This book discusses outcomes of a study by the National Institute of Mental Health Czech
Republic examining moral integrity in the post-communist Czech-speaking environment. Chapters
map the history of the Euro-Atlantic ethical disciplines from moral philosophy and psychology
to evolutionary neuroscience and socio-biology. The authors emphasize the biological and social
conditionality of ethics and call for greater differentiation of both research and applied
psychological standards in today's globalised world. Using a non-European ethical system -
Theravada Buddhism - as a case study the authors explore the differences in English and Czech
interpretations of the religion. They analyse cognitive styles and language as central
variables in formatting and interpreting moral values with important consequences for cultural
transferability of psychological instruments. This book will appeal to academics and other
specialists in psychology psychiatry sociology and related fields as well as to readers
interested in the psychology of ethics.
