General complaints about moral decay, however frequent, and perhaps even justified they might be, are of little use. This book is not complaining. It is an attempt to apply our improved knowledge in various fields to questions of morality. It seeks to enhance our ability to discern among different moral phenomena and to discuss them more precisely. Second, it tries to take use of recent developements of sciences, in particular sciences of life, in practical philosophy, without giving up the differences between a human and other living beings. With very few exceptions, the whole tradition of moral philosophy considers the acting person to be an autonomous, independent individual, handling with his or her own property to pursue his or her own happiness. On the other hand, most of us in the contemporary societies are often acting as employees or representatives of social institutions, using entrusted property and competence of our employers to pursue their – and not our own – goals. People in public roles, like judges, policemen or clerks, cannot guide themselves even by the categorical imperative or by the role reversal test. In complex networks of organizations, morals cannot be fully replaced by written rules, as some philosophers think, but takes a different shape. The content of the book can be roughly divided into three parts. In the first one, the basic notions of e.g. freedom, life, responsibility or justice are analyzed and precized, as well as varied layers of practical philosophy. The second is a succinct overview of main schools or streams of western moral thought, trying to find a binding and universal foundation of morals and ethics. The third part re-introduces another founding idea, rather forgotten in modern times, namely the idea of heritage, both biologiocal and cultural, of the past. This idea, widespread e.g. in the sedentary farming societies, has to be reformulated, but could be fundamental for more realistic and efficient solutions of our responsibility for life and nature. The last part is a tentative analysis of moral relations and problems connected with the growing complexity of institutions.

The book highlights the ethical aspects and issues that are inherent to economics in the context of today’s prominent social institutions. It reviews a range of problems concerning dominant social institutions, namely markets, government agencies, corporate entities, financial networks, and religious systems. Further, in each case, the book takes a detailed look at the economic problems as they arise within a broader sociological and political environment, taking into account the respective ethical/philosophical paradigms. It analyzes from an ethical point of view topics like the evolution of economic thought, happiness and spirituality, and human values in relation to ethics.

In this comprehensive collection of essays, most of which appear for the first time, eminent scholars from many disciplines—philosophy, economics, sociology, political science, demography, theology, history, and social psychology—examine the causes, nature, and consequences of present-day consumption patterns in the United States and throughout the world.

This book provides a unified account of the connection between justice and the good life. It argues that the virtues of character require institutions, while good institutions enable persons to live together virtuously. Although virtue ethics and political philosophy are rich and sophisticated philosophical traditions, there has been an unfortunate divergence, in theory and practice, between the virtues of character and the virtues of institutions. This book has two primary purposes. First, it reorients political philosophy around the concept of the good life. To do so, the author addresses the problem of political authority from a virtue ethics perspective. He also considers whether a political theory oriented around the good life is compatible with Rawls’s notion of reasonable pluralism. Second, the book explains the relationship between the virtues of institutions and the virtues of character. The author shows how institutions support the development and exercise of the virtues of character, while examining specific other-regarding virtues such as justice and friendship. The Authority of Virtue will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in virtue ethics, social and political philosophy, ancient philosophy, and political theory.

Institutional Issues Involving Ethics And Justice is a component of Encyclopedia of Institutional and Infrastructural Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme considers issues dealing with fundamental matters of ethics and justice. The chapters collected together in this theme are designed to contribute positively to the development of human institutions that will sustain a universally good quality of human life organized around fundamentals of ethics and justice. These articles aim to assist us in thinking about the ethical dimensions of the social worlds we inhabit, their global contexts, and their impact on the natural world. They are intended to provide a critical perspective on the current situation; to question beliefs and attitudes that are taken for granted, and to provide direction in developing and evolving the complex and interconnected array of attitudes, policies, laws, principles, practices, and the like, thatare necessary for creating and sustaining a decent quality of life for all. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

A primer in ethics focusing on ultimate aims in living as proposed throughout philosophic history. Preliminary chapters cover the relation between ethics and science, religion, and psychology, as well as the challenge of relativism and determinism. The central section explores the ethical theories of hedonism, from the Greeks to the Utilitarians; self-realization, both of the individual and of our humanness, naturalism, including the Stoics and Transcendentalists; evolutionism as presented by both Darwin and Spencer; the ethic of duty of Immanuel Kant; religious systems including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism; virtue ethics in traditional and feminist forms; and existentialism from Nietzsche to Sartre. At various points, key concepts are introduced such as egoism and altruism, hard and soft determinism, deontology vs. teleology, and act and rule approaches to ethics. In addition, the 'standard of reasonableness' is discussed as a means of evaluating the ethical options.

In giving an account of what is ethical, we can begin by describing the community that accommodates the good life; to be ethical, then, is to be a contributor to that sort of community. We live in political communities as well as in communities built around families, neighborhoods, churches, and other associations. But for many of us the community that will afford the good life that is the purpose of morality is the organization that employs us. Aristotle claimed tht the greatest ethical questions are political ones; today we have reason to believe that the greatest ethical questions are organizational ones. In Organizational Ethics and the Good Life, Edwin Hartman contends that, as ethics is about the good community, a great part of business ethics is about the good organization. He argues that a large and complex organization has the characteristic of the "commons" studied by game theorists, and that it is the task of management to preserve the commons in the long-term interests of all its members, principally by creating an appropriate corporate culture. A good corporate culture not only serves the interests of the participants but makes the organization a place in which they can develop interests that are compatible with both autonomy and good corporate citizenship: that is, they can develop a sense of the good life that is appropriate to the moral person. Hartman opposes the standard view that the study of organizational ethics is a matter of considering how certain foundational ethical principles apply in organizational settings; instead, he argues, business ethicists should consider how free and rational people arrive at a consensus on practical ethical principles in a morally good organization that leaves room for moral progress. And what makes an organization morally good? In discussing justice, loyalty, and other features of a morally good organization, Hartman draws largely on the work of Rawls and Hirschman. In describing the good life as one in which well-being and morality overlap, Hartman proposes a new version of an idea as old as Aristotle, who taught that human beings are rational but also irreducibly communal creatures.

The study and practice of ethics, in all its exemplary and execrable forms, matter now more than ever. It deals with one of the most gripping questions in life: "What is the right thing to do?" Public Service Ethics: Individual and Institutional Responsibilities, Third Edition, introduces readers to this personally relevant and professionally challenging field of study. No matter the topic—the necessity of ethics, intriguing human behavior experiments, provocative approaches to decision-making, new theories to understand ethical actions, the role of ethics codes, whistleblowing incidents, corruption exposés, and the grandeur as well as decay of morality—there is no shortage of controversy. This book discusses these issues, explains how they arise, and suggests what can be done about them. The authors make the narrative user-friendly and accessible by highlighting dilemmas, challenging readers to resolve them, and enticing them to go beyond the text to discover and confront new issues. New to this Third Edition: Exploration of fascinating and important new topics such as the Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, oaths of office, classroom dishonesty, state corruption, the Biden administration, and the ethical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and response. In-depth profiles of newsworthy figures, including Michael Flynn, Alexander Vindman, Anthony Fauci, and John Lewis. All new case studies drawing on actual and hypothetical events to give students an opportunity to apply concepts and analytical frameworks. All new end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises to encourage students to think more deeply about ethical issues. The authors' conversational writing style invites readers to annotate pages with their own ideas, experiences, comparisons, and insights, bolstering students' confidence and ultimately preparing them for the ethical problems they will face in their own careers. This lively and thorough new edition is required reading for all public administration and public policy students.

Intended for use in the introduction to ethics course, The Good Life: Options in Ethics, Fifth Edition is designed to engage today's practical-minded student in more fundamental questions. The book ranges from ideals in living (the good) to contemporary moral problems (the right), exploring and analyzing both areas in order to stimulate deeper reflection. The first section of the book clears away the obstacles to pursuing ethical understanding - relativism, determinism, and egoism. Then traditional definitions of the good life are discussed, theories such as hedonism, self-realization, duty, evolutionism, religious ethics, and virtue ethic. The final section addresses today's social problems including abortion, euthanasia, animal welfare, capital punishment, and sexual morality. Provocative questions are raised throughout such as "Does mutual consent legitimize any behavior or are there actions we ought not to consent to?" "Are there better and worse ways for us to enjoy ourselves?" "If self-actualization is the ideal, then can we fault Atilla the Hun or Genghis Khan for realizing themselves?"