Böcker av Michael S. Pritchard

The Importance of Sentiment in Promoting Reasonableness in Children explores the contributions that eighteenth-century Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid, Adam Smith, and David Hume make to our understanding of important factors in the development of children as they gradually acquire central features of reasonableness. Smith and Reid explicitly discuss the importance of sentiment and reason in the development of children. Their views are favorably influenced by the writings of their English predecessor Joseph Butler. Hume, too, valued much of Butler's thinking. But, unlike Smith and Reid, he said little about Butler's specific reflections on sentiment and reason. Despite this, one of the aims of this little book is to show that each contributes to our understanding today of what the encouragement of the philosophical thinking of children can play in helping them to come to an appreciation of reasonableness. They advocate a social environment for children that moves them to mix sentiment and reason in ways that support the values of reasonableness.

In commerce, many moral failures are due to narrow mindsets that preclude taking into account the moral dimensions of a decision or action. In turn, sometimes these mindsets are caused by failing to question managerial decisions from a moral point of view, because of a perceived authority of management. In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram conducted controversial experiments to investigate just how far obedience to an authority figure could subvert his subjects' moral beliefs. In this thought-provoking work, the authors examine the prevalence of narrow mental models and the phenomenon of obedience to an authority to analyse and understand the challenges which business professionals encounter in making ethical decisions. Obstacles to Ethical Decision-Making proposes processes - including collaborative input and critique - by which individuals may reduce or overcome these challenges. It provides decision-makers at all levels in an organisation with the means to place ethical considerations at the heart of managerial decision-making.

Building upon his provocative ideas in ""On Becoming Responsible"", Michael Pritchard presents a sensible plan for promoting children's moral education through the teaching of reasonableness. He considers moral concepts involving fairness, cheating, loyalty, truthtelling and lying.

Integrating moral theory with a range of practical concerns - good works, cooperation, trustworthiness - this book shows how professionals might make conscious decisions for good, such as performing socially meaningful work for lower compensation or persevering to see a project through to a proper outcome.