Papers by Robert Allinson
Examining the significance of the General’s enlightenment in the Platform Sutra, this article cla... more Examining the significance of the General’s enlightenment in the Platform Sutra, this article clarifies the fundamental role that emotions play in the development of one’s spiritual understanding. In order to do so, this article emphasizes that the way to enlightenment implicit in the story of the General and the Master involves first granting negative emotions a means for productive expression. By acting as a preparatory measure for calming the mind and surrendering control over it, human passions become a necessary, antecedent condition to wisdom—a conclusion that this article argues is a major, and sometimes underappreciated, lesson embedded in the teachings of the Sixth Patriarch.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Filosofia Oggi, 1982
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Int J Manag Decis Making, 2001
As technology advances, and the life and death consequences of its failure become more and more r... more As technology advances, and the life and death consequences of its failure become more and more removed from proximate human action, technology management requires greater degrees of ethical awareness and the management of safety becomes a matter of corporate ethical imperative. The corporate ethical imperative includes ethical mandates to take no action which places the lives of others at risk and to inform persons of dangers to their physical safety of which they may otherwise be unaware when one possesses information relevant to the safety of others such that, with the possession of that knowledge, the others can make decisions relevant to protecting their safety, or if others fail to take such action, to take upon oneself the responsibility of taking such action. The ethical duty of primum non nocere implies the corresponding right of the life risking participant to be informed of the kind and degree of risk to which they are to be exposed and the freedom to refuse to take such risk without prejudice. The corporate ethical imperative is to hold human life precious and to uphold that imperative through selectively non-acting, properly informing and acting. The case of the Challenger disaster is utilised as an illustration of decision making which violated these ethical precepts.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In this volume leading authorities in Western and Chinese philosophy explore different aspects of... more In this volume leading authorities in Western and Chinese philosophy explore different aspects of the Chinese mind by focusing on topical issues in philosophy, linguistics, and religion. The result is a unified volume which makes an invaluable contribution to the hermeneutics of cross-cultural interpretation as well to the investigation of the unique features of both Chinese philosophy and the Chinese mind. The distinguished contributors include John E. Smith, Robert C. Neville, Chad Hansen, Christoph Harbsmeier, Chung-ying Chen, Antonio S. Cua, Kuang-Ming Wu, and Lao Sze-kwang (Lao Yung-wei). A comprehensive bibliography of both Chinese and Western language sources is included, making this an essential reference for students and scholars of Chinese philosophy and East-West comparative philosophy.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Constructive Engagement, 2008
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The Journal of Religion, 2003
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Business Ethics Quarterly, 1998
As a response to Diane Vaughan’s controversial work on the NASA Challenger Disaster, this article... more As a response to Diane Vaughan’s controversial work on the NASA Challenger Disaster, this article opposes the conclusion that NASA’s decision to launch the space shuttle was an inevitable outcome of techno-bureaucratic culture and risky technology. Instead, the argument developed in this article is that NASA did not prioritize safety, both in their selection of shuttle-parts and their decision to launch under sub-optimal weather conditions. This article further suggests that the “mistake” language employed by Vaughan and others is inappropriate insofar as it obscures the responsibility of individuals within the organization and trivializes the loss of life and severity of the disaster. Contra to the conclusions of Vaughan’s casework, this article reveals various ethical transgressions on the side of NASA and its affiliates; from its decision to use poorly designed O-rings, to withholding crucial engineering assessments from the shuttle-crew, this article points out that NASA did not succumb to a pre-destined fate, but, rather, created its own.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Business Ethics Quarterly, 1998
As a response to Diane Vaughan’s controversial work on the NASA Challenger Disaster, this article... more As a response to Diane Vaughan’s controversial work on the NASA Challenger Disaster, this article opposes the conclusion that NASA’s decision to launch the space shuttle was an inevitable outcome of techno-bureaucratic culture and risky technology. Instead, the argument developed in this article is that NASA did not prioritize safety, both in their selection of shuttle-parts and their decision to launch under sub-optimal weather conditions. This article further suggests that the “mistake” language employed by Vaughan and others is inappropriate insofar as it obscures the responsibility of individuals within the organization and trivializes the loss of life and severity of the disaster. Contra to the conclusions of Vaughan’s casework, this article reveals various ethical transgressions on the side of NASA and its affiliates; from its decision to use poorly designed O-rings, to withholding crucial engineering assessments from the shuttle-crew, this article points out that NASA did not succumb to a pre-destined fate, but, rather, created its own.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 1998
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Corporate and White-Collar Crime Corporate and white-collar crime, 2008
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Issues in Business Ethics, 2004
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Spirituality and Ethics in Management, 2011
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Issues in Business Ethics, 2005
This is a pioneering work. Recent disasters such as the tsunami disaster continue to demonstrate ... more This is a pioneering work. Recent disasters such as the tsunami disaster continue to demonstrate Professor Allinson’s thesis that valuing human lives is the core of ethical management. His unique comparison of the ideas of the power of Fate and High Technology, his penetrating analysis of the very concept of an "accident", demonstrate how concepts rule our lives. His wide-ranging investigation of court cases and government documents from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries, and from places as diverse as the USA, UK and New Zealand provide ample supporting evidence for the universality and the power of explanation of his thesis. Saving Human Lives will have an impact beyond measurement on the field of management ethics.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ethical Prospects, 2009
The argument of this paper, written by an ethicist and a philosopher, is that self-interest econo... more The argument of this paper, written by an ethicist and a philosopher, is that self-interest economics is fundamentally flawed and needs to be replaced by a spiritual economics or a value based economics. Its argument contains two interwoven threads. One thread is an attempt to show why the fundamental philosophical notions of Adam Smith, taken as an illustration of self-interest
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Philosophical Inquiry, 1998
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Philosophical Inquiry, 1993
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Philosophical Inquiry, 1982
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Philosophical Inquiry, 2003
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Robert Allinson