Around the turn of the century the American engineer Frederick Taylor introduced scientific methods in manufacturing to improve the efficiency. The objective was to control labour by means of rational methods, technological means, and management techniques. Taylor has been at the centre of bitter controversies. On the one hand, his principles were warmly welcomed by industries and universities. On the other hand, they were strongly opposed by unions and politics. Despite the strong opposition, the ideas of Taylor spread quickly.

The Encyclical-Letter Caritas in Ventate by Pope Benedict XVI suggests to advance towards a new conceptualization of the tenuous relationship between economics and ethics, proposing a "new humanistic synthesis" Where social encyclicals have traditionally justified policy proposals by natural law and theological reasoning alone, Caritas in Ventate gives great relevance to economic arguments. The encyclical defines the framework for a new business ethics which appreciates allocative and distributive efficiency, and thus both markets and institutions as improving the human condition, but (...) locates their source and reason outside the economic sphere. It places a clear accent on the ontological connectedness of the economic and ethical dimensions of human action. It is the proper ordering of means towards the end of integral human development that allows mankind to leave a vicious circle of consumerism and enter a virtuous circle that applies the creativity fostered by markets. This vision implies a new model of business management that integrates considerations of vocation, purpose, and values at a theological level. (shrink)

Those who believe that explicitly Christian thinking is possible in the scientific disciplines tend to assume that it must be antithetical to the world’s thinking. Based on some of the author’s experience, this article examines a different approach, in which Christian thinking is used to account for and enrich the world’s thinking by transplanting it from its current ground-motive into the arguably more fertile soil of the creation-fall-redemption ground-motive. The article shows how Dooyeweerd’s version of Christian thinking has been employed (...) in two areas of thinking in information systems : thinking about the nature of computers and information, with the artificial intelligence question of whether computer is like human being soft systems methodology, by which perspectives on ‘human activity systems’ are orchestrated into new learning and plans. In both areas, the original ideas are accounted for, given philosophical underpinning, reinterpreted and enriched. These two show that Dooyeweerd’s philosophy can be equally useful in thinking grounded in both positivist and interpretivist cultures. (shrink)

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar alguns aspectos da filosofia da educação de Richard Rorty, especificamente, os distintos e complementares processos educacionais de socialização e individualização. Nessa abordagem privilegiaremos os antecedentes teóricos de tais processos educacionais: a crítica ao paradigma epistemológico, a proposta de um novo paradigma conversacional ou educacional, o método filosófico da redescrição e o uso de narrativas como elemento formativo. Ressaltamos que nossa análise é uma tentativa de determinar os limites e os pontos de intersecção entre os (...) dois processos educacionais, articulados com a possibilidade do uso de narrativas como elemento de formação. As considerações finais indicam que tal proposta neopragmatista é um incentivo em prol da manutenção de hábitos de ação que resultem em uma solidariedade humana criada através do aumento de nossa sensibilidade aos pormenores específicos da dor e humilhação que padecem outros seres humanos desconhecidos. (shrink)