A branch of philosophy concerned with systems of ethics, justice, moral problems and moral judgments. It consists of three sub-fields: metaethics (addresses question about the nature of morality), normative ethics (provision of moral framework for being able judge between ‘good’ and ‘bad’), and applied ethics (application of theories of ethics to specific issues such as …
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Moral development
Broadly considered, it is the development of an increasing ability to understand social reality and to integrate social experience so that distinctions can be made between what is right and what is wrong in order to make responsible decisions and to act on them. It also involves a concern for others, the desire to do …
Moral judgments
Reasoning about right and wrong insofar as it pertains to matters of welfare, justice, and rights. It involves evaluations as to whether a particular action, inaction, motive or person as a whole is good or bad set against some personal standard of what is ‘good’. In contrast, there is the claim for moral objectivism or …
Montgomery’s areolar glands
Skin glands composed of coalesced sebaceous glands andminiature milk acini ituated within the dermis of the areolae They are mostactive during late pregnancy and lactation, forming visible protuberanceson the areolar surface. They secret lipoid oily-like fluid that protects and lubricates the areolae and nipples. The secretions are assumed to play a role an olfactory stimulus that encourages newborn …
Monosynaptic and polysynaptic reflexes
Motor responses to discrete stimuli that require only two or more neurons to complete the circuit or arc. When the arc consists of one sensory and motor neuron, it is referred to as a monosynaptic reflex (with ‘monosynaptic’ referring to one synapse). Monosynaptic reflexes include, for example, the biceps and triceps reflexes, and patellar stretch …
Monozygotic twins
A pair of twins created from a single fertilized egg. They usually share one placenta, one chorion, and two amniotic sacs, and in rare cases they share one of each (see figure below). Like dizygotic twins, their monozygotic counterparts can sometimes have fused placentas or two separate placentas. In the latter case, the twin-to-twin transfusion …
Monism
An ontological view, opposed to dualism, which holds that there is in reality only one sort of stuff in the universe, and thus that all existence can be reduced to this ultimate reality. In the context of the mind-body problem, it is the contention that there are no essential differences between the mental and physical …
Moment of inertia (I)
Also referred to as rotational inertia, it amounts to resistance to a change in angular velocity (and is thus the rotational analog of mass for linear motion). The moment of inertia has to be specified relative to a chosen axis of rotation. In the case of point mass, it is the sum of the products …
Momentum
It is sometimes referred to ‘mass in motion’: all objects have mass, thus if it is moving it has momentum. There are two types of momentum. One is linear momentum (P) of a moving rigid body, which is the product of its mass (m) and velocity (v). Thus, P=mv. This type is called upon by …
Moment of force
A measure of the turning effect or torque produced by a force acting on a body. Its magnitude is the product of the force and the perpendicular distance from the axis of rotation to the line of action of the force about which the body will turn (referred to as a point or pivot). The …