Sandra Lynch

What is the fruit of a searching dialogue between faith and reason? This book collects theological and philosophical perspectives on the richness of the faith-reason dialogue, including examples from literature, continental and analytic philosophy, worship and liturgy, and radical approaches to issues of racism and prejudice. The authors strongly resist the temptations to either disregard the faith-reason dialogue or take it for granted. Through their explorations and reflections they open up new vistas and horizons on a topic more necessary than ever.

A philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship.This book explains the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to the subject. It considers ideals of intimacy and fusion in the context of claims that such ideals are unrealistic and even dangerous. Cicero's scepticism about friendship in the public realm is compared with the Aristotelian view of friendship as a genuine political bond, and with Derrida's development of that view via an exploration of Aristotle's alleged and provocative announcement 'O my friends, there is no friend'. Tensions between love and respect, identity and difference, a focus on the self and a focus on the other are closely examined.From Aristotle to contemporary theorists, the book explores the conditions that enable the development of self-understanding in friendship, the delicate and unstable pairing of concepts like inclination and duty and distinctions between self-love, self esteem and self-concern in relations between friends.Key Features* Recognition of the variety of the term 'friend' in the history of philosophy* The treatment of the tension between identity and difference in relations between friends* Discussion of the contribution of friendship to self-understanding.

This book provides a philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship, explaining the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to the subject. It considers ideals of intimacy and fusion in the context of claims that such ideals are unrealistic and even dangerous. Cicero's scepticism about friendship in the public realm is compared with the Aristotelian view of friendship as a genuine political bond, and with Derrida's development of that view via an exploration of Aristotle's alleged and provocative announcement ‘O my friends, there is no friend’. Tensions between love and respect, identity and difference, a focus on the self and a focus on the other are closely examined. From Aristotle to contemporary theorists, the book explores the conditions that enable the development of self-understanding in friendship; the delicate and unstable pairing of concepts such as inclination and duty; and distinctions between self-love, self-esteem, and self-concern in relations between friends.

While there is high patient acceptance for clinical staff discussing issues regarding spirituality with hospital inpatients, it is not clear which staff member patients prefer for these discussions. This unique exploratory study investigated inpatient preferences regarding which staff member should raise the topic of spirituality. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with inpatients at six hospitals in Sydney, Australia (n=897), with a subset invited to participate in qualitative interviews (n=41). Pastoral care staf (32.9%) were the preferred staf members with whom to discuss spiritual issues, followed by doctors (22.4%). Qualitative fndings indicated that individual characteristics of the staf member are more important than their role.

In 2011 members of the School of Philosophy and Theology at The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) Sydney campus, designed two standards rubrics as part of a project aimed at undertaking research within the area of assuring graduate attributes and capabilities in Australian universities. The standards rubrics designed were oriented towards developing particular graduate attributes intrinsic to the Core Curriculum programme in philosophy, ethics, and theology; all students at UNDA are required to undertake this programme, which reflects a ‘liberal arts’ or ‘liberal education’ approach to university education. In this paper, we engage in an institutional case study of this project, discussing the advantages and challenges of developing and using these standards rubrics with a specific focus on: how they have already been used, how we plan to use them in the continuing development of our Core Curriculum programme, and the particular challenges we face in developing standards rubrics within a ‘liberal arts’ or ‘liberal education’ environment. In doing so, we will attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of developing standards rubrics as a basis for careful and systematic review of our pedagogical approach, and curriculum and assessment design so as to assure the achievement of graduate attributes and capabilities

Among the competency standards stipulated by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council for graduating students are competencies in moral and ethical decision making and ethics education within professions such as nursing has traditionally focussed on these competencies, on raising ethical awareness and developing skills of analysis and reasoning. However, ethics education in tertiary settings places less emphasis on developing students’ capacities to act on their values. This paper explains and explores the adoption of Dr. Mary Gentile's curriculum (the Giving Voice to Values curriculum) which specifically focuses on developing students’ capacities to act on their values. The curriculum (Gentile, 2010) assists students and professionals to explore, script and rehearse responses which build upon their capacity to respond in accordance with their own values in complex workplace settings in which they face conflicts of value and belief. The paper firstly examines the theoretical underpinnings of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. It then presents the integration and evaluation phase of a Project inspired by the GVV methodology, using a case study approach within two areas of an undergraduate nursing curriculum. As a pilot project, this initiative has provided signposts to further curriculum development and to research pathways within the UNDA School of Nursing, by highlighting students’ uncertainties regarding their own professional values, and their intense struggles to voice their values within health care contexts

The balance of ethical and legal considerations necessary to the work of health care professionals is shared by other professions. However, given that many health care professionals share intimate aspects of their patients’ lives and that most of us receive professional healthcare during our lives, the way in which students are prepared for their professional roles in healthcare is something in which the whole society has a vested interest. This paper examines the issues relevant to teaching ethics within the context of professional healthcare education programs. Developing the requisite competence in students is a complex task. It entails challenging models of healthcare practice which suggest that practitioners must act “dispassionately, at the proper remove from the white heat of the event”i if they are to practise well; and broadening ethical foci beyond an emphasis on mere compliance with a professional code of ethics. Sophisticated ethical competence requires the development of skills in analysis and decision-making; as well as the development of habits of mind and dispositions which allow practitioners to intelligently address new and challenging problems as they arise. The paper explores healthcare education from two perspectives. Firstly, it focuses on the distinction between the practice of an art and that of a craft in the work of Aristotle and others. Art is considered as an enterprise to which the virtues and phronēsis are intrinsic, while craft’s associations with more mechanical, predetermined professional activity are considered, along with a possible reconciliation of the two. The second perspective focuses on the nature of care and on integrative approaches to care which suggest that the healer’s art involves “sharp compassion”

Jacques Derrida begins the first chapter of his book The Politics of Friendship1 with a statement attributed to Aristotle by both Diogenes Laertes and the 16th Century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne. The statement is this: “O my friends, there is no friend.” Derrida points out the paradox and apparent contradication in such an impossible declaration. Who is Aristotle talking to, given that he is addressing friends to inform them that there are none? How can the statement be taken seriously? We might say that the paradox is a result of a bit of philosophical licence on Aristotle’s part. Aristotle defines the friend as “another self”2 and since it is logically impossible that the friend could actually be another self, then this is simply a bit of philosophical hyperbole that Aristotle engages in, but about which he is not serious. Yet the fact that Derrida has written three hundred pages of text on this subject suggests that this interpretation would be hard to sustain. As the title of his text suggests, Derrida approaches the question of friendship via an analogy with politics, specifically with republican democracy. This paper focuses on three aspects of that analogy

What is it to be or to have a true friend? Views on this question within the history of philosophy appear to differ. Aristotle suggests that friendship of the best kind, arguably that which best approximates the notion of true friendship, is a relationship in which friends love one another for their own sakes and regard one another as second selves. Cicero also explains friendship at its finest as involving a transference of one’s natural feelings for oneself to one’s friend. However there are conceptions of friendship that celebrate difference and the profound separateness between self and other as the crucial element in friendship. Underlying these latter conceptions is the concept of an encounter with oneself in friendship in which a tension between care for a friend and identification with the other is juxtaposed to self-awareness, self-regard and autonomy. This paper explores the notion of truth in the context of those tensions.

In the article ‘After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?’ arguments are made in favour of the moral permissibility of intentionally killing newborn infants, under particular conditions. Here we argue that their arguments are based on an indefensible view of personhood, and we question the logic of harm and interest that informs their arguments. Furthermore, we argue that the conclusions here are so contrary to ordinary moral intuitions that the argument and conclusions based upon it—including those which defend more mainstream methods of abortion—should be treated with immediate suspicion

Over the past decade, interest in human enhancement has waxed and waned. The initial surge of interest and funding, driven by the US Army’s desire for a ‘Future Force Warrior’ has partly given way to the challenges of meeting operational demands abroad. However the ethical opportunities provided by soldier enhancement demand that investigation of its possibilities continue. Benefits include enhanced decision-making, improved force capability, reduced force size and lower casualty rates. These benefits — and enhancement itself — carry concomitant risks, including morale issues due to tension between enhanced and unenhanced soldiers, the issues of enhanced veterans and ownership of enhanced bodies, challenges to the army’s core values and personal identity issues. A range of measures should be designed to highlight the opportunities offered by enhancement while also minimising the potential risks. This includes providing advice on which areas the army ought to demonstrate restraint in research for ethical reasons.

Lawyers have been referred to as indispensable suppliers of “artificial trust” in the sense that they supply us with enforceable agreements and contracts which serve to formalise social relationships, a necessary function in our increasingly litigious society. Consequently, the way in which law students are prepared for their professional role in discharging their public responsibilities is something in which the whole society has a vested – if not explicit - interest. This paper examines the complex issues raised in the literature on teaching ethics within the context of professional education programs and in particular in legal education programs. Ensuring that law students graduate with the requisite elements of legal professionalism is a complex task. It entails challenging the business model of legal practice and broadening the ethical focus of students beyond an emphasis on mere compliance with a professional code of ethics. Sophisticated ethical competence requires the development of skills in legal analysis and practical decision-making; as well as the development of habits of mind and dispositions which allow practitioners to intelligently address new and challenging problems as they arise. The paper explores legal professionalism via the Aristotelian distinction between the practice of an art and the practice of a craft; the former being an enterprise to which the virtues - in particular interaction with one another - and phronesis are intrinsic, while the latter is often associated with more mechanical activity. The content of the paper is based on work undertaken in the process of a current study of the teaching of legal ethics at the University of Notre Dame Australia