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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Ethical issues & debates > General
Close-up insights on how experts in the field are re-interpreting ethical principles to create workable policies for today and tomorrow, from the creators of the 2007 APS Code of Ethics First cooperative project between Wiley-Blackwell and the APSOffers a close-up view of how enduring ethical principles are reinvented to ensure lasting relevance in times of modernisation and professional changeWill be an accredited option for APS Professional Development - the book will be built into PD workshops and also available for PD credits outside that contextEssential reading for those involved in healthcare ethics internationally
Susan Parson's new book explores a dimension of human life that has proven to be troublesome in understanding ourselves and disturbing in social relationships and structures. That dimension is gender."The Ethics of Gender "investigates the impact of thinking with gender on modern ethics, and considers the insights that postmodern gender theory might bring to the ethical project. Following Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's suggestion of the discursive incoherence of gender, the author follows the fault lines of modern humanism that are opened up by the gender critique, in relation to embodiment, subjectivity, and agency. The book investigates the effort to sustain humanism by means of an ethics of difference, of relationality, and of revaluation of nature, in such writers as Martha Nussbaum, Daphne Hampson, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Grace Jantzen, and Luce Irigaray. The central thrust of the book is, however, to understand these as echoes of the Nietzschean cry for redemption, and thus as signs of the failure of post-Enlightenment ethical thinking. With the help of Judith Butler's analyses of coming to matter, of subjection, and of performativity, the book concludes with the possibility of another way of self-understanding and of renewal in theological ethics for our time.
The issue of sexual consent has stimulated much debate in the last decade. The contributors to this illuminating volume make sense of sexual consent from various conceptual standpoints: socio-legal, post-structural, philosophical and feminist. The volume comprises a range of studies, all based around consent within a specific context such as criminal justice, homosexuality, sadomasochism, prostitution, male rape, learning disabilities, sexual ethics, and the age of consent. It is the first collection to publish exclusively on issues of sexual consent, and both makes sense of sexual consent in contemporary society and guides debate towards better consent standards and decisions in the future. Making Sense of Sexual Consent will excite considerable discussion amongst academics, professionals and all those who think that freedom to make decisions about our sexual selves is important. It will set the agenda for debate on sexual consent into the 21st Century.
This book disturbs the "normal" and depoliticized meaning of virtue through a genealogical reading of the debates, conceptual struggles, and ambiguities that were cleansed by virtue ethicists to produce today's conception of excellence. This approach provides the narrative raw material to craft a new meaning of excellence as a creative actualization of the potentials for human prosperity. The fundamental question asked and addressed about excellence is how communities can use excellence as the organizing principle for political and economic development. The author explores how large-scale modern societies can be better administered in environments characterized by contingency and possibilities. At the very least, excellence in societal governance practice should involve the creation of possibilities for community and participation by all its members so that their potentialities can be drawn out for the common good. The book also explores the connection between excellence and creativity. If excellence is the drive toward actualization of potentialities for all human beings, it follows that human creativity is an adequate form for that movement. The author not only attempts to trace and clarify the mystique of the creative functions of persons and social groups, but also shows how the creative functions of human life can express the unconditional eros of divine creativity. In the process of doing all this, the author offers a fresh and provocative perspective of philosophy and theology's oldest concerns: the good, truth, beauty, justice, love, hope, and the eschatological New Creation.
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.
The din and deadlock of public life in America - where insults are traded, slogans proclaimed, and self-serving deals are made and unmade - reveal the deep disagreement that pervades our democracy. The disagreement is not only political but also moral, as citizens and their representatives increasingly take extreme and intransigent positions. A better kind of public discussion is needed, and Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson provide an eloquent argument for "deliberative democracy" today. They develop a principled framework for opponents to come together on moral and political issues. Gutmann and Thompson show how a deliberative democracy can address some of our most difficult controversies - from abortion and affirmative action to health care and welfare - and can allow diverse groups separated by class, race, religion, and gender to reason together. Their work goes beyond that of most political theorists and social scientists by exploring both the principles for reasonable argument and their application to actual cases. Not only do the authors suggest how deliberative democracy can work, they also show why improving our collective capacity for moral argument is better than referring all disagreements to procedural politics or judicial institutions. Democracy and Disagreement presents a compelling approach to how we might resolve some of our most trying moral disagreements and live with those that will inevitably persist, on terms that all of us can respect.
A host of ethical questions has arisen recently in response to the
development of new reproductive technologies. This text helps
students of theology, philosophy, and health studies, as well as
lay readers, to find answers to these questions. In order to facilitate an informed discussion of the many
delicate ethical issues, the book first provides readers with
relevant medical and scientific information. It explains in a clear
and simple way, for example, what is involved in human embryo and
embryonic cell stem research, infertility and its treatments, and
prenatal screening and diagnosis. It also explains how the
metaphysical framework, in which both Christian and secular
philosophers think, relates to the scientific facts and affects the
ways in which they solve ethical problems. Throughout, the author takes a balanced approach, acknowledging his loyalty to Catholicism, yet freely exploring new options indicated by advancing biological science.
This book critiques the decision-making process in Article 53(a) of the European Patent Convention. To date, such decisions have been taken at high levels of expertise without much public involvement. The book eschews traditional solutions, such as those found within legislative, judicial and patent office realms and instead develops a radical blueprint for how these decisions can be put to the public. By examining wide-scale models of participatory democracy and deliberation, this book fills a significant gap in the literature. It will be invaluable for patent lawyers, academics, practitioners and intellectual property and patent officials.
Genetic sciences are creating technologies that radically influence our understanding of life, death and what it is to be human. The current policy of letting the market set the pace according to popular demand sounds democratic, but one person's decision to implement an option all too often impinges on someone else's freedom. Without agreed boundaries there will be conflict. Just as a confusion of language caused the people to scatter from Babel, confusions of personal interest may cause a breakdown in society leading to genetic under-classes and discrimination. Genetic technologies could, in our time, become the equivalent of the biblical Tower of Babel, representing great human technological achievement that shows division and enmity. In a thorough analysis of the ethical questions raised by the new technologies, Pete Moore sheds valuable light on this complex subject.
The completion of the human genome project in 2000 dramatically emphasized the imminent success of the genetic revolution. The ethical and social consequences of this scientific development are immense. From human reproduction to life-extending therapies, from the impact on gender and race to public health and public safety, there is scarcely a part of our lives left unaffected by the impact of the new genetics. A Companion to Genethics is the first substantial study of the multifaceted dimensions of the genetic revolution and its philosophical, ethical, social, and political significance. It brings together the best and most influential contemporary writing about genethics. Newly commissioned essays from prominent figures in the current debate provide a wide-ranging and fascinating scholarly analysis of all the issues that arise from this explosive science.
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.
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.
When people encounter consumer goods-sugar, clothes, phones-they find little to no information about their origins. The goods will thus remain anonymous, and the labor that went into making them, the supply chain through which they traveled, will remain obscured. In this book, Tad Skotnicki argues that this encounter is an endemic feature of capitalist societies, and one with which consumers have struggled for centuries in the form of activist movements constructed around what he calls The Sympathetic Consumer. This book documents the uncanny similarities shared by such movements over the course of three centuries: the transatlantic abolitionist movement, US and English consumer movements around the turn of the twentieth century, and contemporary Fair Trade activism. Offering a comparative historical study of consumer activism the book shows, in vivid detail, how activists wrestled with the broader implications of commodity exchange. These activists arrived at a common understanding of the relationship between consumers, producers, and commodities, and concluded that consumers were responsible for sympathizing with invisible laborers. Ultimately, Skotnicki provides a framework to identify a capitalist culture by examining how people interpret everyday phenomena essential to it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. |
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