This study used a descriptive-quantitative research method as it describes the profile of Chinese university professors in terms of age,gender,and educational background.It also described the leadership virtues in ter...This study used a descriptive-quantitative research method as it describes the profile of Chinese university professors in terms of age,gender,and educational background.It also described the leadership virtues in terms of prudence,fortitude,temperance,and justice;professional self-esteem in terms of career choice and adaptability,career satisfaction and values,career impact and fulfillment,and career competence and evaluation;and teaching management in terms of teaching management and evaluation,the area of teaching and research activities,and the area of collective lesson planning activities.Diversity leadership training and instructional management training are provided to meet the needs of different groups of faculty and staff of different gender,age,and education levels.Individualized professional development plans are based on the personal characteristics and needs of professors,particularly in the areas of leadership,teaching management,and career satisfaction.To address the relationship among leadership virtues,professional self-esteem,and teaching management,long-term,in-depth research is encouraged to better understand the dynamics between them.Based on the results,this paper recommends the implementation of the proposed professional development plan.展开更多
This article briefly analyzes the significance of the penetration of traditional Chinese virtue education in vocational English teaching,focusing on how to combine Chinese traditional virtue education with vocational ...This article briefly analyzes the significance of the penetration of traditional Chinese virtue education in vocational English teaching,focusing on how to combine Chinese traditional virtue education with vocational education.The the author proposes specific suggestions and counter measures for the effective integration of Chinese and international moral and English teaching.The author points out that vocational English teaching should not only improve the ability of vocational students’listening,speaking,reading,and writing,but also pay attention to permeating Chinese traditional virtue education in the classroom of English teaching,so that they are deeply integrated,and finally let us students in vocational colleges be internalized and externalized.This will provide a certain reference for the majority of vocational English teaching workers.展开更多
The Confucianism has played a prominent role for thousands of years in boosting the tenacity of the Chinese nation towards innovation and development as well as in promoting and inheriting the traditional Chinese cult...The Confucianism has played a prominent role for thousands of years in boosting the tenacity of the Chinese nation towards innovation and development as well as in promoting and inheriting the traditional Chinese culture. Based on the five constant virtues of Confucianism,this paper analyzes the relationship between "benevolence,righteousness,etiquette,wisdom and credit"and creditability that We Media should construct,and elaborates the construction of value dimension system of We Media's creditability on talents, environments,orientations and innovations from four aspects. Namely,the cognitive and spiritual orientations that reinforce the five constant virtues,the propaganda cultivation that fuses them and the endogenous impetus stimulated by using them as reference.This paper is designed to tell all of the media and media practitioners to constantly remain vigilant of the social responsibilities they are taking and the social value they should create.T hey should take an initiative to guide their serving objects to foster a proper consensus outlook and value and meeting the mass audience's demands and desires on information.展开更多
Images of flowers frequently appear in Emily Dickinson's poems. Through employing these charming images Dickinson re vealed her unique view on a lady's virtues. She praised the precious virtues of being modest...Images of flowers frequently appear in Emily Dickinson's poems. Through employing these charming images Dickinson re vealed her unique view on a lady's virtues. She praised the precious virtues of being modest, brave, firm, selfless, and responsible.展开更多
According to the analytically semantic linkage of“good-right-rights-justice”formed in the real conflicts among goods and especially among people,we should not confuse the global justice principle of“equal respect f...According to the analytically semantic linkage of“good-right-rights-justice”formed in the real conflicts among goods and especially among people,we should not confuse the global justice principle of“equal respect for everyone’s basic rights”with the global virtue principle of“equal satisfaction of everyone’s basic needs.”Correspondingly,while global virtues and the national interest may and can be reconciled with each other,global justice should not make compromises to the national interest precisely because of its ultimate priority.展开更多
This paper argues that rather than looking to the past for a previously developed set of traditional values and virtues we should instead look to the past for ways of thinking about morality and ethics which may be fo...This paper argues that rather than looking to the past for a previously developed set of traditional values and virtues we should instead look to the past for ways of thinking about morality and ethics which may be found in the ＂tradition＂ and which may also be relevant for the contemporary situation. It examines the causes of the disconnection between traditional ways of thinking and the contemporary situation at two levels： the marginalization of morality and the disarray in ethics. Both aspects are found to be rooted in the emergence of the empirical scientific differentiation of consciousness. The paper then goes on to ask what resources in the tradition may be found to overcome the gap between ancient and modem, or traditional and contemporary, ways of thinking about morality and ethics. The contemporary relevance of the thought of Bernard Lonergan to this issue is examined.展开更多
Scientific reforms proposed in response to moral concerns about corrupted science are reminiscent of the Christian Reformation,which similarly formed a moral reorientation as a reaction to malpractices.In this study,w...Scientific reforms proposed in response to moral concerns about corrupted science are reminiscent of the Christian Reformation,which similarly formed a moral reorientation as a reaction to malpractices.In this study,we compare these moral reorientation processes to contextualize two different moral programmes of the scientific reform movement and their sociopolitical conditions.We argue that such an explication of moral programmes is vital to build legitimacy and reflect on value-prioritization.While epistemic programmes are foregrounded,moral programmes also play a crucial role in shaping science,and different moral programmes offer different promises for the sustained support of credible,reliable,fair and equitable science.We discuss the virtue and equity programmes,and through interrogating both programmes in relation to the Reformation,we display the relevance of sociopolitical contexts to how key values operate in science and generate orders of worth.These insights aim to stimulate debate about the conditions for opting for either of these moral programmes.In our view,not all moral programmes offer equal promise for the sustained support of credible,equitable and fair science.展开更多
This paper focuses on the ideological and political construction of the course“Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics.”Aiming at the current situation in teaching where emphasis is placed on knowledge impart...This paper focuses on the ideological and political construction of the course“Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics.”Aiming at the current situation in teaching where emphasis is placed on knowledge imparting while value guidance is neglected,and combined with the requirements of ideological and political education policies in the new era,this paper explores the integration path between professional courses and ideological and political education.Through literature analysis,case comparison,and empirical research,the study proposes a systematic implementation plan covering the design of teaching objectives,the reconstruction of teaching content,and the optimization of the evaluation system.The purpose is to cultivate students’sense of social responsibility and innovative awareness by excavating the ideological and political elements in mathematics.The research results provide practical reference for colleges and universities to deepen the reform of ideological and political education in courses,and promote the implementation of the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education in STEM education.展开更多
“Upholding Virtue and Exercising Caution in Punishment”(Ming De Shen Fa in Chinese pinyin)is one of the core governance philosophies in ancient Chinese politics.This principle was explicitly proposed by Zhou Gongdan...“Upholding Virtue and Exercising Caution in Punishment”(Ming De Shen Fa in Chinese pinyin)is one of the core governance philosophies in ancient Chinese politics.This principle was explicitly proposed by Zhou Gongdan,a renowned statesman of the early Zhou Dynasty,though its intellectual roots can be traced back to the Yao and Shun periods.Although this principle might not be fully recognized by the rulers of the exploiting class throughout history due to their own limitations,the political ideas and rich connotations behind it,especially as a mature governance concept formed by ancient Chinese politicians more than 4,000 years ago,undoubtedly is of high academic value and theoretical and practical significance.Objectively,this principle has also had a profound impact on the political and legal thinking,moral values,and promotion of social legal civilization in later generations.The analysis and discussion around this concept will play a positive role in the in-depth study of ancient China’s human rights concepts and the construction of contemporary Chinese discourse system of human rights.This article attempts to provide a preliminary summary,collation,analysis,and research from the perspective of political philosophy on the basic meaning,ideological context,and historical origin of social understanding of this concept,especially the human rights ideas contained therein.展开更多
As an important thinker in the early South Song dynasty, Zhang Jiucheng differed in his thinking from the School of Principles of the Song and Ming dynasties, which was the mainstream at that time, and was thus exclud...As an important thinker in the early South Song dynasty, Zhang Jiucheng differed in his thinking from the School of Principles of the Song and Ming dynasties, which was the mainstream at that time, and was thus excluded by Zhu Xi and his followers. The relation between virtues and blessings was a characteristic part of Zhang＇s thought. By analyzing concepts like Heavenly mandates, virtues, blessings, luckiness and unluckiness in Zhang＇s thought, this essay re-defines the complicated but manifest relations between virtues and blessings; clarifies the trajectory of Zhang＇s thoughts on Heavenly mandates, virtues, and blessings; and displays the efforts of the Neo-Confucians of the Song dynasties to stress the value of human nature in the tension between Heavenly mandates and virtues.展开更多
Surrogacy has become a global phenomenon.Recent unethical incidents of surrogacy abroad reflect the ethical risks of surrogacy.Surrogacy mainly causes three ethical risks:first,it endangers the human dignity of the su...Surrogacy has become a global phenomenon.Recent unethical incidents of surrogacy abroad reflect the ethical risks of surrogacy.Surrogacy mainly causes three ethical risks:first,it endangers the human dignity of the surrogate mother and child;second,it endangers good customs in terms of the family’s ethical and moral order;third,it is not in line with virtues in terms of protecting the disadvantaged children in surrogacy.The existence of ethical risks in surrogacy requires a completely prohibitive stance at the legal regulatory level.The reasons given by surrogacy supporters for denying the ethical risks are not convincing.Their recognition of the rationality of surrogacy is also not tenable.With the legal stance of complete prohibition,specific legal strategies include clarifying the legal principle of prohibiting surrogacy,increasing penalties for surrogacy,and implementing the principle of maximizing the interests of the children.展开更多
“Cultivating people by virtue”has become the foundation of China’s education,and is the top priority of college education.“Only the learned can become teachers,and only those who behave properly can become role mo...“Cultivating people by virtue”has become the foundation of China’s education,and is the top priority of college education.“Only the learned can become teachers,and only those who behave properly can become role models”.The construction of teachers’ethics in colleges and universities is the premise of realizing the fundamental task of moral education,the need of teachers,the key to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,and it is also the way to correct the bad atmosphere in colleges and universities.In the construction of teachers’ethics,teachers should understand their roles and improve their professional ethics,schools should improve the guarantee system of teachers’ethics construction,meanwhile,improve the status of teachers and create a social environment of respecting teachers and valuing teachers.展开更多
Emma is widely considered to be Jane Austen's finest work,in which Austen portrays the heroine,Emma Woodhouse,as"the beauty ideal of the female character. "Emma is nearly perfect and seems "to unite...Emma is widely considered to be Jane Austen's finest work,in which Austen portrays the heroine,Emma Woodhouse,as"the beauty ideal of the female character. "Emma is nearly perfect and seems "to unite some of the best blessings of existence. "However,she is full of faults. Though these mistakes seriously ruin Harriet Smith's happiness,cause Emma's embarrassment and create obstacles to Emma's own achievement of true love,none of them has lasting consequences. Emma is always on her way of remedying and struggling to develop. She moves slowly and uncertainly to self-knowledge and maturity. These qualities make Emma so unique. Emma should be loved,as she is loved,for her faults as well as for her virtues.展开更多
In this paper,we have asked what qualities individuals and organizations need for the success in the midst of large scale system transformation.Digital transformation is an example of such large-scale system change.Fi...In this paper,we have asked what qualities individuals and organizations need for the success in the midst of large scale system transformation.Digital transformation is an example of such large-scale system change.First,we have reviewed the empirical research on digital transformation and job redesign in order to explore qualities employees need to thrive in the digitally transformed job settings.Second,we have studied soft system regularities in order to tap into organizational-level qualities that allow for the successful large-scale system transformation.Based on these reviews,we have come up with the proposition that greater attention should be paid to the quality of the individual and collective awareness(defined as the capacity of expanded,inclusive attention).We have proposed that virtues in action and individual strengths(VIA-IS)to serve as a possible indicator of the quality of the individual awareness.Next,we have proposed that organizational presencing/absencing can serve as the possible indicator of the quality of organizational level awareness.Exploring the relationship between the individual awareness(indicated by VIA-IS)and organizational awareness(indicated by absencing/presencing)and organizational effectiveness revealed a set of compelling results:(1)The quality of personal level awareness(indicated by VIA-IS framework)varies significantly across different organizational positions,whereby middle managers hold the highest levels of individual awareness;and(2)presencing is positively associated with organizational performance,while absencing holds negative relationship.These findings reveal that quality of awareness(either at the individual and/or collective level)may be a promising line of organizational research with a decent predictive power in many organizational domains.展开更多
In Milton＇s Paradise Lost, Satan is conspicuously depicted as the ＂mighty chief＂ （I 566） and ＂the dread commander＂ （I 589） of the rebel army. True to the Hebrew meaning of his name, Satan poses appropriately ...In Milton＇s Paradise Lost, Satan is conspicuously depicted as the ＂mighty chief＂ （I 566） and ＂the dread commander＂ （I 589） of the rebel army. True to the Hebrew meaning of his name, Satan poses appropriately as a grand ＂Adversary＂ （I 629; II 282） to ＂wage by force or guile eternal war＂ （I 121） against God. The poet has deliberately built up a parallel between Satan and Christ the Son, who is the commander-in-chief of the angelic army. With ＂Almighty arms / Gird on, and Sword upon [his] puissant Thigh＂ （VI 713-14）, the Son certainly makes an impressive figure of warrior-general. Satan＇s stance as the ＂idol of majesty divine＂ is really extraordinary. During the War in Heaven, he does show superhuman courage and strength; his ability to change his bodily form has no doubt increased his potential as a warrior. Furthermore, he commands a highly disciplined army, surpassing by far the best troops in human history. All this seems to indicate Satan as a great hero. Even before God proclaims the Son to be raised ＂by merit＂ to the position of＂second omnipotence＂ （III 309）, Milton has already made it clear to the reader that Satan, too, is ＂by merit rais＇d / To that bad eminence＂ （II 5-6）. This ambivalent merit of Satan has incurred heated controversy among the critics. The present paper will set out to analyze the encounter between Satan and the Son in Paradise Lost, in an effort to determine the true meaning of heroism.展开更多
文摘This study used a descriptive-quantitative research method as it describes the profile of Chinese university professors in terms of age,gender,and educational background.It also described the leadership virtues in terms of prudence,fortitude,temperance,and justice;professional self-esteem in terms of career choice and adaptability,career satisfaction and values,career impact and fulfillment,and career competence and evaluation;and teaching management in terms of teaching management and evaluation,the area of teaching and research activities,and the area of collective lesson planning activities.Diversity leadership training and instructional management training are provided to meet the needs of different groups of faculty and staff of different gender,age,and education levels.Individualized professional development plans are based on the personal characteristics and needs of professors,particularly in the areas of leadership,teaching management,and career satisfaction.To address the relationship among leadership virtues,professional self-esteem,and teaching management,long-term,in-depth research is encouraged to better understand the dynamics between them.Based on the results,this paper recommends the implementation of the proposed professional development plan.
文摘This article briefly analyzes the significance of the penetration of traditional Chinese virtue education in vocational English teaching,focusing on how to combine Chinese traditional virtue education with vocational education.The the author proposes specific suggestions and counter measures for the effective integration of Chinese and international moral and English teaching.The author points out that vocational English teaching should not only improve the ability of vocational students’listening,speaking,reading,and writing,but also pay attention to permeating Chinese traditional virtue education in the classroom of English teaching,so that they are deeply integrated,and finally let us students in vocational colleges be internalized and externalized.This will provide a certain reference for the majority of vocational English teaching workers.
基金the rusult of the project of the Five Constant Virtues of Confucianism and Value Dimension Construction of Mainstream’s Credibility(Sk2014A440)
文摘The Confucianism has played a prominent role for thousands of years in boosting the tenacity of the Chinese nation towards innovation and development as well as in promoting and inheriting the traditional Chinese culture. Based on the five constant virtues of Confucianism,this paper analyzes the relationship between "benevolence,righteousness,etiquette,wisdom and credit"and creditability that We Media should construct,and elaborates the construction of value dimension system of We Media's creditability on talents, environments,orientations and innovations from four aspects. Namely,the cognitive and spiritual orientations that reinforce the five constant virtues,the propaganda cultivation that fuses them and the endogenous impetus stimulated by using them as reference.This paper is designed to tell all of the media and media practitioners to constantly remain vigilant of the social responsibilities they are taking and the social value they should create.T hey should take an initiative to guide their serving objects to foster a proper consensus outlook and value and meeting the mass audience's demands and desires on information.
文摘Images of flowers frequently appear in Emily Dickinson's poems. Through employing these charming images Dickinson re vealed her unique view on a lady's virtues. She praised the precious virtues of being modest, brave, firm, selfless, and responsible.
文摘According to the analytically semantic linkage of“good-right-rights-justice”formed in the real conflicts among goods and especially among people,we should not confuse the global justice principle of“equal respect for everyone’s basic rights”with the global virtue principle of“equal satisfaction of everyone’s basic needs.”Correspondingly,while global virtues and the national interest may and can be reconciled with each other,global justice should not make compromises to the national interest precisely because of its ultimate priority.
文摘This paper argues that rather than looking to the past for a previously developed set of traditional values and virtues we should instead look to the past for ways of thinking about morality and ethics which may be found in the ＂tradition＂ and which may also be relevant for the contemporary situation. It examines the causes of the disconnection between traditional ways of thinking and the contemporary situation at two levels： the marginalization of morality and the disarray in ethics. Both aspects are found to be rooted in the emergence of the empirical scientific differentiation of consciousness. The paper then goes on to ask what resources in the tradition may be found to overcome the gap between ancient and modem, or traditional and contemporary, ways of thinking about morality and ethics. The contemporary relevance of the thought of Bernard Lonergan to this issue is examined.
基金supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research(BMBF)through their award of the K?te Hamburger Kolleg‘Cultures of Research’Senior Research Fellowship to Bart Penders
文摘Scientific reforms proposed in response to moral concerns about corrupted science are reminiscent of the Christian Reformation,which similarly formed a moral reorientation as a reaction to malpractices.In this study,we compare these moral reorientation processes to contextualize two different moral programmes of the scientific reform movement and their sociopolitical conditions.We argue that such an explication of moral programmes is vital to build legitimacy and reflect on value-prioritization.While epistemic programmes are foregrounded,moral programmes also play a crucial role in shaping science,and different moral programmes offer different promises for the sustained support of credible,reliable,fair and equitable science.We discuss the virtue and equity programmes,and through interrogating both programmes in relation to the Reformation,we display the relevance of sociopolitical contexts to how key values operate in science and generate orders of worth.These insights aim to stimulate debate about the conditions for opting for either of these moral programmes.In our view,not all moral programmes offer equal promise for the sustained support of credible,equitable and fair science.
基金Shaanxi Provincial 14th Five-Year Plan for Educational Science Research(SGH24Q481)。
文摘This paper focuses on the ideological and political construction of the course“Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics.”Aiming at the current situation in teaching where emphasis is placed on knowledge imparting while value guidance is neglected,and combined with the requirements of ideological and political education policies in the new era,this paper explores the integration path between professional courses and ideological and political education.Through literature analysis,case comparison,and empirical research,the study proposes a systematic implementation plan covering the design of teaching objectives,the reconstruction of teaching content,and the optimization of the evaluation system.The purpose is to cultivate students’sense of social responsibility and innovative awareness by excavating the ideological and political elements in mathematics.The research results provide practical reference for colleges and universities to deepen the reform of ideological and political education in courses,and promote the implementation of the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education in STEM education.
文摘“Upholding Virtue and Exercising Caution in Punishment”(Ming De Shen Fa in Chinese pinyin)is one of the core governance philosophies in ancient Chinese politics.This principle was explicitly proposed by Zhou Gongdan,a renowned statesman of the early Zhou Dynasty,though its intellectual roots can be traced back to the Yao and Shun periods.Although this principle might not be fully recognized by the rulers of the exploiting class throughout history due to their own limitations,the political ideas and rich connotations behind it,especially as a mature governance concept formed by ancient Chinese politicians more than 4,000 years ago,undoubtedly is of high academic value and theoretical and practical significance.Objectively,this principle has also had a profound impact on the political and legal thinking,moral values,and promotion of social legal civilization in later generations.The analysis and discussion around this concept will play a positive role in the in-depth study of ancient China’s human rights concepts and the construction of contemporary Chinese discourse system of human rights.This article attempts to provide a preliminary summary,collation,analysis,and research from the perspective of political philosophy on the basic meaning,ideological context,and historical origin of social understanding of this concept,especially the human rights ideas contained therein.
文摘As an important thinker in the early South Song dynasty, Zhang Jiucheng differed in his thinking from the School of Principles of the Song and Ming dynasties, which was the mainstream at that time, and was thus excluded by Zhu Xi and his followers. The relation between virtues and blessings was a characteristic part of Zhang＇s thought. By analyzing concepts like Heavenly mandates, virtues, blessings, luckiness and unluckiness in Zhang＇s thought, this essay re-defines the complicated but manifest relations between virtues and blessings; clarifies the trajectory of Zhang＇s thoughts on Heavenly mandates, virtues, and blessings; and displays the efforts of the Neo-Confucians of the Song dynasties to stress the value of human nature in the tension between Heavenly mandates and virtues.
基金phased research outcome of the project funded by the“Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Uni-versities”(Project Number 2022NTSS06).
文摘Surrogacy has become a global phenomenon.Recent unethical incidents of surrogacy abroad reflect the ethical risks of surrogacy.Surrogacy mainly causes three ethical risks:first,it endangers the human dignity of the surrogate mother and child;second,it endangers good customs in terms of the family’s ethical and moral order;third,it is not in line with virtues in terms of protecting the disadvantaged children in surrogacy.The existence of ethical risks in surrogacy requires a completely prohibitive stance at the legal regulatory level.The reasons given by surrogacy supporters for denying the ethical risks are not convincing.Their recognition of the rationality of surrogacy is also not tenable.With the legal stance of complete prohibition,specific legal strategies include clarifying the legal principle of prohibiting surrogacy,increasing penalties for surrogacy,and implementing the principle of maximizing the interests of the children.
文摘“Cultivating people by virtue”has become the foundation of China’s education,and is the top priority of college education.“Only the learned can become teachers,and only those who behave properly can become role models”.The construction of teachers’ethics in colleges and universities is the premise of realizing the fundamental task of moral education,the need of teachers,the key to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,and it is also the way to correct the bad atmosphere in colleges and universities.In the construction of teachers’ethics,teachers should understand their roles and improve their professional ethics,schools should improve the guarantee system of teachers’ethics construction,meanwhile,improve the status of teachers and create a social environment of respecting teachers and valuing teachers.
文摘Emma is widely considered to be Jane Austen's finest work,in which Austen portrays the heroine,Emma Woodhouse,as"the beauty ideal of the female character. "Emma is nearly perfect and seems "to unite some of the best blessings of existence. "However,she is full of faults. Though these mistakes seriously ruin Harriet Smith's happiness,cause Emma's embarrassment and create obstacles to Emma's own achievement of true love,none of them has lasting consequences. Emma is always on her way of remedying and struggling to develop. She moves slowly and uncertainly to self-knowledge and maturity. These qualities make Emma so unique. Emma should be loved,as she is loved,for her faults as well as for her virtues.
文摘In this paper,we have asked what qualities individuals and organizations need for the success in the midst of large scale system transformation.Digital transformation is an example of such large-scale system change.First,we have reviewed the empirical research on digital transformation and job redesign in order to explore qualities employees need to thrive in the digitally transformed job settings.Second,we have studied soft system regularities in order to tap into organizational-level qualities that allow for the successful large-scale system transformation.Based on these reviews,we have come up with the proposition that greater attention should be paid to the quality of the individual and collective awareness(defined as the capacity of expanded,inclusive attention).We have proposed that virtues in action and individual strengths(VIA-IS)to serve as a possible indicator of the quality of the individual awareness.Next,we have proposed that organizational presencing/absencing can serve as the possible indicator of the quality of organizational level awareness.Exploring the relationship between the individual awareness(indicated by VIA-IS)and organizational awareness(indicated by absencing/presencing)and organizational effectiveness revealed a set of compelling results:(1)The quality of personal level awareness(indicated by VIA-IS framework)varies significantly across different organizational positions,whereby middle managers hold the highest levels of individual awareness;and(2)presencing is positively associated with organizational performance,while absencing holds negative relationship.These findings reveal that quality of awareness(either at the individual and/or collective level)may be a promising line of organizational research with a decent predictive power in many organizational domains.
文摘In Milton＇s Paradise Lost, Satan is conspicuously depicted as the ＂mighty chief＂ （I 566） and ＂the dread commander＂ （I 589） of the rebel army. True to the Hebrew meaning of his name, Satan poses appropriately as a grand ＂Adversary＂ （I 629; II 282） to ＂wage by force or guile eternal war＂ （I 121） against God. The poet has deliberately built up a parallel between Satan and Christ the Son, who is the commander-in-chief of the angelic army. With ＂Almighty arms / Gird on, and Sword upon [his] puissant Thigh＂ （VI 713-14）, the Son certainly makes an impressive figure of warrior-general. Satan＇s stance as the ＂idol of majesty divine＂ is really extraordinary. During the War in Heaven, he does show superhuman courage and strength; his ability to change his bodily form has no doubt increased his potential as a warrior. Furthermore, he commands a highly disciplined army, surpassing by far the best troops in human history. All this seems to indicate Satan as a great hero. Even before God proclaims the Son to be raised ＂by merit＂ to the position of＂second omnipotence＂ （III 309）, Milton has already made it clear to the reader that Satan, too, is ＂by merit rais＇d / To that bad eminence＂ （II 5-6）. This ambivalent merit of Satan has incurred heated controversy among the critics. The present paper will set out to analyze the encounter between Satan and the Son in Paradise Lost, in an effort to determine the true meaning of heroism.
