Applied Ethics: A Reader

The first half of this book, representing both European and Anglo-American philosophical traditions, presents various general aspects of applied ethics. Central issues include: What is the nature of applied ethics? How is applied ethics related to science and technology? Can applied ethics be critically subversive and reformative of conventional morality? How useful are conceptions of rational consensus formation in social policy formation? The papers in the second half of the book focus on the major fields of applied ethics - Business Ethics, Environmental Ethics and Biomedical ethics. A primary issue that recurs in several of these essays concerns the relationship between ethical theory and moral practice. Other principal concerns are the general nature of business, or environmental ethics; the question of intrinsic values in nature; how to model corporate obligations so as to encompass legitimate forms of social responsibility; and what changes in general moral belief and dispositions of thought might improve our chances of dealing adequately with problems of large-scale environmental degradation. Contributors include Robert Solomon, Kenneth Goodpaster, Holmes Rolston III, Dale Jamieson, Barry Hoffmaster, Earl Winkler, Michael Philips, Alison Jaggar, James Rachels, Annette Baier, Roger Wertheimer and Mathias Kettner.

Table of Contents:
I. Methodology, Critical Potential and Sceptical Doubts Bent Flyvberg: Science, Ethics and Rationality - Aristotle and Foucault on Science and Applied Ethics Matthias Kettner: Scientific Knowledge, Discourse Ethics, and Consensus Formation in the Public Domain Langdon Winner: Citizen Virtues for a Technological Order Alison Jaggar: Moral Agreement: Actual vs. Hypothetical Richard Sikora: Rule Utilitarianism and Applied Ethics James Rachels: Moral Philosophy as Subversive Activity Annette Baier: Trust and Distrust of Moral Theorists Roger Wertheimer: Socratic Scepticism Nancy Ann Davis: Moral Theorizing and Moral Practices: Reflections on some of the Sources of Hypocrisy II. General Issues Related to the Fields of Applied Ethics Business Ethics . Michael Philips: How to Think Systematically about Business Ethics Robert Solomon: Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach to Business Ethics Alistair Macleod: Moral Philosophy and Business Ethics: The Priority of the Political Kenneth Goodpaster: Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis Michael Yeo: Philosophy and its Host: The Case of Business Ethics Environmental Ethics . Holmes Rolston III: Environmental Ethics: Values in and Duties to the Natural World Dale Jamieson: Ethics, Public Policy and Global Warming Peter Danielson: Morality, Rationality and Politics: Solving the Greenhouse Dilemma Biomedical Ethics . Earl Winkler: From Kantianism to Contextualism: The Rise and Fall of the Paradigm Theory in Bioethics Barry Hoffmaster: Can Ethnography Save the Life of Medical Ethics? Edward Keyserlingk: Ethics Codes and Guidelines for Health Care Research: Can Respect for Autonomy be a Multi-cultural Principle? Dale Beyerstein: The Functions and Limitations of a Professional Code of Ethics.