Is there any moral obligation to improve oneself, to foster and develop various capacities in oneself? From a broadly Kantian point of view, Self-Improvement defends the view that there is such an obligation and that it is an obligation that each person owes to him or herself. The defence addresses a range of arguments philosophers have mobilized against this idea, including the argument that it is impossible to owe anything to yourself, and the view that an obligation to improve onself is overly 'moralistic'. Robert N. Johnson argues against Kantian universalization arguments for the duty of self-improvement, as well as arguments that bottom out in a supposed value humanity has. At the same time, he defends a position based on the notion that self- and other-respecting agents would, under the right circumstances, accept the principle of self-improvement and would leave it up to each to be the person to whom this duty is owed.

Ethical Debates in Orangutan Conservation explores how conservationists decide whether, and how, to undertake rehabilitation and reintroduction (R&R) when rescuing orphaned orangutans. The author demonstrates that exploring ethical dilemmas is crucial for understanding ongoing disagreements about how to help endangered wildlife in an era of anthropogenic extinction. Although R&R might appear an uncontroversial activity, there is considerable debate about how, and why, it ought to be practised. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research with orangutan conservation practitioners, this book examines how ethical trade-offs shape debates about R&R. For example, what if the orphan fails to learn how to be an orangutan again, after years in the company of humans? What if she is sent into the forest only to slowly starve? Would she have been better off in a cage? Could the huge cost of sending a rescued ape back to the wild be better spent on stopping deforestation in the first place? Or do we have a moral obligation to rescue the orphan regardless of cost? This book demonstrates that deconstructing ethical positions is crucial for understanding ongoing disagreements about how to help our endangered great ape kin and other wildlife. Ethical Debates in Orangutan Conservation is essential reading for those interested in conservation and animal welfare, animal studies, primatology, geography, environmental philosophy, and anthropology.

Sport Integrity examines sports integrity from a range of disciplinary perspectives that will help to enhance the reader's understanding of this burgeoning problematic in sports management. Securing and promoting the integrity of sport has become one of the critical tasks for the governance and management of sport at professional, elite and non-elite levels. Threats to the integrity of sport manifest themselves in an array of guises, and include problems such as match-fixing, corruption, and the poor governance and management of sport. To reflect these diverse difficulties, this volume brings together authors from different nationalities to examine specific problems from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Together, these contributors enhance the empirical and theoretical foundations of sports integrity and place ethical considerations at the heart of the discussions to improve the management of sport. Sport Integrity will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of sport management, sport and ethics and sports governance. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Global Sport Management.

Since the original publication of Playing God? in 1996, three developments in genetic technology have moved to the center of public discussion about the ethics of bioengineering. Cloning, the completion of the human genome project, and the controversy over stem cell research have all sparked lively debates among religious thinkers and the makers of public policy. In this updated edition, Ted Peters illuminates key issues in these debates and makes deft connections between our questions about God and our efforts to manage technological innovations.

The City and Sex examines American political sex scandals at the national level. Studying these events over time with an emphasis on the evolving responses of both statesmen and citizens reveals the republic's deteriorating moral health and illuminates the country's dangerous tendency toward servitude. Using scandals as a window through which to glimpse our deterioration, the book identifies a trajectory of decline beginning in the twentieth century, by which Americans became less tutored in virtue, less spirited in citizenship, less agreed on questions of moral significance, and ultimately less dexterous in exercising the skills of self-government. It seeks to show that the freedom from virtue won through the collapse of moral standards has produced an American citizenry increasingly prone to the kind of dependence and enslavement Alexis de Tocqueville cautioned against in the 1830s.

Surveillance happens to all of us, everyday, as we walk beneath street cameras, swipe cards, surf the net. Agencies are using increasingly sophisticated computer systems - especially searchable databases - to keep tabs on us at home, work and play. Once the word surveillance was reserved for police activities and intelligence gathering, now it is an unavoidable feature of everyday life.

Surveillance as Social Sorting proposes that surveillance is not simply a contemporary threat to individual freedom, but that, more insidiously, it is a powerful means of creating and reinforcing long-term social differences. As practiced today, it is actually a form of social sorting - a means of verifying identities but also of assessing risks and assigning worth. Questions of how categories are constructed therefore become significant ethical and political questions.

Bringing together contributions from North America and Europe, Surveillance as Social Sorting offers an innovative approach to the interaction between societies and their technologies. It looks at a number of examples in depth and will be an appropriate source of reference for a wide variety of courses.

Surveillance happens to all of us, everyday, as we walk beneath street cameras, swipe cards, surf the net. Agencies are using increasingly sophisticated computer systems - especially searchable databases - to keep tabs on us at home, work and play. Once the word surveillance was reserved for police activities and intelligence gathering, now it is an unavoidable feature of everyday life.

Surveillance as Social Sorting proposes that surveillance is not simply a contemporary threat to individual freedom, but that, more insidiously, it is a powerful means of creating and reinforcing long-term social differences. As practiced today, it is actually a form of social sorting - a means of verifying identities but also of assessing risks and assigning worth. Questions of how categories are constructed therefore become significant ethical and political questions.

Bringing together contributions from North America and Europe, Surveillance as Social Sorting offers an innovative approach to the interaction between societies and their technologies. It looks at a number of examples in depth and will be an appropriate source of reference for a wide variety of courses.

The rapidly advancing field of biotechnology is developing powerful techniques for manipulating the fundamentals of life, including the food we eat. Proponents hail these developments as welcome new methods of improving the nutritional value of our food and of ensuring that it is protected from disease and pests. Opponents vehemently resist this scientific tampering with nature in its pristine state, and fear that dire consequences, like unforeseen new diseases or environmental catastrophes, will result from the creation of "Franken-foods."

This lively collection of authoritative articles encompasses the many points of contention in the debate. The editors have organized the essays to deal first with the history and the science of genetically modified foods. The next section focuses on the morality of modifying organisms for human use. What factors should be considered in making value judgments about this technology? Succeeding sections include articles discussing religious attitudes toward genetically modified food, legal issues involving patenting and environmental damage, risk assessment, and possible environmental threats and benefits.

Complete with a glossary and suggestions for further reading, this outstanding collection of recently published and brand new articles serves as a comprehensive introduction to an important technology with worldwide social consequences.

This book explicitly addresses ethical dilemmas and issues that post-secondary ESL faculty commonly encounter and examines them in the framework of social justice concerns. Ethics is defined broadly, to include responsibilities and obligations to students inside and outside the classroom, as well to colleagues, educational institutions, the TESL profession, and society as a whole.
Scenarios in each chapter provide realistic and compelling situations for reflection and discussion. The authors then set out the issues raised, relate them to the classroom environment, and offer opportunities to examine them in a variety of contexts and to consider possible solutions to the dilemmas. Issues include testing, plagiarism, technology, social and political issues affecting students and the classroom, gift-giving, curriculum decisions, disruptive students, institutional constraints, academic freedom, gender, class, and power.
Busy classroom instructors will find this book accessible, thought-provoking, and relevant to their daily work situations. It is not intended as a theoretical treatment of ethics and social justice in ESL, nor does it propose that ESL faculty teach morals or ethics to students. Rather, it is designed as a concise, practical introduction to ethical practice for both new and experienced ESL faculty in post-secondary teaching situations in the United States, for others interested in the ESL classroom, and as a text for TESL classes and seminars.
"Ethical Issues for ESL Faculty: " *maps new territory in the field--ethical issues in TESL, particularly as encountered by post-secondary classroom teachers, are not often discussed in ESL publications;
*makes the complex issues of ethics in the context of social justice accessible to TESL practitioners; and
*includes useful resources, such as additional scenarios for discussion, an extensive reference list, and selected ethics-related Web sites.

This book explicitly addresses ethical dilemmas and issues that post-secondary ESL faculty commonly encounter and examines them in the framework of social justice concerns. Ethics is defined broadly, to include responsibilities and obligations to students inside and outside the classroom, as well to colleagues, educational institutions, the TESL profession, and society as a whole.
Scenarios in each chapter provide realistic and compelling situations for reflection and discussion. The authors then set out the issues raised, relate them to the classroom environment, and offer opportunities to examine them in a variety of contexts and to consider possible solutions to the dilemmas. Issues include testing, plagiarism, technology, social and political issues affecting students and the classroom, gift-giving, curriculum decisions, disruptive students, institutional constraints, academic freedom, gender, class, and power.
Busy classroom instructors will find this book accessible, thought-provoking, and relevant to their daily work situations. It is not intended as a theoretical treatment of ethics and social justice in ESL, nor does it propose that ESL faculty teach morals or ethics to students. Rather, it is designed as a concise, practical introduction to ethical practice for both new and experienced ESL faculty in post-secondary teaching situations in the United States, for others interested in the ESL classroom, and as a text for TESL classes and seminars.
"Ethical Issues for ESL Faculty: " *maps new territory in the field--ethical issues in TESL, particularly as encountered by post-secondary classroom teachers, are not often discussed in ESL publications;
*makes the complex issues of ethics in the context of social justice accessible to TESL practitioners; and
*includes useful resources, such as additional scenarios for discussion, an extensive reference list, and selected ethics-related Web sites.

The aim of the book is to contribute to the development of Christian bioethics. Particularly, it constitutes a Christian critique of the sovereign bioethics - he kind of bioethics that shapes the relevant discussions in the public arena, and unjustifiably imposes particular values, boundaries and conditions on the discussion relevant to bioethical dilemmas - with special reference to the issues surrounding euthanasia. This critique is made, firstly, on the ground of the assumption that all theories of human existence, including sovereign bioethics share a common ground - all theories serve their own needs of self-presentation through presenting their subjective principles as objective and therefore as appropriate for power claims over human life. This is exemplified through a thorough analysis of the current discussion on euthanasia. Such a procedure is an innovative way on how current bioethics should be examined and evaluated. Such a critique of the sovereign bioethics is further developed on the ground of the patristic tradition and particularly the works of John Damascene and Symeon the New Theologian. Within such a context, the fundamental elements of a Christian anthropology regarding the constitution of man, the character of pain and death as well as the importance of the free will in man are discussed. This discussion is culminated in the presentation of the character of the Christian voluntary death along with its implications from a bioethical point of view.

With the collapse of communism and the accelerated trend of globalization, a new stage of capitalism has arrived. Protest actions that occurred in Seattle and Washington as well as in Prague and Genoa, clearly show that the legitimacy of capitalism is being questioned in many respects. Surveys in Eastern and Central Europe show that a considerable part of the population is not able to accept capitalism as an economic system. This volume assesses the ethical basis of capitalism in an effort to assess its future in the twenty-first century. Contributors range from one of the world's most successful capitalists and philanthropists to the founder of INSEAD, Europe's leading business school, to noted economists, philosophers, cultural historians, and business ethicists. Chapter 1, "Against Market Fundamentalism: 'The Capitalist Threat' Reconsidered," by George Soros, Olivier Giscard d'Estaing and others, is the edited and extended version of the public debate with Soros on his influential paper "The Capitalist Threat." Chapter 2, "Ethics of Capitalism," by Peter Koslowski, follows the thesis that capitalism constitutes a necessary component of a free society. Chapter 3, "Misunderstood and Abused Liberalism," by Lubomir Mlcoch, focuses on the problems of Czech-style capitalism. Chapter 4, "Humanizing the Economy" by Stefano Zamagni, investigates the role of civil society in relation to the market and the state. Chapter 5, "The Possibility of Stakeholder Capitalism," by Edward R. Freeman, argues that stakeholder relationships are a key to understanding the functioning of business in today's world. Chapter 6, "Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Ethicality in Business and Management," by Wojciech W. Gasparski, introduces the praxiology tradition in the debate about ethical aspects of capitalism. Chapter 7, "Responsibility and Profit Making," by Lszl3/4 Zsolnai, explores the conditions for ethical and social acceptability of profit making. Collectively, this volume addresses the ethical problems of the capitalist economy with special reference to globalization, and suggests that business ethics and the future of capitalism are strongly connected. It will be of particular interest to business people, economists, policy makers, social scientists and students of philosophy and ethics. Lszl3/4 Zsolnai is director of the Business Ethics Center at Budapest University of Economic Sciences and is Szuchenyi Distinguished Professor in Ethics and Economics, awarded by the Hungarian Ministry of Education. Wojciech W. Gasparski is professor at the Insititute of Philosophy and Sociology, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and editor-in-chief of the Praxiology series.

When organ transplantation is discussed, the focus is overwhelmingly placed on the life saving aspect of the operation. However, organ transplantation 'is never just about life; it is also about death.' The vast majority of transplanted organs come from individuals who have been declared, by legal and medical definitions, to be brain dead. Loved ones of these newly deceased are faced with unique problems and choices. Based on fifteen years of experience working with organ procurement organizations and donor families, Wrapped in Mourning addresses the heretofore unexplored subject of organ donor family trauma.
This book covers the issues surrounding organ donation, including the history of organ transplantation, how organs are procured for transplantation, as well as the medical procedure itself. Each issue is explored with regards to its impact upon donor families. Ways to reduce grief, prevent problems, and increase the benefits of donating organs for the donating family are discussed.
Holtkamp demonstrates a rich understanding of donor family trauma, and Wrapped in Mourning is peppered with case studies and real-life scenarios that shed light on both sides of the 'life-giving, death-ridden phenomenon of organ donation.'

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Tobacco control leaders were extremely proud of the movement's achievements in the state of Minnesota. In sharing their perspectives and experiences with Mark Wolfson, they found a way of making sure that the story would get told. His training in social movements had given him an appreciation of the importance of understanding the social infrastructure on which movements are built, and Minnesota had built heavily on the infrastructure of health care and public health. What became apparent is that the struggle against the tobacco industry in Minnesota involved a close, collaborative relationship between government (or "state") actors and the leaders of the tobacco control movement.
Wolfson develops both of these themes: building on the infrastructure of health, and state-movement interpenetration, to understand the emergence, growth, and outcomes of the tobacco control movement in Minnesota. He focuses on the advantages and constraints associated with these two related themes. He goes beyond the case study method to assess the generalizability of the pattern, and whether the same sort of movement can be used by other states in North America, and even in other countries and their social movements.
How has the tobacco control movement become such a significant and successful force in shaping public policy, social norms, and the habits of millions of Americans? In this first such detailed study by a sociologist, Wolfson documents how the movement has grown over nearly three decades by building an infrastructure of health organizations and health professionals, and by fostering relationships with government. Rich in survey data, extensive interviews, and archival sources, this text is essential reading for courses in social problems, social movements, and public health. The general reader will also find it engaging, given the issues of tobacco use as an addiction and a social problem.
"Mark Wolfson" is associate professor and director for community Research, Department of Public Health Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. His research has been funded by both governmental and private research grants.

We've outsourced too much of our thinking. How do we get it back? Have you ever followed your GPS device to a deserted parking lot? Or unquestioningly followed the advice of an expert&#8212perhaps a doctor or financial adviser&#8212only to learn later that your own thoughts and doubts were correct? And what about the stories we've all heard over the years about sick patients&#8212whether infected with Ebola or COVID-19&#8212who were sent home or allowed to travel because busy staff people were following a protocol to the letter rather than using common sense? Why and how do these kinds of things happen? As Harvard lecturer and global trend watcher Vikram Mansharamani shows in this eye-opening and perspective-shifting book, our complex, data-flooded world has made us ever more reliant on experts, protocols, and technology. Too often, we've stopped thinking for ourselves. With stark and compelling examples drawn from business, sports, and everyday life, Mansharamani illustrates how in a very real sense we have outsourced our thinking to a troubling degree, relinquishing our autonomy. Of course, experts, protocols, and computer-based systems are essential to helping us make informed decisions. What we need is a new approach for integrating these information sources more effectively, harnessing the value they provide without undermining our ability to think for ourselves. The author provides principles and techniques for doing just that, empowering readers with a more critical and nuanced approach to making decisions. Think for Yourself is an indispensable guide for those looking to restore self-reliant thinking in a data-driven and technology-dependent yet overwhelmingly uncertain world.

In his treatment of the issues raised by the movements of women for equal rights a century ago, Michels anticipated controversies and conflicts about which people care deeply today. He took a clear position in support of the desirability of equality between the sexes. In consequence, it remains relevant to current debates within feminism over equality and difference and the corresponding challenge to, and feminist critique of, social science arising from the (re) emergence of "difference" feminism.

Sexual Ethics constitutes both an analysis of the "woman problem" and a document describing the wars between the sexes during this period and an important and overlooked piece of history of the classic sociological tradition. Michels observed that the national and economic conflicts in modern Europe were vast in scale and revealed sharply sensed injustices, and also that sex antagonisms are becoming more acute. He presented an argument, consistent with his theoretical position, about the seriousness of women's rights. Michels' discussions of sexuality, sexual morality, and the relations of the sexes had as its stimulus "the new sexual ethic" advocated by feminists. He pointed out that true equality required equality of rights to sexual liberty for women or chastity prior to marriage for men.

Michels supported premarital chastity for men as an ideal, but he doubted that very many would practice it. Michels was virtually alone in the sociological tradition in seeking to illuminate the "struggle for love" between men and women by reference to the "erotic coquetry" in the sexual behavior of "lower animals." Despite his stand for equality of men and women in sexual matters, a recurrent theme in Sexual Ethics is that men are sexually more aggressive than women, at least in part due to social structures and cultural traditions. Michels advocated family planning (but opposed abortion) in the interests of marital and family happiness and economic well-being, especially for the poor.

In his new introduction, Terry R. Kandal discusses Robert Michels' life. He explores, among other topics, Michels' treatment of the woman question and the reactions of Michels' contemporaries to the same question. He also discusses the feminist critique of social science, and the place of Michels in and the gender questions of our times. The book will be of particular interest to those interested in the history of relations between men and women as well as those interested in questions of biological determinism.

Author Biography:
Jennifer Geddes is the Hannah Arendt Fellow at the Institute for Advance Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, USA.

These six essays form a stimulating and lucid investigation of the meaning of evil in the light of postmodern thought, and of the cultural and social changes of the modern age. They consider subjects such as the war in Bosnia, AIDS and the Holocaust.

In this book, you will find the latest information about how what you eat affects your health, the environment, and the existence of the animals who share this planet, along with in-depth discussions of ground-breaking work by these internationally respected experts: Heart specialist, Dean Ornish, M.D.; Nutrition scientist, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.; Weight loss expert, Terry Shintani, M.D.; Farm Sanctuary founders, Gene and Lorri Bauston; Vegetarian nutritionist, Suzanne Havala, R.D.; Population analysis, David Pimentel, Ph.D.; Mad Cow disease expert, Stephen Dealler, M.D.; Rangeland activist, Lynn Jacobs.

This study of Edgewood Academy--a private, elite college preparatory high school--examines what moral choices look like when they are made by the participants in an exceptionally wealthy school, and what the very existence of a privileged school indicates about American society. It extends Peshkin's ongoing exploration of U.S. high schools and their communities, each focused in a different sociocultural setting. In this particular inquiry, he began with two central questions:
* What is a school like whose students enter with a determined disposition to attend college, and all of whom are selected on the promise they display for college success?
* What can be learned from studying Edgewood Academy that transcends the particular case of this school?
The volume opens with a description of how moral choices look when they are made by the participants in an exceedingly wealthy school. There is a general picture of the Academy, a discussion of the processes the school uses to insure the quality of its students and educators, and an overview of teachers and students that reveals what is commendable about each group. These chapters clarify what a school of ample financial means and wise leadership can do. Peshkin goes on to reflect briefly on privilege and concludes with a discussion of what the very existence of a privileged school indicates about American society. Schools, he suggests, are about much more than what goes on inside them--they mirror what is and is not at stake for their particular constituents--and function similarly for the nation.
Edgewood Academy's host community is not a village, town, church, or tribe, as in Peshkin's previous studies. It is a community created by shared aspirations for high-level academic attainment and its associated benefits. Affluence and towering academic achievement are the two most relevant factors. In this book, advantage occupies center stage. The school's excellence is documented not to extol its success, but, rather, to call attention to what is available for its students that is not available for most American children. The focus, ultimately, is on educational justice as illuminated by the advantage of Academy students--that is, on justice denied, not because anyone or any group or agency consciously, planfully sets out to do injustice to other children, but because injustice happens as the artifact of imagined limitations of resources and means. Peshkin's purpose is not to detail the particulars of how educational justice is denied to the many, but to portray and examine the meaning of a privileged school where educational justice prevails for the few.

This study of Edgewood Academy--a private, elite college preparatory high school--examines what moral choices look like when they are made by the participants in an exceptionally wealthy school, and what the very existence of a privileged school indicates about American society. It extends Peshkin's ongoing exploration of U.S. high schools and their communities, each focused in a different sociocultural setting. In this particular inquiry, he began with two central questions:
* What is a school like whose students enter with a determined disposition to attend college, and all of whom are selected on the promise they display for college success?
* What can be learned from studying Edgewood Academy that transcends the particular case of this school?
The volume opens with a description of how moral choices look when they are made by the participants in an exceedingly wealthy school. There is a general picture of the Academy, a discussion of the processes the school uses to insure the quality of its students and educators, and an overview of teachers and students that reveals what is commendable about each group. These chapters clarify what a school of ample financial means and wise leadership can do. Peshkin goes on to reflect briefly on privilege and concludes with a discussion of what the very existence of a privileged school indicates about American society. Schools, he suggests, are about much more than what goes on inside them--they mirror what is and is not at stake for their particular constituents--and function similarly for the nation.
Edgewood Academy's host community is not a village, town, church, or tribe, as in Peshkin's previous studies. It is a community created by shared aspirations for high-level academic attainment and its associated benefits. Affluence and towering academic achievement are the two most relevant factors. In this book, advantage occupies center stage. The school's excellence is documented not to extol its success, but, rather, to call attention to what is available for its students that is not available for most American children. The focus, ultimately, is on educational justice as illuminated by the advantage of Academy students--that is, on justice denied, not because anyone or any group or agency consciously, planfully sets out to do injustice to other children, but because injustice happens as the artifact of imagined limitations of resources and means. Peshkin's purpose is not to detail the particulars of how educational justice is denied to the many, but to portray and examine the meaning of a privileged school where educational justice prevails for the few.

Durkeim's book on suicide, first published in 1897 is widely regarded as a classic text, and is essential reading for any student of Durkheim's thought and sociological method. This book examines the continuing importance of Durkheim's methodology. The wide-ranging chapters cover such issues as the use of statistics, explanation of suicide, anomie and religion and the morality of suicide. This book will be of vital interest to any serious scholar of Durkheim's thought and to the sociologist looking for a fresh methodological perspective.

eBook available with sample pages: 020345927X

Stem cell research has been a problematic endeavour. For the past twenty years it has attracted moral controversies in both the public and the professional sphere. The research involves not only laboratories, clinics and people, but ethics, industries, jurisprudence, and markets. Today it contributes to the development of new therapies and affects increasingly many social arenas. The matrix approach introduced in this book offers a new understanding of this science in its relation to society. The contributions are multidisciplinary and intersectional, illustrating how agency and influence between science and society go both ways. Conceptually, this volume presents a situated and reflexive approach for philosophy and sociology of the life sciences. The practices that are part of stem cell research are dispersed, and the concepts that tie them together are tenuous; there are persistent problems with the validation of findings, and the ontology of the stem cell is elusive. The array of applications shapes a growing bioeconomy that is dependent on patient donations of tissues and embryos, consumers, and industrial support. In this volume it is argued that this research now denotes not a specific field but a flexible web of intersecting practices, discourses, and agencies. To capture significant parts of this complex reality, this book presents recent findings from researchers, who have studied in-depth aspects of this matrix of stem cell research. This volume presents state-of-the-art examinations from senior and junior scholars in disciplines from humanities and laboratory research to various social sciences, highlighting particular normative and epistemological intersections. The book will appeal to scholars as well as wider audiences interested in developments in life science and society interactions. The novel matrix approach and the accessible case studies make this an excellent resource for science and society courses.

It has long been argued that the Allies did little or nothing to rescue Europe's Jews. Arguing that this has been consistently misinterpreted, The Myth of Rescue states that few Jews who perished could have been saved by any action of the Allies. In his new introduction to the paperback edition, Willliam Rubinstein responds to the controversy caused by his challenging views, and considers further the question of bombing Auschwitz, which remains perhaps the most widely discussed alleged lost opportunity for saving Jews available to the Allies.

This volume for the first time brings the scholarly discipline of comparative religious ethics into constructive collaboration with the community of interreligious dialogue. Its design is premised on two important insights. First, interreligious dialogue offers to comparative religious ethics a new, more persuasive rationale, agenda of issues, and practical orientation. Second, comparative religious ethics offers to interreligious dialogue an arsenal of critical tools and methods which will enhance the sophistication of its practical work. In this way, both theory (a dominant concern and strength of comparative religious ethics) and praxis (a dominant concern and strength of interreligious moral dialogue) are joined together in mutual effort, each contributing to the benefit of the other.The volume's contributors share this vision of collaboration, drawing explicitly from both communities of discourse in a manner that crosses disciplinary and professional boundaries to deal creatively and constructively with important methodological and global moral issue. Although theory and practice cannot easily be separated in such a collaborative project, for the purpose of clarity, the volume is divided into two main parts. The first specifically engages questions of method, theory, and the social role of the public intellectual; the second, on substantive moral themes and issues, many of which were raised at the 1993 Parliament. Taken together, the volume's essays articulate and illustrate new ways of approaching contemporary moral concerns cross-culturally yet with a rigor appropriate to our complex and pluralistic world.