u27s prevailing liberalism, which has shaped the environment of the working class and the state, even while its own particular character has been the subject of some of the most profound divisions in American public life. Using J. David Greenstone\u27s work, Katznelson defined liberalism as a “boundary condition,” that is, “‘a set of relatively permanent features of a particular context that affect causal relationships within it\u27 even as it remains subject to dispute.” In times of crisis, conflicts over liberalism\u27s “grammar of rules,” or it\u27s “bundle of institutions and norms,” spill across the line between state and civil society, because they involve redefining the relation between the two. 1 Footnotes 1 Ira Katznelson, “Working-Class Formation and American Exceptionalism, Yet Again,” in American Exceptionalism? US Working-Class Formation in an International Context, ed. Rick Halpern and Jonathan Morris (New York: St. Martin\u27s Press, 1997), 36–55, quotations on 40 and 42

Choice of Law in the Federal Courts: Use of State or Federal Law to Determine Foreign Corporation’s Amenability to Suit

I centrum för avhandlingen står den konflikt om skolagan som aktualiserades när det svenska skolväsendet skulle stöpas om till en enhetsskola. Undersökningsperioden är 1946-1962. Det övergripande syftet har varit att analysera denna konflikts upprinnelse, utveckling och följder i relation till skolans fostransuppdrag och barndomens innebörder. Med utgångspunkt i detta syfte har dels har det formella skolpolitiska spelet kring enhetsskolan och skolans fostransuppdrag beskrivits, dels har ett antal centrala texter som producerades i denna process analyserats. Teoretiskt och metodiskt har undersökningen knutit an till ett diskursanalytiskt förhållningssätt där frågor om makt och styrning är centrala. I diskussionen om skolans fostransuppdrag framträdde olika diskurser som på vissa punkter stod i skarp opposition mot varandra. Vid en närmare granskning av denna konflikt har diskursernas olika möjlighetsvillkor undersökts, i betydelsen deras historiska och samhälleliga förutsättningar och deras inre logiker; och de centrala ord, begrepp och metaforer som har utgjort diskursernas centrala element har kunnat ringas in. De två maktteoretiska begreppen styrningsrationalitet och hegemoni har utgjort de primära analytiska redskapen. Med hjälp av styrningsrationalitetsbegreppet har de målsättningar, inställningar och problem som har varit knutna till hanteringen av barnen under perioden åskådliggjorts. De olika antaganden om barnet som den fostrande verksamheten har vilat på, kunskaperna och vetenskaperna som har legat till grund för den, teknikerna som har ansetts nödvändiga samt det subjekt som utgjort målet för olika fostrande åtgärder har analyserats och diskuterats. Med hjälp av hegemonibegreppet har kampen om skolbarnets fostran under perioden kunnat förstås och fostransdiskussionens konsekvenser för hur den nya skolans fostrande målsättningar formulerades och kom till uttryck i grundskolans formativa dokument.This dissertation analyses the controversy on corporal punishment that arose in conjunction with the Swedish comprehensive school reform. The time period covered is 1946-1962. The overarching aim has been to explore and analyse the origins, development and consequences of this debate in relation to the school’s task of character formation and changed notions of childhood. The school politics in which the comprehensive school reform took shape has been examined and a number of central documents that were produced in this process have been analysed. Theoretically and methodologically a discourse-analytical approach has been used where issues of power and governance have been central. In the discussion on character formation in school different discourses were operating, which at certain points stood in sharp disagreement with each other. This became especially clear in the debate on corporal punishment. A closer analysis of these discourses has revealed their different conditions of possibilities, in the sense of their historical and societal circumstances and their internal logics, and the keywords, concepts and metaphors that constituted the central elements of these discourses have been highlighted and described. The two theoretical concepts governmentality and hegemony have been used as the primary analytical tools for the study. With the concept of governmentality the goals, attitudes and problems that have been tied to the training of the schoolchild during the period have been made visible. The different presuppositions about the child’s being and development on which the character-forming practices have been built, the knowledge and science that have been referred to, the techniques that have been viewed as necessary and the subject that has been the goal for various character-forming actions have been analysed and discussed. With the concept of hegemony the power struggle connected to the discussion of character formation during the period has been examined and the various guidelines for the school’s task of character formation that were formulated and expressed in the formative documents of the comprehensive school have been made visible