Us Before Me Ethics and Social Capital for Global Well-being

by Illingworth, Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780230314436
• ISBN10: 0230314430
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In the last three decades we've experienced increasing "intense moral individualism," and at the same time we've witnessed massive globalization. To some degree, at least, these trends are in opposition and even conflict. Patricia Illingworth explores concepts, structures and institutions that we might develop to make their interactions constructive, rather than destructive, and makes the case that "social capital" is a moral good and that ethics and law can play a vital role in both replenishing our reservoir of social capital, and in sustaining it at higher levels. This short, powerful and passionate book argues that "social capital" should be an essential ethical concept guiding our actions, and explains how one might go about implementing this idea in a positive way.

Author Biography

Patricia Illingworth is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University. She is also a Lecturer in Law at Northeastern University School of Law. Professor Illingworth has held Fellowships at Harvard Law School and at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of AIDS and the Good Society, Trusting Medicine: The Moral Costs of Managed Care, and a co-editor of The Power of Pills and Ethical Healthcare. She is also co-editor with Thomas Pogge and Leif Wenar of Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy (Oxford University Press, 2010). She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Harvard Program in Ethics and Health.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Overcoming Indifference
Social Capital
Ethics for Enduring Social Capital
Social Capital and Happiness
Social Capital and Law
Giving Back
Global People
Bibliography
Index